Dowa Group Commercializes its Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Operations

Dowa Holding Co., a Japanese company whose operations range anywhere from non-ferrous metal refining to environmental recycling, announced on November 9, 2010, that its subsidiary, Dowa Eco-System Co., has commercialized its lithium-ion battery recycling operations for used batteries and scraps produced from manufacturing processes.

In addition to their use in household electric appliances, lithium-ion batteries are becoming an increasingly integral part of the automobile sector and other industry sectors. From the perspective of resource circulation and materials procurement, as production in these industries increases even further, there are growing requirements for more appropriate and low-cost recycling of used lithium-ion batteries and the rare metals contained within them, such as cobalt and nickel.

Dowa Eco-System collects scraps produced in various processes spanning from materials manufacturing all the way to end products and used batteries, and recycles high-purity rare metals contained in the collected scraps into raw materials. The company's industrial waste intermediate treatment facilities accept more than 1,000 tons of used lithium-ion batteries annually and refine them into raw materials.

The company has also succeeded in developing a technology for refining highly concentrated lithium from lithium-ion batteries, and is considering supplying lithium as a raw material for new battery production.

Posted: 2011/02/19 06:00:15 AM