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recycling","lithium-prices-and-feedstock-availability-key-to-profitable-lfp-recycling","article/lithium-prices-and-feedstock-availability-key-to-profitable-lfp-recycling",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":565,"content":575,"excerpt":903,"featured":51,"reporter":904,"_editable":908,"component":909,"seo_title":543,"categories":910,"visibility":928,"author_company":49,"data_vis_image":929,"featured_image":935,"seo_description":903,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":938,"formattedArticleDate":939},"3bbde620-8ec2-4a75-9055-e2dcec0f5cfc","2024-02-23 00:00",[550,553,556,559,562],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",{"slug":554,"name":555},"data-visualisation","Data Visualisation",{"slug":557,"name":558},"europe","Europe",{"slug":560,"name":561},"lithium-prices","Lithium prices",{"slug":563,"name":564},"north-america","North America",[566],{"slug":567,"name":568,"content":569},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":570,"image":571,"bio":573,"linkedin":574},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":572},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":576,"content":577},"doc",[578,603,616,629,642,647,652,659,670,679,684,689,708,721,726,734,739,744,756,761,787,792,797,821,831,836,841,846,851,856,861,873,878,883,888,893,898],{"type":579,"attrs":580,"content":581},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[582,585,593,595,601],{"text":583,"type":584},"With lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries ","text",{"text":586,"type":584,"marks":587},"increasing in popularity",[588],{"type":589,"attrs":590},"link",{"href":591,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/stellantis-catl-deal-could-bring-chinese-lfp-battery-production-to-europe","url",{"text":594,"type":584},", recycling them will be key to ",{"text":596,"type":584,"marks":597},"reducing the demand-side pressures",[598],{"type":589,"attrs":599},{"href":600,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/battery-recycling-pool-could-supplement-2040-lithium-supply-with-equivalent-to-30-mines",{"text":602,"type":584}," facing lithium producers.",{"type":579,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606,608,614],{"text":607,"type":584},"However, unlike nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cells, the only critical mineral accessible to recyclers in an LFP cell is lithium, exposing them more strongly to the ",{"text":609,"type":584,"marks":610},"mineral’s pricing trends",[611],{"type":589,"attrs":612},{"href":613,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/falling-lithium-prices-challenge-new-project-economics",{"text":615,"type":584},".",{"type":579,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619,621,627],{"text":620,"type":584},"Since February 2023, ",{"text":622,"type":584,"marks":623},"Benchmark’s Lithium Price Index",[624],{"type":589,"attrs":625},{"href":626,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/price-assessments/lithium/portal",{"text":628,"type":584}," has fallen 81% making the economics of recycling LFP significantly less favourable, especially in the West.",{"type":579,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632,634,640],{"text":633,"type":584},"“In the simplest of ways, if the lithium price is at the levels that we’re seeing today, we don’t think that, in the West at least, the recycling of LFP can be done profitably today without the gate fees,” ",{"text":635,"type":584,"marks":636},"Piotr Kulas",[637],{"type":589,"attrs":638},{"href":639,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/video/watch/analyst-insights-can-lfp-be-recycled-profitably",{"text":641,"type":584},", a cost analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":579,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":584},"One reason for this is that China, generally, is a more cost effective country to build a recycling plant in than Western countries.",{"type":579,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":584},"“Things are fast to build in China,” Kulas said. “They happen faster, they’re cheaper to make, there’s less red tape, and so on and so forth.”",{"type":653,"attrs":654,"content":656},"heading",{"level":655,"textAlign":49},4,[657],{"text":658,"type":584},"The value of lithium has fallen",{"type":579,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662,664,669],{"text":663,"type":584},"This time last year, battery grade lithium carbonate was priced at RMB 434,000 per tonne ($62,925). Since then it has fallen 78% to RMB 95,400 ($13,250), according to ",{"text":665,"type":584,"marks":666},"Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment",[667],{"type":589,"attrs":668},{"href":626,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},{"text":615,"type":584},{"type":579,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673],{"type":674,"attrs":675},"image",{"id":49,"alt":676,"src":677,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":678},"In the last year, lithium prices have fallen around 80%","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/15e55974f0/bm-lithium-carbonate-price-chart.png",{},{"type":579,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682],{"text":683,"type":584},"Unlike other battery chemistries, lithium is the only battery mineral that is extracted in the last stage of the battery recycling process for LFP. So with the price so low, there isn’t as strong an economic case to be made for recycling such batteries.",{"type":579,"attrs":685,"content":686},{"textAlign":49},[687],{"text":688,"type":584},"Indeed, when