$150 million grant for American Battery Technology Company's lithium-ion battery recycling facility

 American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) has been selected for a $150 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to be applied towards the construction of a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility. ABTC is an integrated critical battery materials company, commercializing its technologies for both primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling.

"We are extremely honoured to be selected for this government investment to further expand our domestic battery recycling operations, and after having gone through nearly one-year of technical and economic evaluation, we appreciate the level of diligence that the government employed in making this decision," says ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. "We are greatly appreciative of the confidence and support we have received from our partners throughout this process and are energized to move forward with our feedstock supply, product offtake, and strategic stakeholders in this critical expansion of our domestic capabilities."

A public/private recycling partnership

This facility will be the company's second commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility and is designed to process approximately 100,000 tonnes of battery materials per year from its battery manufacturer, automotive OEM, and community partners.

This project will leverage multiple partners including feedstock supplier and critical mineral product offtaker BASF, global engineering firm Siemens, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, the Argonne National Laboratory, ReCell Center, the Argonne National Laboratory Sustainable Transportation Education & Partnerships department, and the South Carolina Electric Transportation Network.  

New battery recycling technology

ABTC constructed and commissioned its first lithium-ion battery recycling facility near Reno, Nevada, in Fall 2023, which "implements its internally-developed processes for the de-manufacturing and targeted chemical extraction of battery materials in order to manufacture battery grade products at competitive costs and with low environmental footprint," according to the company.  These processes are significantly different from conventional methods of battery recycling, which generally utilize either high temperature smelting or non-strategic shredding systems.

Creating an equitable model for the battery recycling ecosystem

Through this new facility construction project, ABTC plans to employ a proactive, community-driven engagement model to build an energy equity, sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem that aims to create 1,200 construction jobs and 300 operations jobs. The company will work in direct partnership between communities, educational institutions, industry, government, the National Laboratory system, and the next generation workforce to support equitable and sustainable initiatives that benefit and strengthen local communities, including in underserved communities that have historically been left behind.

Supporting a domestic battery materials circular supply chain

ABTC's battery recycling and primary battery metals commercialization efforts aim to support the buildout of a domestically-sourced battery metals circular supply chain.  ABTC has been selected for several competitive awards supporting the advancement and commercialization of its innovative technologies for both battery recycling and primary claystone-to-lithium hydroxide manufacturing.

These battery recycling technologies were developed in-house by the ABTC R&D, project management, and engineering team members, many of whom were previously members of the founding Tesla Gigafactory design and engineering teams. As ABTC has now completed the technical and economic evaluations and been selected for this competitive grant award, it will next enter the grant award contracting phase of this process with an expected project kickoff in 2025.