Whether it’s inside a cellphone or an electric vehicle, nothing dictates battery performance more than the compounds used in its positive terminal, or cathode.
Grid expansion and the rise of electric vehicle transportation has put cathode materials like cobalt, lithium and nickel in high demand, so much so that the U.S. government has deemed many “critical” to the nation’s economy.
But extracting and refining virgin ingredients is costly, dirty business. That, combined with the limited supply and steep price of many key elements, has battery companies exploring ways to eliminate waste and use existing materials more efficiently.
Now, a new project heading to Georgia will aim to do just that, with the backing of a $50 million federal grant.
Last week the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Princeton NuEnergy, a battery material manufacturer and recycler, will develop its next project in Commerce, about 65 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
The federal dollars for the initiative come from a $500 million batch of funding the DOE awarded to seven projects focused on bolstering different parts of the country’s battery and critical material supply chains. The grant money comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed in 2021 by President Joe Biden.
While President Donald Trump has worked to erase most of the federal backing for renewable energy and electric vehicles constructed by his predecessor, the battery and materials sectors have maintained the administration’s support.
Credit: Riley Bunch/riley.bunch@ajc.com
Credit: Riley Bunch/riley.bunch@ajc.com
DOE Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson said in a written statement that the project will address a “key vulnerability in America’s battery supply chain” — one that’s still heavily reliant on materials from China.
“Under this administration, our strategy is to target supply-chain vulnerabilities with energy and national security implications, identify American technologies that address them, then help our private-sector partners prove the technical and economic performance of innovations that have shown promise at a smaller scale,” Robertson said.
Georgia has become a key cog in EV manufacturing itself, with Hyundai Motor Group’s factory near Savannah in operation and Rivian building its own plant east of Atlanta. But the Peach State has also emerged as a major player in the EV supply chain. South Korean giant SK Battery America has a factory in Commerce and corporate cousin SK On has a joint venture battery plant that recently opened in Bartow County, in northwest Georgia.
Princeton NuEnergy has existing facilities in three states, and plans to employ in Georgia a method piloted at its facility in McKinney, Texas.
Today, most battery manufacturing produces large amounts of scrap cathode material, which is usually collected and turned into a dark, powdery substance called “black mass.” With high heat or powerful chemicals, recyclers can separate black mass into its constituent critical minerals, then use them again to make new batteries.
Princeton NuEnergy says its method takes a more direct route to reuse scrap from the manufacturing process, cutting out black mass from the equation altogether.
Using its proprietary “low-temperature plasma-assisted separation process,” the company says it can collect scrap cathode material, separate it and purify all on-site within a battery factory’s production line. The result, the company says, is a cheaper and more environmentally friendly “cathode to cathode” recovery process.
“We take the old cathode scrap and turn it into new cathode material, and then they (the battery manufacturer) can lower their cost,” said Joe Fisher, Princeton NuEnergy’s chief commercial officer.
Princeton NuEnergy’s new project is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2029. The company said it will take place under the roof of an existing battery factory in Commerce did not confirm their new commercial partner.
SK Battery America’s $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce earlier this year laid off roughly 1,000 employees in the face of softer-than-expected EV demand. Spokesman Joe Guy Collier confirmed SK Battery America is in discussions with Princeton NuEnergy “about potential collaboration opportunities, but no formal agreement has been reached at this time.”
Other battery recycling efforts, meanwhile, have also faced headwinds.
Battery recycler Ascend Elements, which has a major plant 35 miles east of Atlanta in Covington, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this spring citing “construction delays, cost overruns, and production constraints.”
Robertson, the DOE assistant secretary, acknowledged there is risk in putting taxpayer money behind Princeton NuEnergy’s efforts, but expressed confidence in the company, citing its successful pilot and the private investment its received.
“Based on our rigorous merit review process, the Department of Energy believes this project offers a capability worth testing, and potentially an immense return on taxpayer dollars,” Robertson said.
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