Latest news with #AchelousPureMetals
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hong Kong startup targets lithium battery waste with AI-powered recycling system
Lithium battery waste is piling up, and a Hong Kong-based startup is showing the world how to clean it up smartly. Achelous Pure Metals has developed a portable, eco-friendly recycling system designed to process used lithium-ion batteries right in urban centers, according to a report on SCMP. The five-year-old company has built a robot-assisted pilot line that can sort, shred, and filter materials from non-electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The process includes vacuum and heat treatment to safely extract hazardous substances like epoxy adhesives and fluorine gases. Another pilot system, which uses nanoparticle-based separation, helps isolate and refine critical metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel from the so-called 'black mass'—a powdery residue left after crushing batteries. The firm's goal is to bring scalable and movable recycling to cities, starting with Hong Kong and eventually expanding across Southeast Asia. 'Our goal is to tackle the growing problem of discarded lithium-ion batteries by bringing scalable, movable, eco-friendly recycling to urban centres starting in Hong Kong, with plans to expand to [Southeast] Asia,' Alan Wong Yuk-chun, co-founder and technical director of the startup told SCMP. While the startup has deployed its technology at a client facility in Jiangsu province that can process up to 10,000 tonnes of battery waste annually, it's facing hurd+6les. A surge in China's recycling capacity has led to a scramble for black mass, while the prices of end products have been falling rapidly. 'Our client's factory has to compete for black mass at higher and higher prices, while the prices of end-products like lithium carbonate keep falling amid oversupply,' said Shawn Cheng, the company's co-founder and R&D director. Battery-grade lithium carbonate, once dubbed 'white gold,' dropped nearly 90 percent in price—from 568,000 yuan in November 2022 to just 60,600 yuan per tonne in May 2024, according to Daiwa Capital Markets. Global lithium oversupply is expected to peak by 2027 before swinging into a deficit early next decade, forecasts UK-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie. In response, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park-based startup is pivoting. It's building out its Hong Kong operation and helping companies across Southeast Asia establish 'micro-factories' that can turn discarded batteries into black mass for export to China. The company is also in talks with local firms to recycle lithium batteries from security transceivers, and exploring opportunities in Malaysia and Singapore for e-waste recovery. 'We want to help [our] partners meet their future recycled content obligations and set up a system to keep track of the materials' footprint for compliance,' Cheng said. The world is staring at a mounting e-waste crisis. In 2022 alone, about 62 million tonnes of electronic waste were generated globally—enough to circle the planet in bumper-to-bumper tractor-trailers, according to a 2024 UN report. That figure is projected to hit 82 million tonnes by 2030, with metals such as copper, gold, and iron making up nearly half the total, valued at an estimated $91 billion. Yet just 22 percent of this waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022, and that figure is expected to drop even further by the decade's end. The UN attributes this to ballooning consumption, limited repair options, shorter product lifespans, and inadequate recycling infrastructure. In response, governments are tightening the screws. New EU regulations mandate lithium recovery rates of 50 percent by 2027 and 80 percent by 2031, with recovery targets for metals like cobalt, copper, and nickel climbing as high as 95 percent.
