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TDK Ventures invests in Battery Resourcers, supporting closed loop battery recycling

TDK Corporation (TSE: 6762) announced that subsidiary TDK Ventures Inc. invested in Battery Resourcers (BR), a developer of lithium ion battery recycling technology to directly recover cathodes.

TDK Ventures invests in Battery Resourcers, supporting closed loop battery recycling
  • Battery Resourcers is a closed loop battery recycling company that specializes in recovering cathodes from multiple lithium ion battery chemistries
  • BR’s proprietary recycling technology dramatically reduces the cost of electric vehicles and energy storage devices, and keeps batteries out of landfills
  • TDK Corporation will leverage its extensive expertise in materials science, passive components, batteries, power supplies, sensors and large scale manufacturing to accelerate Battery Resourcers success

BR offers improved process technology for a sustainable, closed-loop battery cathode supply chain, that dramatically reduces the cost of electric vehicles and energy storage devices and keeps battery waste out of landfills. Compared to production of virgin cathodes, BR’s material process saves up to 35% in costs, generates 20% less emissions, and recovers >97% of metals by weight and >70% by value.

Lithium ion batteries consist of multiple modules, which can be broken down into their basic building blocks called “electrochemical cells,” often constructed by sandwiching anodes and cathodes between an electrolyte, which serves as the conducting medium for the electron flow in the electrical circuit. Cathodes are made by carefully concocting a mixture of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, while anodes are often made of graphite. Sourcing these materials presents a critical supply chain problem, especially nickel and cobalt, which are expensive and experience volatile pricing due to unsustainable mining practices.

​Recycling of critical battery materials reduces costs and drastically improves sustainability, but traditional lithium ion battery recycling processes split the entire cell into its respective constituent elements. BR’s proprietary methodology takes a spent battery and rebuilds a full EV battery-grade cathode, which is fundamentally a unique value proposition for a cell maker or an EV car company building its own manufacturing value chains to reduce costs.

​“BR is committed to changing the dynamics for processing end of life lithium ion batteries. Our technology incorporates the best of hydrometallurgical and direct recycling process that gives us an advantage to capture more than 95% of the weight of the batteries,” said Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Battery Resourcers. “The beauty of our proprietary co-precipitation process is that we accept a mixed input of battery material chemistries from consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and even grid-scale energy storage lithium ion devices to produce a defined premium grade cathode output. We anticipate strategic growth now backed by TDK Ventures, along with Orbia Ventures.”

​Other investors in the syndicate include Orbia Ventures, At One Ventures, Trumpf Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Tsingyuan Ventures, MassVentures, and Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures.

​“With the push toward major auto electrification in President Biden’s administration, the United States might follow Europe’s recent decree that all litium ion batteries must contain a certain quantity of recycled materials by 2025,” said Nicolas Sauvage, Managing Director of TDK Ventures. “BR’s fundamental strategic advantage is that they are moving up the value chain by creating a product that cellmakers and EV OEMs want while being significantly more environmentally friendly.”

Sherwin Prior, Partner at Orbia Ventures who led the investment round said, “We have worked with BR on several joint development projects and were impressed by the depth of their technical and application knowledge around battery recycling. We think that BR’s concept of conversion of recycled materials into high quality cathodes has tremendous value and represents unique opportunity to establish cathode supply chain in North America.” Orbia has a specialty chemicals unit called Koura, which produces battery electrolytes for electric vehicles.

​BR presently operates from Worcester, MA with Series B financing. Plans include the building of a commercial scale shredding facility increasing the ability to process over 10,000 tons per year of lithium ion battery feedstock that can power over 20,000 EVs per year.

​TDK Ventures invests globally in early-stage startups that leverage fundamental materials science to unlock an attractive and sustainable future for the world. TDK Ventures’ goal is to help every startup we invest in to achieve their full potential for positive world impact. Signaling a return on investment in materials science startups in 2020, 3 companies TDK Ventures invested in have gone public or been acquired.

www.tdk-ventures.com

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