Gwangyang-si to Establish Eco-Friendly Lithium Secondary Battery Recycling Testbed

Annual Processing Capacity of 100 Tons for Secondary Battery Materials

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] Gwangyang City, Jeollanam-do announced on the 20th that it has been selected for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's 2021 Industrial Innovation Infrastructure Project's new task to establish an eco-friendly lithium secondary battery recycling testbed, receiving 10 billion KRW in national funding.

The testbed center will be constructed by 2024 with a budget of 23.3 billion KRW (10 billion KRW national, 3.4 billion KRW provincial, 7.9 billion KRW city, 2 billion KRW private investment) on a 3,300㎡ building area across three buildings within the Gwangyang industrial complex. It will be equipped with 37 testing and evaluation devices of 26 types, including medium and large battery disassembly equipment, capable of processing 100 tons of secondary battery materials annually.

Led by the Korea Battery Industry Association, the project aims for domestic technological independence through establishing an eco-friendly recycling process for medium and large batteries. The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Jeju Technopark, Yonsei University, and Chonnam National University are participating as joint research and development institutions.

Currently, under the domestic electric vehicle battery technology level, assuming a battery lifespan of about 7 years, the volume of battery removals after use is expected to increase explosively. However, until now, lithium secondary battery recycling has lacked standardized evaluation or recycling criteria, causing companies and research institutes attempting recycling to use different methods.

With the establishment of the center through the public contest project, it is expected to provide automated disassembly and separation equipment for EV and ESS waste battery packs and modules, standards and certification for eco-friendly recycling processes, and a performance evaluation basis for recycled materials.

Moon Byung-ju, Director of the Investment and Jobs Division, stated, “Through the establishment of the center, Gwangyang City, where secondary battery raw material supply companies including POSCO Chemical are concentrated, will be developed as a supply and recycling base for core raw materials of secondary batteries, taking a step further toward creating an eco-friendly and low-carbon secondary battery material and component cluster.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.