Renewable Metals, an Australian battery recycling start up, has raised a $8 million financing round to develop and commercialise its pioneering lithium-ion battery recycling technology, with backing from the CEFC and leading Asia Pacific and US-based investors.
Virescent Ventures manages the CEFC investment. The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, based in the United States, is the principal investor, with involvement from Asia Pacific-focused venture capital firm Investible through its early-stage Climate Tech Fund.
The funding round will help Renewable Metals develop a pilot plant in Perth, paving the way for building a larger demonstration plant capable of processing up to 1,500 tonnes of battery waste each year. The financing will also help to expand the Renewable Metals team to further develop the Australian battery recycling industry, which CSIRO estimates may help recover up to $3.1 billion in valuable battery materials and metals.
“The CEFC is backing Renewable Metals with a $2.5 million investment toward an excellent Australian innovation in the battery and critical minerals space. There is a growing global need for effective waste management strategies as demand for lithium-ion batteries rises, driven by the increasing electrification of transport and the renewable energy generation storage sector,” Virescent Ventures Partner Blair Pritchard said.
Pritchard stated that battery recycling that extracts valuable metals and materials is a key aspect of establishing Australia’s circular economy as demand for batteries develops. He noted that Australia can participate in the battery value chain by developing end-of-life battery systems, covering the extraction, refining, processing, operation, maintenance, and eventual repurposing and recycling of batteries and components.
“Renewable Metals has developed a more sustainable and efficient process to recycle all formats of lithium-ion batteries, from large batter?y packs? currently used in electric vehicles (EVs) and home stationary storage batteries, as well as small consumer electronic batteries. The process has the potential to recover more of the critical minerals that support electrification, help address battery waste and strengthen Australia’s circular economy,” he added.
Renewable Metals’ technology uses alkaline leaching to eliminate the need for pre-processing battery cells to ‘black mass’, reducing processing costs by up to 30%. Compared to competitors, the simpler extraction method uses less chemicals and produces less waste, achieving higher metal recovery rates, particularly for lithium.
Renewable Metals technology can recover critical materials from batteries like lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese, and can be applied to various battery chemistries. It also has the potential to recycle lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are currently too expensive to recycle through existing technology.
“To decarbonise quickly, the world needs cost-effective recycling solutions that maximise recovery for all types of lithium batteries (not just higher value ones with nickel and cobalt). We’re thrilled to be backed by the CEFC, Grantham and Investible. Their support will accelerate our scale-up as well as help create 2-3x more value than the current Australian practice of exporting batteries or black mass for recycling overseas,” Renewable Metals CEO Luan Atkinson said.
CEFC has established Virescent Ventures as an independent investment management firm to attract private sector investors in Australian climate tech. The firm is pursuing its first capital raise and managing CEFC Clean Energy Innovation Fund investment commitments, including Renewable Metals.
“Investible’s Climate Tech Fund is thrilled to have led this round in Renewable Metals, who bring a vital input of electrification to Australia. The company’s proprietary closed loop system is reducing the initial carbon footprint of EVs while helping address a bottleneck and major anti-EV argument, with less harsh chemicals and by-products, at a lower cost,” Investible Investment Manager Ben Lindsay said.
Renewable Metals was founded by a team of metallurgists earlier this year and was granted the inaugural Supercharge Australia Innovation Challenge Award for its technological developments.
