ABTC entered into a short-term lease in order to commence the preparation of this 137,000 square foot facility for operations in parallel with the closing of the purchase transaction. As the facility was used previously for the recycling of lead-acid batteries, it was already equipped with much of the infrastructure and utility equipment necessary to implement the ABTC processes, including the electrical distribution, HVAC, compressed air, nitrogen, water treatment, material handling, analytical quality control, and operational control rooms.
The purchase transaction of this recycling facility has now closed, and with the use of the short-term lease over the past several months the ABTC team has already been installing its commercial-scale processing equipment and is preparing to begin integrated system commissioning. In tandem, the company has developed new facility-and technology-specific environmental, safety, and operational standards and procedures, and has been recruiting, hiring, and training new staff in preparation for operations.
This facility will house ABTC’s first-of-kind integrated battery recycling system which utilizes a strategic de-manufacturing and targeted chemical extraction train to recover battery materials with high yields, low cost, and with a low environmental footprint. These processes are fundamentally different than conventional methods of battery recycling, which utilize high temperature furnaces, such as smelting, or non-strategic shredding or grinding systems. The ABTC system results in battery metals separation, recovery and purification of high-value, battery-grade products with less environmental impact and greater potential cost efficiencies than conventional methods.
As ABTC ramps up operations of its integrated recycling processes, the facility will be commissioned in phases. In the first phase battery materials will be recycled into products including copper, aluminum, steel, a lithium intermediate, and a black mass intermediate material. Once the second phase of this integrated recycling facility is operational, this lithium intermediate will be further refined into a battery grade lithium hydroxide product, and the black mass intermediate material will be further refined into battery grade nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium hydroxide products.
