Fortum uses a combination of mechanical and low-CO2 hydrometallurgical technologies to recycle the batteries as sustainably as possible and with the lowest carbon footprint. The lithium-ion batteries are first disassembled and treated during a mechanical process at Fortum’s plant in Ikaalinen, Finland. The battery’s black mass, containing critical metals, is collected and then taken to hydrometallurgical processing at Fortum's plant in Harjavalta, Finland.
The black mass typically consists of a mixture of lithium, manganese, cobalt and nickel in different ratios. With our cutting-edge hydrometallurgical recycling technology we are able to achieve a recovery rate up to 95% of the scarce metals in battery’s black mass. The hydrometallurgical recycling process involves a chemical precipitation methodology that allows scarce minerals to be recovered and delivered to battery manufacturers for reuse in the production of new batteries.
