ABTC awarded at industry event

The American Battery Technology Co. (ABTC), a battery recycler and refiner headquartered in Reno, Nevada, has won an industry-judged award for its innovations in battery recycling.

The company received the “Outstanding Contribution to Recycling & Reuse in Battery Materials” award at the annual Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Voltas Awards event, held in Las Vegas. The Voltas Awards recognize those reshaping global battery raw materials supply chains, and ABTC says the awards celebrated “bold contributions to building a resilient and responsible energy future.”

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ABTC was judged against 20 global industry peers in its award category.

“We are proud and humbled that after this elite group of industry judges evaluated these 20 global battery recycling finalists, they chose ABTC as the winner of this prestigious award,” ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert says. “This award is a testament to the dedication and contributions of all of our stakeholders, and on behalf of the company I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to our partners, whose vision and support have driven these efforts forward, to our long-term shareholders, whose trust and commitment have been instrumental to our growth, and to the employees of ABTC, whose innovation, passion and hard work make achievements like this possible.”

In less than two years, ABTC says it has achieved significant milestones, developed new recycling technologies, launched commercial operations and has begun selling recycled battery materials processed at its first lithium-ion battery recycling facility, also located in Nevada. The facility operates using an internally developed demanufacturing process paired with targeted hydrometallurgy to strategically extract high-purity battery-grade critical minerals.

The company says its closed-loop system minimizes scrap, reduces water consumption and significantly limits air pollution and emissions. Its recycling operation involves two phases. During the initial demanufacturing phase, battery components are processed into products including copper, aluminum, steel, a lithium intermediate and a black mass intermediate material. The second hydrometallurgical phase refines the intermediates.

Next, the lithium intermediate is processed into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, while the black mass intermediate is turned into battery-grade nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium hydroxide products.

ABTC says its single-facility process eliminates the inefficiencies of producing and transporting inconsistent intermediary materials, such as black mass, to offsite locations. Instead, the company’s recycling technologies are designed to optimize recovery rates, including lithium extraction during the mechanical phase, and reduce operating costs by strategically removing impurities upfront in its demanufacturing processes instead of through chemical agent intensive downstream separation processes.

ABTC says it is advancing its recycling capabilities by initiating the construction design of its second recycling facility, which it expects will be able to process 100,000 tons of material annually. The expansion is supported by a $144 million investment from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The company says it attributes its progress to its team of professionals, many with experience from automaker Tesla’s first Gigafactory. The company also partners with local universities to nurture workforce development, offering internships and hands-on collaborations.

Additionally, ABTC says it collaborates with organizations such as the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and BASF to recycle metals into cathode materials that are reintegrated into new battery cells—an approach that closes the loop on battery production.