Europe has the technology. It has the investment. But can it build a profitable battery recycling industry? As recycling capacity expands ahead of feedstock availability and global competition intensifies, commercial sustainability has become the defining challenge. This keynote examines what Europe must do to turn circularity from a regulatory ambition into a competitive advantage.

Europe's battery recycling industry is approaching a critical turning point. Recycling capacity is expanding rapidly, but feedstock remains constrained, margins are tightening and competitive pressure continues to intensify. Drawing on Benchmark's latest market intelligence, Jessie Xu examines where investment is flowing, how the market is likely to consolidate, and which companies are best positioned to capture long-term value.

“Success will depend on making the right investment decisions today—without compromising the flexibility needed to respond to tomorrow's market.”

Europe's battery recycling capacity is expanding at record pace, yet the anticipated wave of end-of-life EV batteries is still years away. With significant capital already committed, recyclers face a critical challenge: how do you justify investment today while waiting for tomorrow's feedstock? Drawing on Cylib's experience of scaling next-generation recycling infrastructure, this presentation examines how the industry can balance commercial risk with long-term opportunity.

"The challenge is no longer recognising China's success—but understanding which lessons can be adapted to strengthen Europe's long-term competitiveness."

China has spent more than a decade building the world's most mature battery recycling ecosystem, combining industrial scale, vertically integrated supply chains and sustained investment to achieve a significant competitive advantage. As Europe accelerates its own circular battery ambitions, the challenge is no longer recognising China's success—but understanding which lessons can be adapted to strengthen Europe's long-term competitiveness. Backed by Project Blue's market intelligence, Robert Burrell examines the strategies, policies and commercial models shaping the global recycling landscape.

The regulatory debate is giving way to implementation. Battery Passports, material-recovery targets, extended producer responsibility, new waste-shipment procedures and delayed—but approaching—battery due-diligence requirements are beginning to change how batteries are collected, transported, traced and recycled across Europe. The critical question for 2027 is no longer what the EU Battery Regulation intends to achieve, but whether the infrastructure, data systems and economics exist to deliver it.

As the EV industry embraces digital product passports, the conversation must move beyond the concept of battery passports to the trust infrastructure that enables them. This session focuses on the compliance frameworks, open standards, and technology stack – such as GAIA-X, IDTA, and International Data Spaces (IDS), that make secure, sovereign data sharing possible across the entire product lifecycle.

Rooted in European values of data sovereignty, transparency, and interoperability, the session provides attendees with a clear understanding of how semantic technologies and governance models support regulatory compliance and scalable implementation.

The session concludes with a call to action for stakeholders to actively contribute to shaping and deploying trusted data ecosystems for battery lifecycle transparency.

Europe's Battery Regulation defines who is responsible for end-of-life batteries—but responsibility alone doesn't guarantee recovery. Millions of EV batteries will eventually leave service through dealerships, repair centres, insurers, dismantlers, fleet operators and independent workshops, creating one of the most complex reverse logistics networks the automotive industry has ever faced. Building a collection system that is safe, commercially viable and capable of operating at scale will be essential if Europe is to achieve its circular economy ambitions.

Today's EV batteries are engineered to maximise energy density, structural integrity and manufacturing efficiency, often making safe disassembly and material recovery increasingly difficult. As Europe moves towards a circular battery economy, recyclability must become a design requirement rather than an afterthought. From reversible joining technologies to material selection and modular architectures, the next generation of battery packs will need to balance performance with efficient end-of-life recovery.

"No two end-of-life EV batteries arrive in the same condition."

No two end-of-life EV batteries arrive in the same condition. Variations in chemistry, pack architecture, state-of-health and physical damage make manual disassembly increasingly complex, costly and hazardous. AI-powered machine vision, robotics and digital automation are transforming battery disassembly from a labour-intensive process into a scalable industrial operation, enabling faster identification, safer handling and higher-value material recovery.

