The company’s investment will advance Li Industries’ lithium battery recycling process.

Norwalk, Connecticut-based Xerox Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Xerox Holdings Corp., has invested in the $7M Series A financing round of Li Industries, an early stage lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling company in Blacksburg, Virginia. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with further participation from Xerox Ventures and Shell Ventures.  

“The support and partnership with Xerox Ventures is a huge step forward for the Li Industries team,” says Zheng Li, Li Industries CEO, co-founder and primary inventor of the recycling process. “Combined with their wealth of materials expertise and industry network, Xerox’s backing will ensure our vision for a new age of battery recycling is brought to fruition.”   

According to a news release, investment in the recycling startup aligns with Xerox Venture’s efforts to back the next generation of business solutions across industries, including enabling green enterprises of the future. Driven by increasing demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and reshoring the supply of critical battery materials, battery recycling is poised to be a valuable circularity solution for a complex supply chain sensitive to geopolitical dynamics.  

Li Industries says it has developed a process of automated battery sorting by chemistry type and a novel direct recycling process that recovers battery electrode materials suitable for direct reuse by battery manufacturers. The recycled battery electrode material can then be supplied directly back to battery manufacturers at a lower cost than virgin materials or recycled materials obtained through existing recycling approaches. This is a significant breakthrough in recycling and ensures true circularity for critical materials central to the EV revolution.  

“Given the impressive technical backgrounds of Li Industries’ founding team, it’s no surprise that they’re at the forefront of such important sustainability advancements,” says Chris Fisher, managing director of Xerox Ventures. “As demand for EV batteries continues to grow, and emerging chemistries rapidly take hold, including batteries with little to no cobalt or nickel content, Li Industries’ novel technology will be the most efficient and economical path towards recycling batteries at scale.”  

Li Industries is the latest addition to the Xerox Ventures portfolio this year on the heels of investments in Anvilogic, LimaCharlie, Seurat Technologies and LinkSquares. 

The organization reports boxboard production also saw a slight increase in the second quarter of 2022.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, has released its quarterly containerboard and boxboard reports for the second quarter of 2022, revealing slight increases in total production for both materials.

The organization says total containerboard production increased 2 percent in the second quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter and also saw a 2 percent increase compared with the second quarter of 2021.

The AF&PA says boxboard production increased 1 percent in the second quarter of 2022 compared with the previous quarter and up 2 percent when compared with the second quarter of last year, while the operating rate was down 1.2 points from the previous quarter and essentially flat when looking year to date.

The boxboard report also shows recycled coated boxboard production increased 13 percent when compared with the second quarter of last year and that uncoated recycled unmade orders essentially were flat compared with the previous month and decreased 1 percent compared with June 2021.

The company looks to increase production of certified, low-carbon recycled aluminum at its remelting facility in Henderson, Kentucky.

Hydro ASA, based in Norway, has announced its North American Hydro Aluminum Metals business unit is investing $15 million into its Henderson, Kentucky, facility to expand its recycled aluminum production.

The company says the investment will support two key projects. First, it will install a new homogenization furnace to improve the plant's capabilities to meet the specifications of the growing U.S. automotive market, allowing the Henderson facility to produce a greater volume of advanced alloys using recycled metals with a lower carbon footprint.

Hydro also will install a new baghouse that will allow the plant to use greater volumes of postconsumer scrap and explore new, more difficult types of scrap such as material with paint or other contamination, which the company says requires advanced equipment to recycle. The baghouse also will improve the air quality inside the plant and reduce the overall environmental footprint from operations.

Currently the Henderson remelting facility produces over 90,000 metric tons of metal annually.

"At Hydro we want to accelerate the green transformation of the aluminum and automotive industries by increasing our use of postconsumer scarp to pull more used material into the value chain and promote a circular economy while also delivering our automotive customers advanced high strength alloys," says Trond Gjellesvik, president of Hydro Aluminum Metals in the U.S.

Gjellesvik adds, "As carmakers continue to make metal substitution decisions, particularly for electric vehicles, our investments allow us to support our forward-leaning customers reaching their climate ambitions."

