MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
No. 4 – february 2014
Recupyl, bringing metals back to life
Farouk Tedjar was an early European player in recycling. He is the founder of Recupyl, a
start-up which is growing fast, both in France and abroad. Recupyl is a good example of an
innovative company which perfectly addresses today’s major issues.
This success is at the same time a demonstration of French academic
excellence and proof of the effective support of the public
authorities.
After obtaining an engineering diploma and a doctorate in
electrochemistry from the Grenoble Institute of Technology
(Grenoble INP) and then a government-recognized doctorate,
Farouk Tedjar returned to his country of origin – Algeria – where he
worked in a battery plant. He then became a researcher and lecturer
and lastly director of Algeria's first electrochemistry research unit in Sétif, his home town. In the
1990s, he returned to Grenoble as a researcher at Grenoble INP Laboratory of Electrochemistry
and Physicochemistry of Materials and Interfaces (LEPMI). “I said to myself that if you know how
to manufacture batteries, you should be able to dismantle them too”, says Tedjar.
Set on “bringing metals back to life”, he led a research programme in that area and invented an
innovative process to recover 98% of battery materials. This hydrometallurgy process is original
in that it combines mechanics and chemistry, considerably reducing emissions of CO2, dioxins
and other dangerous gases compared to conventional thermal processes. In 1993, with the
support of Grenoble INP and the public authorities, Tedjar created Recupyl, a start-up based on
the first patent registered within LEPMI.
The EU directive requiring collection and recycling of spent batteries, which entered into force in
2008, has promoted the growth of the company’s activity. The company is raising funds and
developing abroad in three key regions: Europe, Asia and the Americas. These territories hold
promise for battery recycling. Facilities are in place in countries where collection already takes
place, including Chile, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Spain and the United States.
There is a vast market, as Recupyl doesn’t only know how to recycle batteries. It also recycles
cathode tubes and flat screens and treats fumes from incineration and waste chemical baths,
amongst other things. The overall aim is to recover strategic metals such as lithium. The future
looks even more promising. The European Commission has set itself the goal of increasing the
PRESS AND COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE
PRESS DEPARTMENT
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
energy efficiency of all EU Member States by 20% by 2020, while reducing greenhouse gas
emissions also by 20%.
Yet billions of rechargeable lithium ion batteries are produced each year to power our mobile
telephones, laptop computers and MP3 players. Their disposal generates a considerable quantity
of waste and particularly strategic metals, some of which are damaging for the environment. At a
time when natural resources are becoming scarce, reintroducing materials from used batteries
into the value chain has become a major aspect of sustainable development.
It is therefore not surprising that Recupyl “now aims to become the market leader in the recycling
of standard batteries and those of electric vehicles, not to mention those used in industry", as
Farouk Tedjar puts it. He would like to thank "all those who have helped us, in particular the
French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) and the General Commission for
Investment”. International customers represent 35% of Recupyl’s activity. Scaling up this activity
will also be linked to a new roll-out abroad, particularly in China and Japan where the greatest
number of lithium ion batteries are manufactured and used.
Sylvie Thomas
PRESS AND COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE
PRESS DEPARTMENT