“Can direct recycling move beyond the laboratory and become an industrial reality?”

Direct recycling has the potential to fundamentally reshape battery material recovery by preserving the value of cathode materials while reducing energy consumption and chemical processing. Yet significant engineering challenges remain before the technology can be deployed at industrial scale. From electrolyte recovery and material purification to process consistency and OEM qualification, commercial success will depend on proving that direct recycling can deliver both technical performance and economic viability.

“The future isn't choosing between direct recycling and hydrometallurgy—it's knowing how and when to combine them.”

No single recycling process can recover every material with maximum value and efficiency. The next generation of battery recycling will rely on intelligently combining direct recycling and hydrometallurgical processing to maximise material recovery, reduce waste and improve commercial performance. Developed through the Horizon Europe REVITALISE project, this integrated approach demonstrates how complementary technologies can create a more sustainable and economically resilient circular battery ecosystem.

Will the future belong to one dominant recycling technology—or to an ecosystem where different processes coexist depending on battery chemistry, condition and end-market requirements?

The race to define the future of EV battery recycling is intensifying. Hydrometallurgy has emerged as Europe's dominant commercial process, delivering high recovery rates and proven industrial performance. At the same time, direct recycling promises to preserve the value of active materials, reduce energy consumption and create a more efficient circular economy. The question facing OEMs, recyclers and investors is no longer whether these technologies work—but which process will deliver the greatest commercial, technical and environmental advantage as battery volumes continue to grow.

Key Discussion Points

Recovering black mass is no longer the finish line—it's the starting point. The real commercial opportunity lies in converting complex mixed-material streams into high-purity, battery-grade products that can re-enter cell manufacturing. Achieving this consistently and at scale will determine whether Europe's recycling industry can move beyond commodity recovery and become a strategic supplier of critical battery materials.

"Unlocking its full value will require new recycling technologies, stronger commercial demand and greater confidence in recycled anode materials."

As battery chemistries evolve and demand for sustainable anode materials accelerates, graphite is emerging as one of the most strategically important materials in Europe's circular battery economy. Unlocking its full value will require new recycling technologies, stronger commercial demand and greater confidence in recycled anode materials.

Hydrometallurgy has become one of the most commercially established routes for recovering critical battery materials, but long-term profitability depends on more than metal recovery rates alone. Solvent degradation, chemical losses and declining extraction efficiency continue to increase operating costs and reduce process performance. Improving solvent longevity offers a significant opportunity to reduce costs, minimise waste and strengthen the commercial viability of industrial-scale battery recycling.

One of the most critical outputs—black mass—is a precursor to the recovery of valuable materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. But how it’s produced matters just as much as what it contains.

This session showcases Hydrovolt, one of Europe’s leading battery recyclers, and its pioneering approach to producing black mass with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry. Now fully owned by Hydro, Hydrovolt operates one of Scandinavia’s most advanced EV battery recycling plants and is setting new benchmarks in emission reduction, material recovery rates, and circular integration.

Through this case study, attendees will learn how Hydrovolt combines renewable energy, high-efficiency mechanical processing, and strategic material partnerships to set new standards in sustainable black mass production.

A call to action to scale next-gen low-temperature battery recycling solutions.

This session explores how Duesenfeld GmbH’s cutting-edge, low-temperature direct recycling process recovers high-value materials—including electrolyte solvents—in a form suitable for reuse in new cells.

Building on recent R&D breakthroughs and successful pilot-scale validations, Andrea Mirandola will share insights into the technical challenges and solutions involved in recovering and rebalancing complex cathode chemistries and electrolytes.

Attendees will gain a transparent view of what works, what doesn’t, and why collaboration is critical to bridging the gap between lab-scale success and industrial-scale implementation.

This is more than a technical update—it’s a strategic call to OEMs, cell manufacturers, and system integrators: let’s co-develop the next phase of circular battery recovery. With the foundation proven, the opportunity now lies in joint scale-up efforts that can help the entire industry meet regulatory demands and sustainability goals.

