American Energy Technologies Co. (AETC) is pleased to announce the grand opening of its brand-new expansion facility, located in the heart of Chicagoland. The launch of the new facility coincides with the company celebrating its 15-year anniversary as a member of the industrial graphite and carbon business for batteries, fuel cells, military systems, and other emerging energy systems.
AETC is currently the only industrial end-to-end manufacturer of spherical purified surface coated graphite in the US. Spherical graphite is a critical component which makes up 48% of the bill of materials (BoM) of advanced lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles, stationary energy storage (supporting solar and wind generating facilities), and specialty applications for use in fielded DoD systems. Besides its production branch, AETC is known worldwide for its cutting-edge engineering services related to pre-feasibility and bankable feasibility-level qualification of natural and synthetic graphite and carbon precursors from around the world. AETC has been known to provide rigorous testing and capabilities for upgrading graphite before it becomes a battery-ready material. AETC is also recognized within the industry as the go-to organization for qualifying feedstocks and rendering them suitable or non-suitable for use in advanced battery markets.
Many clients use the data generated by AETC to support the construction and scale-up projects around their unique raw material resources. At the moment, AETC is one of only two companies in the United States selected by Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for a multi-year high-profile technology demonstration project aimed at qualifying US-made graphite for use in fielded DoD battery systems. Concurrently, AETC was named as the processor of choice by two prestigious initiatives (STREAMS and SAFELOOP) which are funded by the European Commission, in which the company is recovering, healing, and returning recycled graphite into the European lithium-ion battery supply chain, as well as in processing primary feedstocks based on natural crystalline flake graphite and synthetic graphite precursors into anode active materials in advanced lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications.
For processing graphite and carbon, AETC employs an inverted flowsheet which offers an increased process yield, coupled with superior product quality when compared to traditional processing methods, many of which find their roots in Southeastern Asia. Processing material at high degree of process automation and high yields enables AETC to position its products at a cost leadership point, and be rather successful at spec-ing in its products into advanced battery applications. AETC’s new plant has a nameplate capacity of 250 tons per year (TPY) of battery-ready graphite, with our company planning to expand to 7,500 TPY by 2030.
The combination of processing, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities has shaped AETC as a critical spoke in the wheel of the energy transition of the North American battery industry, towards a reduction of dependence on supplying batteries and their materials from foreign supply chains, which are known for their lack of transparency, environmentally concerning practices, and poor reliability of the supply, which the industry has seen happen in the recent past.
The grand opening ceremony for AETC’s new facility in Wheeling, IL was held at the end of June 2024 and was attended by industry executives, US Government officials representing the executive and the legislative branches, customers, vendors, SMEs, and services providers. In and of itself, the event presented an amazing networking opportunity for strengthening the domestic production of critical industrial minerals, such as graphite and carbon, in the US.
IL-10 Congressman Brad Schneider, who performed the ribbon cutting of AETC’s new Industrial Carbon and Graphite Processing Plant has said: “I am very proud of the fact that we are re-establishing manufacturing in the United States. It’s 21st Century Manufacturing, not 18th Century Manufacturing. It’s new manufacturing, empowered and enabled by Artificial Intelligence, created by engineers trained in the United States, and we need to make sure they stay in the United States – and that’s one of the things I celebrate here.
Global climate change is another thing which I am going to speak about. If we are going to change our trajectory to climate change, we are going to change it through Science and Technology, through the products being made here. And that’s why critical minerals are so important, technologies for batteries are so important. Solar energy is certainly the future, but solar does not work at night and solar doesn’t necessarily work in the winter without one important concept. And that’s batteries.
Another pillar is that we know that great power conflicts are not shrinking, but they stand in front of us and security and defense becomes ever more important. And again, the answer to that is going to be through science and technology. At the end of the day it is the people and technologies we utilize that will set our Nation apart, and you guys are at the cutting edge of that.
Supporting our defense base is really critical. Ukraine is in an existential fight. We need to make sure Russia isn’t successful strategically, isn’t successful militarily, isn’t successful politically and that Ukraine wins this war and technology is certainly a big piece of that.
I want to wrap up by saying that this is a special day: we are here, we are creating jobs here in Wheeling, in Illinois, we are advancing technology and science here in Wheeling, in Illinois, United States, and we are making a difference for the future. Our future is based on vision, based on holding a dream, and working hard to achieve it. AETC has worked hard to achieve this dream and we are proud to be here to celebrate this great day. I look forward to seeing many more great things coming from AETC!”
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Questions or media inquiries can be answered by contacting Anna Doninger, AETC’s Manager of Government Relations (adoninger@usaenergytech.com).