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) at its July meeting preliminarily approved a 10-year incentive agreement with Hydro under the Kentucky Reinvestment Act. The performance-based agreement can provide up to $1 million in tax incentives based on Hydro's investment exceeding $8.5 million. The company says annual targets include maintaining at least 47 full-time local jobs across 10 years and across the local workforce, paying an average hourly wage of $49, excluding benefits, and by meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, Hydro may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability.

This is the second major investment into the city of Henderson after it was awarded $3 million to advance construction of the upcoming Pratt paper mill and box factory, with the grant funded by the American Rescue Plan and the Economic Development Administration's Coal Communities Commitment.

"Henderson is on a roll and Hydro's investment is just the latest in a series of exciting announcements bringing quality jobs and new opportunities for families in this community," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says.

The investment into Hydro's Henderson plant also will enable it to produce higher volumes of its Hydro Circal after independent risk management and quality assurance company DNV certified the facility July 1. The certification follows the recent approval of Hydro's Commerce, Texas, plant to produce Hydro Circal.

The company says the initial volumes from both the Commerce and Henderson facilities will approximately be 4,000 metric tons, with the first large-scale production of the material coming from Hydro's new recycling facility in Cassopolis, Michigan, which is expected to begin operations in 2023. The Cassopolis plant will have a total capacity of 130,000 metric tons extrusion billet—40,000 of which will be Hydro Circal.

"The first Hydro aluminum recycling plant built in the U.S. is here in Henderson, where we are pleased to have provided good career opportunities while supporting aluminum recycling throughout the Midwest now for nearly 25 years," Henderson Plant Manager Seth Augustine says of the facility. "With these new investments, we look forward to doing so for the next 25 years and being a growing part of the expanding Kentucky automotive industry."

The announcement of the Henderson investment comes days after Hydro posted its second-quarter 2022 financial results and noted its Aluminum Metals and Extrusions business units delivered their strongest quarterly results on record, fueled in part by higher metal and alumina prices, stronger margins in extrusions and currency effects.

"We continue to implement initiatives to support our 2025 strategy of low-carbon aluminum and renewable energy," Hydro President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim said of the financial results. "This quarter we have pursued strategic recycling growth projects to meet increasing customer demand for low-carbon aluminum and we have progressed on our decarbonization road map."

See how General Kinematics’ De-Stoner™ can help process demanding volumes of material for your operation.

The De-Stoner® Air Classifier’s two-mass natural frequency design liberates materials and spreads them across the unit effectively while fluidization preps the material bed for the air knife by creating turbulence to stratify the materials and liberate the lights trapped beneath the heavies. Once the material hits the air knife, the final separation is provided, partially by density and partially with aerodynamics, for optimal results.

Available in two fraction to five fraction separation models, the De-Stoner® is adaptable to a wide variety of materials, processes large volumes and is virtually jam-resistant. Learn more about how it works in the latest animation from GK here. 

General Kinematics’ Finger-Screen™ 2.0 has been redesigned with more energy, a faster travel rate and a higher lift for challenging materials like garbage bags and more.

The Finger-Screen™ 2.0 Primary Screen takes screening to the next level. Featuring an enhanced vibratory action that spreads material across the deck for maximum utilization of the screen area, tapered finger designs along with unique cam-out surfaces and staggered positions help to prevent material bypass. Separation performance is further improved as material freely cascades down the deck with less plugging, trapping or pegging. This creates a continuous, dynamic material flow to optimize separation and classification.

The Finger-Screen™ 2.0 boasts more energy, a faster travel rate and a higher lift for challenging materials, including garbage bags, yard waste and other lightweight, flexible materials. The longer displacement allows the unit to push through the elastic range of these materials effectively.

Rotary trommels aerate materials, which cause blinding and pass long pokers with a high level of daily cleaning and maintenance requirements. The Finger-Screen™ 2.0 separates materials based on 3D sizing with minimal blinding and minimal housekeeping. When used as the primary screen, Finger-Screen™ 2.0 provides the initial size separation, which scalps off any potentially destructive contaminants, allowing the rest of the downstream equipment to operate effectively.

Watch the video to see a detailed example of how it works: