After announcing an exciting partnership with 6K Energy earlier this year to develop the next generation of sustainable, low-carbon lithium battery materials, the Aqua Metals team traveled to Jackson, Tennessee to attend the groundbreaking of our off-take partner’s revolutionary PlusCAM manufacturing plant on June 13th.
The Department of Energy has shown its support for the new plans by committing $50 million toward the project, putting initial investments in the plant at over $200 million.
Implications of Innovation
6K Energy’s new PlusCAM plasma cathode factory will be the first of its kind, and will help to produce sustainable battery material essential to developing a domestic battery industry here in the US.
“First of its kind” is a familiar sentiment at Aqua Metals. Our company is pioneering the first truly sustainable lithium battery recycling technology, which the companies also plan to use as feedstock for cathode materials manufactured by 6K Energy.
Aqua Metals closed-loop recycling technology trades in hazardous recycling techniques for electroplating, a process that results in higher purity materials, lower emissions and drastically decreased waste.
The developing partner relationship marks a major first step in their shared goal of creating a domestic low-carbon supply chain. In the world of battery recycling, this is monumental in terms of gaining independence from cathode active material manufacturers, who are almost exclusively based outside the US.
Aqua Metals and 6K Energy have positioned themselves at the forefront of sustainable battery recycling in a fully-domestic and circular supply chain.
