Lithium-ion battery lifecycle management firm, Lohum and Switzerland-based Glencore, globally diversified natural resource company, has announced a strategic partnership to advance circularity in the Li-ion battery supply chain.
Under the alliance, Lohum will supply Glencore with 10,000 MT of specialty chemicals for the battery supply chain over the next five years, including cathodes, sulphates, carbonates, and oxides of various metals extracted from spent batteries and other sources.
This partnership will allow both companies to deepen their recycling expertise and support the advancement of a circular economy by supplying raw materials back into the battery supply chain.
Lohum is looking forward to investing over $100 million in the coming 3 years into the business to achieve the goal.
Announcing this partnership, Rajat Verma, Founder & CEO of Lohum, said, “Our partnership with Glencore underpins our global commitment to expanding the availability of existing battery resources through recycling. Our energy-efficient recycling technologies lend us a strong differentiation from most companies and showcase our unique efforts and capabilities in extracting specialty chemicals from spent Li-ion batteries. This major development will directly boost India’s battery industry and energy security, leading to large scale value creation in employment, domestic ecosystem growth, and import savings on LIB raw materials.”
By re-imagining how the lithium ion industry would be indigenous in India, Lohum seeks to establish an ecosystem. This partnership will lessen India's reliance on other countries, which will eventually result in lower battery prices, allowing the entire country to quickly transition to sustainable energy storage.
Jyothish George, Co-Head of Marketing Zinc and Copper (Metal), Glencore commented: “Our focus on a greener future is aligned and supports Glencore’s ambition to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Part of our approach is to seamlessly combine primary as well as recycled feed streams to provide the critical metals needed for the transition to a low carbon future. Our partnership with Lohum fully complements these goals.”
As part of its mission to expand its recycling footprint, Lohum will procure spent batteries and recycle them at its plant in the National Capital Region, India.