Our extraction rate of critical materials from Li-ion batteries at over 98 pc, best globally: Attero’s CEO

New Delhi, June 24: India’s largest end-to-end e-waste management and the world’s leading Li-ion battery recycling company Attero’s co-founder and CEO Nitin Gupta on Monday said that the firm’s extraction rate of critical materials is at over 98 per cent.

“We utilise a comprehensive mechanical and hydrometallurgical approach to extract pure battery-grade materials such as cobalt, lithium carbonate, graphite, and nickel with an impressive recovery efficiency exceeding 98%This exceptional performance outshines competitors worldwide, who typically attain recovery efficiencies below 75%,” Gupta told IANS during an interaction.

At Attero, the lithium-ion recycling process serves as a prime example of this transformation, demonstrating a remarkable reduction of up to or more than 97 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to the extraction of virgin metals,” he added.

Attero stands out as the sole entity in India and one of the foremost global leaders in conducting complete processing and refinement of black mass. Attero does not engage in exporting or supplying black mass to other companies. Instead, the company focuses on maximising value from the recycling process by refining black mass into battery-grade materials for its clientele.

Attero boasts the world’s lowest capex for extracting Lithium carbonate, standing at just $3,200 per tonne.

This figure is notably 40 per cent cheaper than industry standards in the battery recycling sector. In comparison, the minimum capex for a conventional hydro process amounts to $5,500 per tonne, while for a pyro process, it skyrockets to $10,000 per tonne for other competitors. In addition, Attero also has the lowest opex globally and recycles all types of end of life Li-ion batteries.

The company presently has a lithium-ion battery recycling capacity of 15,000 metric tonnes. It aims to build more recycling plants not only in the country but also around the world.

Over the next four years, the company aims to achieve a global annual refining capacity of 300,000 metric tonnes of lithium-ion batteries.

“We have over 45 granted global patents on NASA-approved recycling technologies developed by us in India. These patents are across the US, Europe and Asia, including China, Japan, and India, and many more applied for,” Gupta said.

Attero’s carbon credit methodology is approved by the United Nations and is based on the fact that the amount of energy involved in Attero’s processes to extract pure copper, pure cobalt, pure lithium carbonate and graphite from the end of life lithium-ion batteries.

Highlighting the company’s growth, the CEO further said the firm might consider filing an initial public offering (IPO) in the Indian market in the next 18 to 24 months. Gupta said that the company is continuing to scale its business from the present 1,000 crore to 100 per cent year-on-year.

“Attero today is roughly a 1,000 crore revenue company this year. We are already at a growth road of the annual run rate and profitable cash-flow positive and growing at 100 per cent year-on-year,” he mentioned.

When asked about the new electric vehicle (EV) policy rolled out by the government to attract more investments in the country, the co-founder said that it is a great policy and it will propel the entire EV sector.

“The EV sector in the country is already growing and this new policy will be good for the ‘Make in India’ initiative and ensure that India becomes the global hub for EV manufacturing,” he stated.

Attero’s current operating plant is in Roorkee, Uttarakhand and is in the process of building up another plant in the country for battery recycling at a roughly initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum.

The company is also in the process of building a plant in Poland and finalising the space for a plant in the US.