FR, Lyon
Mecaware is an innovative industrial startup that produces strategic metals from end-of-life batteries and battery manufacturing scrap from factories. We recover lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and other essential metals in the form of carbonates and metal hydroxides.
Mecaware's eco²-efficiency solution delivers both environmental and economic performance. With our technology, strategic metals can be extracted in a closed loop, without the need for harmful inputs. The process generates zero effluent, including sulfates, and requires very little primary energy.
Our business model is designed to be flexible and responsive. Compact plants are located near the sources of waste, substantially reducing startup costs and maximizing supply chain efficiency.
Battery waste is a local resource capable of supporting a domestic European strategic metals supply. And recycled materials are a pillar of a lower-carbon, more sustainable, and responsible battery industry.
Ph D thesis proposal (starting oct 2025)
Supervisor: Prof. J. Leclaire
Institut de Chimie et Biochimie Moléculaire et Supramoléculaire (ICBMS - UMR CNRS 5246 - Laboratory CSAp. www.icbms.fr/csap). Contact: julien.leclaire@univ-lyon1.fr
Sustainable metal extraction using integrated CO2 capture and catalyzed mineralization
GENERAL OBJECTIVES: This fundamental and applied research project supported by National Research and Technology Agency (ANRT) and Mecaware Corp. aims at developing sustainable metal recycling technologies integrating selective molecular recognition and catalyzed mineral carbonation for the Lithium-ion battery sector.
CONTEXT AND SUMMARY. Climate emergency related to greenhouse gas emissions calls for the development of large-scale solutions for the capture, utilization and storage of CO2 and for simultaneous energy transition. The latter involves electrifying transportation which raises the issue of sustainable metal extraction and supply. In this double perspective, the group of Prof. J. Leclaire have developed an integrated supramolecular technology which valorizes the CO2 capture product for the sequential and separation of the seven metallic constituents of lithium-ion batteries. This coupled process involves complex elementary steps, both in solution (multiple reversible organic reaction of CO2 capture: step 1, interaction of the library of CO2-based ligands with the reactive surfaces (size reduction, amorphization, surface complexation), with the matrix elements and impurities of the mineral phase leading and/or leading to unprecedented soluble organometallic complexes : step 2, pseudo-enzymatic reactivity of these complexes, triggered or not by physical (pH, T, redox potential) or chemical stimuli (cationic effector), leading to molecular recombination and metal separation by mineral carbonation: step 3. Their optimization thus requires dedicated mechanistic investigation and modelling approaches, based on thorough physico-chemical analyses that will be used to elaborate a thermodynamic description of the solid-liquid-vapor equilibria (co-supervised by the LGC, Toulouse) involved in the cycle. This understanding-to-optimization approach will specifically focus of the synthetic amine, which plays the dual role of pre-ligand and mineral carbonation catalyst as well as the reaction (T, pCO2, c, redox potential) and process parameter (stirring mode, batch vs continuous flow, etc..) under the supervision of the R&D laboratory of Mecaware SAS. In fact, the project aims to accelerate not only the performance but also the maturity of the process to higher TRLs by studying its scale-up, and by proposing a techno-economic and life cycle analysis integrating not only the energy aspect, but also the regeneration of the utility to provide a zero-waste recycling scheme.
THE LAB : This study will be conducted within the Chemistry Laboratory of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon for the experimental studies of the full separative systems. Research stays with the members of the consortium for the simulation (Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Toulouse) and scale-up of (Mecaware) the metal recycling process will be scheduled during the 3 years. Electrochemically assisted metal recovery (use of metal effector to trigger carbonation) will be conducted in collaboration with the department of Chemical Engineering of the MIT (USA).
Keywords: Molecular and supramolecular chemistry, Green chemistry, organic chemistry, catalysis, CO2 capture and utilization, self-assembling, coordination chemistry, geochemical modelling, electrochemistry, physical chemistry, crystallogenesis
[1] (a). J. Leclaire, G. Husson, N. Devaux, V. Delorme, L. Charles, F. Ziarelli, P. Desbois, A. Chaumonnot, M. Jacquin, F. Fotiadu, G. Buono. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 3582-93. (b) J. Leclaire, G. Poisson, F. Ziarelli, G Pepe, F Fotiadu, F.M. Paruzzo, A. J Rossini, J.-N. Dumez, B. Elena-Herrmann, L. Emsley. Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 4379-4390; (c) J. Septavaux, G. Germain, J. Leclaire, Acc. Chem. Res. 2017 50, 1692-1701. (d) L. Rotundo, F. Marocco Stuardi, C. Nervi, J. Leclaire, R. Gobetto, Chem. Eur. J. 2022, 28, e202104377; (e) J. Septavaux, M. Ducreux, F. Marocco Stuardi, C. Tosi, J. Leclaire, Energy Procedia, 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4285208 ; (f) J. Leclaire, D.J. Heldebrant, K. Grubel, J. Septavaux, M. Hennebelle, E. Walter, Y. Chen, J.L. Banuelos, D. Zhang, M.-T. Nguyen, et al, Nature Chem. 2024, 16, 1160-1168
[2] (a) J. Leclaire, G. Canard, F. Fotiadu, G. Poisson. PCT Int. Appl. 2014, WO 2014188115 A1 20141127. US Patent 20,160,097,755. (b) C. de Bellefon, J. Leclaire, R. Philippe, G. Poisson, L. Vanoye, PCT Int. Appl. 2017, EP 2017060166
(c) G. Poisson, G. Germain, J. Septavaux, J. Leclaire. Green Chem. 2016, 18, 6436 - 6444; (d) J. Septavaux, T.-X. Metro, J. Leclaire, Fr Patent 2017 FR1758538 (e) J. Leclaire, D. J. Heldebrant, Green Chem. 2018, 22, 5058-5508; (f) J. Septavaux, C. Tosi, P. Jame, C. Nervi, R. Gobetto, J. Leclaire Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 202; (g) M. Ducreux, J. Leclaire, PCT Int. Appl. 2022, WO2023242129; (h) D. Romito, A. Forot, M. Ducreux, J, Leclaire, K.-J. Tan, T. A. Hatton, Eur. Patent 2024, EP24305764; (i) F. Ulm, G, Erbland, M, Ducreux, J. Leclaire, Eur. Patent 2024, EP24306132.2 ; (j)G. Radenac, J. Leclaire, F. Ulm, A. Tissier, Eur. Patent 2024 EP24306131.4, 2024-07-05
Should have a master degree in molecular chemistry and should have graduated from an Engineering School (Ecole d'Ingénieur). The candidate should have a solid background in coordination chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, physical chemistry, chemical thermodynamics and spectroscopy. Scientific curiosity, methodology, taste for multi-disciplinary challenges and the ability to work in a team are essential.
Applicants should provide a CV, 2 recommendation letters and their academic transcript (with grades) for the master (or equivalent) years.
