AFinnish court has ordered BASF to delay the opening of a battery materials plant in Harjavalta, Finland, after environmental groups argued that the company’s plan for dealing with sulfate waste isn’t sufficient, said C&An.
Analysts warn that similar environmental issues could slow other firms as they race to build battery supply chains in Europe and North America.
BASF’s Finnish plant is a key piece of a battery supply chain the company is trying to establish in Europe. It will be able to produce 30,000 metric tons (t) per year of precursors for battery cathodes. BASF will convert the precursors into cathode powders at a facility it commissioned last year in Schwarzheide, Germany.
Many of the materials used to make cathode precursors are sulfates of metals such as nickel and cobalt. Robert Baylis, principal at the battery supply chain consulting firm Carding Mill, says a caustic like sodium hydroxide is generally used to remove the sulfur component, a process that yields metal hydroxides and sodium sulfate waste.
Baylis says Finland has relatively permissive regulations regarding sulfate emissions because of the country’s paper and pulp industry, which also generates sodium sulfate. Several companies, including Umicore and CNGR Advanced Material, also plan to make cathode precursors there.
Finnish environmental groups have raised concerns about the environmental impact of these projects. Mari Granstorm, a former BASF chemist who helped the group Puhtaan Meren Puolesta contest the firm’s environmental permit, says BASF’s initial plan to discharge treated wastewater containing sodium sulfate into a river would have harmed aquatic life. “This river is very unique when you look at the biodiversity,” she says.
Puhtaan Meren Puolesta wants BASF to build a facility to crystallize sodium sulfate to sell into detergent or fertilizer markets, as some other firms plan to do. In 2021, Northvolt agreed to supply 200,000 t of sodium sulfate from its battery facility in Sweden to Cinis Fertilizer. “There are a lot of sodium sulfate crystallization units around the world,” Granstorm says. “It’s purely, ‘Are you willing to invest in this unit?’?”
We remind, BASF is utilizing its extensive global expertise in chemical recycling, employing pyrolysis technology known as ChemCycling, to introduce International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus certified "Ccycled" materials sourced from the BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals facility located in Port Arthur, Texas, said the company. This facility operates as a joint venture between BASF and TotalEnergies, with a ownership split of 60/40 respectively, with TotalEnergies headquartered in France.
mrchub.com