Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries have evolved from a niche alternative power source to a core energy storage category supporting electric transportation, grid energy storage, data center backup power, and public transportation operations in the United States. Driven by the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the domestic LFP industry has accelerated its industrialization. However, the US has long suffered from structural shortcomings in the recycling of retired batteries, with a severe lack of capacity for the full resource recovery of phosphorus and iron slag. Anhui Jingtanhao Technology Co., Ltd.'s regenerated iron phosphate complete process provides a new path for the global LFP circular economy, and its technical evaluation has been recognized by the Exxon Research Engineering Laboratory's Battery R&D Department's classic electrochemical evaluation system. This article reviews the current status of the US LFP industry, the bottlenecks in domestic recycling technology, the core advantages of China's regenerated iron phosphate, and the long-term strategic impact of the technological gap in phosphorus and iron slag recycling between China and the US.

I. Current Status and Industrial Development of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries in the US In the past three years, the installed capacity of LFP batteries in the US has experienced explosive growth, driven by the convergence of energy security policies, new energy infrastructure, and the demand for cost reduction in electric vehicles. In the transportation sector, General Motors is upgrading its production lines at its Tennessee Autotronics plant, planning to achieve mass production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells by the end of 2027, supplying entry-level electric pickup trucks and family cars. In California, Texas, Florida, and other states, a large number of electric school buses are equipped with LFP batteries as standard, and by the end of 2024, over 13,000 electric school buses nationwide will be equipped with LFP batteries.

Energy storage is the largest growth market for LFP batteries in the United States. In 2024, over 41% of newly built large-scale grid-connected energy storage projects in the US will use LFP batteries, leveraging their high safety, ultra-long cycle life, and cobalt-free nature to withstand commodity price increases, securing their position in the mainstream market. Samsung SDI has secured a long-term energy storage contract in the US worth approximately $1.36 billion, with phased deliveries of square LFP energy storage cells starting in 2027, upgrading existing US automotive battery production lines to mass-produce the SBB2.0 containerized energy storage system. The surge in AI computing power data centers has driven the iteration of backup power supplies, with traditional lead-acid batteries being largely replaced by LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries. In 2024, the total installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for energy storage in the US exceeded 32 GWh.

Strong policy support for the localization of the industry chain: The IRA (Industrial Recycling Act) provides substantial tax breaks for electric vehicles using domestically produced and recycled battery materials, forcing foreign companies such as LG Energy and Samsung SDI to establish factories in the US. However, the US is highly dependent on imports for upstream raw materials for lithium iron phosphate batteries, with a scarcity of domestic battery-grade LFP production capacity. The vast majority of high-purity LFP needs to be imported from China, resulting in a weak supply chain resilience.

II. Stage of US Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Recycling Technology: Focusing on Lithium Extraction, with Overall Lagging Resource Utilization of Phosphate Slag

Since 2022, the US Department of Energy has invested a total of $2 billion in battery recycling research and development, with legislation requiring a comprehensive recycling rate of at least 90% for battery materials by 2026. Companies such as Sequoia Materials, Li-Cycle, and Retriev have established commercial recycling plants, with the main approaches falling into two categories: hydrometallurgy and direct physical recycling. Overall, the US LFP recycling system is stuck at the stage of selective high-value lithium recovery, and the comprehensive utilization of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) slag has significant drawbacks:

1. Most US recycling lines prioritize lithium extraction, achieving lithium recovery rates of over 95%. However, the resulting LFP slag is mostly landfilled as solid waste or used as low-cost cement filler. The overall recovery rate of phosphorus and iron is less than 15%, making it impossible to reintegrate into the battery raw material system, resulting in the permanent loss of a large amount of valuable resources.

2. While advanced direct remediation recycling processes in the US can preserve the LFP crystal structure for cathode repair, they have extremely high requirements for the purity and impurity content of incoming batteries. This makes them unsuitable for the diverse sources and high levels of copper, aluminum, and titanium impurities found in retired hybrid batteries in the US market, resulting in poor industrial adaptability. They can only process small batches of targeted waste from leading automakers.

3. The US currently lacks mature, mass-production-grade LFP slag impurity removal processes. Traditional acid leaching methods consume large amounts of acid and have high waste acid disposal costs, making it difficult to consistently purify the slag to battery-grade LFP standards. Most related technologies remain in the laboratory and pilot-scale stages, failing to balance large-scale production with cost control. Pyrometallurgy, once widespread in North America, has been declining due to excessive carbon emissions and severe phosphorus loss. As of 2026, the United States has not built a single complete closed-loop production line connecting retired LFP batteries with phosphate slag, recycled iron phosphate batteries, and new lithium iron phosphate batteries.

III. Anhui Jingtanhao's Core Technological Advantages in Recycled Iron Phosphate + Exxon Laboratories Technical Certification

Anhui Jingtanhao Technology focuses on the resource utilization of retired lithium iron phosphate batteries and phosphate slag, a byproduct of phosphate chemical production. It has independently developed a complete recycled iron phosphate production line capable of targeted deep impurity removal from phosphate slag, stably producing battery-grade iron phosphate that meets global cathode material access standards.

