a technique is disclosed for recapturing and recycling biomolecule reagents . the technique may be applied in a range of settings , including biopolymer synthesis , sequencing , and so forth . biomolecule reagents such as nucleotides and oligonucleotides used to process nucleic acids , which may be marked with fluorescent tags , carry blocking agents , and so forth , are introduced to samples in a sample container . after the desired reaction occurs with some of the biomolecule reagents , such as some of the nucleotides or oligonucleotides , the effluent stream is processed to recapture unreacted biomolecule reagents . these may be separated from other reaction components , and recycled into the same or a different sample container . the recaptured biomolecule reagents may be mixed with additional biomolecule reagents prior to reintroduction to the same or different samples .