How Hycamite is scaling a new way to produce hydrogen and battery grade-graphite
EIT RawMaterials-supported Finnish cleantech company Hycamite has been nominated for the EIT Venture Award for scaling technology that produces low-carbon hydrogen and high-value carbon materials from methane. Its battery-grade graphite production project has also been selected as a Strategic Project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.
Hycamite Core Team, courtesy of Hycamite
Producing the low-carbon hydrogen needed to decarbonise industries such as steel and chemicals requires significant amounts of energy. At the same time, Europe remains dependent on imports for many of the carbon materials needed for its clean energy transition, including graphite used in batteries.
Hycamite has developed a technology that connects these two challenges. Its thermo-catalytic decomposition (TCD) process splits methane into hydrogen and solid carbon without producing direct CO₂ emissions. The hydrogen can be used to help decarbonise industrial processes, while the solid carbon can be processed into high-value materials, including battery-grade graphite.
Founded in Finland in 2020, Hycamite has taken the technology from laboratory development through pilot testing to industrial-scale validation. EIT RawMaterials has supported the company through its Booster programme with funding, strategic guidance and access to its European innovation network, as well as being an investor. Hycamite’s battery-grade graphite production has been selected by the European Commission as a Strategic Project under the Critical Raw Materials Act.
From laboratory breakthrough to industrial production
For Hycamite, developing the technology has meant proving that the same process that works in the laboratory can be made to work reliably at progressively larger scales.
After demonstrating that the methane-splitting process could produce both hydrogen and useful solid carbon, the team moved to a pilot plant, where they could test how the technology performed at a larger scale and refine it in preparation for industrial production.
For Co-Founder and CEO Matti Malkamäki, those stages have each brought their own breakthrough.
First, it was seeing the carbon material we had produced under the microscope. Then it was successfully operating the pilot, and later starting the industrial-scale plant. Now we have something equally important: not only the technology, but a clear market need for both critical materials such as graphite and more sustainable energy solutions – and Hycamite can address both with the same technology.
Matti Malkamäki, Hycamite Co-Founder and CEO
Today, Hycamite is operating an industrial-scale methane-splitting plant in Kokkola, Finland, which is designed to produce 2,000 tonnes of hydrogen and 6,000 tonnes of carbon per year. The company is now preparing the next stage of expanding its carbon processing and graphitisation capabilities, with plans to produce up to 900 tonnes of battery-grade graphite annually.
Reaching this point has required significant investment, and Hycamite has raised around €60 million and grown to more than 60 employees as it has moved towards commercial production.
The network behind the next stage
EIT RawMaterials has supported Hycamite on that journey as both an investor and a connection to the wider European ecosystem.
“The support has gone far beyond funding,” Matti says. “EIT RawMaterials has helped us connect with investors, industrial partners and European stakeholders that are important when you are trying to scale a company like ours.”
He points to the EIT RawMaterials Summit in Brussels as one example, where conversations with potential partners developed into relationships that continued beyond the event.
“The level of the partners and the discussions we had was exceptional, and those conversations have continued since,” he says. “We simply wouldn’t have had the same opportunities without EIT RawMaterials.”
Employee of Hycamite in the Decomposition Plant, courtesy of Hycamite
Scaling towards a more resilient supply of critical raw materials
Hycamite’s longer-term ambition is to establish large-scale battery-grade graphite production and expand its network of industrial deployments, helping Europe produce more of the materials it needs while providing low-carbon hydrogen for industry. Its plans envisage modular plants located close to industrial customers, allowing production to respond to local demand and available feedstocks.
In ten years, I would like to see Europe – and the wider Western world – much more self-sufficient in graphite, with cleaner production and better product quality. I’d also like to see new applications emerging for the other high-value carbon materials this technology can produce. If Hycamite and our partners can help make that happen, that would be a real success.
Matti Malkamäki, Hycamite Co-Founder and CEO
For a team focused firmly on what comes next, the EIT Venture Award nomination is also an opportunity to recognise the progress already made.
As entrepreneurs and team builders, we are always focused on what’s in front of us. When people who really understand the business recognise what you have achieved, it tells you that you are on the right track – and gives you the strength to keep pushing forward.
Matti Malkamäki, Hycamite Co-Founder and CEO
Hycamite has been nominated for the EIT Venture Award. Vote for Hycamite and help us celebrate the ventures in the EIT RawMaterials community, turning breakthrough technologies into industrial solutions.
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