prices were high, 79% of the value of the metal in an LFP cell was lithium. Now this has fallen to 46%.",{"type":579,"attrs":690,"content":691},{"textAlign":49},[692,698,700,706],{"text":693,"type":584,"marks":694},"Benchmark’s Recycling Cost Calculator",[695],{"type":589,"attrs":696},{"href":697,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/recycling/reports",{"text":699,"type":584}," suggests a 10,000 tonne ",{"text":701,"type":584,"marks":702},"black mass",[703],{"type":589,"attrs":704},{"href":705,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/what-is-black-mass-and-how-is-it-priced",{"text":707,"type":584}," processing facility in the US would only be able to break-even recycling end-of-life LFP if they received a gate fee of almost $900 per tonne of black mass received.",{"type":579,"attrs":709,"content":710},{"textAlign":49},[711,713,719],{"text":712,"type":584},"For some ",{"text":714,"type":584,"marks":715},"European countries",[716],{"type":589,"attrs":717},{"href":718,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/what-does-europe-need-to-meet-eu-battery-recycling-targets",{"text":720,"type":584}," such as Hungary, recyclers begin to make a small profit if they get the black mass for free.",{"type":579,"attrs":722,"content":723},{"textAlign":49},[724],{"text":725,"type":584},"“At the time of high interest rates and escalating capital costs, the payback on the investment is even harder to achieve,” Kulas said. “Having a choice between NCM and LFP feedstock, it is hard to make an economic case for recycling LFP.”",{"type":579,"attrs":727,"content":728},{"textAlign":49},[729],{"type":674,"attrs":730},{"id":49,"alt":731,"src":732,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":733},"Fallingh lithium prices sees metal value in LFP cells drop significantly","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/683ad56d24/bm-lfp-value-131355320d23.png",{},{"type":653,"attrs":735,"content":736},{"level":655,"textAlign":49},[737],{"text":738,"type":584},"To scale needs feedstock",{"type":579,"attrs":740,"content":741},{"textAlign":49},[742],{"text":743,"type":584},"In order to recycle LFP batteries, a company needs access to waste LFP batteries.",{"type":579,"attrs":745,"content":746},{"textAlign":49},[747,749,755],{"text":748,"type":584},"This can either be in the form of an end-of-life LFP battery from an electric vehicle or energy storage system, or it could be ",{"text":750,"type":584,"marks":751},"process scrap from gigafactories",[752],{"type":589,"attrs":753},{"href":754,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/battery-production-scrap-to-be-main-source-of-recyclable-material-this-decade",{"text":615,"type":584},{"type":579,"attrs":757,"content":758},{"textAlign":49},[759],{"text":760,"type":584},"In either case, the vast majority of LFP batteries available for recycling are located in China, where most LFP gigafactories are and where penetration of LFP batteries into the EV market is high.",{"type":579,"attrs":762,"content":763},{"textAlign":49},[764,766,771,773,778,780,786],{"text":765,"type":584},"A recycler setting up in ",{"text":564,"type":584,"marks":767},[768],{"type":589,"attrs":769},{"href":770,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/the-companies-shaping-the-north-american-lithium-ion-recycling-ecosystem",{"text":772,"type":584}," or ",{"text":558,"type":584,"marks":774},[775],{"type":589,"attrs":776},{"href":777,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/north-american-recyclers-set-sights-on-european-market",{"text":779,"type":584}," will have far less access to waste LFP feedstock as there are no operating gigafactories in those regions that produce LFP cells according to ",{"text":781,"type":584,"marks":782},"Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Database",[783],{"type":589,"attrs":784},{"href":785,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium-ion-batteries/reports",{"text":615,"type":584},{"type":579,"attrs":788,"content":789},{"textAlign":49},[790],{"text":791,"type":584},"Without access to large amounts of feedstock, economies of scale are less accessible. A large LFP recycling facility in North America or Europe would potentially need to operate at low utilisation rates until more feedstock became available.",{"type":579,"attrs":793,"content":794},{"textAlign":49},[795],{"text":796,"type":584},"“No one is going to invest a significant amount of capital, if they don’t think they will have uninterrupted flow of the batteries to run their plant at high utilisation,” Kulas said.",{"type":579,"attrs":798,"content":799},{"textAlign":49},[800,805,807,811,818],{"text":801,"type":584,"marks":802},"Watch Benchmark principal analyst Piotr Kulas discuss the challenges of LFP recycling",[803],{"type":804},"italic",{"text":806,"type":584},". ",{"text":808,"type":584,"marks":809},"View more analyst insight videos ",[810],{"type":804},{"text":812,"type":584,"marks":813},"here",[814,817],{"type":589,"attrs":815},{"href":816,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/search/tag/analyst-insights?items_per_page=12&page_offset=0&tags[]=analyst-insights",{"type":804},{"text":615,"type":584,"marks":819},[820],{"type":804},{"type":579,"attrs":822,"content":823},{"textAlign":49},[824,829],{"text":825,"type":584,"marks":826},"Benchmark’s Recycling Forecast",[827],{"type":589,"attrs":828},{"href":697,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},{"text":830,"type":584}," shows in North America, just 16% of the end-of-life batteries available for recycling are LFP, compared to 35% for NCM. Similar percentages are seen in