Cylib builds Europe's largest recycling plant for electric car batteries

The German start-up Cylib has started construction of Europe's largest recycling plant for electric car batteries. The ground-breaking ceremony for the state-of-the-art facility on a 22,000 square meter site at Chempark Dormagen took place on Monday. The plant is expected to recycle 30,000 tons of electric car batteries per year when it goes into operation in 2026, according to a statement released by Cylib. The quantity corresponds to around 60,000 batteries. The largest plant of its kind in Europe is currently located in Norway. It is operated by a joint venture between Northvolt and Hydro and has a capacity of 12,000 tons per year.

Cylib, a company founded in Aachen in 2022, has developed an innovative resource- and climate-friendly recycling process for batteries. It enables the recovery of all important raw materials from batteries for electric vehicles, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, aluminum or manganese. The batteries that arrive at the new plant in Dormagen are discharged, dismantled and then subjected to three treatments – mechanical, thermal and water-based – to separate all the important materials. This sets Cylib apart from its competitors, who usually only extract a few key raw materials from used batteries. Just last year, Cylib put a pilot plant into operation in Aachen; now the first industrial plant is following in Dormagen, not far from Düsseldorf. According to Cylib, around 170 jobs are to be created here.

European circular economy for batteries

It was only in May that Cylib raised 55 million euros in the largest financing round to date for a European battery recycling company. The investors include Porsche, Bosch Ventures and World Fund. According to the US news channel CNBC, Cybil and its backers are investing a total of more than 180 million euros in the new industrial plant.

Cylib is primarily targeting European manufacturers of electric vehicles as customers. "When Cylib reaches industrial production, it will be a game changer for building a robust European battery infrastructure", said Dr. Lilian Schwich, CEO and co-founder of Cylib , in the company's statement. According to the statement, the new facility could serve as a local source of key metals needed for the production of new batteries for car manufacturers without the need to mine new materials. "By reintroducing sustainably sourced secondary raw materials, Cylib is creating a circular economy for batteries and more resilient European supply chains," writes the Aachen-based company. It offers "a reliable solution for companies along the entire battery value chain to meet these legal requirements".

EU strives for independence in critical raw materials

The European Union wants to become more independent in the supply of critical raw materials. The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) came into force in May. The EU law aims to ensure a sustainable supply of lithium, silicon, cobalt, gallium and other metals. In this way, the European community wants to become less dependent on foreign powers such as China or Russia and reduce the risk of disruptions to supply chains. In addition to the extraction, refining and processing of critical raw materials in the member states, battery recycling is also becoming an increasingly important priority.

The CRMA contains provisions that allow battery recycling companies easier access to funding, accelerated approval procedures and customer brokering. At the same time, the EU has created a legal framework for European battery recycling companies with the new Battery Regulation, which came into force in February 2024. The targets for recycling battery waste have been increased for companies. In addition, according to the legal requirements, a certain proportion of the minerals used in battery production must come from recycling.

(akn)