Umicore Inaugurates Battery Recycling Facility in Belgium

Brussels, Belgium-based Umicore has inaugurated its rechargeable battery recycling facility in Hoboken, Belgium. In late 2009 the company announced plans to invest €25 million (US$34.1 From left: Thomas Leysen, Umicore chairman of the board, Kris Peeters, minister-president of Flanders and Marc Grynberg, Umicore CEO, open the new battery recycling facility.
million) to build a battery recycling plant that would produce batteries for hybrid electric vehicles and mobile phone batteries.

In inaugurating the facility, Umicore says the market is anticipated to gain momentum, driven by a combination of intensifying recycling legislation, a continuously growing portable electronics market and an increasing share of hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads.

Umicore’s Hoboken facility will use its patented ultra-high temperature (UHT) smelting technology, which, the company claims, enables a cost-efficient and environmentally sound battery recycling process with the highest recovery rates and with minimal waste.

The facility will enable Umicore to offer a range of new recycling services, including a closed materials loop for battery producers. In addition, the technology will permit Umicore to test its suitability for recycling other streams of materials.

Umicore’s businesses are centered on four business areas: catalysis, energy materials, performance materials and recycling.