Sortera Technologies receives funding for Tennessee aluminum sorting facility

Sortera Technologies Inc., headquartered in Markle, Indiana, has closed on $45 million in funding that will help the company expand its sorting capabilities to a second location to be sited in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced sensors to sort mixed aluminum scrap into specific alloys that can replace imported primary aluminum.

Since launching operations at its 200,000-square-foot Markle facility in early 2023, the company says it has experienced significant customer demand for its recycled aluminum alloys that this new funding and a second location will help it to meet.

The funders

Accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and VXI Capital led the funding, with participation from Yamaha Motor Ventures and Overlay Capital, as well as additional equipment funding from Trinity Capital.

Ben Pope, Sortera Technologies senior vice president of operations and commercial development, tells Recycling Today that VXI and T. Rowe Price were previous investors in the company.

“VXI partnered with Sortera as part of their continuing focus on addressing significant global problems—in our case, the more efficient sorting and use of scrap metals,” Pope says, while T. Row Price invested in the company through its Metal and Mining team to focus on improving metals circularity.

New funder Overlay Capital shares Sortera’s focus on sustainable innovation and its impact on energy independence, while Yamaha Ventures Funds invested in Sortera as part of a unique opportunity to work together to supply sustainable materials for the transportation industry, he adds.

This funding will help fuel Sortera’s next phase of growth, which includes plans for its second processing facility in Lebanon. The company says the expansion is driven by demand for its sorted recovered aluminum and its success at its flagship Markle facility. The new location also will bring Sortera's recycling solutions closer to its growing customer base.

The new location

Pope says Tennessee offers an ideal central location for aluminum scrap procurement and the sale of the company’s sorted specification products.

Earlier in its history, Sortera established a tolling relationship with Novelis, which also took a minority position in the company through its Novelis Ventures team, that saw it begin processing stamping plant scrap for Novelis in the second half of 2022. Pope says that tolling agreement provided an opportunity to advance the company’s technology with a strategic partner while limiting the need for working capital.

“Today, we target buy/sell business as it is the growth market for Sortera into the future," he says.

The company’s Lebanon location is ideally suited to that business model.

“The 25-acre site has rail access for inbound/outbound logistic opportunities, while being located just minutes off I-40 provides ample access to the large consumption of aluminum rolling mills, secondary smelters and die casters within a 300-mile radius,” he says.

“Our Lebanon facility will have the same capability as our Markle facility,” Pope says. “We are sorting eight finished items in one pass; this capability can be expanded at both facilities as the product development advances.”

Sortera expects the new facility to be operational by the summer of 2026.

The Markle site can process 120 million pounds per year, Pope says, and the Lebanon facility will match that capacity initially, though it has the potential to increase production if necessary, Pope says.

The products

Sortera's proprietary technology enables the precise sorting and capture of valuable aluminum from scrap streams, according to the company. Its AI-enabled multisensor sorting systems with blending capabilities support customer-specific alloy composition requirements.

The recovered aluminum products Sortera produces include cast alloys 380, 356 and 319, as well as wrought alloys such as 3105. The company says each product is designed to match the chemistry of common casting and rolling alloys. Sortera also produces low-silicon wrought packages and polished end-of-life aluminum die cast for direct use in 380 applications.

“Pricing for our sorted products is based on the end-use market the scrap is supporting,” Pope says. “Wrought scrap is going to the rolling slab and billet casting consumers and trading against the USMW [U.S. Midwest] Transaction price, while our cast products are trading off the secondary aluminum alloys they complement.

“Upgraded scrap has many unique values: chemical intrinsic value, higher recoveries based on density and volume supply that currently does not exist in alloy form by other suppliers.”

Pope told Recycling Today in December 2024 that Sortera likely was 18-24 months away from being able to sort zorba, a combination of the nonferrous metals aluminum, copper, lead, magnesium, stainless steel, nickel, tin and zinc produced from automobile shredding, at a production level.

"Our Lebanon facility will allow Sortera to maintain its timeline on zorba sortation," Pope says. "The complexity of zorba requires other solutions that the Lebanon facility offers, and the central geographic location is ideal for zorba’s success.

Meeting growing demand

"The performance of our Markle facility and the enthusiastic response from our customers have made it clear: the domestic market is hungry for sustainable, high-quality recycled aluminum," Sortera Technologies CEO Michael Siemer says in a news release announcing the investment and new facility.

"The robust investor confidence that powered this funding, coupled with the proven customer demand that necessitates our expansion into Tennessee, is a direct result of this success. This expansion allows us to significantly increase our capacity and establish a presence closer to many of our key customers—particularly in the automotive sector—further streamlining supply chains and enhancing our service capabilities."

Pope says demand for Sortera’s sorted aluminum has been robust as the market is increasing its recycled aluminum consumption in the coming years. He adds that increased use of recovered aluminum is the greatest contributor toward end consumers achieving their sustainability targets.

Future growth

Pope previously told Recycling Today that Sortera planned to build two new plants in the Southeast in the coming years, with the Lebanon plant being the first the company will realize.

He says future growth will be targeted in the Southeast over the next few years.

“Other regions of the country are also possibilities; we are focusing on the increasing demand the Southeast provides," he says.