The Star
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
How a Hong Kong startup is going about recycling lithium batteries
A Hong Kong lithium battery recycling start-up is eyeing opportunities at home and in Southeast Asia amid overcapacity and intense competition for recyclable materials in mainland China. Hong Kong Science and Technology Park-based Achelous Pure Metals currently has a capacity to process 150 tonnes of used non-electric vehicle (EV) batteries a year. It has set up its operations in an industrial building in Tuen Mun in the New Territories, which is pending approval from the Environmental Protection Department. The company crushes the batteries into a so-called black mass – a powdery mixture of valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel – which is then refined into lithium carbonate, cobalt and nickel compounds. 'Our goal is to tackle the growing problem of discarded lithium-ion batteries by bringing scalable, movable, eco-friendly recycling to urban centres starting in Hong Kong, with plans to expand to [Southeast] Asia,' said Alan Wong Yuk-chun, the co-founder and technical director. He said that as the city lacked recycling facilities, small-scale recycling of non-EV batteries could be done in Hong Kong and showcased for overseas business development. Most spent EV batteries were collected and exported, he added. Between two and three tonnes of lithium batteries a day were collected from discarded electrical appliances and power banks in Hong Kong, he said. Achelous has built a pilot version of a robot-assisted system to sort, shred and sift materials derived from the batteries. The system, which is pending a patent, uses a combination of vacuum and heat treatment to evaporate and capture harmful materials and gases like epoxy adhesives and fluorine. The five-year-old start-up has built another pilot project that combines nanoparticles suspended in water or organic solvents that separates molecules based on their charge, to extract and refine valuable metals from the black mass. While Achelous has already deployed its technology at a client's recycling plant in east China's Jiangsu province, which is capable of processing 10,000 tonnes a year, it faces challenges in growing its business due to rampant growth in recycling capacity on the mainland in recent years. 'Our client's factory has to compete for black mass at higher and higher prices, while the prices of end-products like lithium carbonate keep falling amid oversupply,' said Shawn Cheng, Achelous' co-founder and research and development director. The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate, sometimes referred to as 'white gold', plunged nearly 90% to 60,600 yuan (US$7,725) a tonne in May, from 568,000 yuan in November 2022, according to Daiwa Capital Markets. Amid recycling overcapacity in China and US-China trade tensions that threaten to slow demand for lithium batteries, lithium oversupply may peak globally in 2027 before seeing a deficit in the early 2030s, according to a forecast by UK-based commodities consultancy Wood Mackenzie last month. Instead of swimming against the tide, Achelous changed its strategy, setting up a production line in Hong Kong while also seeking to help companies in Southeast Asia build 'micro-factories' to break down lithium batteries and produce black mass to export to its clients in China. The company is in talks with prospective partners to recycle spent lithium batteries from handheld transceivers used by the security industry in Hong Kong, and from discarded electronics in Malaysia and Singapore. 'We want to help [our] partners meet their future recycled content obligations and set up a system to keep track of the materials' footprint for compliance,' Cheng said. Globally, demand for recycled battery materials has been mostly driven by regulations implemented in 2023 by the European Union. The battery and recycling industry is working towards a 50% target for lithium recovery by 2027, rising to 80% by 2031. For cobalt, copper, lead and nickel, the target is 90% by 2027 and 95% by 2031. – South China Morning Post
South China Morning Post
05-06-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong start-up's unique strategy to tackle lithium battery recycling at home, overseas
A Hong Kong lithium battery recycling start-up is eyeing opportunities at home and in Southeast Asia amid overcapacity and intense competition for recyclable materials in mainland China. Hong Kong Science and Technology Park-based Achelous Pure Metals currently has a capacity to process 150 tonnes of used non-electric vehicle (EV) batteries a year. It has set up its operations in an industrial building in Tuen Mun in the New Territories, which is pending approval from the Environmental Protection Department. The company crushes the batteries into a so-called black mass – a powdery mixture of valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel – which is then refined into lithium carbonate, cobalt and nickel compounds. 'Our goal is to tackle the growing problem of discarded lithium-ion batteries by bringing scalable, movable, eco-friendly recycling to urban centres starting in Hong Kong, with plans to expand to [Southeast] Asia,' said Alan Wong Yuk-chun, the co-founder and technical director. Achelous Pure Metal founder and technical director Alan Wong at a joint venture recycling plant in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Photo: Handout He said that as the city lacked recycling facilities , small-scale recycling of non-EV batteries could be done in Hong Kong and showcased for overseas business development. Most spent EV batteries were collected and exported, he added. Between two and three tonnes of lithium batteries a day were collected from discarded electrical appliances and power banks in Hong Kong, he said.
