Clean recycling breakthrough turns dead batteries into power for US

The article highlights a significant breakthrough by the US startup Nth Cycle, which has developed an innovative, environmentally friendly method to refine critical industrial metals from battery scrap and electronic waste. Currently, about 85% of global refining of essential minerals like cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare Earth elements occurs in China, creating a strategic vulnerability for the US in producing electric vehicle batteries, defense equipment, and other advanced technologies. Nth Cycle’s modular, electrically powered refining platform called “The Oyster” uses electro-extraction—a process that replaces traditional high-heat, chemical-intensive refining with electricity and filtration—enabling smaller-scale, localized, and low-emission metal recovery operations across the US and Europe. Nth Cycle’s first commercial unit in Fairfield, Ohio, processes over 3,000 metric tons of scrap annually, producing cobalt and nickel while reducing reliance on foreign refining. The company’s approach, described as “refining as a service,” allows customers to maintain ownership of recovered metals while Nth Cycle operates