cylib: Next generation battery recycling

As the green transition picks up speed, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) has exploded, with Europe seeing a 19% increase in personal ownership of EVs in 2021 alone. A step in the right direction perhaps, but the problem of battery replacement and recycling is growing in tandem. Europe needs approximately 420,000 tonnes of EV/mobility battery recycling by 2030.

“We break down the battery into its raw form, so that we can then re-use it again to make new batteries. That way we don’t have to keep mining for new minerals,” explains Lilian Schwich, co-founder and CEO of cylib, a start-up company based spun out of RWTH Aachen University.

In the past, batteries would be thrown into the furnace, burned and then the nickel and cobalt extracted. While that may have been economically viable, it’s environmentally unsustainable. Instead, on the back of 5-6 years of research, cylib proposes a holistic process that involves both mechanical and thermal treatment, with minimal use of chemicals. Cylib's end-to-end process is characterised by the efficient, resource- and climate-friendly recovery of all valuable metals in an electric car battery.

Since spinning out of academic research, the company has embarked on a growth trajectory which has seen employee number explode beyond 35, and counting as the company seeks to match its research and industrialisation expertise. From the lab to proof-of-concept, the next step is now industrialising the cylib solution so it can achieve scale and create a bigger impact.

Part of this growth has been financed through an equity investment from the World Fund, a German venture capital firm backed by the EIF under the InvestEU programme. “We’re now working with consultants, architects and other experts planning the industrial plant. We’re aiming to get to market a year earlier than initially planned -by early 2026.”