Core Technological Advantages

1. Full Component Resource Utilization: While recovering lithium, the phosphate slag undergoes deep purification, with a comprehensive phosphorus and iron recovery rate exceeding 92%. The purity, iron-phosphorus ratio, and trace impurity control indicators of the recycled iron phosphate are completely equivalent to those of primary mineral iron phosphate, allowing it to be directly used in lithium iron phosphate cathode sintering production.

2. Low-carbon and cost-reduction advantages: Optimized acid-base cycling process reduces overall production costs by 57% compared to the mainstream wet process in the US, and carbon emissions per unit product decrease by nearly 40%, meeting all compliance requirements for North American carbon footprint accounting and IRA recycled material tax rebates.

3. Strong raw material inclusiveness: It can handle mixed waste batteries with high impurities, solving the pain point of strict raw material sorting required in US recycling lines, and is suitable for large-scale disposal of scattered retired batteries in the US.

Jingtan's complete recycling process and finished iron phosphate have undergone full performance verification according to the historical electrochemical evaluation specifications of Exxon Research Engineering Laboratory's Battery R&D Department. Its testing framework has long served as a common benchmark for third-party verification of battery materials in North America. Independent testing based on this system confirms that Jingtan's recycled iron phosphate exhibits electrochemical stability, cycle durability, and impurity control comparable to virgin materials, and the process possesses the stability for global factory replication and mass production.

Value to the Global Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Recycling Industry:

1. Breaks the inherent flaw of global LFP recycling—"only collecting lithium, discarding phosphorus and iron"—truly achieving a closed-loop system for all elements of the cathode material, significantly reducing reliance on phosphate and iron ore mining;

2. Helps European and American battery manufacturers meet IRA (Integrated Recycling Association) requirements for the proportion of recycled raw materials without sacrificing cell performance, reducing overall LFP raw material procurement costs by 15%~22%;

3. Reduces the pressure on North American solid waste landfills, lowers environmental penalties for local recycling companies, and provides a feasible, complete solution for US automakers and energy storage companies to build localized circular supply chains.

IV. The Technology Gap in Resource Recycling of Phosphate and Iron Slag between China and the US, and its Derivative Strategic Impact: A Real-World Technological Breakdown:

1. Industrial Maturity Gap: China's Jingtanhao has achieved a 100% closed-loop recycling route for LFP batteries; the US only has small-scale and pilot-scale equipment, lacking market-proven mass production processes. While the US is on par with China in lithium extraction technology, its industrialization of the entire process of purifying and regenerating phosphorus and iron slag is 3~5 years behind China. 2. Cost and Impurity Removal Capacity Gap: Chinese processes achieve low-cost, deep impurity removal; the US laboratory route suffers from high reagent and energy consumption and large fluctuations in impurity levels, making it unsuitable for commercial profitability.

3. Industrial Chain Gap: China has formed a complete industrial chain encompassing battery dismantling, wet purification, recycled iron phosphate synthesis, and LFP granulation; the US recycling industry is fragmented, with waste disposal and cathode material plants unable to coordinate efficiently.

Multi-layered Strategic Impacts

1. Key Mineral Supply Chain Security Risks: The US relies on the IRA to promote decoupling from China, but its shortcomings in iron phosphate recycling lead to insufficient domestic recycled raw material capacity, still heavily relying on iron phosphate imports from China, making it difficult to achieve its goal of mineral self-sufficiency. Fluctuations in cross-border raw material trade could pose a risk of production shutdowns for US electric vehicles and energy storage.

2. Long-Term Global Cost Competitiveness Imbalance: In the next 5-10 years, China will maintain its LFP cost advantage based on mature iron phosphate recycling technology; the US has higher costs across the entire LFP chain, weakening the price competitiveness of US-made new energy vehicles and energy storage products in the global market. 3. Passive Control over Global Recycling Rules: China, with its mature full-component recycling technology, has gained the initiative in setting international standards for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) recycling. The US can only passively adapt to China's industrial standards; otherwise, it cannot meet global low-carbon trade thresholds such as EU battery regulations.

4. Dilemma for the US Industry: US recycling companies must either adopt mature Chinese recycling processes or continue to allow LFP slag to waste. Restricting technological cooperation will perpetuate the recycling weakness in the long term; opening up cooperation will deeply bind the North American battery recycling industry chain to the Chinese supply chain, making it difficult to achieve the strategic goal of localization and independence.

LFP has become a cornerstone of clean energy in the US, but the weakness in LFP slag recycling is the biggest hidden danger restricting the self-sufficiency of the US LFP industry chain. Jingtanhao's recycled LFP technology has verified the commercial feasibility of full-component closed-loop recycling. The US cannot make up for the industrialization gap in the short term. The optimal solution for North American automakers and energy storage companies is to cooperate with mature Chinese recycling technologies to balance cost, low-carbon compliance, and supply chain stability. However, in the long term, the US will need to make a difficult strategic trade-off between "independent technological research and development" and "industrial economic efficiency."

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