Partnership gets $1.75 million state grant for lithium-ion battery-recycling facility in Endicott

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — SungEel MCC Americas (SMCC) — a partnership between a South Korean company and New York state firm — will use $1.75 million in state funding to create a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility at the former IBM complex in Endicott.

The initial project aims to recycle 3,000 tons of spent lithium-ion batteries annually and will create at least 86 new high-tech manufacturing jobs with average salaries topping $50,000, Empire State Development (ESD) said in a Friday news release.

SMCC is an alliance between South Korean recycling company SungEel HiTech and White Plains–based e-recycler and broker Metallica Commodities Corp., ESD said.

The new facility will complement the Imperium3 New York, Inc. giga-factory on the Huron Campus in Endicott, which will make lithium-ion batteries.

SungEel HiTech will provide the recycling technology and Metallica Commodities Corp. will broker incoming batteries and the products of the new business.

ESD will provide a $750,000 capital grant toward machinery and equipment (M&E), and a $1 million Excelsior tax credit. In total, the company will spend $22 million on specialized M&E and $1.3 million on construction and renovation.

The recycling and recovery of lithium-ion batteries will help “ensure” continued access to “precious and limited” supplies of materials used to make the batteries, the release stated.

The project and the state spending add to the “revitalization” happening at the former IBM campus, which is now home to companies that the Southern Tier Soaring plan is supporting, ESD said.

“We are excited to be at the forefront of lithium-ion battery recycling in the United States and to create quality, [high-tech], green jobs in our home state of New York,” Danish Mir, COO of Metallica Commodities Corp., said. “The state’s energy-storage initiative makes the Southern Tier an obvious choice. We look forward to leveraging the region’s educational institutions, technological resources, and manufacturing tradition to add to the incredible progress New York State has made in energy-storage technology.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com