Refinyx Takes Over Northvolt's Battery Recycling Technology, Lands First Major US Customer

A new Swedish company called Refinyx has emerged with a clear mission: supplying the technology and engineering behind battery recycling plants. The venture was formed by executives who previously ran Revolt, Northvolt’s recycling division, and it launches with intellectual property and facilities acquired from the struggling battery maker.

According to Refinyx, it has taken over 134 patents along with a pilot and laboratory site of roughly 1,200 square meters in Västerås, all formerly owned by Northvolt. The company also has financial backing from investment firm Qarlbo Energy. Rather than operating recycling plants itself, Refinyx plans to help industrial customers build and ramp up their own capacity to recover critical raw materials.

The underlying processes were developed over eight years at Northvolt Revolt and were also used at an industrial recycling facility in Skellefteå, the company says. The platform is designed to recover nickel, cobalt and lithium from end-of-life batteries, production scrap and other residual material streams. Refinyx claims the output reaches battery-grade quality without organic solvents and without some of the intermediate steps normally required, which should allow for more compact plants that consume fewer chemicals and less technical equipment.

Looking ahead, the company intends to extend the technology to rare earths, phosphorus and other strategic materials. Refinyx has announced a first major customer in the United States but has not disclosed further details about that client.