Telescope Innovations Produces Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate from Recycled Waste Streams
Telescope’s proprietary ReCRFT(TM) process achieves >99.9% pure Li2CO3 from battery recycling brines, with output material sent to Cellmine and University of St Andrews for testing
September 29, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Source: Telescope Innovations Corp.
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – September 29, 2025) – Telescope Innovations Corp. (CSE: TELI) (OTCQB: TELIF) (FSE: J4U) (“Telescope Innovations”, “Telescope”, or the “Company”) is a leader in intelligent automation platforms for accelerating chemical process development. The Company today announced a key milestone in its lithium refinement technology pipeline: successful isolation of lithium from a battery recycling waste stream. The captured lithium was converted into battery-grade, >99.9% lithium carbonate using Telescope’s ReCRFT process.
Building on initial proof-of-concept from April 2024, this achievement marks the first application of Telescope’s proprietary ReCRFT™ refinement process to battery recycling. Back in 2024, the Company announced a novel method for extracting lithium from complex, low-value battery waste materials. Today’s achievement demonstrates the ability to not only isolate technical-grade lithium from such streams, but also to convert it under adapted ReCRFT™ conditions into high-purity, battery-grade lithium carbonate suitable for cathode production for either lithium iron phosphate or nickel-based lithium batteries.
This advance highlights the versatility of the ReCRFT™ lithium carbonate refinement process. It also addresses a major challenge in the battery recycling space: capturing valuable lithium from black mass leach solutions. Lithium in these waste solutions accounts for between 16% and 55% of the total metal value in spent batteries, making efficient recovery a critical step toward sustainable battery materials sourcing.
FROM PROOF-OF-CONCEPT TO PROCESS DEMONSTRATION
Dr. Jason Hein, Telescope CTO, explained:
We set out to build a new pathway for battery recycling that is compatible with the scale and technoeconimcs of the challenge,
“Last year we realized that finely controlling crystallization, instead of adding various reagents over multiple steps, could be used to isolate and purify lithium carbonate from recycling brines. Our team has now executed that vision with a process that yields battery-grade material ready for downstream testing, showcasing Telescope’s ability to move effectively from innovation to demonstration.”
PARTNERSHIPS WITH CELLMINE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS
The first batches of recycled, battery-grade lithium carbonate have been delivered to Cellmine, a next-generation battery recycling company, and Professor John Irvine’s group the University of St Andrews, a highly ranked energy materials research institution. Researchers at Cellmine and St Andrews will use the material to fabricate and test lithium-ion batteries, providing critical validation of ReCRFT™-derived, recycled lithium carbonate in real applications.
Dr. Hein, added:
These collaborations connect our technology directly to both commercial recyclers and academic leaders in electrochemistry,
“It’s an important step in ensuring our processes not only work at the lab scale but deliver real value to the supply chain.”
Simon Rathbone, CEO of CellMine, stated:
Access to high-purity, battery-grade lithium carbonate from recycled sources is a critical step in scaling sustainable cathode production,
“Testing Telescope’s ReCRFT material allows us to validate new supply pathways that align with CellMine’s sulphate-free recycling process, strengthening resilience in the battery materials supply chain.”
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