SMM August 28 News:
China's Li-ion battery recycling capacity build-out has accelerated markedly since August. Following the dense cluster of project disclosures across seven provincial regions including Ningxia and Jiangxi in the first half of the year, a new wave of concentrated project landings and start-ups has emerged in Shandong, Sichuan, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia and Fujian. According to SMM's incomplete statistics, more than 15 projects have been publicly disclosed in this phase, with combined planned annual processing/comprehensive utilization capacity exceeding 600,000 mt and disclosed total investment approaching RMB 9 billion. The project mix spans diverse process routes — retired lithium battery pack dismantling, black mass hydrometallurgy, LFP cell regeneration, direct cathode material repair, and second-life utilization — pushing the capacity map further into Northeast and Southwest China as well as the outer belt of the Yangtze River Delta.
1. East China
Sunwoda (Tengzhou, Shandong): The first phase of the Tengzhou End-of-Life Lithium Battery Comprehensive Utilization Base was fully commissioned. The project involves a total investment of RMB 1.2 billion, an annual processing capacity of 50,000 mt, and a comprehensive recovery rate of 98.5%. The recycled black mass, after metal extraction, can be directly synthesized into cathode material and re-enter the company's supply chain system. The base adopts full-process intelligent control with industrial robots, reducing labor in operation and handling by 80%.
Yantai (Shandong): The EIA for a 65,000 mt/yr spent lithium battery recycling project is in progress, with a total investment of RMB 2.66 billion, covering dismantling, crushing and sorting, and hydrometallurgical extraction into battery-grade lithium carbonate and nickel/cobalt salts.
Tianheng Energy (Yancheng, Jiangsu): A lithium battery recycling project with an annual capacity of 50,000 mt obtained EIA approval. To be located in the Dafenggang Petrochemical New Material Industrial Park in Yancheng, the project involves a total investment of RMB 450 million and will produce 24,201 mt of recycled black mass annually, along with lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate and other products.
Zhejiang Lisheng Energy (Huzhou, Zhejiang): The EIA for its lithium battery full life cycle comprehensive utilization base project was publicly disclosed. The site is selected in Xiaopu Town, Changxing County, Huzhou, with a total investment of RMB 82.06 million. It has an annual processing capacity of 100,000 mt of scrap lithium batteries and electrodes, and incorporates a 3 GWh high-energy pack battery assembly line, forming a multi-path integrated model combining second-life application, shredding and recovery, and electrode screening.
Anhui Lecheng Lithium Battery (Wuhu, Anhui): The EIA of its power battery circular recycling project was publicized. To be located in the Wuhu Fanchang Economic Development Zone, the project involves a total investment of RMB 110 million and will add 40,000 mt/yr of scrap LFP battery cell disassembly and recycling capacity, equipped with echelon (second-life) assembly and crushing-and-sorting production lines.
Fuding (Fujian): The EIA of a spent lithium battery comprehensive utilization project invested by Saibang was publicly disclosed, with a total investment of about RMB 1 billion.
2. Central China
Huanggang (Hubei): An LFP battery recycling base project was signed and landed at the Huanggang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone. Adopting a combined "physical dismantling + hydrometallurgy" process, the production lines cover a spent lithium-ion battery dismantling line, reduction roasting furnaces, a carbonization line, leaching and purification, solvent extraction, and evaporative crystallization equipment. Final products include battery-grade lithium carbonate, battery-grade nickel sulfate, battery-grade cobalt sulfate and battery-grade manganese sulfate, closing the loop from spent batteries to high-end battery materials.
3. Southwest China
Gulin (Sichuan): A RMB 5 billion battery materials and recycling project invested by Lihe Houpu landed, covering precursor capacity with integrated recycling facilities.
Yibin (Sichuan): The 80,000 mt/yr spent lithium battery comprehensive utilization project of Jiushi is expected to enter trial operation in September. Separately, the EIA of Sichuan Hongshan New Energy's LFP cathode material physical repair and recycling project was publicized. To be located in the Yibin Sanjiang New District with a total investment of RMB 100 million, it will recycle 12,500 mt of scrap LFP positive electrode per year.
Jereh (Chongqing): The Chongqing Lithium Resource Recycling Station of Jereh Renewable Cycle was officially commissioned, located in the Changshou Economic Development Zone, with the commissioning ceremony held on July 31. Its self-developed 2.0 equipment, compared with conventional industry equipment, delivers a 30% increase in processing capacity, a 35% reduction in comprehensive energy consumption, and a 20% decrease in carbon emissions. During the commissioning ceremony, cooperation agreements were signed with nine enterprises including Saudi EADA, UAE Witthal Gulf, Xiamen Hithium New Materials, and Jiujiang Tinci Resources Recycling.
Tongren (Guizhou): The EIA for CNGR's 10,000 mt/yr LFP black mass processing line is in progress, as the top-tier cathode materials producer extends into the recycling segment, reinforcing a "production–recycling–reproduction" closed loop.
4. North & Northeast China
Liaoning Zhongming New Energy (Shenyang, Liaoning): The EIA for its waste power battery comprehensive utilization project was publicly disclosed. The project will be located in the Shenbei New District, Shenyang, with a total investment of RMB 250 million. It has an annual processing capacity of 120,000 mt of scrap power batteries and lithium, nickel, and cobalt scrap, producing battery-grade lithium carbonate, cobalt sulfate, and nickel sulfate — set to become the largest battery recycling base in Northeast China.
Tongliao Shuofang Xunneng (Tongliao, Inner Mongolia): The first EIA public disclosure was released for its waste battery recycling and reuse project, located in the Mulitu Industrial Park, Kerqin District, Tongliao, with a total investment of RMB 100 million. The project will build, in two phases, two recycling and disposal production lines with an annual processing capacity of 30,000 mt each, leveraging the region's abundant wind-solar resources and low power costs.
5. Jiangxi
Ganzhou (Jiangxi): The EIA for Tengyuan Cobalt's 47,000 mt black mass comprehensive utilization project is in progress, as the cobalt refiner enters the black mass processing segment, connecting the "black mass–cobalt salts–precursor" value chain.
Huichang (Jiangxi): The EIA of a 50,000 mt/yr all-physical-method spent battery comprehensive utilization project invested by Zhili was publicized. The investor is a tire recycling company crossing over into battery recycling — evidence of accelerating capital inflows into the secondary resources sector.
August's project map highlights three distinct features of China's battery recycling build-out. First, start-ups and ground-breakings are running in parallel: the commissioning of the Tengzhou base and the Chongqing station marks the industry's transition from planning to capacity delivery. Second, process routes are diversifying: hydrometallurgy remains mainstream, but differentiated routes — physical-method direct repair and directed LFP cell regeneration — are beginning to scale, offering new answers to the economics of low-residual-value LFP scrap. Third, cross-sector capital and industry incumbents are entering simultaneously, with cathode makers, cobalt refiners and secondary-resources players competing on the same stage. Combined with regulatory normalization — the abolition of the second-life utilization whitelist and full-chain battery "digital ID" traceability — the industry is shifting from land-grab expansion to a dual race of compliant capacity and process routes. SMM believes that, with lithium carbonate prices recovering and black mass valuations being repriced, the scarcity value of recycling capacity is being reassessed; however, the time lag between planned capacity and actual scrap availability, and the margin squeeze on processing fees from homogeneous hydrometallurgical capacity, remain key risks to monitor.
![Cobalt Product Prices Remained in the Doldrums, with the Center of Cobalt Sulphate Continuing to Move Lower; the Market Awaited the Performance of the September-October Peak Season [Weekly Review]](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/PBUeR20251217171730.jpg)
