Novonix Limited (ASX: NVX) has entered into a licensing agreement with its long-time technology partner, Harper International Corporation, for the rights and use of its continuous, induction-based graphitisation furnace technology.
In December 2020, Novonix and Harper announced a strategic partnership to develop innovative graphitisation furnace technology to be used to produce synthetic graphite anode material for the lithium-ion battery sector.
This partnership provided for commitments from Novonix to purchase from Harper, and from Harper to develop and exclusively supply Novonix with proprietary systems for thermal processing material for the battery anode market.
Alongside this exclusive use agreement, the licensing agreement provides Novonix the right to an exclusive license to Harper’s technology on which its continuous graphitisation furnaces operate.
Upon making an initial payment within 12 months of the effective date of the agreement, Novonix will have the exclusive license to use the technology to further develop the furnaces used for the thermal production of graphite material for use in the battery anode market.
Upon equipment meeting certain performance objectives, and Novonix’s payment of additional licensing fees, the license will expand to include Novonix’s right to build equipment using the licensed technology, either internally or through other permitted sublicensees.
Novonix’s Riverside facility, located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is poised to become the first large-scale production site dedicated to high-performance synthetic graphite for the battery sector in North America. It is slated to begin commercial production later this year with plans to grow output to 20,000 tonnes per annum to meet current customer commitments.
Previously, the company announced that the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) awarded Novonix a US$100 million grant and that it was selected for a US$103 million investment tax credit towards funding the Riverside facility.
In December, the company announced a conditional commitment from the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) for a direct loan of up to US$754.8 million to be applied toward partially financing a proposed new production facility, NOVONIX Enterprise South, also to be located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
