December 12, 2024: ENTEK, the international battery separator giant and the only US-based producer of wet-process lithium-ion battery separator materials, has finally received a direct loan of up to $1.2 billion from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.
A full interview with the ENTEK leadership will be available in next month’s edition of Batteries International.
The facility which had been widely anticipated — Batteries International carried the news in July — goes to ENTEK Lithium Separators LLC.
The loan will substantially finance the new facility in Terre Haute, Indiana to manufacture lithium-ion battery separators to be used primarily in electric vehicles.
“This project will strengthen and onshore the lithium-ion battery cell supply chain, enabling the creation of batteries used in advanced technology vehicles, said the firm.
“For forty years, ENTEK has been serving the battery separator component needs of its customers with a commitment to productivity and innovation that our customers require for their battery applications,” said ENTEK CEO Larry Keith.
“ENTEK is a technology company at its core with expertise in equipment design and fabrication, said technologies, and materials science,” stated ENTEK CTO Richard Pekala, “These competencies make ENTEK the right company to lead the U.S. expansion of separator component manufacturing.”
ENTEK will be able to customize battery separators to accommodate numerous EV battery designs. The separators produced will be able to accommodate all existing lithium-ion EV battery chemistries, including NMC, NCA, LMFP, and LFP. Additionally, ENTEK will be able to sell its separators to manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage applications.
ENTEK aims to become the US’s first end-to-end, domestic supplier of “wet process” battery separators for the North American lithium-ion EV battery market. The project will make a significant contribution to domestic separator capacity and help US EV battery manufacturers satisfy the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic content rules under the 30D Clean Vehicle Credit.
The firm says the project should create 763 construction jobs and 635 operational jobs.
