Monolith

Monolith (formerly Boxer Industries, legal name Monolith Materials, Inc.) is an American clean technology company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the world's only company operating thermal plasma methane pyrolysis at commercial scale. Founded in 2012, the company uses an electrified, patented process to split natural gas (methane) into its constituent elements - carbon and hydrogen - without combustion, generating approximately 95% fewer emissions than traditional carbon black production methods. The resulting carbon is refined into high-performance carbon black, a critical industrial material already embedded in millions of tires and automotive plastic components across North America. Simultaneously, the process yields clean hydrogen and steam as co-products used for energy production, with future plans to convert hydrogen into anhydrous ammonia for the agricultural fertilizer market.

Monolith's flagship facility, Olive Creek 1 (OC1), is located in Hallam, Nebraska, and represents the first new American-owned carbon black production plant built in over 50 years - a significant milestone in reversing the U.S.'s dependence on foreign supply chains for this critical material. The company built a demonstration plant in Redwood City, CA (2013-2015) before breaking ground on OC1 in 2016 and reaching commercial production in 2020. Their technology is particularly significant because carbon black is indispensable to U.S. defense, automotive, electronics, and infrastructure industries, yet domestic production had been absent for decades. With a planned advanced manufacturing campus expansion at Olive Creek, Monolith aims to become one of the world's largest carbon black facilities.

Monolith's strategic importance to the U.S. energy and industrial supply chain cannot be overstated. By electrifying the carbon black manufacturing process, the company simultaneously addresses two critical supply chain vulnerabilities: domestic carbon black production and clean hydrogen availability. The company has secured landmark partnerships - including a carbon black supply agreement with Goodyear Tire - and in December 2021 received a $1 billion DOE loan guarantee (the first non-nuclear loan from the DOE's Loan Programs Office since 2016), validating its technology at the highest levels of the federal government. Backed by heavyweight investors including TPG Rise Climate, BlackRock/Temasek's Decarbonization Partners, SK Inc., NextEra Energy, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Monolith is a cornerstone company in America's clean energy and advanced materials manufacturing resurgence.