Green Science Alliance (GSA), a Japanese chemical and greentech company, has opened a laboratory for next-generation battery recycling at Switzerland Innovation Park Biel/Bienne (SIPBB). The facility was inaugurated on October 19, 2026, and operates in partnership with the Swiss Battery Technology Center (SBTC).
The laboratory is developing a process to directly regenerate cathode active materials from black mass, the dark powder produced through the mechanical processing of used lithium-ion batteries. Conventional recycling typically uses acids or bases to dissolve black mass and recover individual metals. Those metals then require several additional processing stages before they can be reused in batteries.
GSA’s method is intended to restore cathode active materials for direct use in new batteries without fully breaking them down into their constituent elements. According to the source, this approach could reduce the number of recycling steps and the associated use of resources. The technology is being developed for both nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
Early results showed that batteries made with regenerated cathode materials reached more than 90% of the initial capacity of comparable batteries using commercial materials. Joint work by GSA and SBTC includes assessing the regenerated materials, producing electrodes and cells, testing battery performance, and evaluating the technology’s industrial potential and scalability. SBTC is one of SIPBB’s four applied research centers and provides scientific expertise, infrastructure, and laboratory space. The partnership is supported by an Innosuisse Innovation Cheque as an initial step toward joint research.
GSA selected Biel/Bienne as its base for European expansion and plans further collaborative research and development. The company aims to commercialize the recycling technology in Europe with support from SIPBB’s network of industrial partners, startups, and research institutions across the battery value chain. If scaled, the process could reduce recycling resource requirements and reliance on newly mined raw materials.
Source: ggba.swiss
