US firm Bridge Green opens mineral recovery plant in Chennai

Chennai: US startup Bridge Green Upcycle has opened a critical mineral recovery plant for lithium-ion batteries in Chennai with a processing capacity of 7,200 tonnes per annum.

Located in Gummidipoondi, the facility will process end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and battery manufacturing scrap across chemistries, recovering lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper and graphite. The plant has been selected under the Union government’s critical mineral recycling incentive scheme and is the only facility in Tamil Nadu among the first cohort chosen on April 30.

Balakrishnan Iyer, founder and chief executive of Bridge Green, said the company plans to invest between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years, with the current plant expected to reach full capacity by the end of this year.

In the next phase, the company plans to manufacture refined critical mineral salts such as lithium carbonate, nickel sulfate, manganese sulfate and cobalt sulfate, with commissioning targeted by the end of 2028. The expansion will also include a second-life battery plant.

Bridge Green has raised about $10 million so far and is in talks to raise another $20 million from institutional investors and early-stage private equity firms in India and the US. The company said it has developed proprietary technology for battery life extension and mineral extraction.

The company plans to cater to both export and domestic markets, targeting battery, chemical, pharma, defence and aerospace applications, while supplying second-life battery systems to data centres and industrial users.

“The domestic demand exists, though battery-grade salt offtake will rise further as cell manufacturing matures. Potential export markets include the US, Southeast Asia and Europe. The recently signed US-India critical minerals supply chain framework is a significant opportunity for us as a US-India company,” Iyer said.