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Have you ever heard about 55 Cancrie? Discovered by NASA in 2004, the exoplanet, located about 41 light-years from us, is made of diamond (one of the purest forms of carbon) and is nine times the size of Earth.
Back home, a Jaipur-based startup took inspiration from this distant cousin of our planet to start its journey of building nanocarbon for batteries.
Founded in 2020 by Akshay Jain and Mahi Singh, Cancrie has developed an in-house technology to produce nanocarbons for batteries with various cell chemistries.
However, besides its name, what’s interesting is that the startup uses coconut shell waste to produce nanocarbon. With its coconut shell-powered technology, Cancrie claims to offer enhanced battery performance and lifecycle while contributing significantly to sustainability.
Amid the ever-growing size of the country’s lithium-ion battery, which stood at $3.2 Bn last year on the back of growing penetration of EVs and consumer electronics, Cancrie wants to make the most of this opportunity with its trademark-pending carbon powder.
Making Of The Magic Powder, Cancrie
Cancrie’s founder and CEO Jain is a chemical engineer. While pursuing his PhD at the National University of Singapore, he was part of a project that required waste upcycling to make products such as fertilisers, low-cost adsorbents, and low-cost fuels.
After almost one and a half years of research, he developed high-quality nanocarbons from waste that could be used in batteries.
Now that Jain had the product ready, the only thing barring him from embarking on his entrepreneurial journey was proving the commercial viability of his nanocarbons.
With a dream of aiding the battery industry with enhanced technology, Jain joined forces with Singh, who packs years of experience in sustainability and the startup ecosystem under her belt.
“After almost four and a half years, several industrial and field trials, many failures and pivots, we have started selling the carbon powder to our customers,” said cofounder and CEO Jain, who initially envisioned his nanocarbons being used at water treatment plants.
However, he soon understood that the industry was not yet ready to pay for the premium quality carbon that the startup had to offer. Therefore, they tried their hands in a different sector.
They found their luck in the battery industry, as many were ready to pay a premium for the compound that promised to increase the efficiency and lifespan of their batteries.
But this was just the beginning of a tougher road ahead, as the initial product was more suitable for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The happiness, however, was short-lived as manufacturing of Li-ion batteries had yet to pick up.
“Li-ion cell manufacturing did not begin in India back then and all India-assembled batties had imported cells. Even today the market is almost nil,” Jain said.
The founders pivoted to explore the huge lead acid battery market in India. After revamping their compound, the founders began selling it last year.
The revamped compound was even more explosive, not literally though.
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“Cancrie-filled batteries showed 25% to 30% higher lifecycle compared to other batteries,” Jain said.
The startup claims to have sold 50,000 Cancrie-tweaked batteries so far. Currently, it caters to five lead acid battery manufacturers. It has found the biggest application (around 70%) of its product in electric rickshaws, a large portion of which still runs on lead-acid batteries. Besides, it also deployed the material for solar and UPS applications.
Since its inception, Cancrie has raised $1.5 Mn in total funding from Roots Ventures, IIMA Ventures, and SIDBI, among others.
From Coconuts To Batteries
As mentioned earlier, Cancrie generates nanocarbon from coconut shell waste, which is produced after the waste undergoes a six-step treatment process.
Jain said that his team tweaks the compound produced as per various parameters — surface areas, pore sizes, pore volumes, conductivity functionalities, particle sizes, and purity levels — to determine battery performance.
“This is where we differentiate ourselves in the market. We tweak these parameters and make it very unique for the different batteries,” Jain said.
The founder claims that with Cancrie nanocarbon in them, used in making lead-acid plates, batteries do not lose much current in the form of heat, thereby increasing efficiency and life. It also helps save electricity while charging.
Currently, the startup has only commercialised its technology for lead acid batteries, but it is also doing industrial trials for Li-ion batteries.
In Li-ion hybrid batteries, Cancrie has been able to replace almost 80% of the cathode with its material, leading to better energy density and high power density in these batteries.
“This innovation would have significant benefits for peak power accelerations and regenerative braking in electric two-wheelers, hybrid EVs, and drones,” cofounder and COO Singh said.
Cancrie is developing another technology to replace around 10% of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells with its nanocarbon compound. The startup is also working on developing nanocarbon for sodium-ion batteries, which is currently at an early stage.
Cancrie’s Capacity Expansion Plans
Currently, the startup produces the compound in a small batch of about 50 kg per month. It is looking to expand its current capacity by 10X. It plans to further double down to one tonne per month by the end of 2025.
“We already have a total purchase order for two tonnes per month, but we are taking it slow,” said Singh.
Cancrie is also working with a few MSMEs and plans to add around three to four more customers in the coming months.
Meanwhile, it claims to be able to provide $400K per Gwh savings for battery manufacturers with Cancrie materials. It is also trying to tap into one of the major battery manufacturers for lead acid in the US.
A few important grants, from The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency and a few international collaborations with the likes of The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), are expected to help Cancrie forge its path ahead in both domestic and international markets.
With a global demand surge towards sustainable energy, Cancrie’s attempts to improve the existing battery industry could be viewed as a way to neutralise the centuries of damage made by the mining industry to cater to the rising demand for power.
With global players like Haycarb and Cabot already working on developing sustainable nanocarbons for batteries, it would be interesting to see how Cancrie evolves to cater to the global demand for Li-ion batteries projected to reach approximately 4.7 TWh by 2030.
[Edited By Shishir Parasher]
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