Battery & Critical Materials
An area Viyanmani is actively evaluating for future expansion — and one where we are looking for a German or European technology or joint-venture partner to do it properly.
Current status: under evaluation, not in commercial operation
Viyanmani does not currently recycle electric-vehicle batteries, lithium-ion cells, or black mass on a commercial basis. We do not accept these materials for processing today, and nothing on this page should be read as an offer to do so.
What this page describes is a capability we are evaluating for future expansion, and the partnership we would need in order to build it. We would rather state that plainly than imply a capability we do not yet have — particularly to partners who will check.
Our current commercial operations are precious-metal and PGM recovery from spent catalysts, electronic scrap, jewellery scrap, and industrial residues. See current services
The streams we are studying
These are the material types a future battery and critical-materials capability would be designed around.
NMC Chemistries
Nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode material, where nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium are the recoverable values. Under evaluation for hydrometallurgical recovery routes.
LFP Chemistries
Lithium iron phosphate cells, which carry no nickel or cobalt and therefore need a different commercial and technical approach centred on lithium and graphite recovery.
Lithium-Ion Batteries
End-of-life lithium-ion packs and modules across consumer, industrial, and mobility applications, including discharge, dismantling, and safe handling requirements.
Black Mass
The mixed electrode powder produced by mechanical pre-treatment of spent cells — the feed material for hydrometallurgical recovery of nickel, cobalt, and lithium.
Battery Production Scrap
Off-spec electrode, trim, and reject material from cell and pack manufacturing — a cleaner, more consistent feed than end-of-life material and often the first commercial stream.
Critical-Material Recovery
Recovery of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite as battery-grade salts or precursors suitable for return to the cell manufacturing chain.
What we are working through
An honest account of the questions we are answering before committing capital to this stream.
Technology Routes
Comparing mechanical pre-treatment, pyrometallurgical, and hydrometallurgical routes — and the hybrid flowsheets most operators are converging on — against the feed we could realistically secure.
Feedstock Availability
Assessing what volume of production scrap, end-of-life packs, and black mass is genuinely available in India today rather than projected for the next decade.
Safety & Handling
Discharge, dismantling, thermal-runaway risk, and storage requirements — the areas where battery processing differs most sharply from the catalyst work we do now.
Regulatory Framework
India's Battery Waste Management Rules, extended producer responsibility obligations, transport classification, and the approvals a facility of this type would require.
Commercial Viability
Whether the economics work at Indian scale — particularly for LFP, where the absence of nickel and cobalt makes the value case materially harder than for NMC.
Partner Fit
Identifying technology owners whose process is proven at production scale and who are genuinely interested in an Indian operating partner rather than only an equipment sale.
What transfers from our existing operations
We are new to batteries. We are not new to hydrometallurgy, assay, or handling hazardous, high-value material under regulatory scrutiny.
Hydrometallurgical experience
Leaching, solvent extraction, selective precipitation, and ion exchange are the same unit operations that recover nickel, cobalt, and lithium from black mass.
Analytical infrastructure
An in-house laboratory with ICP-OES already determines metal content in complex matrices — the capability black-mass valuation depends on.
Regulatory experience
We already operate a hazardous-material processing facility within India's environmental framework and know how those approvals are obtained and maintained.
Site, capital, and people
An operating industrial site in Gujarat, the capital to invest alongside a partner, and a technical workforce that can be trained and scaled.
A technology or JV partner in battery recycling
We are looking for a German or European partner with proven, production-scale technology in battery or critical-material recycling, and an interest in the Indian market. That could take the form of a technology partnership, a licence, a turnkey plant engagement, or a jointly owned company — we have no fixed preference at this stage.
What we would bring is the same contribution we bring to any India partnership: the site, the investment, feedstock sourcing, the workforce, regulatory handling, and market access. What we would need from a partner is the process technology, the engineering, and the training to operate it to European standards.
Working in battery recycling? We would like to talk.
If you hold technology in lithium-ion, black mass, or critical-material recovery and are considering India, we would welcome an introductory conversation.