[Special Stock] Welcron Hantec, Game-Changer in Secondary Battery Core Materials... Technology Coveted by China and Europe

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Welcron Hantec is showing strong performance. The news that Welcron Hantec's concentration equipment enables stable raw material supply and battery manufacturing cost reduction through recycling of core materials for electric vehicle secondary batteries appears to have influenced the stock price.

As of 1:08 PM on the 26th, Welcron Hantec is trading at 3,910 KRW, up 19.57% from the previous day.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the expansion of the electric vehicle market, competition to secure secondary battery materials is intensifying. Welcron Hantec, an industrial plant and comprehensive construction company, entered the secondary battery market in 2016 by supplying lithium hydroxide concentration and crystallization equipment. Welcron Hantec's concentration equipment is used to increase the concentration of raw material solutions or to separate and crystallize specific components in aqueous solutions with high purity. The solvent recovery equipment distills and refines pure MC (methylene chloride) and oil from waste MC mixed solutions generated during the wet separator manufacturing process.

Welcron Hantec stated that major domestic and international separator manufacturers are rushing to introduce solvent recovery equipment to reduce costs. Representative global separator manufacturers with large production capacities include China’s Shanghai Energy (SEMCORP) and Jinli New Energy Co., Ltd. (GELLEC). Shanghai Energy is a subsidiary of Changxin New Materials, the world's largest EV (electric vehicle) battery separator supplier.

By utilizing Welcron Hantec's solvent recovery equipment, the production cost of secondary battery separators can be reduced. Separators have the second highest cost proportion in secondary batteries after cathode materials. Among them, MC is an organic solvent used to remove oil from separator films and is an essential and expensive material for wet separator production. In the past, waste MC was mostly discarded after use because simple reuse negatively affected separator yield.

Using solvent recovery equipment, MC can be recovered with high purity from waste solutions mixed with oil and MC, enabling over 99% recycling.

The European Union (EU) has announced plans to regulate the proportion of recycled raw materials in batteries starting in 2030. The 'Sustainable Battery Act,' which includes mandatory recycling of battery raw materials, is also expected to come into effect within this year.

Welcron Hantec also possesses waste battery recycling equipment that refines and recycles cathode materials, which determine the price of secondary batteries. The company explains that as the electric vehicle market grows, the importance of technologies that efficiently refine and recycle rare valuable metals such as lithium and nickel for battery cost reduction increases.

A Welcron Hantec official said, "Based on the company's concentration and crystallization technology, including separator solvent recovery equipment and waste battery recycling equipment, we plan to actively target the global secondary battery materials market."