Korea Environment Corporation, Germany's Fraunhofer to jointly research spent battery recycling

The Korea Environment Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production (FFB) in Münster, Germany, on Friday (local time) to pursue joint research on spent battery recycling and the circular economy.

Fraunhofer is Europe's largest applied research organization, with more than 70 institutes across Germany. The MOU aims to combine Fraunhofer's battery research expertise with the demonstration and testing infrastructure of the National Battery Circular Cluster, which the Korea Environment Corporation operates, to strengthen South Korea's competitiveness in spent battery recycling.

The two organizations plan to conduct joint research across the entire battery recycling chain, from spent battery processing through quality verification of recovered materials.

Key areas of cooperation will cover spent battery recycling technology, certification and quality verification methods for recycled materials, and research on compliance with EU battery regulations. The partners plan to identify specific joint research projects and launch them in earnest from 2027.

Fraunhofer FFB has research capabilities spanning laboratory work through pilot production ahead of mass production, raising expectations that findings from the collaboration can be quickly applied to domestic industry through cluster demonstration projects.

Moon Gap-saeng, the Korea Environment Corporation's director of resource circulation, said the partnership with Fraunhofer would significantly strengthen the R&D role of the National Battery Circular Cluster's infrastructure. "We will actively cooperate to support domestic companies in advancing their recycling technologies and meeting EU regulations through this joint research," he added.