L&F subsidiary JHC ramps up resource-recycling business with battery pretreatment, lithium recovery

JHC, a secondary battery materials and recycling company and a subsidiary of L&F, announced Wednesday that it is expanding its resource-recycling business, focusing on spent battery pretreatment and lithium recovery.

JHC currently has an annual pretreatment capacity of 15,000 tons of spent batteries and has developed technology to recover about 95 percent of the lithium contained in lithium-bearing wastewater generated during secondary battery materials manufacturing.

In the secondary battery industry, recycling is gaining strategic importance beyond its role as a downstream waste-handling process — it is increasingly recognized as a means of resecuring critical minerals and completing the materials supply chain. Stable procurement of key minerals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, the use of recycled raw materials, and supply chain sustainability are all emerging as major competitive factors alongside cathode material performance and production capacity.

Building on manufacturing technology and process-operation experience accumulated through precursor production, JHC is expanding its spent battery pretreatment and lithium recovery operations and positioning itself as a key hub in the cathode material circular value chain.

JHC built up its precursor production base in stages and began mass-producing precursors for electric vehicle secondary batteries in 2014. It has since upgraded its materials manufacturing and production capabilities through lithium hydroxide (LiOH) grinding and a smart logistics system.

JHC also produces black mass from spent cathode materials and used batteries through pretreatment processes including discharge, dismantling, crushing and grinding. The company holds a comprehensive waste recycling permit that allows it to handle both designated and general waste, and has secured an annual pretreatment capacity of 15,000 tons.

JHC has also built pretreatment capabilities to handle a range of battery chemistries and spent battery feedstock characteristics, including NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese), LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) and LCO (lithium-cobalt-oxide). Last year, the company obtained a comprehensive recycling permit for spent battery waste and established a pretreatment process line; in 2026, it added a spent battery discharge and dismantling line.

Beyond spent battery pretreatment, JHC is also focused on converting lithium-bearing wastewater produced during secondary battery materials manufacturing back into a usable resource. After securing a wastewater reuse business permit in 2024, the company established a process to evaporate and concentrate lithium-bearing wastewater into lithium carbonate. Through continuous optimization of its MVR (Mechanical Vapor Recompression) concentration process, JHC has achieved a lithium recovery rate of about 95 percent from wastewater.

"We will further strengthen stable raw material procurement and process and cost competitiveness, backed by our large-scale pretreatment capacity, a business foundation capable of securing spent battery feedstock from both domestic and overseas sources, and the process competitiveness to handle diverse battery materials reliably," said Lee Byung-hee, CEO of JHC. "We will develop the resource-recycling business into a new growth pillar for JHC — one that combines profitability and sustainability — and use it as a foundation for continued sustainable future growth."

Meanwhile, L&F recently received a product carbon footprint verification statement based on the international standard ISO 14067 from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), a globally accredited verification body, at its Daegu headquarters.

A product carbon footprint is an indicator that measures greenhouse gas emissions across a product's entire life cycle, from raw material procurement and energy use to waste and wastewater treatment. ISO 14067, established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2018, is an international standard for the objective measurement and reporting of carbon footprints, based on life cycle assessment methodology.