IT Ministry Gives Letters of Intent to Additional Companies, Transfers Critical Li-Ion Battery Recycling Technology to 9 Companies​

Nine recycling businesses obtained cost-effective lithium-ion battery recycling technology from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Friday, while nine more received letters of intent from Niti Aayog.

MeitY created this technology as part of the “Centre of Excellence on E-waste Management” established at the Centre for Material for Electronics Technique (C-MET), Hyderabad, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana and industrial partner, Greenko Energies Pvt. Ltd.

Besa Li-ion Batteries Pvt Ltd, Mahalaxmi Metalalloys (India) Pvt Ltd, Nexus Renewable Solutions, Remine India Pvt Ltd, Re-Sustainability Ltd, San Automobile Industries Pvt Ltd, SAM-VIK Marketing, SPEGSY Pvt Ltd, and Ved Prakash Vinay Kumar are a few of the businesses and start-ups that received the technology.

CENALL E-waste, Eco Recycling Ltd, Hayat E-Recyclers Pvt Ltd, Elgreen Recycling Pvt Ltd, Project Engineering Service & Consultancy (PESCONS), SBS Paper Recycling Pvt Ltd, Ush India Recycler Pvt Ltd, Wagulde Industries Pvt Ltd, and ZP Technologies Pvt Ltd are the businesses that were given the letter of intent.

The ceremony was attended by BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of Niti Aayog, Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary at Meity, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Additional Secretary at Meity, and others. Jayesh Rajan, the principal secretary of the Telangana government, participated remotely in the technology transfer event and encouraged all nine beneficiaries to establish facilities in Hyderabad as soon as feasible.

More than 95% of the lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) contents may be recovered from different kinds of used Li-ion batteries using this indigenous technique in the form of their corresponding oxides or carbonates, which have a purity of around 98 percent.

Leaching is a step in the recycling process, and then solvent extraction is used to recover metal values in a hierarchical, selective manner. These second-hand raw materials could be used in the production of batteries or for other purposes in the future.

During the technological presentation, Dr. R. Ratheesh, Director of C-MET Hyderabad, cited a Niti Aayog research stating that by 2030, the nation’s entire lithium battery storage needs would be over 600 GWh and that around 125 GWh of lithium batteries will be available for recycling.

Ratheesh used the data when he estimated that the black mass, a term for e-waste that contains cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium, would total 3,60,000 tons.

Additionally, he added: “At the moment, China and Korea are receiving all the black masses for recycling. Therefore, I believe that we have launched the recycling campaign at the appropriate moment, and I appeal to the government to impose a restriction on the export of these materials so that we may assist Indian businesses in launching further recycling programs.

While praising MeitY and C-MET, the CEO of Niti Aayog echoed similar sentiments and said that the time has come to lessen dependence on other countries because recycling technology gives us the option to use raw materials that are already within our borders rather than importing from other countries.

I applaud the Telangana government for taking the initiative to make it possible for the organization (C-MET) to emerge, participate in the establishment of the center, and provide an open offer for the growth of the recycling sector. Since e-waste would be dispersed around the nation, we also need a lot more states to join in on this in a similar way, said Subrahmanyam.