EQS-News: IBU-tec enters into recycling partnership with GRS Batterien

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IBU-tec enters into recycling partnership with GRS Batterien

• Pollutant-free "Green Mass” to be obtained from end-of-life LFP batteries in pilot project
• IBU-tec rotary kilns for the thermal treatment of recycled materials
• Booming market environment: 10-fold increase in recycled materials expected worldwide from 2030 to 2040
• EU regulation makes the use of recycled battery materials mandatory

 Weimar, 27 June 2024 – IBU-tec advanced materials AG ("IBU-tec", ISIN: DE000A0XYHT5) has entered into a partnership with GRS Batterien Service GmbH and the Joint Take-Back System Batteries Foundation for the development of the sustainable recycling compound "Green Mass" from used LFP batteries. IBU-tec is thus further expanding its position in the rapidly growing battery recycling market. As part of the cooperation, the black mass produced during the recycling of LFP batteries will be enriched with lithium and thermally treated to produce a pollutant-free "green mass". GRS Batterien Service GmbH, the Joint Take-Back System Batteries Foundation and IBU-tec have agreed on a corresponding pilot project. The sustainable recycled product can ultimately be used for the production of new batteries. IBU-tec will support the material development of the "Green Mass" with its many years of expertise in the field of thermal process engineering and recycling. IBU-tec rotary kilns will be used for the thermal treatment of the recycled material. IBU-tec has both the right know-how and suitable production sites where the Green Mass process can be implemented on a large scale.

The battery recycling market has high growth potential, driven by the EU Battery Directive that came into force at the beginning of the year. Manufacturers of industrial and electric car batteries are required to use recycled battery materials from end-of-life batteries in the production of new lithium batteries. According to a PwC study, recycled battery materials are expected to increase tenfold between 2030 and 2040. In particular, the growth is expected to accelerate from 2030 as the first wave of electrification reaches the end of its life. By 2030, PwC expects investments of more than €2 billion in the European recycling market.

Jörg Leinenbach, CEO of IBU-tec: "With this partnership, we are further expanding our market position in the booming recycling business. The recycling of valuable battery raw materials is necessary from an environmental point of view and helps to reduce the CO2 footprint. GRS Batterien Service GmbH and the Joint Take-Back System Batteries Foundation are important players in the field of battery recycling, developing and implementing sustainable take-back and recycling solutions for the battery industry, for example at the take-back points of major supermarket chains. IBU-tec contributes its many years of know-how in the field of thermal process engineering and recycling."

Dr.-Ing. Julia Hobohm, Managing Director of GRS Batterien Service GmbH: "With IBU-tec, we have the right partner for the Green Mass pilot project at our side. Due to the steadily increasing use, especially of LFP batteries, it is necessary to accelerate battery recycling and further develop it through innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. After all, raw materials from lithium batteries are key elements for renewable energies and e-mobility. Together with IBU-tec, we want to drive these innovations in battery recycling forward."

About IBU-tec

The IBU-tec Group develops and produces innovative materials of the highest quality for industry. In doing so, it combines unique, partly patent-protected thermal process technology with the process and material know-how of around 250 highly qualified employees.

The company's own products include LFP battery material, which is an important component of batteries for electromobility and stationary energy storage, as well as solutions for air purification, resource conservation and the reduction of plastic packaging. IBU-tec is thus positioned in the long term in global megatrends – especially climate and environmental protection – and has an international customer base ranging from innovative medium-sized companies to global corporations.

About the Joint Take-Back System Service (GRS Service GmbH)

In order to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and to achieve national and EU-wide recycling and recovery targets, manufacturers with extended product responsibility are financially and operationally responsible for mapping the cycle of their products from placing on the market, use, collection and efficient recycling.

GRS Service GmbH assumes this product responsibility and maps the entire process as PRO. With the industry solutions GRS eMobility, GRS Healthcare, GRS Powertools and GRS Consumer, GRS Service GmbH offers manufacturers and distributors future-oriented take-back solutions that are geared to future customer needs. In addition, GRS Service GmbH runs the operational business of the GRS Batteries Foundation.

About the GRS Batteries Foundation

Founded in 1998 by leading manufacturers and the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (ZVEI), the non-profit GRS Batteries Foundation has been fulfilling the battery industry's legal take-back obligations ever since. In the meantime, the GRS Batteries Foundation, based in Hamburg, has become a center for producer responsibility and recycling management. Through extensive research, development and consulting projects, it develops and implements sustainable take-back, recycling and life-cycle solutions for the battery industry geared to future customer needs. The Foundation's research and consulting expertise is non-profit, non-discriminatory and equally open to all manufacturers.

The GRS Battery Foundation continues to operate a manufacturer-owned take-back system in accordance with § 7 of the Battery Act, also on a non-profit and non-discriminatory basis, and thus fulfills its product responsibility for spent portable batteries. Through its associated company GRS Service GmbH, the Foundation can also offer various take-back systems for industrial batteries.

 Contact

edicto GmbH
Axel Mühlhaus
Eschersheimer Landstraße 42-44
60322 Frankfurt
t +49 69 905505-52
IBU-tec@edicto.de