Dongwha Electrolyte established its first manufacturing facility in North America in Clarksville, Tennessee. The company specializes in the production of high-performance and high-stability electrolytes used in lithium batteries by battery manufacturing companies around the globe. Electrolyte is a chemical that allows an electrical charge to pass between two terminals inside a battery.
This facility allows Dongwha to serve EV battery producers across the Southeast while also supporting its growing demand. The project includes dry room space, a process area, a warehouse, a tank farm, and loading/unloading areas. The dry room is served by a dehumidification unit to maintain a specific humidity range within the space. Materials must be handled in a dry environment, as lithium salts are highly reactive to moisture, which has a significant effect on battery performance.
The design-build delivery method allowed JE Dunn to be involved in early design, facilitating streamlined decision-making and proactive issue resolution. The process structure included 16 prefabricated modules, each approximately four stories tall and weighing up to 56 tons, designed and fabricated overseas. The modules were shipped directly to the project site, requiring precise sequencing of more than 1,000 metric tons of prefabricated material to avoid impacting ongoing construction activities.
One of the primary challenges was the decision to leave the roof off the process area to accommodate the installation of the four-story production platform. This required temporary measures to protect the interior office and warehouse spaces from weather-related damage. JE Dunn’s Heavy Equipment Solutions team used a 650-ton crane with 263 feet of boom to set the massive modules, ensuring ground stability with the help of geotechnical engineers. The team also utilized smaller, more mobile cranes for setting structural steel, smaller equipment, and process piping.
