Scale-up to build sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling facility at Chempark Dormagen for European resilience.
Battery recycling company cylib has secured Euro 26.1 million in European Union funding from the ERDF/JTF programme in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to build one of the largest lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in Europe at Chempark Dormagen.
„We are deeply grateful to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union for funding this project and supporting our mission to produce advanced materials for sustainable batteries and resilient European value chains,“ says Dr Lilian Schwich, co-founder and co-CEO. „This validates our superior technology and advanced engineering capabilities, whilst recognizing our team’s achievements to date.“
The grant, confirmed through the „Produktives.NRW“ programme, follows an initial commitment announced in November 2024 and will specifically finance the construction of the first stage of the industrial facility. The facility will process black mass (an intermediate product of shredded battery materials) to recover critical raw materials including lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel and manganese from lithium-ion batteries, strengthening Europe’s geopolitical independence in these strategic materials.
Technology delivers superior recovery rates
The OLiC (Optimised Lithium & Graphite Recovery) process recovers over 90 per cent of critical materials from spent batteries, while producing 80 per cent lower carbon emissions than primary extraction. This proprietary water-based technology will now be scaled from cylib’s Aachen pilot line to full industrial implementation.
At full build-out stage, the facility, scheduled to begin operations in 2027, will process up to 140,000 electric vehicle batteries annually (equivalent to 60,000 tonnes of end-of-life batteries or 20,000 tonnes of black mass). As electrification accelerates – with every fourth new car sold globally now being electric – Europe faces unprecedented demand for battery materials. This facility demonstrates how next-generation recycling technology can reduce dependence on primary mining while strengthening geopolitical independence.
About the Image
The accompanying rendering shows cylib’s updated design for Chempark Dormagen, reflecting detailed preparation work by the start-of-production team.
About cylib
cylib is a holistic and sustainable battery recycling scale-up, founded in 2022 in Aachen, Germany, by Dr Lilian Schwich, Paul Sabarny, and Dr Gideon Schwich. With over 120 employees, the company emerged from research conducted at RWTH Aachen University to produce advanced materials for sustainable batteries and resilient European value chains.
The water-based OLiC (Optimised Lithium & Graphite Recovery) process efficiently recovers raw materials from battery packs, black mass, or production scraps, achieving over 90 per cent recycling efficiency for lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and manganese with an 80 per cent reduced carbon footprint compared to primary extraction, enabling a circular economy. Backed by prominent investors including Porsche Ventures and Bosch Ventures, cylib raised Euro 55 million in its Series A round—the largest financing round in European battery recycling to date and secured more than Euro 27 million in grants.
Source: cylib
