With facilities in Knoxville TN and in Boston, MA., Nth Cycle, LLC is established around the notion of disrupting the electronics manufacturing and recycling industries by changing their linear material model into a more efficient "circular" one: a metal processing technology company working with battery recyclers and miners to recover production-grade critical minerals. Using electro-extraction, the Firm's declared mission has been to assist the US transition away from reliance on primary mining and refining of metals overseas towards an approach anchored in effective recycling of rare earth and specialty metals. Involving typically Co, In, and Y domestically from both the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing processes and from the products at their end-of-life during the recycling process, for reuse in future advanced manufacturing processes. To achieve a carbon-free future and with new technologies increasingly rely on rare earth and specialty elements, concern has risen surrounding the economic, environmental, and socio-geopolitical stability of the long-term supply of these metals. Demand is approaching/ exceeding current supply rates. Global production of these raw materials frequently involves undesirable, non-domestic locations. This metal criticality issue has triggered movement toward better material management practices to create a secondary source of RESE to support and achieve a secure and sustainable energy future. Focus has been on improving material efficiency in the manufacturing stage and enhancing recycling management strategies in the end-of-life stage: efficient separation methods exist to recover these metals for reuse enabling a 10?20 fold reduction in energy consumption through use of recycled metal versus acquiring primary metal from mining operations. Consistent with this situaiton, Nth Cycle, LLC has developed a novel recycling technology that utilizes carbon nanotube membranes for enhanced separation and recovery of these valuable materials for reuse in the clean energy and electronic sectors. Nth Cycle has further developed a novel carbon nanotube membrane separation technology for recycling rare earth and specialty metals, bulk metals, and precious metals from electronics waste and manufacturing waste streams as an alternative to the conventional energy-intensive extraction and refining processes currently used to obtain these metals for advanced manufacturing.