As the EV battery value chain grows more complex, ensuring transparent, tamper-proof, and real-time traceability from manufacturing through second life and end-of-life becomes mission-critical. This session explores how emerging digital technologies—namely blockchain and quantum computing—are poised to revolutionize traceability, compliance, and resource recovery across the battery recycling ecosystem.

We will dive into the role of blockchain as a decentralized ledger technology for securely tracking materials across international supply chains—capturing provenance data, recycling histories, and carbon intensity at every stage. From black mass classification to state-of-health data for reuse, blockchain enables a new level of data integrity and auditability, essential for meeting EU Battery Passport and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mandates.

In parallel, quantum computing is opening new frontiers in real-time material flow optimization, process simulation, and cryptographic security for recycling infrastructures. Attendees will learn how quantum algorithms can accelerate material sorting, predictive disassembly, and complex logistics modeling, driving efficiency gains previously out of reach.

“It's about strategy, supply chain resilience and competitive advantage—not simply sustainability.”

This session highlights how leading OEMs are designing vertically integrated recycling models, embedding circularity into battery design, and working with recyclers to build dedicated recovery pathways. Attendees will gain actionable insights into how circular strategies enhance supply chain resilience, regulatory compliance, and ESG performance.

Not every EV battery should be recycled the moment it leaves a vehicle. Falling battery prices, improving cell performance and growing demand for stationary energy storage are reshaping the economics of second-life applications. The challenge is no longer proving that battery reuse is technically possible—it's determining when refurbishment creates more value than immediate material recovery, and when recycling remains the better commercial option.

As battery passports become a regulatory and operational standard, the focus on data collection has overshadowed the cyber security risks associated with storing and sharing high-value battery data. This session explores the critical intersection of digital traceability, cyber resilience, and the circular economy. Florian Ebert will highlight how data vulnerabilities in battery passports and recycling systems can lead to IP theft, data manipulation, and real-world consequences—including safety risks and reputational damage.

From battery development to second-life use and end-of-life recycling, this presentation demonstrates how cyber security must be embedded across the full product lifecycle to ensure safe, compliant, and efficient recycling operations.

“How do all of these pieces come together to create a profitable business?”

Success in battery recycling will not be determined by recovery rates alone. Long-term profitability depends on optimising every stage of the value chain—from battery collection and logistics to diagnostics, second-life applications, material recovery and closed-loop manufacturing. As market conditions evolve and competition intensifies, the greatest value will be created by organisations that integrate technical excellence with commercial discipline.

Every written-off EV creates questions around battery ownership, valuation, transport, diagnostics, liability and the decision between repair, second-life or recycling. Billions of euros of battery assets are flowing through the insurance industry, yet it is rarely represented at recycling conferences.

This session explores how damaged EV batteries can be assessed, managed and recovered safely while maximising both economic and environmental value.

As Europe accelerates its push for sustainable battery supply chains, the ability to recycle materials at scale and with efficiency is critical. This keynote will provide a deep dive into the technical and process-oriented challenges of creating true end-to-end recycling plants—from safe discharging and disassembly of EV batteries through to shredding, hydrometallurgical processing, and delivery of high-purity recovered materials.

The presentation will share the perspective of a leading German recycling technology provider, based near Cologne and Düsseldorf, on how integrated solutions can optimize processes, minimize waste, and meet the diverse needs of OEMs, recyclers, and material suppliers.

Key Discussion Points:

The industry is currently investing in multiple recycling pathways—mechanical pre-processing, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and direct recycling—but there is no consensus on which technology will ultimately dominate at industrial scale. OEMs, investors and recyclers all face the same question:

Which process delivers the greatest commercial return while meeting Europe's circularity ambitions?

Rather than another technical presentation, this open floor exchange should be an interesting exchange between attendees.