Kolon Industries forays into the secondary battery recycling market

▷Signed a strategic investment agreement with a Korean startup for secondary battery recycling
▷Aiming to establish a mass production system by the end of this year to gain a foothold in the market
▷Elaborating its secondary battery business roadmap following investment in a next-generation cathode materials company in July last year


Kolon Industries (CEO, Kim Young-beom) is setting its sights on future business by entering the secondary battery recycling market.

The company announced on the 25th that it had signed an equity investment contract worth 4.5 billion won with RD Solution, a Korean startup for secondary battery recycling at the Kolon One & Only Tower in Magok-dong, Seoul.

With this equity investment, the two companies plan to complete the construction of a mass production system before the end of this year. By combining Kolon Industries’ advance production know-how with RD Solution’s waste battery processing technology, the two companies intend to bolster business synergy to dominate the secondary battery recycling market.

RD Solution employs a high-efficiency dry processing technology using a mid- to low-temperature method to selectively retrieve high-purity valuable metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from waste batteries. Its technology is safe as it does not need to go through a battery shredding process. It also contributes to carbon neutrality by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The proven safety and eco-friendliness throughout the waste battery recycling process are the main reasons for Kolon Industries selecting RD Solution as a strategic partner.

As the secondary battery recycling market is expected to grow rapidly along with the spread of electric vehicles, Kolon Industries intends to gain the upper hand by preemptively responding to new market demands with high growth potential. SNE Research, an electric vehicle battery market research agency, predicts that the size of the global battery recycling market will leap from 60 trillion won in 2030 to 200 trillion won in 2040.

Jo Hang-jip, Chief Strategy Officer of Kolon Industries, said, “This investment will enable us to secure competitiveness in innovative technology for secondary battery recycling. By expanding our business portfolio from next-generation materials to secondary battery recycling, we intend to create business synergy and elaborate our roadmap for new businesses.”

Kolon Industries has strengthened its investment in the secondary battery business as a new growth engine. In July last year, the company made a strategic equity investment worth 10 billion won in Niva Corporation, Korea’s sole lithium metal manufacturer, in order to enter the next-generation cathode materials market.

The company intends to further enhance its future value by expanding into a variety of new businesses including secondary batteries.