TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Clayco has begun construction on a $1.5 billion manufacturing plant for wet-process lithium battery separators.

Oregon-based ENTEK, the sole U.S.-owned and operated manufacturer of this product, hired Clayco to build the plant in Terre Haute, Ind. As part of its healthy growth strategy to produce an increasing quantity of lithium-ion batter components for the bustling electrical vehicle industry.

The project represents ENTEK’s largest investment in history.

ENTEK’s Terre Haute manufacturing plant will produce more than 1.4 billion square meters of battery separators per year – enough to supply more than a million U.S.-made electric vehicles annually. ENTEK’s customers are lithium-ion battery manufacturers across the country.

A battery separator is a thin, porous membrane – a component of the battery cell – that physically separates the anode and cathode and prevents physical contact between them while facilitating ion transport within the cell.

Clayco is constructing four buildings spanning 1.4 million square feet.

A $200 million Dept. of Energy grant is funding a portion of the project. The DOE says the new giga-scale lithium-ion battery separator operations facility in Terre Haute will leverage ENTEK’s pioneering sustainable, state-of-the-art solvent extraction and recovery systems and processing techniques.

The new facility will create up to 642 high-wage jobs by the end of 2027.