Jaguar Land Rover joins investors backing US lithium recycler Battery Resourcers
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Battery Resourcers CEO Mike O’Kronley.
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US-based Battery Resourcers has raised $20m (£14m) from investors, including Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital and mobility arm, InMotion Ventures, to build a commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility.
The Series B equity round, with financing led by Orbia Ventures, will support development of a plant with a processing capacity of 10,000 tonnes of batteries annually.
Massachusetts-based Battery Resourcers said its recycling process allows it to accept a mix of battery material chemistries to convert them into new, premium-grade cathode products.
The company, founded in 2015 as a spin-out from the laboratory of Prof Yan Wang at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, claims its process has a metal recovery rate of 97%, with the ability to produce nickel manganese cobalt (NMC)-based cathode active materials with 35% reduction in cost, 32% reduction in emissions, and 13% reduction in energy consumption compared to the production of virgin cathode.
Novel process
Battery Resourcers has developed its technology with the support of the US Advanced Battery Consortium. It is also engineering a novel process for graphite recovery and purification, which will enable it to return both the cathode and anode active materials back to manufacturers of new batteries.
Company CEO Mike O'Kronley said: "Being able to convert scrap and end-of-life battery materials into finished, cathode active material that can be directly used in making new batteries, drives increased profitability and stability for the lithium-ion battery ecosystem."
The Series B equity round, with financing led by Orbia Ventures, will support development of a plant with a processing capacity of 10,000 tonnes of batteries annually.
Massachusetts-based Battery Resourcers said its recycling process allows it to accept a mix of battery material chemistries to convert them into new, premium-grade cathode products.
The company, founded in 2015 as a spin-out from the laboratory of Prof Yan Wang at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, claims its process has a metal recovery rate of 97%, with the ability to produce nickel manganese cobalt (NMC)-based cathode active materials with 35% reduction in cost, 32% reduction in emissions, and 13% reduction in energy consumption compared to the production of virgin cathode.
Novel process
Battery Resourcers has developed its technology with the support of the US Advanced Battery Consortium. It is also engineering a novel process for graphite recovery and purification, which will enable it to return both the cathode and anode active materials back to manufacturers of new batteries.
Company CEO Mike O'Kronley said: "Being able to convert scrap and end-of-life battery materials into finished, cathode active material that can be directly used in making new batteries, drives increased profitability and stability for the lithium-ion battery ecosystem."
"Our investment partners share our vision and passion for scaling this revolutionary process to support the battery material supply chain.”
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