Aqua Metals, 6K Energy building supply chain for lithium battery minerals

Aqua Metal and 6K Energy announced plans to create the first truly sustainable circular supply chain in the United States for the critical minerals essential to domestic lithium battery manufacturing. Aqua Metals and 6K Energy have signed a multi-part memorandum of understanding covering the scope of the collaboration in the coming years. This novel partnership marks a pivotal moment for decarbonization and electrification in the U.S., further enabling the nation’s ambitious goal of establishing a robust domestic supply chain for clean energy technologies. The co-located facility at 6K Energy’s PlusCAM site in Jackson, TN will be the first sustainable circular supply producing low-carbon cathode active materials for new batteries using domestically sourced end-of-life batteries and scrap materials from manufacturing partners as feedstock. The strategic partners’ plan outlines a future joint venture to co-locate the full-scale lithium battery recycling facility engineered and operated by Aqua Metals to supply 6K Energy’s PlusCAM cathode manufacturing plant. The shared facility will utilize Aqua Metals’ state-of-the-art Li AquaRefining sustainable recycling technology to convert spent batteries and manufacturing scraps into the raw materials for 6K Energy’s proprietary UniMelt sustainable CAM manufacturing process – eliminating tens of thousands of tons of carbon pollution and waste from the battery supply chain each year.