Nth Cycle is a metal processing technology company. It has developed and deployed an electrode extraction technology to recover critical materials from end-of-life batteries and mining waste since 2017. The electro-extraction technology—an alternative to the environmentally un-friendly status quo—enables low cost, clean recovery of the critical minerals needed for new lithium-ion batteries to power a clean energy future. The company was co-founded by Megan O’Connor on the basis of research for her university thesis.

- According to the World Bank, demand for critical minerals to power the green energy transition is growing exponentially. 

- Rare metals used for the production of electric vehicles and wind turbines are extracted from the earth at great monetary and environmental cost. 

- A shortage of cobalt, nickel and rare earth metals is predicted. By 2030 cobalt alone is predicted to have a 50% supply shortage.

- Currently large amounts of critical minerals are already in circulation in cell phones, computers etc. but only a small quantity of those are being recycled.

- Traditional metal extraction technologies used for recycling such as hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy are inherently dirty and environmentally un-friendly.

Nth Cycle has developed a new metal extraction technology called electro-extraction that provides an alternative to the traditional methods of hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy by enabling customizable, mobile, clean and consistent recovery of critical minerals.

Nth Cycle works with battery recyclers and miners to recover production-grade critical minerals from end-of-life batteries and mining waste. Their technique increases the efficiency of recycling and offers a way to “close the loop,” creating a circular supply chain that can provide the needed raw materials for batteries and other components and minimise the need to expand the world’s mining operations.

Nth Cycle can recover metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite and copper.

- Nth Cycle has designed a system that takes an area of less than 1,000 sqft, goes on site and can be integrated into facilities that are collecting smaller volumes of batteries all across the country. 

 - Nth Cycle’s system can process all of the different materials in waste into a very consistent product. This reduces overall transportation cost as only the valuable materials are being transported.In contrast, traditional recyclers produce a so-called black mass of all the materials, of which only 20% is of value for the market. This black mass normally needs to be transported to a location where it gets processed further. Nth Cycle’s retained product can be shipped easily and safely back into the actual supply chain without further transformation. 

- Not only is Nth Cycle more cost effective as it cuts transportation costs but also less dangerous as lithium ion batteries are known to be able to spontaneously combust. Shipping them long distances to get them to a recycling centre - as is the general practice - is therefore very hazardous.

- Nth Cycle has very low operating costs and significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions as it uses a carbon-based filter, instead of the traditional filter. Nth Cycle claims that their electro-extraction can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% compared to hydro- and pyrometallurgy. 

s Nth Cycle technology is more efficient at separating materials than traditional systems it is also beneficial for the mining industry.

Old battery recycling systems are very environmentally unfriendly. Pyrometallurgy requires energy-intensive furnaces that fill entire warehouses. Hydrometallurgy takes the waste and dissolves it in acid, and then follows that up with solvent extraction. It uses a number of different solvents to pull out these metals, one by one, to produce the final battery-grade material. This process creates massive amounts of chemical waste. Nth Cycle’s electro-extraction technology on the other hand uses a combination of electricity with water filtration in a process called electroextraction or electrowinning. It pushes electrical current across a very large filter, and that electrical current helps capture the metals selectively. The process runs on very low operating costs, and the energy for this process can come solely from renewable sources. 

- Nth Cycle might be criticised for working with mining companies. But currently there are not enough essential materials in circulation to rely purely on extracting them from already produced items. Hence mining is still relevant and Nth Cycle can make the mining process more sustainable, efficient and effective.

- The “Nth Cycle” name is a reference to the unlimited times a mineral can be reused.

- Interest in Nth Cycle’s technology is high. The company managed to secure a total of $17 million in funding by February 2022.