Europe",{"type":579,"attrs":832,"content":833},{"textAlign":49},[834],{"text":835,"type":584},"“Considering LFP recycling outside of China makes sense if one takes into account the future make-up of the recycled battery mix,” Kulas said.",{"type":579,"attrs":837,"content":838},{"textAlign":49},[839],{"text":840,"type":584},"In both North America and Europe, around 40% of the end-of-life battery pool in 2030 is forecast to be LFP, though it will remain a low proportion of process scrap.",{"type":653,"attrs":842,"content":843},{"level":655,"textAlign":49},[844],{"text":845,"type":584},"Integration helps but doesn’t solve the problem",{"type":579,"attrs":847,"content":848},{"textAlign":49},[849],{"text":850,"type":584},"For both shredders and integrated recyclers, a key cost is the scrap batteries. In a non-integrated setup, a shredder buys scrap batteries and processes them to produce black mass and metal scrap. The black mass is then sold on to a recycler at a profit.",{"type":579,"attrs":852,"content":853},{"textAlign":49},[854],{"text":855,"type":584},"In an integrated system, the profits of the shredding process are internalised, reducing costs.",{"type":579,"attrs":857,"content":858},{"textAlign":49},[859],{"text":860,"type":584},"“Western companies, their typical business model has always been the spoke and hub model,” Kulas said. “Where spokes would be the shredding plants located quite close to where the batteries are collected, and hubs would be largely hydrometallurgical plants that are fed by a variety of those spokes.”",{"type":579,"attrs":862,"content":863},{"textAlign":49},[864,866,871],{"text":865,"type":584},"But, even with the lower costs enjoyed by integrated companies, ",{"text":867,"type":584,"marks":868},"Benchmark’s Recycling Cost Model",[869],{"type":589,"attrs":870},{"href":697,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":592},{"text":872,"type":584}," shows that an integrated recycler taking end-of-life LFP battery modules in the US or Europe would need a gate-fee for the scrap batteries in order to breakeven.",{"type":579,"attrs":874,"content":875},{"textAlign":49},[876],{"text":877,"type":584},"“Shredding plants are relatively cheap and fast to set up, therefore any feedstock will do,” Kulas said. “However, given the capital costs involved in building the hydrometallurgical plant outside of China, and significantly smaller revenues derived from recycling of the LFP, it is hard to make a case for using the LFP black mass as the first choice.”",{"type":653,"attrs":879,"content":880},{"level":655,"textAlign":49},[881],{"text":882,"type":584},"Value outside of lithium",{"type":579,"attrs":884,"content":885},{"textAlign":49},[886],{"text":887,"type":584},"Beyond lithium, there is also notable value in the copper and aluminium foils. As the foils are in a pure elemental form, these are extracted in the battery shredding process. As such the value of the foils is gained by the shredder, not the black mass processor.",{"type":579,"attrs":889,"content":890},{"textAlign":49},[891],{"text":892,"type":584},"This is one reason why shredding makes a stronger business case in the West than black mass processing: copper and aluminium prices are currently more stable than those of lithium and other battery minerals making revenues more predictable.",{"type":579,"attrs":894,"content":895},{"textAlign":49},[896],{"text":897,"type":584},"“[Shredders] can shred an LFP battery and get the foils–copper and aluminium–and sell it as scrap and maybe keep the black mass for one day or export it somewhere else,” Kulas said.",{"type":579,"attrs":899,"content":900},{"textAlign":49},[901],{"text":902,"type":584},"An integrated recycler, a company which both shreds the batteries and processes the resulting black mass, can gain the value of the metal foils as well as the minerals contained in the black mass.","With lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries increasing in popularity, recycling them will be key to reducing the demand-side pressures facing lithium producers. However, unlike nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cells, the only critical mineral accessible to recyclers in an LFP cell is lithium, exposing them more strongly to the mineral’s pricing trends. Since February 2023, Benchmark’s […]",[905],{"slug":567,"name":568,"content":906},{"job_title":570,"image":907,"bio":573,"linkedin":574},{"filename":572},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"3bbde620-8ec2-4a75-9055-e2dcec0f5cfc\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[911,914,917,919,922,925],{"slug":912,"name":913},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":915,"name":916},"gigafactories","Battery & Gigafactory",{"slug":918,"name":8},"lithium",{"slug":920,"name":921},"phosphate","Phosphate",{"slug":923,"name":924},"recycling","Recycling",{"slug":926,"name":927},"sustainability","Sustainability","private",{"id":49,"alt":930,"name":931,"focus":931,"title":930,"source":931,"filename":932,"copyright":931,"fieldtype":933,"meta_data":934,"is_external_url":51},"Falling lithium prices sees metal value in LFP cells drop significantly","","https://res.cloudinary.com/benchmarkminerals/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1708695801/www-production/LFP-value-no-Y/LFP-value-no-Y.png?_i=AA","asset",{"alt":930,"title":930,"source":931,"copyright":931},{"id":49,"alt":931,"name":931,"focus":931,"title":931,"source":931,"filename":936,"copyright":931,"fieldtype":933,"meta_data":937,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/22ed4c5523/bm-adobestock-110768217.jpeg",{"alt":931,"title":931,"source":931,"copyright":931},"Feb 23, 2024","23rd February 2024",[],[],1781715065308]