The opening of a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility in India is making strides toward a stronger circular economy. Developed by Rocklink India, the facility is built to extract critical materials from the waste generated by batteries, as well as the rare earth magnets within the batteries, thus reducing the need for imports of these materials. The plant is located in the UPSIDC Industrial Area in Sikandrabad, which also demonstrates how India is advancing its sustainable industrial practices. The new facility is expected to assist with the demand for electric mobility, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing, as well as with the increased amount of waste produced by discarded batteries.

What Makes This Facility a Milestone for India’s Recycling Ecosystem?

• Integrated Recycling Plant: Rocklink India’s facility is its first-ever integrated facility, which will process lithium-ion batteries, rare earth magnets, and industrial metals.
• High-Capacity Processing Facility: This facility has the capability to process 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries annually and 60 tonnes of rare earth magnets per month, making it one of the largest recycling facilities of its kind in India.
• Recycling Circular Supply Chains: This facility enables the establishment of circular supply chains by turning waste into reusable products, helping limit environmental hazards and ensuring sustainable practices, supporting India’s sustainability and climate targets.
• Expanding Rare Earth Processing Capacities: A new rare earth chloride processing facility with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes per year is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2026.

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How Does the Technology Improve Recycling Efficiency and Safety?

• Advanced R2 Recycling Process: The plant employs Rocklink’s proprietary R2 technology, which recycles the waste batteries into useful substances, helps in the effective segregation of components, and controls the release of dangerous gases.
• High Recovery of Materials: The plant has an efficiency rate of more than 98% in recovering metals such as aluminum, copper, and iron, and also recovers black mass, which plays a crucial role in processing other valuable resources.
• Environmental Safety: The process involves controlled recycling equipment and gas processing facilities that help collect volatile organic compounds, preventing the release of poisonous gases and maintaining environmental safety.
• EPR Standards and Scrap Management: The plant adheres to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principles, which have the capacity to recycle 95 different types of battery scrap, both pre- and post-consumer waste.

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What Future Potential will This Facility Create in India?

In addition to recycling, the facility will provide a battery refurbishment service to test and balance usable cells before they are reused, extending their life expectancy. Thus, this results in greater overall efficiency and less waste than would otherwise occur, and there will also be a dedicated system for recycling some types of rare earth magnets (NdFeB, SmCo, and AlNiCo) that are used extensively in electric motors and industrial applications.

A new lithium-ion battery recycling facility in India marks a significant step toward sustainable industrial development in the country. Uttar Pradesh is becoming a major resource hub for critical material recovery and green innovation within India due to its large-scale capacity, advanced technologies, and circular economy principles.

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