Battery recycler Ecobat, Dallas, plans to build a lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, that it says will initially produce an estimated 10,000 tons of recycled material per year, with plans to expand capacity in the future.
The new facility will the Ecobat’s first in North America and its third overall.
“We are thrilled to grow our global lithium-ion battery recycling footprint with a new facility in Casa Grande, Arizona,” Ecobat CEO Marcus Randolph says. “This facility, like our lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in Germany and the United Kingdom, represents a significant milestone in Ecobat’s strategy to grow our lithium-ion battery recycling business to a scale, similar to our world-leading lead battery recycling business.”
The company says the Casa Grande site will repurpose LIBs reaching end-of-life through diagnostics, sorting, shredding and material separation to produce a concentrated black mass containing the valuable materials in LIBs. It will be located approximately one mile from the existing Ecobat Resources Arizona facility, which has been manufacturing anodes for 15 years. The company says it plans to start work on the new plant in the third quarter of this year.
“With the addition of yet another global battery innovator, Arizona has become a central hub of energy storage and recycling technologies,” Arizona Commerce Authority President and CEO Sandra Watson says. “With this state-of-the-art facility, Ecobat Casa Grande will enhance Arizona’s sustainability footprint while expanding our battery industry and creating skilled jobs.”
Ecobat says it maintains International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in environmental, safety and health, quality and energy management systems. It adds that its expansion in the North American market underpins its commitment to providing sustainable, second-life recycling solutions for advanced battery technology.