The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has selected 10 projects to receive funding for research in support of the lab’s program on Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal and Coal Byproducts. The selected research projects will further program goals by focusing on the development of cost-effective and environmentally benign approaches for the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic coal and coal byproducts.
The funded projects fall under two subtopic areas: (1) development of bench-scale and (2) pilot-scale technology to economically separate, extract, and concentrate mixed REEs from coal and coal byproducts, including solids and liquids from coal-related operations. REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust. Due to their unique chemical properties, REEs have become essential components of many technologies spanning a range of applications including electronics, computer and communication systems, transportation, health care, and national defense. The demand, cost, and availability of REEs has grown significantly over recent years stimulating an emphasis on economically feasible approaches for REE recovery.
NETL plans to provide initial DOE Fossil Energy (FE) funding for all ten projects to perform Phase 1 research. Phase 1 projects will include sampling and characterisation of coal-related materials such as coal, coal mine roof and floor materials, and/or coal ash to identify suitable material for recovery of REEs; a techno-economic feasibility study; and a system design for the proposed REE recovery technology. Near the end of Phase 1, each project will provide their findings and a system design to NETL for evaluation and consideration to advance into Phase 2, the final phase of the project. Phase 2 projects will involve development and testing of the project-specific technology designed in Phase 1.
It is expected that up to two bench-scale projects and up to two pilot-scale projects will advance into Phase 2. The successful execution of these Phase 2 projects will lead to the development and application of technology for economically recovering REEs from domestic coal and coal byproducts.