[Conference] SMM LiBE2025 DAY 2 Wrap-up: from Materials to Recycling, Exploring Opportunities in Battery Industry Chain

On November 3, the Li-ion Battery Europe 2025, organized by SMM and supported by ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment (Government of Catalonia), was grandly held at the Hilton Barcelona, Spain!

On the first day of the conference, guests engaged in intense brainstorming around hot topics such as "The Necessity of Policy Support for EU-China Collaboration on Battery Projects," "The Role of NCM and LFP Batteries in the Transformation of the European Battery Market and Future Trends," "How Cross-Border Collaboration Can Help Europe Succeed in the Battery Value Chain 2.0," "Advancements in Next-Generation Batteries for EV Applications," "From Mineral to Recycling: How Can Europe Build a Self-Sufficient Lithium Battery Supply Chain?," and "Supply Chain Restructuring—How Spain Can Become an Industrial Hub for the European EV Industry."

The conference continued on November 4! SMM provided live text and photo coverage of the entire summit. Stay tuned!

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November 4

Raw Materials Conference

Keynote Speech: SMM Insights – Driving Factors of Lithium Salt Prices and Future Market Forecasts

Speaker: Maria Ma, Head of New Energy Industry Research, SMM

Maria Ma, Head of New Energy Industry Research at SMM, shared insights on the topic of "Driving Factors of Lithium Salt Prices and Future Market Forecasts." When discussing recent market conditions, she stated that stricter mining compliance reviews in China led to short-term lithium supply disruptions, coupled with robust Q4 demand, providing short-term upward momentum to prices from a fundamental perspective.

Regarding global lithium demand, the rapid expansion of the EV and ESS markets in recent years has driven a surge in lithium demand. Although end-use demand is expected to continue growing, its growth rate has slowed down. LFP batteries still have room to increase their market share, while lithium carbonate is expected to continue dominating lithium demand. With technological advancements and cost reductions, the application of LFP is anticipated to further expand.

Panel Discussion: Policy-Driven Self-Sufficiency in European Battery Raw Materials - Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities

Moderator:

Tamer Talu, Managing Director, HT International Trading and Consultancy Limited

Panelists:

Jay Yang, Vice President and President of Region NAFTA and EMEA/Chairman and CEO of COBCO, CNGR Advanced Material Co., Ltd.

Konstantin Burger, VP of Corporate Development, Rock Tech Lithium

Dr. Le Anh Ma, Business Development Manager, ABB Industries LLC

Astrid Karamira, Sustainability & Governance Manager, International Lithium Association

Keynote Speech:

Lithium Extraction in Europe: Balancing Economic Growth with Environmental Responsibility

Speaker:

Bernardo Gross, COO, Lifthium Energy

Keynote Speech:

Ingredients for Change

Speaker:

Gerardo Arbeo Barron, Sales Director Europe, We Soda

Keynote Speech:

The Invisible Catalyst: The Critical Role of Industrial Gases in Battery Manufacturing

Speaker:

Guillaume de Verthamon, Global Market Director, Air Liquide

Panel Discussion: How Can Europe's Lithium Projects Cut Costs While Meeting ESG Standards

Moderator:

Nikola Vekić , Battery Value Chain Expert, McKinsey & Company

Panelists:

Christian Freitag, Chief Commercial Officer, Vulcan Energy Resources

Dominic Wells, Research Director, Project Blue

Daniel Monfort Climent, Geological Engineer and Project Manager MaDiTraCe Project Manager, BRGM (French Geological Survey)

Peter Ehren, CTO, Lithium Ark

Recycling Forum

Keynote Speech:

Challenges and Strategies for Carbon Management in the Recycling of End-of-Life EV Batteries

Speaker:

Dr. Linhan Ge, Head of Technical Solutions,

North Star Advanced Recycling Technology (Qingdao) Co., Ltd.

Panel Discussion: Battery Recycling and the Circular Economy - How Europe is Building a Closed-Loop Supply Chain?

