The Brussels-based International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF), in a recap of national statistics, says stainless steel production increased globally by 24.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2020.

The ISSF says the 14.5 million tons of stainless steel made in the first 3 months of 2021 also represent a 2.7 percent rise compared with the previous quarter.

The most dramatic year-on-year rebound has been in China, where nearly 37 percent more stainless steel was made in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time frame in 2020, when COVID-19-related lockdowns were in effect part of the time.

The previous quarter comparison, however, shows Europe as the big gainer, with output there rising by 11 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the final quarter of 2020. The United States, likewise, showed a 9.7 percent gain in output compared with the final quarter of 2020, when many states were still operating under workplace restrictions.

In a June 17 news item, metals information service provider Davis Index said demand for stainless steel scrap had been “very strong” since the beginning of June. Despite declining primary nickel prices, stainless steel scrap prices in the U.S. are not expected to follow suit and lose value this month, according to a scrap processor contacted by the news service.

Finland-based conglomerate Fortum says it will invest to expand its lithium-ion battery recycling capacity by building a new hydrometallurgical plant in Harjavalta, Finland.

The investment, estimated at about €24 million ($28.7 million) will increase Fortum’s hydrometallurgical recycling capacity and enable it to produce what it calls “sustainable battery chemicals.” The new facility will be able to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from old electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries while also recycling other materials back into the battery supply chain, says the firm.

“The new facility in Harjavalta will create approximately 30 jobs in the near future, but its impact will be felt throughout Europe as it will be the largest facility in the market of its kind once completed,” says Kalle Saarimaa, a vice president with Fortum Recycling & Waste.

“Our solid offering covers several key segments of the battery value chain, and we look forward to our collaboration with key players in those fields,” adds Saarimaa. “As the electrification of transportation gathers pace, the raw materials gap faced by the automotive industry is increasingly becoming a serious challenge. Our new facility will strongly support the existing Finnish and European battery manufacturing ecosystems, but it will also help the entire industry produce more sustainable batteries in Europe.”

Fortum says it uses a combination of mechanical and low-CO₂ hydrometallurgical technologies to recycle the batteries 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 the metals, is collected and then taken to Harjavalta for hydrometallurgical processing.

Fortum is currently operating an industrial-scale hydrometallurgical pilot plant in Harjavalta. The new facility to be built, which is expected to be operational in 2023, will enable Fortum to recycle the majority of EV batteries reaching their end-of-life in Europe, says the company.

In March, Fortum’s hydrometallurgical battery recycling operations were identified as one of four Fortum projects to be shortlisted for the EU’s Innovation Fund for low-carbon technologies. The four Fortum projects made it through to a shortlist of 70 candidates for financing from the EU’s €1 billion ($1.2 billion) first Innovation Fund.

Finland-based Neste and Netherlands-based LyondellBasell have announced what they call a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will use Neste RE, a feedstock produced from 100 percent discarded materials such as used cooking oils and fats. The feedstock will be processed through the polymer cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

LyondellBasell’s CirculenRenew product line consist of polymers linked to renewable-based feedstocks, while polymers made from mechanically recycled materials are marketed under the brand name CirculenRecover and those linked to advanced (molecular) recycling are called CirculenRevive.

“We are delighted that our strategic relationship with LyondellBasell is further strengthened with this long-term commercial agreement,” says Mercedes Alonso, executive vice president of renewable polymers and chemicals at Neste.

“With LyondellBasell, we share both the innovative spirit and the sense of urgency to make active contributions towards combating climate change and accelerating the shift to a circular bio-economy,” adds Alonso. “We made history together by joining forces in 2019 in the world’s first commercial-scale production of bio-based polypropylene and bio-based polyethylene with verified renewable content. I am very much looking forward to the next industry milestones we can reach together.”

Comments Richard Roudeix, a LyondellBasell senior vice president, “We are very pleased that together with Neste we can bring our customers one step closer to the creation of more sustainable end products. The extended relationship with Neste is an important piece in our multi-pronged approach to deliver on our sustainability goals. We have already made some significant steps in this direction since the beginning of this year, amongst which the recent launch of our Circulen product family and the ISCC PLUS certification, which we have obtained for our European polymer sites.”

Medford, New York-based Gershow Recycling has named Preethi Krishnamoorthy, a senior at Herricks High School in Searingtown, New York, as the recipient of its 2021 Environmental Conservation Scholarship.

Krishnamoorthy was awarded a one-time scholarship in the amount of $1,000 from the scrap recycling and auto shredding company. “As a leading environmental recycling company, Gershow awards the competitive scholarship to graduating seniors who have displayed exemplary efforts in the fields of environmental science or engineering while in high school and plan to continue to pursue higher education degrees in either of these areas of study,” states the company.

Gershow Recycling has nine locations in and around New York City and employs about 750 people. The family business was started in 1964 by Sam Gershowitz.