Feasibility of Recovering Rare Earth Elements

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Feasibility of Recovering Rare Earth Elements

The DOE-NETL Rare Earth Elements & Critical Minerals (REE-CM) Program is focused on extracting, separating and recovering REEs & CMs from coal and coal-based resources.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential dual use materials that are incorporated into many of today’s components ...

…… and are paving the way for future technology innovation and integration.

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REE Program Goals

Validate the technical and economic feasibility of domestic small pilot-scale facilities to produce high purity rare earth elements and critical materials from coal and coal-based resources

Success Stories

Acid Digestion and Electrowinning Processes Demonstrate Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Fly Ash

Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI) and Rare Earth Salts (RES) worked together to advance the development and validation of BMI’s acid digestion process, along with RES’s novel electrowinning separation and purification process, which recovered a rare earth oxide product at a purity of approximately 90%.

Jason Hissam, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Rick Peterson, BMI

NETL Supported REE Extraction Project Exceeds Expectations

Researchers at the University of Utah and Virginia Tech successfully demonstrated several concepts - separation technologies to enrich pyrite for bio-oxidation; column leaching with bio-oxidation and extraction of REEs; concentration of REEs by solvent extraction; and iron removal along with REE recovery by precipitation - ultimately achieving production of 36.7% mixed REO concentrates from coal-based resources.

Anthony Zinn, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Michael Free, University of Utah

Research Triangle Institute Explores Nanofiltration REE Extraction Method

Supported by NETL, the Research Triangle Institute continues its work on rare earth element recovery and enrichment using novel recovery technologies as nanofiltration membranes to extract these valuable elements from acid mine drainage.

Omer Bakshi, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Dr. Zachary Hendren, Research Triangle Institute

New Rare Earth Element (REE) Extraction Tests Show Promise for Efficiency & Cost Saving

NETL-supported research at the West Virginia Research Corporation shows that nearly 100 percent of all REEs in coal-based acid mine drainage (AMD) can be recovered at high purity, and progress along the pathway to commercialization

Jessica Mullen, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Paul Ziemkiewicz, West Virginia University

The Power of Plasma: Extracting REES from Coal

Plasma technology integrated with traditional leaching and extraction processes was shown by the University of Kentucky and their subcontractor Virginia Tech to recover rare earth elements from coal samples. Moving forward, the challenge for NETL and its partners is refinement and discovering how to make this process economically attractive by industry.

Jason Hissam, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Dr. Rick Honaker, University of Kentucky Research Foundation

Concentrating Rare Earth Elements in Acid Mine Drainage Using Coal Combustion Products through Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation

Researchers from Ohio State University have demonstrated that a conceptual three-stage trap-extract-precipitate (TEP) process can successfully recover rare earth elements (REEs) from coal mine drainage (CMD). The team from Ohio State has been working closely with several key stakeholders in the region, including those from the public sector (Ohio Department of Natural Resources and City of Columbus), power generation industry (American Electric Power), and non-for-profit organizations (The Wilds).

Karol Schrems & Anthony Zinn, Federal Project Manager, NETL
Chin-Min Cheng, John Lenhart, Jeffrey Bielicki, Tarunjit Butalia,
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering
The Ohio State University

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