LG Energy
Solution and Toyota Tsusho Corporation have established Green Metals Battery
Innovations, a joint venture company focused on battery recycling. Under the
agreement signed by the U.S. arms of both companies, the partners will construct
and operate a pre-processing plant in Winston-Salem, a city in North Carolina.
The new plant
will handle pre-processing operations to extract black mass, which contains key
raw metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, by dismantling and shredding
battery production scrap. In the initial stage of its operation, the JV will
see LG Energy Solution will supply scrap generated during the production of EV
batteries for Toyota Motor. The facility is scheduled to commence operations in
2026, with an objective to achieve maximum annual processing capacity of 13,500
tons of scrap. This figure, LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho says, is
equivalent to over 40,000 automotive batteries.
That black mass extracted
at the plant will later undergo a separate post-processing stage to recover the
raw materials contained within. The joint venture seeks to further establish a
battery-to-battery closed-loop system where those raw materials are circulated
as recycled resources for new battery materials, advancing a true circular
economy in the battery supply chain.
Through its new
JV, LG Energy Solution and the Toyota Group are ultimately aiming to drive
carbon emissions down through circular economy initiatives. By partnering with
a leading battery recycler equipped with advanced pre-processing technologies
and operational know-how, LG Energy Solution intends to secure a competitive
recycling infrastructure in the region.
