Malaysia-headquartered Graphjet Technology says it plans to build a commercial artificial graphite production facility in Nevada.

The company develops technologies to produce graphite and graphene directly from agricultural waste. This plant, it said, is expected to be a first of its kind in the U.S. The location in Nevada will place it near many battery manufacturers and automotive OEMs that will require graphite for electric vehicle battery production.

The plant is expected to be capable of recycling up to 30,000 tonnes of palm kernel material equivalent – a widely abundant agricultural waste product in Malaysia – to produce up to 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade, artificial graphite per year.

This level of production is expected to be able to support the production of enough batteries to power more 100,000 electric vehicles per year, Graphjet said.

Graphjet’s first commercial plant in Malaysia, which is on track to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2024, will process palm kernel shells into hard carbon, which will be shipped to Nevada. The company is aiming to commission and begin production at the Nevada facility in 2026.

“As the only pure-play direct agriculture waste-to-graphite technology developer, Graphjet is well positioned to become the leading source of graphite for the U.S. and we are excited to have Nevada serve as our launching pad into this market,” CEO Aiden Lee said in a news release.

“We … are in discussions with several players to secure offtake agreements for our planned Nevada facility,” Lee said. “We look forward to investing into the region and creating many local green energy jobs as we build a first-of-its-kind, next-generation graphite production facility in the U.S.”