> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://pvweekly.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Rotterdam’s new battery recycler opened at the middle of the materials chain - URL: https://pvweekly.com/rotterdam-battery-recycling-black-mass-opening/ - Published: 2026-10-27T19:29:57.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-27T19:29:57.000Z - Description: 2024 archive · SK Tes’ 2024 facility could turn batteries and manufacturing scrap into black mass, an intermediate that still needed further processing before becoming new battery material. - Author: PV Weekly Editorial - Tags: Critical Minerals & Supply Chains, Archive 2024, #ledger-format, #archive-backfill-20261027 **2024 archive** · September 9, 2024Reporting prepared October 22, 2026\. This retrospective describes events and expectations from the period covered.[Browse the archive](https://pvweekly.com/archive/) Ten thousand tonnes of battery material arriving at a recycling plant is not ten thousand tonnes of lithium, nickel or cobalt leaving it. SK Tes' September 2024 opening in Rotterdam is a useful example of that distinction: the facility added capacity to process batteries into an intermediate product, black mass, for further recovery. The company announced the opening on September 9, and the Port of Rotterdam described the facility the following day. A grand-opening ceremony followed on September 26\. The announced site covered 10,000 square meters and was equipped to process up to 10,000 tonnes of material a year. Its inputs included used lithium batteries, waste electric-vehicle batteries, recalled batteries and scrap from battery production. That last category matters. A recycling plant can serve manufacturing waste alongside batteries that have reached the end of their useful life; its business need not depend entirely on the retirement of electric cars already on the road. SK Tes described a process using inert crushing and vacuum drying. The output it highlighted was black mass containing valuable battery metals. The company also outlined an eventual doubling of processing capacity and possible growth onto adjoining land. Those were expansion plans, separate from the capacity announced at opening. ## What black mass represents The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's technical description of battery recycling provides a useful way to understand the product. Shredding separates several material streams, including the electrode material called black mass, copper and aluminum foils, plastics, steel and electrolyte. The composition of black mass varies with the batteries and processing method. It is therefore an intermediate feedstock, not a uniform quantity of purified metal. Recovering its constituents commonly requires additional thermal or chemical processing. Recovered metals then need further preparation before they can be made into new battery components. That sequence explains why a black-mass plant can be a meaningful addition to a supply chain without completing the entire recycling loop itself. Collection and mechanical processing prepare material for another industrial operation. Downstream recovery and battery-material manufacturing still have to turn that material into products meeting their customers' requirements. For Rotterdam, the facility also fitted a port strategy that extended beyond moving finished cargo. The port authority described it as part of efforts to reuse materials and reduce dependence on outside supplies. Locating processing within a major logistics center brings the movement of waste batteries and intermediate materials into the same industrial geography. The opening records did not identify actual 2024 throughput or disclose the eventual recovery yield for each metal. They also did not establish that the plant had reached its annual processing rating. Capacity measures the amount the facility is equipped to handle; utilization depends on deliveries and operation over time. For manufacturers seeking recycled inputs, those distinctions determine how much supply an opening can represent. Input tonnage, black-mass production and purified-metal output answer different questions and should not be used interchangeably. The documented 2024 achievement was a new processing facility with a defined place in the chain. It could take batteries and manufacturing scrap a step closer to reuse. Converting that capacity into dependable battery-material supply required the next stages of recovery to work as well. ## Sources - [SK Tes Opens New Battery Recycling Facility in Netherlands](https://www.sktes.com/press-release/sk-tes-opens-cutting-edge-battery-recycling-facility-in-netherlands-to-meet-surging-demand-in-electric-vehicle-market?ref=pvweekly.com) — SK Tes · 2024-09-09. - [SK tes opens plant to recycle electric vehicle batteries in Rotterdam port area](https://www.portofrotterdam.com/en/news-and-press-releases/sk-tes-opens-plant-recycle-electric-vehicle-batteries-rotterdam-port-area?ref=pvweekly.com) — Port of Rotterdam · 2024-09-10. - [SK Tes Rotterdam Battery Recycling Facility opening ceremony](https://www.sktes.com/sk-tes-rotterdam-battery-recycling-facility-opening-ceremony-photos?ref=pvweekly.com) — SK Tes. - [Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling](https://www.epa.gov/hw/lithium-ion-battery-recycling?ref=pvweekly.com) — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.