Building Next Generation Battery Recycling: Announcing Zinc’s Investment in CellMine

Zinc is excited to be leading the pre-seed investment into CellMine, an innovative battery recycling start-up spinning out of elite Edinburgh-based innovation centre Impact Solutions. 

CellMine, led by CEO Simon Rathbone and technical Director Adam Taylor, has developed a novel process for recycling lithium-ion batteries – commonly used in devices like smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles – in an efficient, scalable and environmentally friendly way. 

CellMine’s mission is to prevent battery waste inundating landfills and to reduce industry’s reliance on mined metals. This funding round will enable the team to scale up their proven technology process for turning messy and varied waste battery feedstocks into clean chemical products ready to go back into the supply chain.

An accelerating global crisis in critical minerals and complex recycling challenge

The surge in demand for electric vehicles is resulting in an alarming accumulation of spent lithium-ion batteries. China alone was predicted to have generated 500,000 metric tons of used lithium-ion batteries by 2020. It is estimated that by 2030, there will be over 11 million tons of spent lithium-ion batteries globally.

There is an urgent global need for new strategies to recover critical materials from used batteries and mitigate the environmental impacts of mining for virgin minerals. The key to tackling this challenge is efficient battery recycling, at scale, to get high quality materials back into the supply chain. 

Established pyrolysis-based approaches to lithium-ion battery recycling are woefully inadequate, requiring high CapEx plants, and resulting in huge volumes of waste. The technology and processes involved have not evolved for decades and are unable to scale effectively to meet current or future demands. 

Right now there is no commercially scalable, environmentally sound way to efficiently recycle lithium-ion batteries – which is where CellMine comes in. 

CellMine’s novel approach

CellMine is reinventing how we recycle and manufacture cathode materials — the components responsible for storing and releasing energy in a battery. The team has developed an innovative process technology that takes the internal materials from spent lithium-ion batteries and converts them back into high quality material for new batteries.

Their unique approach involves a patent-pending process that not only recycles these batteries but also rejuvenates and enhances the cathode materials. This process transforms the “black mass” (the mixture of metals from used batteries) into high-quality cathode materials that can outperform new ones. 

By creating high-performing cathode materials from both used and virgin feedstocks and building a scalable technology that significantly reduces process steps, costs and emissions, Cellmine’s vision is to lower CapEx and OpEx of lithium-ion battery recycling, while increasing the yield of valuable materials. 

Unlike traditional battery recycling methods, which require large industrial facilities and are energy-intensive, CellMine’s technology is built to be scalable and more environmentally friendly, while producing little to no wasteful by-products. It reduces both the capital costs and environmental impact associated with battery recycling. By focusing on purifying and refining valuable metals for lithium-ion batteries, CellMine is setting a new standard in the recycling industry, contributing to a more sustainable and circular battery supply chain. 

The journey ahead

In addition to this pre-seed funding round, CellMine has received substantial grant funding from Innovate UK and the Faraday Battery Challenge, supercharging validation of their process technology from concept to lab and proving it can scale rapidly. Zinc’s funding will enable the CellMine team to now scale-up outputs of materials produced and break ground on a new pilot plant. They will also be building out the expertise in their team, hiring for new talent in electrochemistry and chemical engineering. 

CellMine’s mission sits at the core of Zinc’s thesis to back UK-based deeptech and cutting edge scientific innovation to solve the most critical challenges facing the health of people and the planet. There is an enormous amount of innovation and collaboration happening in the battery space here in the UK – driven by the emergence of exciting new science, exceptional individuals working on complex problems, and an ecosystem of funders that see huge potential for commercial impact at global scale. Battery recycling is a very exciting space to be investing in right now, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Simon, Adam and the CellMine team on this next step of their journey. 

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Building and commercialising science-for-impact: If you would like to follow in Simon and Adam’s footsteps to build the next world-changing innovation in health, environment or climate, apply for pre-seed investment and venture building support from Zinc today: https://www.zinc.vc/