Nation’s first recycling plant for end-of-life batteries from EV

With the support of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI), BEEAH Group and LOHUM, a leading eco-friendly battery materials producer specialising in lithium-ion battery recycling and reuse, announced the establishment of a recycling plant for end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles (EVs). The first-of-its-kind in the UAE, the plant contributes to the UAE’s drive to become a global hub for sustainable mobility and enhance the national economy.

Eng Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs at MoEI, said: “The Ministry will provide the support needed for the plant to succeed as part of our Global EV Market initiative that aims to increase the share of EVs to 50% of all vehicles on our roads by 2050. As we anticipate substantial growth in the number of EVs, the project will provide local car dealers and manufacturers with a sustainable, eco-friendly solution for EV batteries at the end of their life. It will help address the environmental and logistical challenges of expired or damaged EV batteries.”

He added: “The facility will attract investments to develop local capabilities in EV-related industries. The UAE aims to ensure a regulatory framework of flexible and conducive policies and put in place a suite of economic, environmental, and social incentives to encourage public and private entities to invest in this sector. This step contributes to the objectives of the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, integrates circular economy principles, and increases EV penetration. This will support our national economy and lower the carbon footprint of the transport sector – a target sector for our decarbonization drive and of the National Energy and Water Demand Side Management Program.”

Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH, said: “As EVs continue to play a role in the decarbonization of the transport sector and contribute to net-zero emissions targets, it is important that we deploy circular solutions proactively. In partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, BEEAH is pursuing a partnership with Lohum to address this challenge. Our EV Battery Recycling plant will reintroduce valuable minerals and materials back into the circular economy, keep waste out of landfills and support the long-term sustainability of transitions to EVs.”

The UAE plans to increase the share of electric and hybrid vehicles to 50% of all sold vehicles by 2050. By mid-2023, there were 81,000 electric and hybrid vehicles on UAE roads.

In a Separate development recently, BEEAH, the Middle East’s sustainability pioneer, Chinook Hydrogen, a UK-based innovator of waste-to-fuel technologies, and Air Water Gas Solutions, a US-based Industrial gas company and a subsidiary of Air Water Inc., a leading Japanese conglomerate with advanced industrial gases technologies, have entered a joint development agreement (JDA) to develop the world’s first commercial-scale waste-to-hydrogen plant in Sharjah, UAE.

In the presence of Sharif Al Olama, Under-Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI), the JDA was signed at the UAE Pavilion, COP28, by Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH Group, Dr. Rifat Chalabi, CEO and Co-Founder of Chinook Hydrogen, and Ishmael Chalabi, President and CEO of Air Water Gas Solutions.

The JDA will build on the success of the hydrogen-from-waste demonstration plant, which has achieved major breakthroughs by demonstrating an attractive, carbon-negative solution to produce green hydrogen from waste. The demonstration plant transforms various organic-based waste, including Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), non-recyclable plastics and wood waste, into super green hydrogen that is connected to a Toyota fuel-cell unit that generates power from the hydrogen produced, similar to the fuel cell installed in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai.

“We believe achieving zero-waste to landfill goes hand-in-hand with achieving net-zero emissions. With the launch of this waste-to-hydrogen demonstration plant, we have achieved a solution that we can address the challenge of waste and carbon emissions. It can also be scaled and replicated in countries around the world, and together, we will now begin with a commercial-scale plant in Sharjah,” said Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH.

“I would like to congratulate Chinook Hydrogen and Air Water Gas Solutions for working with us to realise this milestone, which not only supports our objective of creating a large commercial waste-to-hydrogen plant in the UAE, but also demonstrates an economically and environmentally attractive hydrogen production solution that can be easily adopted worldwide.”

The demonstration plant benefits from Chinook Hydrogen’s RODECS pyrolysis technology, developed and optimised over 23 years with 18 gasification units installed world-wide. The technology is heavily patented, using “Active-Hydropyrolysis” to process a wide range of post-consumer organic-based wastes in batches, including MSW, non-recyclable plastics, sewage sludge and biomass.