tozero launches battery recycling facility in Bavaria

Battery recycling startup tozero has launched its first industrial demonstration plant in Germany capable of turning end-of-life batteries into domestic supplies of lithium, graphite and a nickel-cobalt mix at scale for the first time, the Munich-based company said in a press release.

Located in Bavaria at Chemical Park Gendorf, the plant can process more than 1.500t of battery waste every year. From this waste, tozero can produce high-purity lithium carbonate and recover graphite and nickel-cobalt mix at industrial scale. 

tozero has already demonstrated successful qualification of its recycled lithium and graphite for lithium-ion batteries with leading cathode and anode manufacturers.  

The facility will be used to deliver recycled lithium and graphite to companies across sectors including construction, ceramics, and lubricants, with further materials and industries to follow, the press release said.

“Europe doesn’t yet have the critical raw materials it needs to build and scale its own energy transition and battery industry,” said Sarah Fleischer, Co-founder and CEO of tozero. “Our technology changes this by enabling us to recycle end-of-life batteries and extract these materials at industrial scale for the first time. In just under four years, tozero has gone from lab-scale experiments to industrial operations and we’re consistently proving that recycling isn’t just a pilot project — it can be delivered at a level capable of giving Europe a homegrown, circular supply of critical materials its future runs on.”

“Scaling our technology from lab to industrial production in such a short time is a defining milestone for any deep-tech founder and marks the transition from development to real-world validation at industrial scale,” said Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann, Co-founder and CTO of tozero.