On October 19, 2026, Green Science Alliance (GSA), a Japanese chemical and green technology company, inaugurated a battery recycling facility in Biel, Switzerland. Partnering with the Swiss Battery Technology Center (SBTC), the operation aims to extract and reprocess cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries for integration into fresh battery production. The facility operates within Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne (SIPBB), situated in the canton of Bern.
Reusing Cathode Materials Directly
The initiative centers on black mass, a dark residue generated through mechanical breakdown of discarded lithium-ion batteries that harbors valuable electrode components. Traditional recycling approaches employ acids or bases to dissolve black mass and isolate individual metals, necessitating additional refinement stages before those metals become usable again.
GSA's strategy diverges from this approach by seeking to restore cathode active materials in their original form, circumventing complete decomposition into elemental constituents. Such a method could bypass intermediate processing phases and curtail material consumption.
Early laboratory findings indicate that batteries incorporating regenerated cathode materials demonstrated performance levels exceeding 90% relative to batteries manufactured with standard commercial materials. The research encompasses both nickel-manganese-cobalt and lithium iron phosphate battery chemistries.
Industrial Viability Remains Under Investigation
The collaborative effort will evaluate the regenerated materials, produce electrodes and cells, and conduct performance assessments. Concurrently, the team will investigate the commercial feasibility and capacity for scaling the process. GSA intends to bring the technology to market across Europe via the SIPBB network while pursuing supplementary collaborative research initiatives.
Source: Battery-News
