The BMW Group is building a competence centre for battery cell recycling in Kirchroth in Lower Bavaria. There, the company will put so-called direct recycling process into practice.
The German automobile manufacturer has announced plans to open a new battery cell recycling centre in the the Bavarian town of Kirchroth, which is located in the Straubing-Bogen district of Lower Bavaria. There, the company will employ a process called ‘direct recycling’, which “enables residual materials from battery cell production, as well as whole battery cells, to be mechanically dismantled into their valuable components,” according to the manufacturer.
Once recycled, the raw materials will then directly be reused in the pilot production of battery cells at BMW’s Battery Cell Competence Centres. The process is mainly focused on extracting lithium and cobalt, but will also recover graphite, manganese, nickel and copper from old batteries.
BMW further specifies: “Unlike conventional methods, the main characteristic of direct recycling is that raw materials from battery cells are not reverted to their original state, but are instead fed back “directly” into the cell production cycle. This method dispenses with the previously common energy-intensive chemical or thermal processing.”
“The new Cell Recycling Competence Centre brings another element to our in-house expertise: From development and pilot production to recycling, we are creating a closed loop for battery cells, taking advantage of the short distances between our Competence Centres in Bavaria,” says Markus Fallböhmer, SVP Battery Production at BMW AG.
For the construction of the new recycling facility, BMW is investing around 10 million euros. Installation work at the building is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025. Once construction is completed, BMW writes that validation of the recycling method in near-series processes will get underway. The centre spans an area of 2,200 m², and will be integrated into the expansion of an existing building in the Kirchroth-Nord industrial park, near Straubing.
The centre will not actually be operated by BMW, however, despite owning the relevant intellectual properties, but by Encory GmbH. It is a joint venture of the BMW Group and Interzero Group, which develops and implements logistics and consulting solutions in areas such as collection, recycling, and remanufacturing of vehicle components. Both partners hold a 50 per cent stake in the company. Once completed, about 20 people will be employed in the new Competence Center.