Lithium-ion Batteries Recycling Plant Setup in India

A lithium-ion battery recycling plant is a facility that processes used or end-of-life lithium-ion batteries to recover reusable materials and reduce harmful waste. These batteries, once they reach the end of their life cycle, can become a serious environmental hazard if not handled correctly. A recycling plant uses different techniques such as mechanical separation, hydrometallurgical, and pyrolysis processes to extract the precious metals and safely dispose of the remaining material. 

These plants play an essential role in the circular economy. Instead of discarding old batteries, recycling helps extract key materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel, which can be reused in the production of new batteries. This reduces the need for mining and helps conserve natural resources while reducing pollution and carbon emissions.

What is Lithium-Ion Battery?

A lithium-ion battery, commonly referred to as a lithium-ion battery, is a rechargeable battery. It has become incredibly popular in various electronic devices. It is a type of secondary battery that utilizes lithium ions to store and release electrical energy. Li-ion batteries are known for their high energy density, which means they can store a significant amount of energy in a relatively small and lightweight package. This makes them ideal for portable devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

The battery consists of two electrodes, an anode and a cathode. The electrolyte separates these electrodes and allows the lithium ions to move between them during the charging and discharging processes. When the charging process is going on, the lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode, where they are stored and when the battery is draining means is in use, the lithium ions flow back to the cathode. This movement generates an electric current that powers the device. The anode typically contains graphite while the cathodes use lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate, or other materials.

What is Lithium Ion Battery Recycling Plant?

In a lithium-ion battery recycling plant, the recycler breaks down these batteries and processes their components to obtain raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese etc. The manufacturers buy these recovered raw materials for the manufacturing of new batteries. In this manner, we can help our environment by reducing the resources required to fulfil the need for li-ion batteries for various different purposes.

There are two kinds of batteries based on their core characteristics-

• Primary Battery
• Secondary Battery

Primary Battery - We use primary batteries in our daily lives. These batteries are simple and convenient but we can only use these one time. Once it runs out of power, we can't recharge it and need to replace it with a new one. Mostly remote controls, watches, flashlights and toys use primary batteries.

Secondary Battery - A secondary battery is a type of battery that we can recharge and use multiple times. These batteries can be plugged into a charger connected to a power source to recharge their power. These are more eco-friendly and cost-effective in comparison to their counterpart as we don't need to buy new batteries frequently. The manufacturers use secondary rechargeable batteries in devices like smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles.

Eligibility Criteria for Setting up Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plants in India

To set up a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in India, certain eligibility requirements must be met:

• Business Registration: The plant must be registered under a valid legal entity such as a private limited company, partnership firm or sole proprietorship.
• Location and Zoning: The plant must be located in an area approved for industrial use and comply with local zoning and land use regulations.
• Environmental Clearance: Clearance must be obtained from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and other environmental authorities. These include consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO).
• Compliance with E-Waste and Battery Waste Regulations: The plant should operate in accordance with the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 and the e-waste management regulations issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• Experienced Workforce: Skilled employees with expertise in battery recycling techniques, hazardous materials handling, and environmental safety are essential for smooth and safe operations.
• Fire Safety Compliance: Due to the flammable nature of lithium-ion batteries, the facility must be equipped with fire detection, control and prevention systems, as well as obtain the relevant fire safety approvals.
• Adequate Infrastructure: The plant must have reliable access to infrastructure such as electricity, water, transportation, waste disposal systems, and proper ventilation.
• Investment Capacity: Sufficient financial resources are required to cover installation costs, including land acquisition, machinery, licensing, personnel, security systems, and operational expenses.

Recycling discarded materials always helps to keep the environment clean and healthy from unnecessary waste, especially something that is harmful to nature because of its toxic characteristics or the involvement of harmful substances. Batteries also use toxic and harmful chemicals in their manufacturing and provide many benefits if recycled after they reach the end of life. Some of the major benefits of battery recycling plants are as follows-

• Pollution Control

The recycling of waste batteries helps to redirect the waste to the recycling facilities which otherwise could have ended in a landfill. These landfills cause soil contamination and Li-ion Battery Recycling Plants completely mitigate this problem.

