SK Ecoplant to build waste EV battery recycling plant in China

South Korea's SK Ecoplant Co. will build a recycling facility for electric vehicle (EV) waste batteries in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, where production of such batteries is concentrated in the country.

This is under the company's strategy to take an early lead on the waste battery market by securing scrap or defective materials from EV battery factories for reuse in the manufacturing process of the same item.

SK Ecoplant and its Singapore-based waste EV battery recycling subsidiary TES-AMM on Sunday said they signed an agreement on building a pretreatment plant for waste battery recycling in Yancheng with the Chinese joint venture G-Cycle and the Yancheng municipal government at Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone.

SK Ecoplant will build and run the facility that will cover 8,000 square meters.

The facility's pre-processing method will crush cathode and anode material scrap and remove black powder in a step before extraction of battery raw materials. SK Ecoplant plans to complete all facilities at the plant by next year.

The company added that the volume of discarded batteries in China will rise given the country's rapid adoption of EVs. The province is home to the world's second-largest EV battery producer BYD and around 10 plants of related manufacturers.

SK Ecoplant plans to extract rare metals from waste batteries produced at these factories for reuse in the manufacturing process.

Write to In-Hyeok Lee at twopeople@hankyung.com