Viridi Parente advances circular energy economy with first shipment of batteries to Li-Cycle for recycling
Viridi Parente has shipped its initial batch of lithium-ion batteries to Li-Cycle Corp., a lithium-ion battery resource recovery and recycler in North America.
By recycling 100 percent of its end-of-life cells, Viridi Parente is expanding the company's commitment to energy sustainability and the circular energy economy by enabling the wider adoption of safe lithium-ion batteries for industrial, commercial, municipal, medical, and residential use.
"It was important to us to find a recycling partner that shares our vision of growing the green economy through innovation and by minimizing the overall environmental footprint of electrification solutions. Together with Li-Cycle, Viridi is becoming part of the solution to the global end-of-life lithium-ion battery issue," said Jon M. Williams, CEO of Viridi Parente.
As of 2019, just over half of the global 180,000 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries available for recycling were recycled. Li-Cycle has the capacity to process up to 10,000 tons of spent lithium-ion batteries per year, and Viridi Parente plans to recycle 100 percent of its end-of-life cells.
Traditionally, the battery recycling process involves a smelting process that results in high emissions and recovery of less than 50 percent of the materials. Li-Cycle recovers up to 95 percent of the materials found in lithium-ion batteries through its patented, Spoke & Hub Technologies.
The zero-waste process converts manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries into intermediate products, including "black mass," a powder substance containing cobalt, nickel, lithium, and other valuable elements. The "black mass" is processed through a hydrometallurgical circuit to produce critical, battery grade-materials that can be returned to the economy. This minimizes the overall environmental footprint of the end-to-end resources recovery process and reduces the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise be produced from mining these finite resources.
In addition to avoiding landfill disposal for its batteries, Viridi Parente's relationship with Li-Cycle builds upon the company's pledge to facilitate the economic development of its local community and shape an energy ecosystem in New York that helps meet the state's decarbonization goals.
Viridi's batteries are manufactured in its facility in Buffalo, New York, which improved the local community by renovating a fossil-fuel-powered plant into a solar-powered facility. Now the company's batteries will be recycled at Li-Cycle's facility in Rochester, New York, a similar adaptive reuse project housed in a former Eastman Kodak facility.
"This partnership with Li-Cycle is a very good example of how local companies can work together to create a fully renewable economy that benefits all, regardless of their zip code," commented Dennis Elsenbeck, President of Viridi Parente.
