Current battery recycling methods are both dirty and energy inefficient, and with the big global push towards electric vehicles in particular this is a problem in urgent need of a solution. Stepping up to solve it is UCD spin-out Licovolt, which has developed a novel patented compound and an associated process that radically reduces the energy required to extract critical and rare earths from black mass – the powder that results from battery recycling.
The company’s game-changing technology has taken three years to reach the brink of commercialisation. There was also a great deal of foundation research involved before professors Tony Keene and Steven Ferguson teamed up with entrepreneur Clint Zahmel (a mining and processing expert) and C-suite manager Mark Connolly, (originally an energy and environmental engineer) to spin out the company in July.
Zahmel says serendipity played its part in bringing the founding team together as he first met Connolly while they were both studying for an MBA in Trinity College 12 years ago.
“What we’re doing is highly disruptive,” says Zahmel adds. “Our patented precursor material enables the critical materials extraction process to happen at a much lower temperature than existing methods. The result of this is a CO2 reduction by up to 70 per cent and our technology allows for a much cleaner and faster extraction of these precious rare earths from black mass material which is the ‘dust’ that comes post-recycling and crushing of lithium cobalt batteries.”
Licovolt is headquartered at Nova UCD, where it employs five people. The company is now at the discussion stage with potential international partners with a view to accelerating the adoption of its technology. All going to plan Zahmel expects to tie up a deal within a six to nine-month time frame. Investment to date in the business, between support from Science Foundation Ireland and the EU, is €2 million, and the company is owned jointly by UCD and private investors. The main target customers for Licovolt’s technology at this point are global automakers.
“The Licovolt technology will be used to extract lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese from spent battery material at a fraction of the cost and emissions of current methods. This in turn enables the infinite recycling of these critical minerals,” says Zahmel.
“Licovolt began as a Science Foundation Ireland-funded lab research project following a breakthrough chemical discovery by Tony and Steven, and our aim is to partner with global electronics OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and auto-manufacturers to support the circular economy and facilitate international policy and regulatory requirements.
“To target issues surrounding supply chain volatility and climate change, the EU has implemented end-of-life battery requirements including collection and recovery targets, such as doubling the recovery targets for lithium, and doubling the increase in use of recycled materials in future production,” says Zahmel.
“Automotive OEMs have also been mandated to accept end-of-life batteries from vehicles owners to incentivise life cycle management by key economic operators. European policymakers have set ambitious recycling collection targets of 70 per cent by 2025 and 80 per cent by 2030.”
In the US, which is a potentially large market for Licovolt, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) targets provides monetary incentives for the extraction, processing or manufacturing of critical minerals and battery components in the US.
“The subsidies offered to the battery industry by the IRA are not capped in terms of the amount of production, the type of battery produced, or the use of the battery. It is estimated that $150 billion (€134bn) of subsidies will be received by battery manufacturers in the USA by the end of 2032, creating a significant incentive to invest in battery manufacturing and battery recycling operations,” says Zahmel who has joint Irish and Australian citizenship.
Before starting Licovolt, Zahmel cofounded and scaled an industrial silicon project which was subsequently acquired by international investment company Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.
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