Watercycle Technologies Ltd

Watercycle Technologies develops modular Direct Lithium Extraction and hydrometallurgical recycling systems that produce >99.5% battery-grade lithium carbonate from brines and black mass, recover graphite and other critical minerals, and generate clean water for industrial and battery supply-chain uses.

Company Location

Country:

United Kingdom

City:

Manchester

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Company Overview

Watercycle Technologies Limited, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom, was spun out from the University of Manchester by Dr. Ahmed Abdelkarim and Dr. Sebastian Leaper. The company develops modular, low-cost systems for mineral recovery and water treatment, focused on producing battery-grade lithium salts and recovering critical minerals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. Its mission is to enable circular material flows and increase domestic supply of critical battery materials while producing clean water as a co-product. Watercycle serves mining, industrial wastewater, battery recycling, and desalination markets with pilot and scale-up deployments.

Battery Technology

Watercycle’s core platform combines Direct Lithium Extraction and membrane distillation-crystallization with hydrometallurgical separation to concentrate and crystallize battery-grade lithium salts (>99.5% purity). The modular DLEC and crystallizer modules use advanced membranes, including graphene-enhanced components, and shell-and-tube configurations to improve throughput and selectivity. Processes are designed for low energy intensity and internal water recycling, delivering water-positive operation and reduced carbon intensity versus evaporation ponds. The same process backbone adapts to black mass treatment, recovering lithium, graphite and other critical minerals while mitigating storage and effluent risks.

Products

Products include modular DLEC and crystallization units for brine-to-Li2CO3 production, hydrometallurgical battery recycling systems for black mass and end-of-life batteries, and industrial mineral recovery/desalination modules. Key benefits are high-purity lithium output, resource recovery from waste streams, lower operating costs, and potable water as a by-product. Target applications include EV battery supply, stationary ESS, consumer electronics recycling, mining effluent treatment, and industrial wastewater recovery.

Recent Projects

Recent activity includes a March 2025 joint development agreement with Primobius to combine hydrometallurgical recycling processes and accelerate circular battery material supply. Watercycle has demonstrated pilot-scale production of over 100 kg of battery-grade lithium carbonate from UK brines at a Runcorn pilot plant and is progressing scale-up toward multi-ton annual capacity through modular deployments and partner integrations.

Investors

Watercycle completed a Series A round in 2024 totaling $5.6 million led by Par Equity and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Additional investors and supporters include Aer Ventures, the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, and grant funding from Innovate UK. Ownership is a mix of institutional, regional public investment, and strategic research partners supporting commercialization and scale-up.

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