Insight
China's battery recycling crisis: when industry leadership meets economic reality
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Report summary
In November, Wood Mackenzie conducted a week-long site visit to five leading Chinese recyclers. While we are impressed by large-scale operations and integrated industrial chains, we found that the recycling industry is struggling with economic challenges. Leading hydrometallurgical plants operate at just 50-60% capacity with compressed margins following two consecutive years of losses. We have identified four key factors for success that emerged from our research, as well as analysed the steeper challenges that Western players could confront.
Table of contents
- The timeline disconnect: a decade to survive
- China's heritage: built on decades, not hype
- Battery pre-processing: the black sheep of black mass
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The Four Critical Success Factors
- 1) Securing stable, high-quality feedstock
- 2) Viable process flows and professional operation teams
- 3) Comprehensive safety and environmental management
- 4) Financial sustainability: capital, cost control, and revenue diversification
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Western markets: if China struggles, what hope elsewhere?
- Common challenges across Western markets
- Conclusion
Tables and charts
This report includes the following images and tables:
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Black mass supply by scrap type, kt black mass equivalentBattery production in all cases, GWh
What's included
This report contains:
