Metastable Materials offers battery recycling option

Metastable Materials, a Bengaluru, India-based lithium-ion battery recycling startup founded in 2021, is on a mission to transform the recycling industry via its “cutting-edge technology.”

The company says its chemical-free integrated carbothermal reduction (ICR) process offers a system for recycling that in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner can extract a wide range of materials from lithium-ion batteries, including materials such as copper, aluminum, cobalt, nickel and lithium, with more than a 90 percent recovery rate.

Metastable Materials has raised seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge, Speciale Invest, and Theia Ventures and has raised an undisclosed amount of funding raised from investors including Kartik Hajela and Akshay Singhal of Log9 Materials, Archana Priyadarshini of Point One and Sanjeev Sangras.

The name "Metastable" is derived from a state of matter that lies in between the stable and the unstable state, according to the company.

“It is a perfect analogy for the industry based around battery recycling, which is neither stable—because of existing nonscalable methodologies, out of date processes and ineffective supply chains—nor unstable, as these processes at least exist, although how effective they would be in handling the growing pile of e-waste is a matter of serious concern,” the company adds.

Metastable says its ICR process not only contributes to a sustainable future but also ensures the preservation of the quality of critical elements in the battery production chain.

"By eliminating harmful chemicals, the startup takes a significant step toward a cleaner, more efficient and eco-conscious battery recycling industry, aligning with India’s vision for a greener tomorrow,” it continues.

After extraction, materials harvested by Metastable can be used to make new batteries, jet engines industrial products and medicines.

In May, the company announced the appointment of Daniel Troedsson as an advisor to contribute to strategic planning, “delivering industry insights and mentorship vis-à-vis the startup’s market positioning.”

Troedsson is a former executive at Sweden-based Alelion Batteries AB and previously has held positions at Volvo Energy and Volvo Group Trucks Technology.

“I am extremely happy to join forces with Metastable Materials as their strategic advisor," Troedsson says. "Metastable is a groundbreaking startup that has, within a very short time span, exhibited the effectiveness of their recycling technology, exemplified through their successful execution of a small-scale production line.”

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“As someone who is as passionate about sustainable innovation as we are, we believe Daniel’s insights will be highly valuable as we at Metastable continue to advance our recycling technologies," Metastable Materials founder Shubham Vishvakarma adds.

Currently, Metastable is working on designing, fabricating and testing its equipment with vendors, while its process engineers are focused on improving the process efficiency.

The first Metastable Materials pilot plant is being designed to handle 4 percent to 6 percent of India’s end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. The company aims to expand and put up a larger plant in order to tackle global needs, and says it has received interest from several key players in the market to both supply end-of-life batteries for processing and purchasing extracted materials out of them.