Thermolyzer® – Domestic Recovery of Gallium and Critical Materials from Waste Electronics

The U.S. Department of Defense increasingly relies on gallium-based semiconductors (GaAs, GaN) for RF systems, radar, power electronics, and optoelectronics. Gallium is also present in commercial electronics, LEDs, and solar panels. However, gallium is a strategic and limited-supply material, predominantly imported. According to Persistence Market Research, the global gallium market is set to grow from US$3.7 billion in 2025 to US$17 billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 24.5%. They note that a major shift in global supply dynamics had been observed due to China’s export controls in August 2023 which has heightened concerns about supply security.  CHZs Thermolyzer® technology offers a domestic, scalable solution for recovering gallium and other critical materials from end-of-life electronics through a clean, high-efficiency gasification process. The Thermolyzer® process concentrates all the individual residual metals and semiconductor chips on the circuit boards – including gallium, indium, antimony, copper, and precious metals – into a recoverable solid char. These clean metals therefore enable downstream refining for gallium and rare earth element separation. CHZ’s partnership with Flash Metals USA (FMU) enables the downstream refining to take place. Their patented Flash Joule Heating process enables selective recovery of gallium, antimony, and the precious and electronic metals also found in e-Wastes. Solutions of the metal chlorides are produced which can then be separated and refined. The combined CHZ-FMU approach directly addresses the key barriers to gallium recovery from e-waste: matrix complexity and separation efficiency. This project aims to demonstrate that gallium can be recovered from PCB-derived char in a selective and scalable way, using domestic infrastructure and environmentally responsible methods. A successful Phase I effort will validate the core process steps, Thermolyzer conversion and electrothermal chlorination, and establish the feasibility of scaling the process in Phase II to serve as a foundation for a domestic gallium recycling industry.The first objective is to characterize the gallium content and physical properties of the Thermolyzer-processed PCB solids. The second objective is to demonstrate the ability of FMU’s electrothermal chlorination process to selectively recover gallium from the solids from the Thermolyzer process. The third objective is to evaluate the reproducibility and robustness of the process across a variety of PCB feedstocks. The final objective is to document the operating parameters, reaction pathways, and material balances of the integrated system. Together, these objectives will provide the technical foundation necessary to justify further development and pilot-scale deployment of this integrated gallium recovery process.