$144 million grant contract has been awarded to American battery Technology Company

The US Department of Energy recently awarded the American Battery Technology Company a grant worth $144 Million. This award was presented to the company for the Construction of a Second Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Facility.

American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) is well-known as an integrated critical battery materials company, which is currently focused on commercialising its technologies for both primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling. The funds of $144 million of federal investment, which were provided to this company, as well as to its subcontractor, Argonne National Laboratory will provide support for the company’s excellent project.

The new Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Facility will become the second commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility created by this company. Right now, the plan for the facility is that it will be able to process an estimated 100,000 tonnes of battery materials on an annual basis. The battery material will be accessed from its automotive OEM, cell manufacturer and finally, community partners. On top of this, it has been agreed that this facility will have the ability to intake a large variety of end-of-life and manufacturing scrap materials, whilst it will also be able to produce an output of battery grade nickel, cobalt, manganese and finally, lithium hydroxide. Once produced, these end products will be suitable to be sold to the North American market. It was in the summer of 2023 when ABTC entered a strategic partnership agreement with BASF. This company is one of the premier cathode manufacturers in North America and the agreement which was made, centred around the purchase of its battery grade metals.

A core aim of this new facility, is that it will be specifically designed to scale fivefold the company’s first recycling facility, furthermore, it will be able to implement its internally-developed processes which will be suitable for the strategic de-manufacturing, as well as targeted chemical extraction of battery grade products at competitive costs, which will also have low environmental footprints. So far, demonstrations have proven that the processes are able to produce battery grade products which successfully meet the rigorous specifications which have been set by cathode refining customers. These particular specifications are completely different to the ‘normal’ methods used for battery recycling. These ‘normal’ methods tend to rely on high temperature smelting or non-strategic shredding systems.

Currently the project is set to involve multiple partners, in order to align with the company’s strategic model which focuses on creating a large and diverse portfolio of partners, as well as stakeholders. The purpose of doing this, is to help them accomplish their aim of bringing advanced battery technologies online, whilst simultaneously generating a commercial battery metals supply chain for North America. Some of the companies that are now involved include product offtaker BASF, along with global engineering firm Siemens, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) ReCell Center, the Argonne National Laboratory Sustainable Transportation Education & Partnerships (STEP) department, and finally, the South Carolina Electric Transportation Network (SCETNetwork).

Along with the excellent work the company will be doing for the battery recycling industry and the connected industries and companies, through creating this new facility construction project, ABTC will also be creating opportunities to employ a ‘proactive, community-driven engagement model.’ This model will be directly focused on building an energy equity, sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem, which will come with the main aim of creating 1,200 construction jobs, as well as three hundred operation jobs. Furthermore, part of the company’s plan is to work and create partnerships with educational institutions, communities, the National Laboratory system, government and finally, the next generation workforce. Altogether, the overall goal of all of these connections and this kind of workforce, will be to provide support equitable and sustainable initiatives, which both benefit and strengthen within local communities. This goal will also look at placing a special focus on underserved communities which, in many ways have historically been left behind.

American Battery Technology Company CEO Ryan Melsert, commented, “We are extremely proud to have been awarded this highly competitive grant contract from the U.S. DOE, and it will directly support the additional capacity required to process the quantity of materials demanded from the domestic automotive and battery industry. We are excited to be further scaling our internally-developed recycling technologies and expanding domestic supply of unrealized, in-demand, recycled, battery grade, sustainably-manufactured materials.”

Melsert added, “I’m personally very proud of our internal teams for the preparation of this proposal, performance during the due diligence rounds, and proficiency in the rapid contracting of this competitive award.”