Moderstor:

Jared Zhu, Consulting Director, SMM

Panelists:

Ole-Christen Enger, CEO, Hydrovolt

Cédric Demonthy, VP Battery Recycling, Umicore Group

Leon Farrant, CEO & Co-Founder, Green Li-ion

Filipe Costa, Managing Director, Revomet GmbH

Paul Yum, Vice President, SungEel Hi Tech Co., Ltd.

Keynote Speech

From Innovation to Integration: Commercially Viable & Industrialized Solutions for Advanced Liuthium Battery Recycling

Speaker

Miko Yuan, Global Business Development Manager, Cyclewell Technologies

Keynote Speech:

A critical look at Global LIB recycling market: What can be learned from China's Experience

Speaker:

Jared Zhu, Consulting Director, SMM

Jared Zhu, Consulting Director at SMM, shared insights on the topic "A critical look at Global LIB recycling market: What can be learned from China's Experience." He stated that over the past few years, the total volume of recyclable lithium batteries globally has experienced rapid growth. It is projected that the theoretical global lithium-ion recycling volume from retired end-of-life batteries will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 48% from 2024 to 2030, with future growth rates potentially significantly higher than those for production waste and inventory retirement sectors. SMM forecasts that after 2028, the theoretically recyclable metal content from end-of-life batteries may gradually exceed that from production waste.

Panel Discussion: Recycling Innovations in New Technologies – Balancing Low Processing Costs and High Recovery Rates

Moderator:

Daria Arbuzova, Head of Sales and Trading, Revomet GmbH

Panelists:

Ulf Rademacher, Business Development & Sales, Primobius GmbH

Greg Pitt, Vice President of Battery Materials, Worley

Christian Spano, Director of Circularity, Vale Base Metals

Juha Kokko, Commercial Manager, Recycled Raw Materials, Fortum Battery Recycling

Keynote Speech:

From Scrap to Resource: Enhancing the Resilience of Europe's Supply Chain and Accelerating the Industrialization of Next-Generation Battery Recycling

Speaker:

Julian Englberger, Vice President Operations of cylib

Panel Discussion: Establishing a Solid Path for Integrated Lithium Battery Supply Chain in Europe

Moderator:

Lesley Yang, Senior Lithium Battery Analyst at SMM

Panelists:

Lluís París, Head of Automotive Department, Port of Barcelona

Cynthia De Pauw, Director of International Development, EUTRACO

Greg Pitt, VP of Battery Materials, Worley

Side Event: Achieving Transparency in the Battery Value Chain

Keynote Speech:

Strategic Autonomy on Critical Raw Materials: How EIT RawMaterials Supports the Security of Raw Materials for European Industry

Speaker:

Andre Ufer, Coordinator Critical Raw Materials Facility, EIT RawMaterials

Panel Discussion: The Frontier of New Materials for Increasing Battery Energy Density

Moderator:

Tom Van Bellinghen, CEO and Founder of Lithink

Panelists:

Daniel Monfort, MaDiTraCe Project Manager, BRGM

Laura Corredor, IT Project manager Lead (Traceability & Circular Economy), Circularise

Christian Spano, Director of Circularity, Vale Base Metals

Keynote Speech:

Carbon Footprint Declaration Under the EU Battery Regulation: Upstream Data Challenges

Speaker:

Sophie Myers, Consultancy Team Lead, Minviro

Panel Discussion: Breaking Down Data Silos: How to Build a Cross-Enterprise Data Collaboration Framework for the Lithium Battery Industry?

Moderator:

Pavel Tsedenov, CEO, ReSource

Panelists:

Carsten Stöcker, CEO, Spherity

Pierre-Alexandre Levy, Lithium Business Development Director, Imerys

Leon Farrant, CEO & Founder, Green Li-ion

Keynote Speech:

Battery Materials Regulation Chain: Putting the EU Battery Regulation into Practice

Speaker:

Karolin Langfeldt, Director of Business Development, Circulor

The two-day the Li-ion Battery Europe 2025 has wrapped up! Thank you for the support of all industry peers!