High-efficiency battery recycling: American facility repurposes ancient lithium devices into fresh energy sources, achieving a 97% success rate.
Princeton NuEnergy's Battery Recycling Facility in Chester, South Carolina, Advances Circular Economy
Princeton NuEnergy (PNE), a New Jersey-based company, has launched the United States' first commercial-scale Advanced Black Mass and battery-grade cathode active material production facility in Chester, South Carolina. This facility is a significant contribution to the circular battery economy, aimed at minimizing waste and environmental impact by creating a closed loop for battery materials.
Located in Chester, the facility operates one of the first commercial U.S. lithium-ion battery recycling plants using a proprietary, patented low-temperature process called LPAS (Low-temperature Plasma-assisted Separation). This innovative process is cleaner, faster, and more sustainable than traditional methods, achieving over 97% recovery of lithium-ion battery materials.
The facility recycles battery feedstock from various consumer goods and industrial sources, transforming battery waste into high-value downstream feedstock for battery production. This raw material contributes significantly to U.S. battery supply chain security by sourcing and recycling materials domestically, reducing reliance on foreign imports.
Key contributions of the PNE facility include producing raw materials for new battery cathodes (NCM and LFP chemistries) from recycled materials, enabling true circularity in battery manufacturing. The facility's operation also reduces environmental impact and costs through an innovative low-temperature, direct recycling process.
The PNE facility is fully compliant with all regulatory standards and is fully commissioned and operational. In addition, PNE has launched a Materials Testing Center in Princeton, New Jersey, for third-party validation and downstream application testing. The company also operates a joint pilot facility in McKinney, Texas, to advance direct recycling technologies.
The Chester facility's capacity will expand from 5,000 to 15,000 tons annually by 2026, with a potential long-term increase to 50,000 tons, indicating scalability and future impact on circular battery supply chains. This expansion will further strengthen the domestic critical materials supply chain, making the U.S. more self-sufficient in battery production.
In essence, the PNE facility exemplifies how technological innovation and strategic recycling infrastructure can advance the circular battery economy by keeping valuable materials in use, reducing waste, and supporting sustainable energy transitions in the U.S.
- Princeton NuEnergy's innovation in the Low-temperature Plasma-assisted Separation (LPAS) process, a cleaner and more sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling method, contributes significantly to science and technology.
- The PNE facility's focus on recycling battery waste and transforming it into high-value downstream feedstock for battery production aligns with the principles of the science and technology-driven circular economy.
- The advancements in robotics and automation at the PNE facility, enabling efficient battery recycling and material recovery, demonstrate the intersection of science, technology, and innovation.
- The partnership between the PNE facility and the Materials Testing Center in Princeton, New Jersey, leverages science and technology to validate and test recycled materials for downstream applications in the battery industry.
- The expansion of the PNE facility's capacity in the coming years will have a lasting impact on the transportation and energy sectors, as more battery materials are recycled domestically through science, technology, and finance-driven initiatives.
