Ural Federal University: University Graduates Project Received the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovation Grant
The project for recycling lithium-ion batteries, Russian Cobalt, is reaching a new level with the grant of 2 million rubles from the Foundation for Assistance to Innovations. The startup by Ural Federal University graduates involves recycling batteries and extracting valuable metals from them: copper, lithium, cobalt, and others.
According to Stepan Sapyanov, head of the project, by the end of the year the battery recycling plant will be launched and will start operating, which implies the recycling of up to 50 tons of waste per month.
“This will contribute to solving environmental problems: the batteries will not end up in a landfill, they will be ecologically recycled. Valuable metals that can be used in metallurgy and chemical industry will also be extracted from them,” Stepan Sapyanov said.
The plant is now undergoing startup and adjustment of equipment, and preparations for startup are in full swing. The plant, one might say, grew out of a startup of young scientists from UrFU.”Startups are run by unusual people who are ready to work 24 hours a day, ready for unexpected turns in life, and who understand that at the very beginning of the business they will not receive any income. Our team includes technologists, engineers, and entrepreneurs,” explains Sapyanov.
The Russian Cobalt, whose high level has long been noted by experts, is one of Ural Federal University’s first projects that was defended with “excellent” in the new “#StartupDiploma” format.
“Participation in the program “#StartupDiploma” helped us – it is very structured, while working on the project we received help from university experts, for example, when forming a business model, calculating a business plan, finding an investor”, said Stepan Sapyanov.
The Russian Cobalt won the All-Russian competition of young entrepreneurs, and then won the 13th season of the UrFU acceleration program. The project received support from the university: 100 thousand rubles as the best gas pedal project, as well as a grant of 100 thousand rubles as a participant of the program “#StartupDiploma” who has passed the acceleration program.