We are FCC Nº26

environmental The exponential adoption of electric vehicles will lead to a rapid increase in battery retirements, which will be around 35,000 metric tonnes per year in Spain by 2035 FCC Ámbito, a subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente, and Iberdrola, through its PERSEO Venture Builder programme, will collaborate with Glencore to tackle one of the biggest medium- and long-term challenges in the ener- gy sector and will seek to provide industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling solutions on the Iberian Peninsula through the develop- ment of a specialised facility. Glencore is one of the world’s lar- gest diversified natural resource companies and a major producer, recycler and marketer of key me- tals for battery production. Integrated solutions FCC Ámbito is the subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente, leader in Spain and Portugal in the integrated management of indus- trial and commercial waste. Iber- drola is a world leader in renewable energy and, through its PERSEO Venture Builder programme, aims to facilitate access to the techno- logies of the future with a focus on sustainability. Together, the parties will combine their capabilities to develop comprehensive manage- ment solutions for lithium batteries from both manufacturing rejects and end-of-life batteries. In collaboration with the Iberian Energy Storage Research Centre (CIIAE), the parties have conduc- ted an in-depth analysis of the po- tential battery recycling market in the Iberian Peninsula and are wor- king to identify the right technology partners to implement the facility. The plant, which will be opera- ted by FCC Ámbito, will allow the pre-separation of lithium-ion batte- ries for subsequent refining. To this end, this alliance will seek to establish the strategic arrange- ments necessary for the effective recovery of lithium batteries, ex- tending the positive impact of the initiative to other actors along the entire value chain. It will also con- tribute to the research and develo- pment necessary for the effective circularity of these materials. The exponential adoption of elec- tric vehicles will lead to a rapid increase in battery recalls - which will be around 35,000 metric ton- nes per year in Spain by 2035 - and new battery manufacturing rejects. In this context, this collabo- ration aims to develop an industrial facility that will be ready when such recycling capacities are required in the peninsula. In this way, FCC and Iberdrola are extending the collaboration they began to address the recycling of wind turbine blades, for which purpose they created the com- pany EnergyLoop. This new effort further reinforces the circular eco- nomy strategies of FCC Ámbito and Iberdrola, which see this mo- del of production and consump- tion as a key lever for the energy transition. Kunal Sinha, Global Head of Re- cycling at Glencore, emphasised that “we are delighted to be part of this alliance on battery circula- rity with Iberdrola, a world leader B U S I N E S S B U S I N E S S 11