(JW Insights) Jul 3 -- Chinese automated equipment maker Miracle Automation Engineering (天奇股份), which has been branching out into the recycling of electric car batteries in recent years, is linking arms with Japanese conglomerate Mitsui to build an eco-friendly recycling factory for used batteries, Yicai Global reported on June 30.

Miracle Automation will build a green factory in China for the recycling, dismantling, crushing and pre-treatment of scrap lithium batteries as well as the recycling, regeneration and utilization of major constituents of lithium batteries, it said on June 29.

Should the tie-up in China be a success, the two companies will team up on building low-energy-consumption pre-processing plants for used batteries overseas and engage in the trade of recycled battery materials, the Wuxi, eastern China’s Jiangsu Province-based company added.

The pair will leverage Tokyo-based Mitsui's strong global industrial and sales networks as well as its financial strengths, and make use of Miracle Automation's business and technological expertise in salvaging batteries to build an industrial ecosystem for battery recycling.

Miracle Automation has been expanding into the battery recycling sector in recent years as the auto sector shifts towards electrification. The company, which already runs a recycling plant in Ganzhou, eastern China’s Jiangxi Province, said in September 2021 that it will build a recycling plant with carmaker FAW Group, and in December last year it teamed up with European car giant Stellantis’ China unit to recycle scrap batteries, said the Yicai Global report.

(Yuan XY/Gao J)