Ace Green Recycling is a U.S.-based green recycling technology company with global operations across North America, Europe and Asia and is one of the only battery recycling tech platforms with sustainable solutions for both Lead-acid (LAB) and Lithium-ion (LIB) batteries. Pulse 2.0 interviewed AceGreen Recycling co-founder and CEO Nishchay Chadha to learn more about the company.
Nishchay Chadha’s Background
What is Nishchay Chadha’s background? Chadha said:
“I’ve been in the metals space for nearly two decades, and I have an extensive background in mining engineering. Vedanta Resources is where I began my career, but I later joined Trafigura, one of the world’s largest suppliers of commodities, where I gained tremendous experience from a global perspective in recycling, mining, and supply chain sectors.”
“Before founding Ace Green Recycling, a leading battery recycling company that leverages green technology headquartered in Texas, I realized that there was a significant amount of waste in the resources sector, and notably, unsustainable practices and a lack of innovation were rampant. There has also been a lack of a global platform which could bring technology, financing and risk management solutions to create synergies in the otherwise highly fragmented and localized battery recycling business. These challenges are what I set out to solve for when I founded Ace.”
“I obtained a Master of Business Administration from the Indian School of Business with a focus on Finance, Strategy and Leadership. I also obtained a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad with a focus on Mining Engineering.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Chadha shared:
“My inspiration to start Ace was both personal and commercial, driven by my experiences in the recycling and mining industries. As mentioned, during my career, I witnessed the negative environmental impacts of unorganized recycling practices, particularly in emerging markets that often improperly disposed toxic waste. Even developed markets have been suffering due to pollutive conventional methods of recycling. The sector lacked innovation and a truly sustainable solution from both cost and environmental perspectives, and I knew this challenge would be a large opportunity if a company could solve these problems and we set out to establish a global recycling platform in 2019.”
“Similarly, my co-founder and Ace’s CTO, Vipin Tyagi who had a very similar ideology and motivations and is the brains behind our IP-driven sustainable technology solution, was working on developing emissions free processes for battery recycling since 2014. We started working together in 2019 and later in 2021 merged our two companies to combine resources and founded Ace with a mission to recycle both lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries which are utilized in all automobiles, energy storage applications and more.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Chadha explained:
“Ace’s revolutionary battery recycling technology focuses on recovering critical battery materials from both lead and lithium-ion batteries. On the lead side of the business, Ace’s GREENLEAD® recycling technology is a fully electric process that produces zero Scope 1 carbon emissions and is capable of recovering up to 99% of battery-grade lead with more than 99.98% purity. Ace’s process is designed to replace legacy smelting operations, which are detrimental to the environment, as well as human health due to potential lead poisoning, and is expected to facilitate a more streamlined permitting process.”
“On the lithium side of the business, our LithiumFirst™ technology is capable of commercially recovering up to 75% of lithium with a purity exceeding 99% from lithium iron phosphate (“LFP”) and Nickel Manganese Cobalt (“NMC”) batteries. In addition to recovering lithium, this technology also recovers NMC salts, graphite, iron phosphate and other materials such as plastics, steel, aluminum and copper by utilizing a closed-loop hydrometallurgical process that avoids pyrometallurgical operations and produces no liquid waste or Scope 1 carbon emissions.”
“In addition to our technologies, we also have supply chain and service contracts, where we trade, source and supply feedstock to other third-party facilities, which also helps us generate more networks for global partnerships and keep abreast with the pulse of the market.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since its launch? Chadha noted:
“While the entity Ace Green Recycling was set up in 2021, its technology history goes back to 2014 when my co-founder Dr Vipin Tyagi, assembled a group of accomplished scientists and technologists set up R&D to develop emission free battery recycling technologies. Over the years, Ace has made significant progress as we have developed a truly differentiated and superior proprietary commercial green technology for recycling different forms of commercially available batteries used in various mobility and energy storage applications ranging from automotive to consumer electronics and back-up power for renewable energy and would also play a big role in the AI boom.”
“Regulators have approved our innovative technology in key global markets and most notably, we successful scaled to commercial-scale in 2023. A major element of our technology’s evolution has been its ability to efficiently recycle LFP batteries. LFP batteries are expected to dominate the lithium battery market by 2030, and Ace is strategically scaling our LFP recycling capacity to meet demand and support our growing customer base. We are unique in our ability to sustainably recover LFP batteries, and we can recover significant amounts of lithium that enables our technology to profitably recycle LFP batteries.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Chadha about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“We are really proud to partner with many innovators in the battery industry and collaborate with leading global organizations. For example, we have a multi-country offtake agreement with Glencore, one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies and a leading company in the recycling industry.”
“We also have a partnership with ACME Metal, a leading Taiwanese lead recycler, where they have been operating since early 2024 using our technology to process lead batteries. We also have ongoing projects with Mel Metal in Armenia and Georgia. In addition, we have secured a lead scrap supply agreement with OM Commodities and have a partnership with Africa’s leading EV platform Spiro to recycle their LFP batteries.”
Funding
When asking Chadha about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We have raised approximately $17 million since 2021, excluding grants, some early angel investors and the initial investment from our founders. All in, Ace has raised approximately $19 million. Currently, we generate approximately $24million in annual revenue.”
“One of the biggest benefits of our business model is that we have a modular, low CaPex development strategy. This strategy enables us to be very cash efficient, and we have successfully achieved commercial scale with minimal capital infusions to-date.”
“Further, our strong IP portfolio and certain proprietary components of the technology provide us with the ability to license our technology to other players in the ecosystem, thereby helping us expand globally with limited capital requirements.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Chadha assessed:
“Ace’s market strategy targets immense opportunities across two core sectors: the mature lead battery recycling market, valued at over $20 billion in 2024 and is witnessing a substantial transition from primary (mining) to recycling as a source for lead, and the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery recycling market, projected to exceed $35 billion by 2040.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Chadha affirmed:
“We are uniquely positioned in the marketplace as we can commercially recycle both lead and lithium-ion batteries using fully electrified processes that produce zero Scope 1 carbon emissions, zero toxic wastes.”
“Compared to other recyclers, we employ a modular, fully electrified, low CapEx strategy, addressing two distinct and sizeable markets in lead and lithium-ion batteries.”
“Notably, as mentioned, we are able to effectively and sustainably recover value from LFP batteries, which has been a challenge for many other players in our industry.”
“We also have a very strong global supply chain background with extensive networks which sets us apart and helps resolve feedstock and distribution constraints for battery materials.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Chadha concluded:
“First and foremost, we have plans to deploy our technology at scale in the United States, starting with our flagship project in Texas. We expect to begin setup of equipment in 2025 at this facility and commence production in the first half of 2026.”
“We are also planning to scale globally looking at markets such as Europe, Asia, and Africa where in some cases we already have ongoing projects with local partners. In addition, we are currently going through a process to become a publicly traded company in the United States, listed on the Nasdaq.”