• Cost Reduction

The cost of manufacturing new batteries decreases when the manufacturers use recycled raw materials in their production. Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant provides these recycled raw materials such as cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese, and lithium.

• Resource Saving

Recyclers extract various raw materials from waste batteries. It does not only save costs but also cuts the burden on our limited natural resources by minimising our dependency.

• Energy Efficiency

Lithium Ion Battery Recycling Plant Setup in India also saves energy on a large scale. The energy required to complete the recycling process of waste batteries is way lower than the energy required for the refining of the same material from the natural ores. In this way, we save a lot of energy which also contributes to the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and ultimately the prevention of Climate Change.

• Sustainability

Minimising the extraction of natural resources from the planet and processing unusable waste to convert it into usable materials are the practices we need to implement for the sustainable growth of the country. And the Lithium Ion Battery Recycling Plant will help to achieve this goal.

• Employment Creation

The increasing number of li-ion battery-operated devices in the market is a sign that battery waste recycling will be a profitable business in the near future and it will create employment opportunities. More employment will boost the country's economy as well by increasing the gross domestic product (GDP).

Methods of Recycling

There are multiple methods to recycle a Lithium-Ion Battery. Some of the commonly used methods are as follows-

• Hydro Metallurgical Process

Hydro Metallurgy is a process in which recyclers extract the metals from their ores using aqueous solutions. This method helps in li-ion battery recycling to segregate the metal from the waste batteries. It involves the processes of leaching, electrolysis, and precipitation.

• Pyro Metallurgical Process

Pyro Metallurgy involves the smelting process instead of the chemicals used in Hydro Metallurgy. The Lithium-Ion Batteries are disassembled before feeding into the heating furnace. In this process, the batteries are reduced by pre-heating, pyrolysis and smelting. The lithium can be extracted from a selective arc furnace method which separates the electrode materials into alloys and lithium concentrate.

• Direct Physical Process

In this process, the Li-ion Batteries are broken down into many small cells and then the recyclers treat these cells using supercritical carbon dioxide. Supercritical CO2 is the same gas but at high temperature and pressure where it converts into a fluid and can treat electrolytes. After extracting the treated electrolytes, the recycler separates and regenerates the spent cathodes using the sintering process.

Machines Used in Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant

The recycler may need the following machinery to set up a Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant-

• Shredder - The recycler needs a shredder to tear the used batteries into smaller pieces for subsequent processing.
• Granulator - The granulators cut down this shredded material into smaller pieces for easy transportation and processing by other machinery.
• Pyrolysis System - This system includes a reactor, condenser and furnace. It helps to separate useful items from the used battery using Pyro Metallurgy Method.
• Separator - This machinery separates various materials processed in the Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant like copper etc. for further purification.
• Tail Gas Treatment System - In this system, the recycler treats the gas produced during the pyrolysis process.

The Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant possess numerous environmental threats because of the usage of dangerous waste, chemicals, batteries and treatment processes. Hence the authorities monitor these establishments and require them to fulfil all the prescribed compliances, obtain requisite documents and follow the applicable rules. The key documents required for the Li Ion Battery Recycling Plant Setup in India are as follows-

• Aadhaar and PAN of Responsible Person
• Business Registration (MSME, Partnership, CIN etc.)
• PAN Card of the Company
• GST Registration of the Company
• Udyog Aadhaar (if Applicable)
• MoA and AoA of the Company
• Consent to Establishment
• Consent to Operation
• OTR Under BWM Rules
• Hazardous Waste Management Authorisation
• District Industries Centre Registration (DIC)

The process to set up a Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant includes various stages including land finalisation, document preparation, machinery setup, and compliance with the legal provisions. The step-by-step guide for Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant Setup is as follows-

