Electrothermal carbon processing · Germany

A furnace follows a recipe.
Felderion follows the material.

Felderion is developing a controlled electrothermal process for electrically conductive carbon materials, in which the material's own electrical response determines when treatment is complete. The first application is the reconditioning of battery anode graphite recovered from hydrometallurgical recycling.

Patent pending · DPMA priority filing · July 2026

Closed-loop process Active concept
Material state determines endpoint
Direct Joule heating Frequency-resolved response Closed-loop endpoint control
01

The problem

Waste is never the same twice.

Recovered and residual carbon feedstocks vary between lots. Residual chemistry, surface films, moisture, particle contact, packing state and electrical conductivity all shift from batch to batch.

Conventional thermal processing answers this variability with a fixed recipe: a set temperature and a set time. Run that recipe on two different lots and one can be over-treated while the other remains under-treated.

Recovered carbon is not necessarily unusable. The process simply cannot yet guarantee when the right material state has been reached.
02

The process

The bed is the heating element.
It is also the sensor.

Felderion passes current directly through an unconsolidated bed of conductive carbon. The bed generates its own Joule heat. Its electrical response is measured during treatment and used to determine when the process should adjust or stop.

01

Heat in the material

Electrical current passes directly through the carbon bed, reducing the need to heat a large furnace mass.

02

Measure the response

Frequency-resolved electrical behaviour tracks the evolving state of the material during treatment.

03

Close the loop

The controller uses the material-state signal to adjust or terminate the process at the defined endpoint.

Conceptual closed-loop electrothermal reactor with an impedance module and controller
Conceptual representation. Reactor geometry, operating corridors, atmosphere schedules and endpoint criteria are intentionally omitted.
Electrical input Current path Chemical potential Temperature-time history Material-state feedback
03

First application

The graphite comes out.
Nothing takes it back.

Hydrometallurgical recycling is engineered primarily to recover valuable metals. Graphite can leave the same process as a low-value residue, even though it remains a strategic raw material.

Felderion's working thesis is that the graphite host can often be returned toward a useful material state through purification and surface reconditioning rather than remanufacture from virgin feedstock.

04

The platform

The architecture is not specific to graphite.

The same coupled architecture can be evaluated for carbon feedstocks that form an electrically conductive particulate bed. Graphite regeneration is where the process is being proven first. Further property-defined applications will follow only as data is generated.

Hard carbonSoft carbonCarbon blackCoke-derived carbon CharActivated carbonRecovered carbon fibre Conductive carbon blendsSilicon-carbon composites

01

Particulate route

Purified, reconditioned or graphitised carbon discharged as a particulate product.

02

Net-shape route

A future route in which treated carbon is consolidated at temperature without a separate cooling, milling and reheating cycle.

05

Evidence before claims

The numbers will follow the data.

Quantified energy, carbon and performance claims will be published only after experimental validation against a clearly defined reference process.

01

Energy use

kWh per kilogram

02

Carbon intensity

kg CO₂e per kilogram

03

Material quality

Application-relevant specification

04

Yield

Recovered usable material

05

Repeatability

Lot-to-lot consistency

06

Development roadmap

Early stage, clearly stated.

  1. 01

    Scientific concept

    Completed

  2. 02

    Patent filed

    Current position · July 2026

  3. 03

    Technology validation

    Next

  4. 04

    Pilot demonstration

    Planned

  5. 05

    Industrial partnership

    Planned

  6. 06

    Commercial deployment

    Future

07

About

Built from materials science, process physics and industrial experience.

Felderion was founded by Dr.-Ing. Tarini Prasad Mishra, a materials scientist specialising in electric-field-assisted processing and advanced manufacturing.

He completed his doctorate summa cum laude at Forschungszentrum Jülich and has worked across scientific research, battery and materials strategy, recycling and industrial business development.

Felderion is an independent venture and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any current or former employer or institution.

08 — Work with us

We are looking for two specific partners.

01

A European hydrometallurgical recycler

With a recovered graphite fraction for which no strong route to market currently exists.

02

A cell or anode manufacturer

Willing to define precisely what reusable graphite must achieve.

We also welcome contact from research organisations and strategic investors. Initial discussions can be held under confidentiality.

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