Reinventing the battery materials supply chain.
Battery materials demand is growing while supply stays constrained
Demand for the metals inside lithium-ion batteries keeps rising, but those battery metals are becoming more expensive and less available. The Kingdom and the wider region need an economical, efficient and sustainable way to recover them rather than depending on volatile imports of virgin material.
A recycling process that fixes the economics, not just the chemistry
Conventional battery recycling is held back by high capital and operating costs, low recovery value, complex chemistries, hazardous waste and difficult scale-up. CirCoLi addresses each of these pain points at once, with a modular process that can be tuned by battery chemistry and converts spent batteries directly into high-value products.
CirCoLi in action
An IP portfolio built across the whole recovery chain
CirCoLi recovers more than 90% of the various metals at over 99% purity, meeting battery-grade standards. The process is demonstrated at pilot scale and is protected by a comprehensive IP portfolio spanning leaching, synthesis and lithium recovery.
- Metal recovery yield
- Greater than 90% across various metals
- Output purity
- Greater than 99%, battery-grade standard
- Pilot scale
- 50 tonnes per year, operative at KAUST
- Cost reduction
- ~40% lower CapEx/tonne, ~50% lower OpEx/tonne
- Core IP
- Ultrasonically-enhanced leaching reactor (20–40x faster), direct pCAM synthesis, anti-solvent lithium carbonate recovery
Creating impact where it matters most
Securing critical metals
Recovering battery-grade metals locally to reduce dependence on imported virgin material.
Lowering the cost barrier
Cutting CapEx and OpEx per tonne so recycling competes with cheaper virgin sources.
Cleaner by design
Reducing hazardous waste and chemical handling versus conventional recycling routes.
Modular and scalable
Tuning the process by chemistry and modularizing by stream for flexible deployment.
KAUST. On a mission for Saudi Arabia and the world.
Whether you’re a researcher, entrepreneur, industry partner or investor, we invite you to be part of the journey.
Partner With UsBuilding 34, KAUST Research & Technology Park, Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia