Westborough battery innovator receives $50M investment to commercialize recycling technology
Photo | Courtesy Ascend Elements
Ascend Elements CEO Mike O’Kronley (left) and SK ecoplant CEO Park Kyung-il (right) meet during a signing ceremony for SK's $50 million investment in the battery recycling and engineered materials firm on August 30, 2022.
SK ecoplant, the environmental division of Korean holding company SK Inc., has made a $50 million investment in Westborough’s Ascend Elements to help commercialize the firm’s trademarked Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process technology, Ascend announced on Thursday.
The technology recycles lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap into materials used in the building of electric vehicle batteries.
"SK ecoplant has been building and investing in sustainable companies and technologies, and the company's leadership understands the game-changing potential of our direct precursor synthesis technology. They also understand the urgent need to produce sustainable, lithium-ion battery materials in the United States," said Ascend Elements CEO Mike O’Kronley in a press release.
In August the company announced that it would invest up to $1 billion in a new 500,000-square-foot Kentucky manufacturing plant.
Ascend Elements traces its roots back to 2011 when professor Yan Wang of Worcester Polytechnic Institute began his research on battery recycling. The company was formed in 2015, and changed its name from Battery Resourcers in January.
The company was the recipient of a 2022 WBJ Manufacturing Excellence Award.
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