A solvent recycling facility in Thailand is optimistic about the future, expecting a 10% income rise this year. The company also plans to participate in the carbon credit trading market.
Solvents play an important role in EV manufacturing because of their ability to dissolve impurities and evaporate fast. They are widely used for cleaning automotive and electrical components, as well as mixing resins and pigments for vehicle coatings. Solvents play an equally important role in lithium-ion battery manufacture.
Siamnat Panassorn, CEO of Sun-up Recycling, emphasised the difficulty of recovering solvents from spent batteries and recycling them for fresh production. Sun-up Recycling, founded in Japan in 1995 and expanded to Thailand in 2017, specialises in organic solvent recovery. The company’s innovative distillation method produces 99% purity and an 80%-95% recovery rate, recycling up to 9,000 tonnes per year.
Electric vehicles (EVs) provide significant carbon reduction benefits during operation. However, the manufacture of EV bodies and batteries continues to contribute significantly to carbon emissions. Solvents, which are used in manufacturing processes, are a significant source of these emissions. Solvents emit at least three times as much carbon when burnt as when recycled.
