Recycling & Refining

Recycling

Umicore has extensive experience in recycling nickel from scrap materials and from residues from the primary production process. 

At our Hoboken plant in Belgium, Umicore operates a dedicated pilot battery recycling plant  with an annual capacity of 7,000 tonnes, equivalent to 20,000 car batteries. In this industrial pilot plant Umicore’s pyro-hydro technology can recover over 95% of the nickel from end-of-life li-ion batteries and battery production scrap, creating a closed-loop process. 

As the market for electric vehicles and battery materials grows, we can expect waste streams and end-of-life batteries to increase sharply in the mid-2030s. Umicore is focusing on further optimizing its recycling technologies and processes in its industrial battery recycling pilot plant.

Refining

Umicore Precious Metals Refining produces nickel by-products (feedstock) that are further refined into various nickel products at Umicore Cobalt and Specialty Materials, such as nickel sulfate for batteries and automotive applications. Our biggest nickel refinery is based at Olen, where we have specialized nickel processing production departments.

Umicore’s refining processes transform nickel-containing scrap and residues back into nickel that can be used in a variety of applications, including battery materials. Umicore’s R&D teams continuously innovate to develop more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly refining methods.

We work with partners around the globe to source and refine nickel. At our refining joint venture in China, nickel intermediates from mining are processed into refined nickel products, supporting Umicore’s global supply chain for battery materials and specialty applications and ensuring access to nickel in a region that is central to EV growth. 

Umicore USA specializes in high-purity nickel chemicals and solutions, such as electroless nickel-grade liquid nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, and nickel carbonate. These nickel products are used for electroplating, catalysts, batteries, and electronics. 

In the Philippines, Umicore Specialty Chemicals Subic (USCS) produces tailor-made nickel carbonate specialties for catalysts and pigments, as well as nickel oxide for ceramics and glass, and various nickel compounds for plating.