Attero, E-waste recycling firm is planning to invest Rs 300 crore in a bid to increase its existing lithium-ion battery recycling capacity by 11 times to 11,000 tons by the end of 2022.
According to the market estimates, India generates more than 50,000 tons of lithium-ion battery waste every year and it is growing in the range of 40-80 per cent depending on different models used for computing electric vehicle growth in India, Attero Recycling CEO and co-founder Nitin Gupta told PTI.
"By the end of 2022, we will be around 22 per cent of the current market size. In terms of tons,it will be 11,000 tons. We are making fresh investments and will soon have a significant amount of investment to build up this capacity...we are planning
to invest close to around Rs 300 crore," he said.
Gupta said that by transitioning to electric vehicles, India will save forex spent on petrol import from the Middle East along with expenditure on importing lithium-ion batteries from China which is a bigger concern.
"In our opinion, by ensuring that the recycling infrastructure in the country can grow and meet India's current local demand and make India self-sufficient in battery materials is what we are working towards.
"In that perspective, we are increasing our recycling capacity for lithium-ion batteries by 11 times by putting up an additional 10,000 tons per annum capacity from the current capacity of 1,000 tonnes per annum and will continue to grow this capacity," Gupta said.
The company is looking forward to achieve a higher status in not only recycling lithium-ion batteries but also becoming a significant player in the supply chain of critical materials, which include cobalt, Lithium, Graphite, and Nickel.
"We have a commercial plant running for the last two years, where we are recycling all kinds of lithium-ion batteries ranging from a cell phone all the way to an electric bus with weights ranging from 30 grams to 780 kilogram. We're extracting pure battery grade cobalt and pure pharmaceutical grade lithium carbonate which is used as a depressant in drugs," Gupta said.
Magazine
.jpg "Achieving Operational Excellence: Best Practices for Lean Management")
