Alumnus opens battery upcycling facility on Huron Campus

Bridge Green Upcycle, a clean energy startup founded by Binghamton University alumnus Balki Iyer, MS ’00, opened its new Infinity Lab & Prototype Facility on Dec. 5 at the Huron Campus in Endicott.

Batteries are ubiquitous in a world running on electronic devices. But they will also play a crucial role in the turn toward clean energy and sustainability. Powering part of this transition is Bridge Green Upcycle, which takes batteries at the ends of their lives and extracts critical minerals from them in their purest forms in order to return them to the economy — in other words, “cleaning up clean energy.”

“This may be a small gathering of important people, but we’re not just starting a business. We’re starting a movement,” Iyer said as he commemorated the opening of the lab. “I truly, firmly believe that we are starting a movement of how we’re going to extract critical minerals in this country, so that we don’t treat batteries the way we treat oil.”

Bridge Green Upcycle achieves this through a multi-step, safety-first approach using techniques that range from artificial intelligence to streamline battery health evaluation to mechanical and chemical processes to extract important materials.

It involves sourcing batteries from places such as local landfills, then evaluating health and next steps with AI. Batteries chosen for processing are fully discharged, then shredded and crushed until they’re small, before separator machines sieve out remaining impurities.

What ultimately comes out of this is called black mass, powder resembling ground coffee, from which chemical processes will extract metals including lithium carbonate, manganese dioxide, cobalt, nickel and copper. Later, after further manufacturing, they return to the economy and consumers, all without the need for additional mining.

Importantly, Iyer emphasized, this process is cost-effective and carbon-conscious from its beginning, aligning with Bridge Green’s mission to transform the way end-of-life lithium-ion batteries are handled and to protect the planet and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

“We can’t go back and change a lot of things in the past, but it’s always good to start here and make sure that we end it the right way,” Iyer said. “That’s what circular economy is about. That’s what Bridge Green is about.”

The opening of the facility in Endicott, the birthplace of IBM, also represents the Southern Tier’s growing relevance in the nation’s battery innovation and manufacturing sphere.

“We cannot thank Bridge Green enough for selecting the Southern Tier and entrusting us with their growth,” said Jennifer Lupo, vice president of energy solutions, supply chain and leasing at Raymond Corp. “This announcement locates another critical supply-chain process necessary for lithium-ion battery manufacturing, right here in the Southern Tier, further validating the Southern Tier’s position as America’s battery tech hub.”

Iyer’s passion for clean energy is something that’s been evident since his days as a doctoral student at Binghamton more than 20 years ago, said Bahgat Sammakia, vice president for research at Binghamton. As a member of the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, Iyer’s company is rooted and invested in the region’s energy ecosystem.

“It’s not about just manufacturing batteries and then throwing them in a wasteland. It’s about how we make even lithium-ion batteries sustainable. That’s Balki’s vision,” Sammakia said. “Binghamton University is fully committed to support Balki and his endeavors.”

Iyer and staff members of Bridge Green Upcycle capped off the ceremony by cutting the ribbon to officially open the new facility.

“It’s great to see this all coming together to solve such an important problem in this country,” said Patrick Doyle, vice president of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, with which Bridge Green Upcycle is partnering.

Looking forward, the company aims to continue scaling up, embarking on its effort to “change the world,” according to Iyer, “one battery at a time.”

“The very few times in your life as an entrepreneur that you actually build a business, but in the process of building the business, you’re actually doing something for the planet, doing something for the country and doing something for the region,” Iyer said. “I actually have the unique pleasure, at Bridge Green, of doing all of them. I can’t thank everybody here enough for providing the guidance and support that we need.”