Forge Nano, Aleon Renewable Metals partner to recycle battery materials

Forge Nano, a Thornton, Colorado-based company focused on surface engineering and precision nano-coating technology, has partnered with Aleon Renewable Metals (ARM), an integrated lithium-ion battery recycler based in Freeport, Texas, to recycle and supply battery materials.

Through the partnership, ARM will recycle Forge Nano’s battery scrap at its facilities in Texas and Oklahoma, using Forge Nano’s technology to manufacture cathode active materials (CAM) from the battery-grade materials produced by ARM.

According to a news release from Forge Nano, the companies aim to make battery recycling easier and more cost effective while outputting CAMs made in the U.S. by using Forge Nano’s proprietary Atomic Layer Deposition coating technology called Atomic Armor. ARM’s facility is expected to annually produce battery-grade materials equivalent to 35-gigawatt hours of renewable power.

“In partnership with Aleon Renewable Metals, our technology will be used to provide sustainable and significant cost and performance advantages over competing recyclers making CAMs,” says James Trevey, chief technology officer at Forge Nano. “With the cost and performance benefits enabled by Atomic Armor, implementation of this U.S.-born nano-coating technology into the battery-recycling loop embodies the leapfrog improvement in technological advancement everyone has been waiting for in the lithium-ion battery industry.”

Tarun Bhatt, CEO of ARM, adds that he hopes the company’s high-purity battery-grade materials will be positioned to meet the growing domestic demands of the electric vehicle market for metal sulfates and lithium compounds used in high-performance cathodes.

“With our experience in metal recovery and commitment to sustainable solutions, we are excited to partner with Forge Nano to develop downstream cathode active materials," Bhatt says. "Together, we will address the projected lithium, nickel and cobalt supply/demand deficits to create a more attractive environment for sustainable energy production.”