Kolon Industries Inc., a South Korean chemical and textile manufacturing company, is entering the secondary battery recycling market. The company announced on Wednesday that it had signed a 4.5 billion won ($3.4 million) investment agreement with RD Solution, a domestic secondary battery recycling startup, at Kolon One&Only Tower in Magok-dong, Seoul, the previous day. With this investment, the company has become the second-largest shareholder of RD Solution.

The two companies plan to complete the establishment of a mass-production system as early as this year. Kolon Industries aims to enhance business synergy by incorporating its production technology know-how into RD Solution's waste battery processing source technology.

RD Solution is a company with high-efficiency dry process technology that selectively recovers high-purity metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from waste batteries through a low-temperature process without the need for battery crushing or grinding, which is considered safe. In addition, it can contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The size of the secondary battery recycling market is expected to grow rapidly due to the spread of electric vehicles. According to market research firm SNE Research, the global battery recycling market is expected to grow from $44.9 billion in 2030 to $150 billion in 2040.