Microsoft Makes Strategic Investment in Cyclic Materials to Accelerate Climate Tech Innovation
July 16 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Cyclic Materials has developed technology, the
CC360TM, specifically to optimize rare earth recovery from hard
drives that has been field tested by major electronics recycler
Cyclic Materials, an advanced metals recycling company building
a circular supply chain for rare earth elements and other critical
metals, today announced it has received an equity investment from
Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, an initiative dedicated to
accelerating technology development and deployment of new climate
innovations. This investment is representative of Microsoft’s
commitment to a circular economy and interest in hard drive rare
earth element recycling.
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Over the past two years, Cyclic has developed a patent-pending
technology, CC360TM, to specifically address the challenge of
recovering rare earths contained in end-of-life hard drives. While
hard drives are typically sent to an IT asset disposal (ITAD)
company at the end of life, this disposal process is designed for
data destruction, followed by shredding of drives for the recovery
of other metals such as gold and silver. The rare earths contained
are currently not recovered. With the CC360TM, ITAD companies can
separate a portion of hard drives for rare earth recovery, while
retaining the rest of the hard drives for their traditional
process. These separated magnets can then be processed by Cyclic
Materials’ processing technologies, unlocking an additional value
stream from hard drive disposal.
“Microsoft is working to achieve zero waste across our direct
operations, products, and packaging by 2030. This means adopting a
circular economy approach,” said Brandon Middaugh, Senior Director,
Climate Innovation Fund, Microsoft. “As demand for rare earth
elements continues to grow in importance, we’re excited to support
the creation of a sustainable supply of these materials with this
investment.”
Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials is an industry leader
developing technologies that are capable of economically,
sustainably and domestically transforming end-of-life (EOL)
products into valuable raw materials. The recycling of rare earths
delivers significant environmental benefits in comparison to mining
processes, including a reduced carbon footprint and water usage.
Cyclic Materials recently opened its Kingston-based “Hub100” plant,
deploying its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure
and helping fulfill the ever-increasing demand for domestic sources
of mixed rare earth oxide (MREO) in North America.
“We have been working with Cyclic over the past few months to
trial the use of the CC360 TM in our operations. We have seen
tremendous performance improvements through the development and
achieved throughput of one hard drive per second,” said Sean
Magann, chief commercial officer at Sims Lifecycle Services (SLS).
“This solution enables us to drive further value out of disposed
hard drives, by reclaiming the critical rare earths, while
maintaining the data security of the hard drives being disposed. An
additional benefit is the reduction of magnets clogging our
shredders. We look forward to deploying this technology across our
operations.”
“We’re thrilled by this endorsement from Microsoft’s Climate
Innovation Fund as a key strategic investor who is like minded in
creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements contained
in hard drives used in their data center operations,” said Ahmad
Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO of Cyclic Materials. “This support
enables us to accelerate the deployment of our commercial
facilities, which is a critical step in growing the domestic supply
of rare earths in North America that support the energy transition.
Additionally, we value the input that SLS has provided, helping us
to validate our new CC360TM technology that we believe will prove
invaluable to large data center operators such as Microsoft as they
work towards their circularity and sustainability goals.”
To learn more about Cyclic Materials, please visit
www.cyclicmaterials.earth.
About Cyclic Materials
Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials is a cleantech company
creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements and other
materials critical to supporting the energy transition. Through its
innovative technology, the company economically, sustainably and
domestically transforms end-of-life products into valuable raw
materials that are essential to the production of electric
vehicles, wind turbines and motors for the electronics we use in
our daily lives. In 2024, Cyclic opened its Hub100 plant in
Kingston, Ontario – the first facility to produce recycled Mixed
Rare Earth Oxide (rMREO) in North America using its proprietary
hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure™. With the global market for
magnet rare earth elements forecasted to increase dramatically by
2030, establishing new sources of these critical elements is vital
to support the electrification of the economy across the globe.
Cyclic plans to scale its technology in North America, Europe and
Asia. To learn more, visit cyclicmaterials.earth.
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Media Haley Sinacole cyclicmaterials@matternow.com