Recycling company specialising in lithium-ion batteries, Metastable Materials has gained seed funding led by Surge, Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia’s rapid scale-up program, which included participation from deep-tech VC Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures and other angels.
To meet its growing operations, the new funding will be channelled into recruitment to support Metastable’s manufacturing and industrial engineering functions, as well as for managing its supply chain and day-to-day operations.
The industry for Li-ion battery recycling is thus expected to grow at least five times by 2030, as corporations search for a proper way to handle end-of-life Li-ion batteries.
Furthermore, many nations – including the EU – plan to introduce regulations to ensure that batteries can be repurposed or recycled at the end of their life.
However, current recycling methods to extract and reuse metals from end-of-life Li-ion batteries are plagued by a myriad of challenges. This includes the logistical challenges of transporting large Li-ion batteries to recycling facilities, which can be costly due to Lithium’s highly flammable nature and strict regulations around packaging.
Efficient metal extraction is also a complicated process that involves disassembly, separation and recovery and requires significant investments into facilities and engineering, which has been difficult for companies to carry out profitably at scale.
Meeting these issues head-on, Metastable has developed a chemical-free Integrated Carbothermal Reduction process for recycling and extracting valuable materials, such as copper, aluminium, cobalt, nickel and lithium from Li-ion batteries.
The technology used significantly reduces capital and operational expenditure in comparison to conventional battery recycling practices, along with a recovery rate of over 90 percent.
Shubham Vishvakarma, the Founder of Metastable says, “We’re proud to be pioneering a solution that safeguards our future, from providing a sustainable supply of metals for the manufacture of EV batteries to setting new benchmarks for the way metals are recycled, paving the way for new technologies and innovations that will have the power to truly move the needle in fighting climate change.”
Metastable is also developing storage and packaging solutions to safely move used batteries from consumers to recycling facilities. Current methods in India often do not conform to the highest international standards for storage and transportation, and packaging is primarily made with flammable, unregulated materials. Metastable’s packaging, in contrast, is designed to mitigate fire risks using a multi-layered heat-resistant structure, allowing batteries to be transported in bulk safely.
The startup is scaling up its battery recycling capabilities and operations. In October 2022, Metastable opened a 21,000 sq ft urban mining facility located on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The facility can process 1,500 tonnes of material annually, which accounts for up to 6 percent of India’s recycling demand for Li-ion batteries.