Sortera uses physical AI to double capacity in a Tennessee sorting facility

Sortera Technologies brought its second AI-driven metal sorting facility, in Lebanon, Tennessee, to full operational status this month, lifting combined annual processing capacity across its Lebanon and Markle, Indiana sites to roughly 240 million pounds (108.8 million kg). The plant uses Sortera's sensor-and-AI sorting platform to convert mixed alloy scrap into higher-purity aluminum feedstock for automotive, construction, and aerospace buyers.

Why it matters

The interesting number is not the 240 million pounds, it's that Lebanon produced sellable high-purity material in its first week and came online on schedule and on budget. Most AI-powered sorting deployments stall in commissioning because the vision and classification models trained on one feedstock mix don't generalize to a new region's scrap stream. Sortera replicating Markle's performance in Tennessee suggests the platform has crossed from bespoke to repeatable, which is the precondition for a third and fourth site.

For operators in domestic metals and EV supply chains, this is a unit-economics story. Recycled aluminum at roughly 95% less energy than virgin production becomes a hedge against power prices and tariff exposure on imported billet, and Sortera is positioning as a regional feedstock vendor rather than a scrap exporter. The question for the next round of capacity additions is offtake structure: are automakers and aerospace primes signing multi-year volume contracts at a premium to LME, or buying spot. That determines whether facility three gets project-financed or has to be equity-funded.

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