Princeton NuEnergy Inc. (PNE) has been selected to enter award negotiations for a $50 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to build a first-of-its-kind closed-loop battery recycling facility in Commerce, Georgia, the company announced.

 

The $110 million project, backed by $60 million in company funding, is designed to process 3,000 tonnes of nickel-based lithium-ion battery manufacturing scrap annually and return rejuvenated cathode material directly to battery production.

 

The facility is expected to create 70 full-time manufacturing jobs and about 100 construction jobs, while establishing a domestic supply chain aimed at reducing dependence on imported battery materials.

 

PNE said the plant will use its proprietary low-temperature plasma-assisted separation, or LPAS™, technology to recover and rejuvenate cathode active material without breaking it down into its basic elements—a key distinction from conventional recycling methods.

 

"This selection represents an important validation of Princeton NuEnergy's technology and our ability to bring direct recycling to commercial scale," said Joe Fisher, Chief Commercial Officer of Princeton NuEnergy. 

 

"By deploying our Cathode-to-Cathode process alongside battery-cell manufacturing, we can transform manufacturing scrap directly back into high-quality cathode active material while lowering costs and strengthening America's domestic battery-material supply chain."

 

The company said locating the facility alongside battery manufacturing operations will enable a closed-loop system capable of returning rejuvenated cathode active material to production in about seven days.

 

PNE estimates its process can produce rejuvenated cathode material at a cost roughly 45% below comparable virgin material, while preserving the engineered structure of the cathode.

 

"We are grateful for the Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI), Manufacturing Deployment Office (MDO), support and look forward to bringing this project into operation." said Chao Yan, founder and CEO of Princeton NuEnergy.

 

The Commerce facility is expected to serve as a commercial demonstration of PNE's modular Cathode-to-Cathode platform. If successful, the company plans to deploy as many as 10 additional privately financed production lines, potentially lifting total capacity to approximately 30,000 tonnes per year by 2035.

 

More than 90% of the proposed facility's equipment is expected to use standard industrial components, which PNE says will support faster replication and deployment. The company also plans to use data analytics and artificial intelligence for process optimization and predictive maintenance.

 

"Direct recycling allows us to retain more of the value already engineered into cathode materials rather than breaking them down and rebuilding them from their constituent elements," said Stephen Snyder, Chief Strategy Officer of Princeton NuEnergy. "This project gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that approach at meaningful commercial scale and directly alongside battery manufacturing."