Exaere: FLTMC Finalist
Exaere is one of the finalists for the From Lab to Market Challenge.
We spoke with Yelda Demirdögen (CEO) and Jan Dethloff (CTO) about Exaere, one of the finalists in the From Lab to Market Challenge.
CHEManager: What is your technology, and what makes it work?
Yelda Demirdögen & Jan Dethloff: We've engineered a bio-based adsorbent, synthesised from agricultural waste, that selectively extracts rare earth elements from e.g. electronic waste. The secret is in the surface chemistry: functional groups designed at the molecular level to bind specific metals with high selectivity. Guided by computational chemistry, the same platform can be tuned for other critical materials.
What problem does your technology solve, and what is the business potential?
Y. Demirdögen & J. Dethloff: Critical metals are hiding in plain sight - in industrial wastewater, mining effluents and recycling streams - but existing recovery technologies only work at high concentrations. So, the metals get discharged or landfilled and industries earn nothing from them. We make recovery economic at the dilute concentrations actually found in secondary streams. With 10 of 26 EU critical raw materials 100% import-dependent, the pressure to recover domestically has never been higher.
What's the next milestone your team is working towards?
Y. Demirdögen & J. Dethloff: We're advancing our technology to TRL 4/5 - validating adsorbent selectivity in real-world streams and proving our platform model across multiple metals. Alongside that: patent filing and closing our pre-seed round to fund first on-site pilots by 2027.
