Cabot redirects $50M DOE grant to expand battery conductive additive production in Louisiana and Texas

Cabot will use a modified $50 million grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to expand domestic production of battery conductive additives at its existing plants in Franklin, Louisiana, and Pampa, Texas. The company plans to invest about $75 million of its own alongside the grant.

The grant originally backed a Cabot project in Michigan. Cabot and DOE redirected the funding to a two-site brownfield expansion program, which Cabot expects to speed up development of a domestic supply of conductive additives. The original plan, announced in September 2024, was a $181 million plant in Wayne County, Michigan, for battery-grade carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and conductive additive dispersions.

The Franklin plant will produce LITX battery-grade conductive carbons. Pampa will host what Cabot says will be the first commercial-scale production of its carbon nanostructures (CNS), which the company calls its most advanced conductive additive technology. CNS is part of Cabot’s ENERMAX product family. Both projects are expected to be operational by the end of 2028.

Pampa is also where Cabot started its roughly $200-million US conductive carbon additive investment, announced in 2023.

Conductive additives form the electron-conducting network inside a lithium-ion electrode, linking active-material particles to each other and to the current collector.

Cabot ties the expansion to battery demand from energy storage systems, the power needs of AI infrastructure and data centers, grid modernization and broader electrification.

“By leveraging our existing manufacturing assets, we can efficiently expand our battery materials platform, strengthen our position in the North American battery ecosystem, and support our customers’ growth with localized supply,” said Sean Keohane, Cabot’s President and CEO.

Source: Cabot