Driven by the fast growth of electric vehicles, lithium battery recycling could exceed 9,000 tonnes by 2030, the Ministry of Environment said on Sunday.
Lithium battery recycling has gradually risen over the years, from 253 tonnes in 2019 to 902 tonnes last year, ministry data showed.
The nation’s lithium battery recycling capacity is 3,990 tonnes — which is more than sufficient to meet current demand, Resource Recycle Administration section chief Wong Wen-ying (翁文穎) said.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
However, with the rapid development of the electric vehicle and energy storage industries, a massive amount of lithium batteries are expected to be replaced in the next two to three years, with demand for battery recycling projected to reach more than 9,000 tonnes by 2030, Wong said.
“We are assisting companies in establishing two battery recycling plants in central Taiwan, which could begin operations in 2026. That would boost lithium battery recycling capacity to more than 9,000 tonnes, which should be sufficient to meet demand,” he said.
Battery recycling operators said that in the past used lithium batteries mainly came from mobile phones, laptops and other consumer electronic devices, adding that they recycled about 200 tonnes of lithium batteries per year.
As such, Taiwan had a relatively incomplete recycling chain for used lithium batteries, which would normally be exported to other countries and processed there after recycling, they said.
However, more domestic battery recycling operators have begun processing the lithium batteries they collect, although their capacities have yet to reach economies of scale, they said.
Experts said Taiwan should actively develop the technology to further extract valuable metals from used lithium batteries.
“Lithium batteries contain ternary polymers, such as lithium nickel cobalt manganate or lithium nickel cobalt aluminate. The black powder obtained after crushing and separating these obsolete batteries can be reduced to lithium, cobalt, manganese and other raw materials if the black powder is of better quality. If it is inferior in quality, it can be used for making iron or steel,” National University of Tainan’s College of Environmental Sciences and Ecology dean Chang Chia-ching (張家欽) said.
“If we want to effectively utilize valuable resources inside lithium batteries, we must develop lithium battery recycling and processing technology to further purify these and remove higher purity metals for subsequent reuse, so that these valuable resources can achieve a real resource cycle,” Chang said.
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