Registration, Authorisation and Consent

• The recycler of the lithium-ion battery needs to obtain consent from the State Pollution Control Board. There are two consents that you require to set up the Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant - Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate.
• You can obtain these consents through an online consent managment system managed by the SPCB. In union territories, there are Pollution Control Committees instead of SPCBs.
• The recyclers need to obtain the one-time registration as prescribed under the Battery Waste Management Rules. To obtain this Battery Waste Management Authorization, you need to submit Form 2A to the State Pollution Control Board along with the above-mentioned documents.
• After scrutinising the document and examining the application, the SPCB will grant registration as per the format of Form 2B to the applicant. This registration grants permission to the recycler to operate his recycling plant and recycle the Li-ion batteries.
• Lithium-Ion Battery qualifies for the applicability of Hazardous Waste Managment Rules. Hence the recycler should also obtain the Hazardous Waste Management Authorisation from the State Pollution Control Board for the recycling of Li-ion Batteries.

Responsibilities of the Recycler

• The recyclers should ensure that the recycling processes used to recycle the Lithium-Ion Batteries are in accordance with guidelines prescribed by the CPCB.
• He should manage any generated, produced or processed waste in accordance with the provisions of respective Solid, Plastic, Hazardous or E-Waste Management Rules.
• If the recycler collects any appliances then he also has the responsibility to remove any waste batteries from them. He should not store any appliance with a waste battery installed in it.
• The recycler should file quarterly returns to the CPCB portal regularly.
• Recyclers should not deal with any entity that did not register under these rules. And it should submit quarterly reports to the CPCB portal about recycled batteries in that time span.
• The recyclers should provide the Waste Battery Recycling Certificate to the parties after recycling their batteries.

There are various heads to allot funds when setting up a Li-ion Battery Recycling Plant. First, you have to arrange the land and the cost for that depends on the kind of transaction you need to execute. It can be a purchase, rent or lease. After that, you need to purchase the machinery required for the plant. It includes the Pyrolysis System, Shredder, Separator, Granulator etc. Once all equipments are in place you also need to fulfill the documentations which includes the authorisation, consent and registration. The government also provides various facilities and subsidies for small businesses setting up Lithium Battery Recycling Plant in India.

Registration for recyclers under the Battery Waste Management Rules of 2022 is a one-time registration only while the consent granted by the State Pollution Control Board (CTE and CTO) and the Hazardous Waste Management Authorisation requires renewal after validity is expired. The cost for first-time issuance or renewal varies from state to state and it also depends on the size of the business. It starts as low as Rs. 1,000 and goes up to Rs. 7,00,000 for businesses worth 200 crores and more capital. If you are planning or setting up a Lithium Battery Recycling Plant in India, you need to consider these heads and allot the budget for the same.

Corpseed is one of the top consulting firms, offering end-to-end assistance in setting up industrial plants across sectors. When it comes to setting up a Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant, Corpseed provides expert support across all critical stages of the project:

• Land Acquisition: We assist in identifying and securing suitable land for the lithium-ion battery recycling plant, ensuring it aligns with environmental norms, zoning regulations, and operational requirements for smooth and compliant functioning.
• Machineries: Corpseed helps source state-of-the-art machinery from both domestic and international manufacturers. We ensure that your recycling plant is equipped with advanced technology for battery dismantling, material separation, and purification.
• Raw Materials & Sourcing: We support businesses in creating a robust supply chain by helping source used lithium-ion batteries from various industries, including electric vehicles, electronics, and energy storage systems.
• End-to-End Services: From project planning and feasibility studies to design, execution, and post-commissioning support, Corpseed delivers complete project management solutions to ensure a hassle-free plant setup experience.
• Utility Setup: Our team assists in designing and implementing essential utilities such as water treatment systems, power supply, ventilation, and waste handling infrastructure, ensuring your plant runs efficiently and in compliance with environmental standards.
• Government Schemes & Compliance: We help you tap into government incentives and schemes specific to battery recycling and green energy. We also ensure your project aligns with regulations from bodies like CPCB, MoEF&CC, and other relevant authorities.
• Labour Support: Whether it's technical staff for operating sophisticated machinery or general workforce for handling logistics and processing, Corpseed guides you in sourcing the right mix of skilled and unskilled labour for optimum productivity.