Sonid partners with Canadian battery recycling company Recyclico listed on US stock market

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] SonyD, a KOSDAQ-listed company (CEO Choi Simyeong), announced on the 10th that it has signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Canadian lithium-ion battery recycling company RecycLiCo Battery Materials, Inc. to form a battery recycling technology partnership, establish a joint venture, invest, and recruit investors.

The two companies agreed to jointly promote the lithium-ion battery regeneration business in the Korean market. SonyD will be responsible for investment, licensing and permits, and environmental assessments necessary for the construction and operation of recycling plants in Korea. RecycLiCo will provide its internationally patented lithium-ion battery recycling know-how and promote technology transfer and the establishment of the joint venture company.

RecycLiCo (formerly American Manganese), listed on the stock exchanges in the U.S., Canada, and Germany, has shifted its main business from manganese smelting to battery recycling. Recently, in cooperation with its R&D partner Kemetco Research Inc., it has operated a pilot plant in Vancouver, Canada, capable of processing about 200 tons annually, demonstrating that it can recover more than 99% of materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese.

When end-of-life lithium-ion batteries are crushed, a substance called "Black Mass" remains, which contains expensive active materials that account for a significant portion of the manufacturing cost of lithium-ion batteries. RecycLiCo possesses technology that can extract more than 99% of lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and other materials from Black Mass through its proprietary closed-loop hydrometallurgy chemical process.

RecycLiCo's closed-loop hydrometallurgy process has been patented in Korea, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Japan, India, and China. By shortening the extraction process compared to conventional hydrometallurgy, it reduces costs and decreases carbon dioxide emissions. According to an LCA report featuring test results from the UK consulting firm Minviro, producing one mole of lithium hydroxide monohydrate using conventional hydrometallurgy emits an average of 12.7 kg of carbon dioxide, whereas RecycLiCo's process emits only about 3.3 kg.

SonyD and RecycLiCo focused on the potential of the spent battery market, which is expected to grow naturally with the expansion of the global electric vehicle market. Currently, countries including Korea, the U.S., China, and Canada plan to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles starting in 2035, while the UK and Germany will implement this from 2030. Accordingly, Samsung Securities forecasts that the global electric vehicle fleet will surge from 17 million units in 2020 to about 210 million units by 2030.

According to Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute, the global electric vehicle battery market size is expected to grow from 145 GWh in 2020 at an average annual rate of 37%, reaching 3,364 GWh by 2030. The electric vehicle spent battery recycling market is also projected to grow from $800 million (approximately KRW 1.0448 trillion) in 2025 at an average annual rate of 34%, reaching $57.4 billion (approximately KRW 75 trillion) by 2040.

Visiting RecycLiCo’s headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, for the purpose of signing the MOU and conducting technical due diligence, SonyD CEO Choi Simyeong met with CEO Zarko Meseldzia and stated, “RecycLiCo is a company with excellent lithium-ion battery recycling technology. We will integrate RecycLiCo’s technological capabilities with our own to actively promote the lithium-ion battery recycling business in Korea.”