SiTration has recently closed its $2.3 M pre-seed round led by Azolla Ventures with the participation of MIT-Affiliated E14 Fund. The startup is focused on battery recycling and is ready to bring its battery recycling technology to the market.
SiTration has created an innovative membrane that is able to recover up to 95% of the materials used in EV batteries – including lithium, cobalt, and nickel – and will do so by using ten times less energy compared to other battery recycling technologies.
A spinoff of MIT, the company will use the pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its technology and hire more team members.
Battery recycling will be crucial to meet EVs’ demands in the future. As we are going from almost 7 million electric vehicles now, to up to 60 million projected in 2040, it will be essential to recycle as much as possible the very rare materials from EVs’ batteries.
In order to meet future automaker needs, lithium supply should increase by 15%. Recent shortages in the supply chain of key materials to build these batteries have shown the need for a cheaper alternative than continuing to look for those materials under the earth’s surface. Also, current technology does not allow mining companies to reach those very deep areas under the surface where more materials could be.
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SiTration could provide that low-cost alternative considering that the membrane technology invented is just at the beginning of its development. Furthermore, automakers in some countries are required by law to take care of used batteries. For them, SiTration technology could be a fantastic solution.
Brendan Smith, CEO and one of the co-founders of SiTration invented the membrane technology during his Ph.D. at MIT. He then further developed it as a postdoctoral research associate in the Grossman Group at MIT’s Department of Material Science and Engineering. He is truly passionate about developing new materials that could help society move forward toward a more sustainable future.
The US Department of Energy (DOE), estimates battery recycling could provide up to one-third of future needs for battery materials. However, according to the latest data the US only recycles 5% of the batteries used.
While the European Union has already strict regulations in that sense, the US is lagging behind with no federal law covering battery recycling.
SiTration could help the US – and many other countries – to reach a more sustainable a clean mobility. The challenges ahead are many, but we are sure that the global need for battery recycling technology will help this company find a lot of support.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com –In the Featured Photo: An electric vehicle charging. Photo credit: Unsplash.
