On 17 September 2025, an announcement sent ripples through the global battery industry. Chinese recycling leader GEM revealed it had signed a memorandum of understanding with US technology innovator Ascend Elements (AE) to jointly develop Europe’s lithium power battery recycling market.
The partners plan to build, in Europe, a lithium power battery recycling system, a disassembly and black mass production system, and a lithium-nickel-cobalt resource recovery and battery material remanufacturing industry chain, while also exploring the possibility of advancing lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered battery material production in the United States. The collaboration is expected to have a positive impact on the companies’ future operations.
Ascend Elements is a leading US technology innovator in battery recycling. Its core business converts spent lithium-ion batteries and battery manufacturing scrap into high-performance materials suitable for new battery production, fostering a clean, sustainable battery supply chain. The company’s competitive edge lies in its patented process—a revolutionary direct recycling method that, unlike conventional routes requiring individual separation and purification of metals from black mass, directly synthesizes battery-grade cathode precursor materials from processed spent battery black mass. This approach has been proven to cut the cost of producing new cathode materials by up to 50 % and slash their carbon footprint by more than 90 %, achieving a leap from “recycling” to “upcycling.”
SMM believes this partnership signals the continued global boom in lithium battery recycling. Previously concentrated in Southeast Asia, recycling operations are now expanding into Europe and the Americas, adding another major player to the overseas lithium battery recycling arena and steadily advancing the recycling process. As large volumes of lithium batteries approach end-of-life, more countries are expected to intensify their efforts in disassembly recycling and environmental resource management, driving further innovation and improvement in recycling technologies.
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