Ryan Melsert

ABTC (Nasdaq: ABAT) is an advanced lithium-ion battery technology development and commercialization company that is operating facilities for both the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and for the manufacturing of battery grade lithium hydroxide from its domestic-US claystone sedimentary resource. These first-of-kind facilities manufacture domestic, low-cost, and low environmental footprint critical minerals (lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite) to create a closed loop battery manufacturing supply chain in North America.

The Critical Materials Institute is a U.S. DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Laboratory that seeks to accelerate innovative scientific and technological solutions to develop resilient and secure supply chains for rare-earth metals and other materials critical to the success of clean energy technologies.

M2 Thermal Solutions is an engineering design firm that leverages first-principles-based physics to develop and commercialize highly innovative solutions to address global energy systems challenges. We are extremely proud that our first-of-kind residential air conditioning system, that exhibits a disruptive improvement in energy efficiency over current state-of-the-art systems, has been accepted as one of eight finalist designs in the Global Cooling Prize challenge (https://globalcoolingprize.org).

Founded and led a cross-functional team of 8-10 mechanical and chemical engineers and scientists in the conceptual design, rigorous thermodynamic and process modeling, design/fabrication of bench-scale prototypes, design of manufacturing processes, and commercializing of innovative first-of-kind systems for the manufacturing of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese battery metal products and their synthesis into active cathode materials and battery cells. - Received Performance Award as Top 1% Performer among employees company-wide - Inventor of first patent Tesla was granted for battery cell manufacturing

Founding member of Gigafactory design team for the design, construction, commissioning, and operations of the lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. Led first principles based design of first-of-kind systems, equipment specification, manufacturing and procurement of systems, and commissioning and training of operations teams for cell manufacturing and utility systems.

Led project team of 5-10 chemical/mechanical engineers in fundamental design of first-of-kind systems throughout energy systems field. Developed physics based models, designed/built prototype units, scaled up to bench scale integrated systems, designed/built field pilot systems, and commercialized successful technologies. ● Grid Scale Energy Storage: Development of a reversible gas-solid reaction based system utilizing a tailored stabilized calcium-based sorbent in a closed-loop thermochemical reactor for high-temperature (~800C) energy storage utilizing supercritical CO2 (sCO2) in a closed-loop Brayton cycle heat engine -Won DOE SunShot grant for sorbent development and construction of bench-scale system -Won second DOE SunShot grant for construction of 1.0 MWhr field pilot -Secured funding from electric utility (Southern Company) and EPRI -Won company-wide “Invention of the Year” 2015, presented at ARPA-E Innovation Summit ● Geothermal Lithium Extraction and Power Generation: Developed hybrid system utilizing nanostructured thermoelectric solid-state modules, membrane distillation, and selective sorbents for co-generation of electricity and extraction of LiOH from low-temperature brines; Won DOE grant from EERE-GTO to build bench-scale prototype ● Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC): Development of system utilizing gasifier, hot gas cleanup, and packed-bed reactor with hybrid water-gas shift catalyst and magnesium-based CO2 sorbent to generate hydrogen rich fuel; Won DOE grant from NETL office for construction of prototype ● Hybrid PV/CSP: Design of system utilizing selectively transmissive multi-junction PV cells as a topping cycle integrated with optical wave guide and Infrared thermal absorber with an organic Rankine cycle heat engine bottoming cycle ● Synthesis of Renewable Jet and Diesel Fuel: Development of system utilizing downdraft gasifier, hot gas cleanup, and selective Fischer-Tropsch catalyst to synthesize fuel from biomass/coal feedstocks

Consultant performing rigorous thermodynamic, strategic, and economic analyses of technologies and business plans of startup companies throughout the renewable energy systems field (advanced biofuels, solar thermal power generation, solar thermal heating, solar photovoltaic microinverters, advanced LED lighting, and hybrid-electric vehicle powertrain design)

- Founded and led a team of ~60 engineers to design, model, build, test, and validate an advanced technology power-split electric Sports Utility Vehicle - Used model-based design (Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow) and multi-objective optimization to systematically analyze powertrain architectures across fuel economy, emissions, performance, drivability, and life cycle impact metrics - Designed battery thermal management system, cell and module voltage balancing system, high-voltage pre-charge and disconnect systems, extensive multiphysics CAE/CAD modeling (Siemens NX/Nastran, Pro/E, SolidWorks, CATIA, COMSOL) for systems optimization and packaging, and worked with external vendors to source and fabricate components - Secured an off-the-lot OEM SUV, removed all vehicle components down to frame and body panels, and integrated internally-developed powertrain, drive motors, battery pack, power electronics, and supervisory control strategies - Created, developed, and refined supervisory powertrain control strategy (Simulink/Stateflow) and low-level control systems and implemented strategies (dSpace Control Desk) on prototyping development controller (dSpace MicroAutoBox) and microcontrollers through establishment of 4 controller area network (CAN) buses - Evaluated completed vehicle at US EPA facilities on both dynamometer and road course for fuel economy, criteria and GHG emissions, acceleration, drivability, and consumer acceptability metrics

- Led development of solar driven chemical heat engine, sponsored by King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Device converts sunlight to electricity through the use of a closed-loop process undergoing a high temperature endothermic and a low temperature exothermic reaction in opposing reactors - Designed solar thermal reactor which uses catalytic decomposition to regenerate closed-loop system - Built component and full system-level thermodynamic and heat transfer models in Aspen Plus and EES; constructed lab-scale high temperature reactor apparatus and collected empirical data to validate system modeling

Startup company developing an innovative biochemical commercial process to produce transportation grade cellulosic ethanol from southern pine trees - Constructed a rigorous thermodynamic and process flow model software to calculate refinery-wide plant level dynamics from component level data - Systems modeling performed in Aspen Plus, Fortran, Aspen Icarus, and EES - Developed analyses, process descriptions, and economic metrics for a $15MM grant proposal through US DOE for construction of a pilot plant - Second law exergy analysis performed on system for heat recovery and systems optimization

Fluid Dynamics Engineer in the Fluid Dynamics Technology group of the Technology Information Systems department - Developed non-linear analyses of two-phase steam/water flow stability within heated passages of primary coolant loop in reactor cores; resulted in upgrading of power set-points in active US Nuclear Naval submarines - Multiphase flow dynamics programs written in Fortran and executed on Linux clusters - Worked under DOE government security clearance

Team Leader, Georgia Tech EcoCAR Challenge Team Assisted with the teaching of 8 graduate thermodynamics and energy systems courses

2010 ACG Cup State Champions, Net Impact Club, Net Impact Dinner Series Speaker

Thesis: Energy Optimization of the Production of Cellulosic Ethanol from Southern Pine Merit based full scholarship from the Strategic Energy Institute

Minors in Engineering Mechanics, French, and International Studies

6 month study abroad program through Global Engineering Education Exchange (GE3), studied mechanical engineering and energy systems engineering at EPF University in southern Paris, program conducted in French