A booming high-tech battery manufacturer based out of Kettering was awarded $1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s plans to commercialize a new technology.
Xerion Advanced Battery Corp., which specializes in making lithium-ion batteries, received the funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s inaugural American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize, in partnership with a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This award will accelerate Xerion’s plans to commercialize its innovative, first-of-its-kind ceramic redox membrane technology, which significantly lowers the cost and reduces the energy required to extract lithium from geothermal brine by as much as 90% compared to current technologies.
Xerion currently is embarking on a full-scale manufacturing facility in the Dayton region. The plant, neighboring the Dayton International Airport, will mark the company’s first steps toward exponential growth while reducing China’s stronghold on the market. Xerion over time has developed and piloted a disruptive, step-change technology platform for lithium-ion batteries and is raising capital for large scale, commercial production. The company has garnered more than $50 million in funds as of October 2022.
Xerion’s approach to lithium extraction from geothermal brine offers substantial advantages over methods in use today related to selective extraction of lithium, material stability, and environmental impact. This separation technology is a significant extension of Xerion’s advanced dense cathode innovation.
“The development and commercialization of our low-cost, high-efficiency direct lithium extraction (DLE) from lithium brine sources globally will bring us one step closer to a clean energy future that is powered by homegrown innovation;’ said John Busbee, CEO of Xerion.
Demand for lithium and other minerals key to a future centered around zero-emission technologies is surging, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). IEA estimates the global demand for lithium tripled between 2017 and 2022, and projects it will double again by 2030. With applications in electric vehicles, stationary energy storage, consumer electronics, aerospace, and defense technologies, lithium is a critical element in the electrification of the economy.
The Salton Sea is home to a lithium supply with the potential to meet all of the United States’ projected future demand and 40% of global demand, according to the California Energy Commission. The market for energy transition minerals reached $320 billion in 2022 and is set for continued rapid growth, according to the IEA’s first annual IEA Critical Minerals Market Review.
Team SelectPure, consisting of Xerion and the University of Illinois, was the first-place winner of the American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize, having advanced through three competition phases over the course of two years. Work under the prize helps support access to cost-effective, domestic sources of this critical mineral for technology, using a production process and a new battery architecture to significantly reduce the cost of high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Xerion’s manufacturing platform is founded upon two patented core technologies — DirectPlate, an innovative refining and deposition technique, and StructurePore, a novel battery electrode architecture.
These core technologies combined deliver a dramatically lower-cost lithium-ion battery with higher energy density, higher power, faster charge, longer life, improved safety and 40% lower carbon emissions than conventional battery manufacturing.
Xerion’s DirectPlate manufacturing process can use less pure, 100% domestically sourced battery precursors and can be adapted to recycle end-of-life batteries. This eliminates the need to import battery materials from China, the current source of nearly 95% of these materials, and strengthens and improves the confidence in the supply chain.
Xerion Advanced Battery Corp is a privately held manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries with a vision to revolutionize the energy industry through the development of disruptive technologies.
Xerion began its lab at the University of Illinois and in 2016 relocated to space in the 3100 Research Blvd. building at Miami Valley Research Park, formerly lab space for Kodak. It has since grown to more and more space within the building. The company has accumulated a workforce of 46 employees, according to previous DBJ research.