Mecaware CO2-Based Battery Metal Recycling

Mecaware is a French producer of strategic metals founded in 2021 by Arnaud Villers d'Arbouet and Julien Leclaire, the inventor of its core technology. It recycles end-of-life batteries and production scrap into lithium, nickel and cobalt for new batteries, aiming to build a European supply of battery metals that today is largely concentrated in Asia, while avoiding the energy use and waste of pyrometallurgy and acid-based hydrometallurgy.

Its process is a hydrometallurgical route that runs in basic conditions with an ammonia system instead of sulfuric acid, using CO2 as the precipitating agent to selectively extract metals as carbonates or hydroxides suited to pCAM and CAM production. Amines are regenerated in a closed loop at ambient temperature and pressure. The company runs a demonstrator at its technical centre in Venissieux and a semi-industrial unit in Bethune, and designs compact modular units that can sit at gigafactories to treat production scrap on site.

• CO2 precipitation: CO2 is used as the agent to selectively recover battery metals.
• Acid-free chemistry: ammonia-based route without sulfuric acid or sulfate effluents.
• Closed loop: amines are regenerated and reused for continuous extraction.
• Battery-ready outputs: lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese carbonates for pCAM and CAM.
• Modular units: compact plants that can be installed at gigafactories for on-site scrap treatment.
• Chemistry roadmap: development work extending the process to LFP and sodium-ion batteries.

Battery cell plants in Vietnam could co-develop an on-site compact unit to turn electrode and cell scrap into metal carbonates instead of shipping waste abroad. Recycling and environmental service companies could license or partner on an acid-free process to meet stricter wastewater limits in industrial zones.

Pre-industrial tests reported by the company show extraction yields above 95% for each metal, with products meeting industry standards for return to cathode production. The process uses no acid, generates no sulfate effluents or process waste and runs at ambient temperature and pressure, with lower water and energy use than current technologies. Compact units are economically viable at smaller scale, cutting logistics costs for scrap.

Battery recycling rules and local-content requirements are pushing manufacturers to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt close to where scrap is generated. As new cell plants open in Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia and Vietnam, on-site treatment of production scrap with low-waste chemistry is becoming relevant for gigafactory operators facing tighter environmental permits.

Mecaware was founded in 2021, with a technical centre in Venissieux and an industrial site in Bethune, France, more than 65 employees and 10 patents. It raised EUR 40 million in 2023 and reports EUR 100 million of secured funding for industrialisation, with support from EIT InnoEnergy, ADEME, BPI France, France 2030 and regional authorities. It was named an EIC Accelerator laureate in February 2026 and plans a first production plant in 2029.