Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Energy has announced over $3 billion in grants for 25 projects meant to help boost domestic production of batteries and battery materials. Several lithium-ion battery recycling projects are part of the new funding round.
• Awardees with recycling projects include American Battery Technology Co., which received a grant for $150 million; Cirba Solutions, which received $200 million; and Clarios Circular Solutions, which received $150 million. 
• It’s the second round of funding from the DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling Programs. The agency expects to invest a total of $16 billion from the two DOE programs to fund battery recycling, processing and manufacturing initiatives.

Dive Insight:

Funded through the $1 trillion infrastructure law passed in 2021, the most recent round of DOE grants continues a long-term effort to bolster the country’s supply chain for critical materials contained in batteries. The Biden administration says such research and investment is important to reduce reliance on other countries.

A prior round of DOE funding offered $1.82 billion for 14 projects.

American Battery Technology Co. plans to use a $150 million grant to help construct a new commercial scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility in South Carolina, which it expects to process about 100,000 metric tons of battery materials a year from battery manufacturers and automotive partners. It expects to produce “battery grade” minerals including nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, aluminum, and graphite.

It will be the second commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility for the company. Its first, a battery recycling facility near Reno, Nevada, opened in the fall of 2023 and had also received grants from the DOE and from car manufacturers.

"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," said CEO Ryan Melsert in a statement.

Other battery manufacturers and recyclers will also use an infusion of DOE funding to advance recycling plans, upgrade plants or start new partnerships for recycling specific materials needed in battery manufacturing. 

Other South Carolina-based projects include Clarios Circular Solutions’ plan to spend its $150 million grant for retrofitting its existing facility to be able to recycle lithium-ion battery production scrap into components needed for new batteries. It expects to have an annual output of 20,000 metric tons per year. Meanwhile, Cirba Solutions’ $200 million grant is expected to help it build a facility in South Carolina meant to process over 60,000 tons of batteries annually.

Elsewhere in the country,  Li Industries will spend $55.2 million to convert a former manufacturing plant into a recycling plant in partnership with General Motors. Ascend Elements received $125 million to advance its recycled graphite production facility in Kentucky, which it says is the first facility of its kind. Blue Whale Materials received $55.2 million for a recycling facility in Oklahoma, which is meant to process EVs, consumer lithium-ion batteries and battery scrap for further downstream recovery of cobalt, nickel and lithium at metal refineries.