Stealth Mode ‘On’

How Rubamin is silently building its zero-waste, circular and sustainable Lithium-Ion Battery recycling.

In an otherwise noisy and baffling Lithium-Ion Battery recycling industry, one company has been remarkably quiet. There have been no interviews of some maverick founder or announcement by some savvy VC or publication by a poster-boy scientist or sound-bytes from news, and socialmedia. That is precisely what makes the story of Rubamin noteworthy.

An innovative business group based in Gujarat (India), Rubamin has a turnover of USD330m and presence in multiple business segments. (www.rubamin.com) It is quietly and efficiently building a circular and sustainable capability for recycling of end-of-life LIBs and gigafactory waste, extracting critical metals for the LIB supply-chain.

About the Company

Rubamin India has 35 years of experience, and unique expertise in separation and extraction of non-ferrous and critical metals using its in-house hydrometallurgy technology. Its years of practice and networked infrastructure induce desired flexibility for processing heterogenous industrial wastes. Its proprietary solvent extraction technology isolates and extracts the elements in their pure ionic form before converting them into specialty metal compounds that go back into the same supply chain, thereby closing the loop.

Green Recycling Complex

Rubamin’s 60-Acres Green Recycling Complex, where the new LIB Recycling capacities are being built, is processing ~34000 TPA Spent Oil Refinery Catalyst recovering Molybdenum, Cobalt, Tungsten & Vanadium with Zero Liquid Discharge and Zero Landfill.

The complex boasts of Dupont Safety Systems, a 100,000 KL of water harvesting lake, renewable energy transition plan, Circular Transitory Indicator (CTI Score) of 30% and a Bronze Rating from Ecovadis.

Rubamin’s ultra-pure ‘Green Metal Compounds’ fetch a premium to the metal prices in manufacturing refinery catalysts due to their quality which matches primary compounds.

Industrial Scale LIB Recycling Facility

Rubamin has established a demonstration facility (KiloLab) that is extracting Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese, Copper and Graphite from LIB Black Mass (Cathodic waste from shredding of end-of-life Lithium-Ion Batteries). With its internationally benchmarked metal recovery rates and high purity final products, Rubamin has paved the way for India’s first industrial-scale, circular and zerowaste facility.

Mr. Bhuwan Purohit, Director – Corporate Strategy & Planning says, “Rubamin’s 5000 TPA LIB Black Mass recycling facility is set to be operational by July 2024. The project is financed from internal accruals and unlike most new start-ups, we do not need to tap capital markets.” This probably explains the silence around the company’s capabilities and its position in the recycling race.

Mr. Suresh K.R., Director & Business Head – Cleantech SBU says, “We will be premium Black Mass processors due to the value we provide to the shredding units and current lack of industrial scale hydrometallurgy solutions. However, we are now looking for technology partners for a clean and safe LIB Shredding Unit to serve Battery Manufacturers and OEMs wanting a one-stop-shop for EOL batteries or production waste.”

Rubamin is a co-sponsor of The Battery Show India and visiting The Battery Show North America to foster new business partnerships and to connect with Shredding Technology providers.