But “black mass” is just a very literal description of the intermediate product from recycling either spent electric-vehicle batteries or scrap from battery plants. It’s a dark, powdery cocktail of metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel that’s emerging as a commodity in its own right.
Mentions of black mass in company earnings have grown — including recent instances from commodities trader Glencore Plc and chemicals giant BASF SE. Three market researchers — Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Fastmarkets and S&P Global — have launched regular price assessments of the material since April.
Glencore unveiled a plan in May with Canadian recycling firm Li-Cycle to process black mass in Sardinia, Italy. BASF expects to produce black mass in Germany next year. And last week, an affiliate of trader Mercuria Energy Trading agreed a joint venture with a US recycler to help sell its black mass worldwide.
Recycled materials will account for 15% of the global supply of lithium, 11% for nickel and 44% for cobalt by the end of this decade, according to estimates from S&P Global Commodity Insights.The growing popularity and improved performance of lithium-iron-phosphate cells — or “LFP” — has helped reduce costs and spur adoption of electric vehicles. But LFP chemistry is a less attractive proposition for recycling.