Que: Could you elaborate on LICO's role in the battery recycling industry and its focus on end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and what sets LICO apart from competitors in the battery recycling sector?

Ans: LICO, a recycling and refurbishing company, was founded in 2021 with focus to create a sustainable circular economy solution in the lithium-ion battery supply chain for recovery of critical materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel to be given back to battery manufacturers to give the materials a second life.

Batteries received from consumer electronics and energy storage go towards recycling whereas batteries received from electric mobility is tested and the cells that can be used for refurbishing are given a second life by being used in an energy storage application.

India does not have any of the critical minerals for making a lithium-ion battery and needs to import them. By reusing the same minerals, LICO helps in contributing to India’s journey of becoming Energy Independent by reducing dependency on foreign countries and impacting in reduction of imports.

At LICO, till date, we have processed end of life Lithium-ion batteries equivalent to 10,000 small electric cars or approximately 26 million mobile phones.

Our expertise lies in successful execution of large-scale projects, where capacity will be built to provide a circular economy solution to cell and battery manufacturers in India.

Que: Kindly discuss LICO's strategic partnerships and how they contribute to the company's growth?

Ans: LICO has partnered with major OEMs in the Electric Mobility sector and the BESS sector for sourcing of batteries required for recycling and refurbishing.

For raw materials from consumer electronics, we have partnered with several waste aggregators across the country. LICO has long term offtake agreements with major global commodity trading firms and end clients for the recovery of battery grade metal salts from the black mass produced at LICO’s facility.

According to NITI Aayog, there will be 128 GWh worth of batteries available for recycling by 2030, excluding production waste from cell manufacturers. Considering the accelerated adoption of EVs, particularly in the 2W and 3W sector. LICO with its combined capacity across two plants will contribute to 4 GWh with intent to expand to 10 GWh by 2027.

Que: In your opinion, how crucial is EV battery recycling in mitigating the environmental impact of electric vehicles?

Ans: Battery recycling is not a choice but a priority for the future of e-mobility. Urban mining will be a large contributor to the critical minerals being used repeatedly for an Electric Mobility purpose without compromising on the performance of the batteries. Recycling has a significantly smaller impact on the environment than traditional mining and will ensure that these critical minerals are not lost forever.

By 2027, LICO is poised to recycle batteries from 200,000 small electric cars annually which relates to a saving of 100 Million litres of water equivalent to 40 Olympic size Swimming Pools and saving of CO2 emissions equivalent to CO2 absorption by 37 Million trees.

Que: Can you discuss any technological innovations implemented by LICO to enhance efficiency and increase resource recovery rates?

Ans: LICO has pioneered its mechanical separation process to ensure that the Black Mass-produced during recycling is of the highest purity grade which enables us to have partnerships with global giants. The consistency in quality over long term has helped in gaining confidence from our customers.

The global industry standard Recovery Rate from mechanical separation is at 75-80 percent but at LICO, we have achieved recovery rate as high as 92 percent in our mechanical separation process.

Que: What are LICO's short-term and long-term goals regarding technological advancements in battery recycling?

Ans: In the short term, LICO is expanding its mechanical operations to its second facility being built in Bengaluru with a much larger capacity than Mumbai.

With our 2nd facility in Bengaluru by June 2024, LICO is positioned to be one of India’s largest battery recyclers, expanding up to of 25,000 tons annually by 2026.There are some more advancements in the process that will be used in Bengaluru to ensure that our Black Mass can achieve even higher purity levels.

In the long term, LICO is finalising its technology partner from abroad to build a Hydrometallurgy plant in India where we will be able to recover metal salts from the back mass we are currently producing. The objective is to recover metal salts at battery grade purity to give back to anode and cathode manufacturers and close the loop.

Que: Kindly explain the technology of separating critical materials like lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel from the black mass-produced during shredding or how does LICO manage to recover up to 92 percent of all critical metals found in lithium-ion cells?

Ans: Both plants – Mumbai and Bengaluru – are Zero Liquid Discharge/ Zero waste plants ensuring that almost all the components in a battery are recovered during the mechanical separating process. The success in total recovery percentages from end-of-life batteries over the past 18 months has given us the confidence to push ahead with the Hydrometallurgy plant to ensure that all critical minerals such as Lithium, Cobalt, Manganese and Nickel is recovered at global high levels whilst maintaining the recovery targets set.