When David Fauvre and his co-founder entered the battery space in 2015, they started as brokers exporting American battery waste to recycling partners in Korea and Japan. But as the industry grew, shipping companies increasingly refused to transport the hazardous materials, making it clear that the U.S. desperately needed its own domestic processing capabilities.
Rather than attempting to build a fully integrated, end-to-end “closed loop” recycling system—an incredibly complex and capital-intensive endeavor—Blue Whale Materials is focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well: pre-processing. Using a specialized thermal system to burn off impurities, the company liberates critical minerals like cobalt, nickel, and lithium from battery foils to create a highly concentrated product they’ve trademarked as “Black Sand.” This premium material is designed to seamlessly integrate into the supply chains of downstream refiners.
After proving their technology with a demonstration plant in Japan, Blue Whale secured private equity funding and recently commissioned its first full-scale commercial facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with David about the capital-intensive reality of building industrial infrastructure outside the venture capital ecosystem, how an outdoor battery fire at their facility forced a major overhaul of their emergency response protocols, and how a $110 million expansion project backed by the Department of Energy is accelerating their roadmap.
Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon, Anne Bailey, and Stephen Lacey. Sean Marquand is our technical director. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.
