US battery separator manufacturer Microporous has secured final financing for a new lithium-ion battery separator manufacturing facility in Danville, Virginia, in a move set to expand domestic US supply of a critical battery component.
The company said construction of the plant will begin this month after funding was finalised through investors including Trent Capital Partners, Eagle Point Credit Management and Elda River Capital Management.
At full capacity, the Danville facility is expected to support around 65GWh of annual lithium-ion battery production across automotive, industrial and grid-scale energy storage applications.
Battery separators are thin porous membranes placed between a cell’s anode and cathode. They are critical for preventing short circuits while allowing ionic transport, making them central to both battery safety and performance.
The project is part of a wider push to localise battery supply chains in North America amid concerns over dependence on Asian separator suppliers, particularly from China, Japan and South Korea.
Microporous chief executive John Reeves described the financing as “a pivotal milestone” as the company moves “from planning into execution”.
“With the support of Trent, Eagle Point and Elda River, we are accelerating our expansion and strengthening our ability to deliver high-performance separator solutions for the lithium-ion battery market,” Reeves said.
The Danville site will become one of the largest separator manufacturing projects currently under development in the US battery sector. The facility forms part of Microporous’ broader expansion strategy, which also includes coated wet-process polyethylene separator production at its Piney Flats, Tennessee site.
According to the US Department of Energy, Microporous previously secured a $100 million federal award under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program.
The “Stellar” Virginia project
DOE environmental assessment documents show the Virginia project – internally referred to as “Project Stellar” – is planned as a multi-phase development at the Southern Virginia Megasite near Danville. The federal funding currently applies only to Phase I, although four phases are ultimately anticipated.
Microporous said the Virginia factory would produce coated polyethylene lithium-ion separators, with the site intended to strengthen US energy security and support compliance with North American battery sourcing requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The company already operates separator manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and Austria.
