Primobius receives purchase order from Mercedes-Benz for the hydrometallurgical refinery plant to complete its lithium-ion battery recycling facility, currently under construction in Germany.
Primobius receives purchase order (“PO”) from Mercedes-Benz (“Mercedes”) for the hydrometallurgical refinery (“Hub”) plant to complete its lithium-ion battery (“LiB”) recycling facility, currently under construction, in Kuppenheim, Germany; and
– PO covers fabrication, installation and commissioning of the Hub which will refine intermediate products from the 2,500tpa shredding ‘Spoke’ currently being fabricated for Mercedes under a previous PO.
Innovative battery materials recycler, Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT AIM: NMT) (“” or “the Company”), is pleased to announce that Primobius GmbH (“Primobius”) has received a PO for supply of a hydrometallurgical refining Hub from Mercedes for installation at its Kuppenheim operation in Germany. Primobius is an incorporated battery recycling joint venture (“JV”), company owned 50:50 by Neometals and SMS group GmbH (“SMS”). Primobius is commercialising a patented LiB recycling process via a plant supply and technology licensing business model.
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The PO value is ~ €18.8M (~ A$30.8M) and was awarded as part of a cooperation arrangement with Mercedes (“Cooperation”). Under the Cooperation, Primobius is responsible for the engineering, equipment supply and installation for a 2,500tpa fully-integrated, closed loop Mercedes LiB Recycling Pilot Plant (“Mercedes Spoke” followed by “Mercedes Hub”) (together “Mercedes Pilot Plant”).[i] The Hub is designed to match the capacity required to process intermediate feed material (“Black Mass”) generated from the front-end refining Spoke.
The Mercedes Pilot Plant marks the automotive company’s entry into the field of LiB recycling. As set out in the Mercedes ‘Kuppenheim Ground-Breaking Ceremony’ Press Release dated 3rd March 2023, the Mercedes LiB Recycling Plant at Kuppenheim “aims to cut resource consumption and establish closed-loop recycling of battery raw materials as (Mercedes) moves towards going electric only”. The facility aims to recover materials (including lithium, nickel and cobalt, amongst others) which will be fed back into production of a targeted 50,000 battery modules for installation into new Mercedes vehicles.
The Mercedes Hub PO completes the Primobius contractual arrangements relating to construction of the Mercedes Pilot Plant and follows, as scheduled, closely behind the corresponding Spoke PO[ii]. The award is further validation of the efficacy and scalability of the Primobius technology to meet the needs of global OEM’s generally, and the automotive industry more specifically. Successful commissioning and the achievement of steady state operations will significantly de-risk the next level of scale up to 21,000tpa.
Beyond the Mercedes Pilot Plant, Primobius is focused on engineering an industrial scale solution for Mercedes.
Chris Reed, Neometals Managing Director, says:
We are proud to partner with Mercedes in its journey to lead the closed-loop recycling of lithium batteries.
The relationship exemplifies some of the unique aspects to Primobius’ business model. One of these is the ability to supply plant and offer technology licences so OEMs can retain their battery materials from scrap and end-of-life batteries. Supply certainty, low operating costs and low carbon footprint are key value drivers for OEM’s looking forward. Our measured approach to delivering scalable solutions with our partner and leading plant builder SMS augurs well for penetrating this enormous addressable market.
Primobius looks forward to working with Mercedes to scaleup the technology and provide an industrial scale recycling solution to meet their future needs.”
Next Steps
Primobius has commenced the installation of the Spoke plant equipment and will now commence fabrication of the Hub equipment supply package.
About Primobius GmbH
Primobius is a 50:50 incorporated joint venture between Australian sustainable battery materials producer, Neometals Ltd, and German global plant manufacturer SMS group. Primobius is focused on the development of sustainable processes for the recovery and recycling of lithium-ion batteries.
For more information, please visit https://www.primobius.com.
Authorised on behalf of Neometals by Christopher Reed, Managing Director.
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Primobius receives purchase order from Mercedes-Benz for the hydrometallurgical refinery plant to complete its lithium-ion battery recycling facility, currently under construction in Germany. source
