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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

18-membered macrocycle appended on resin for selective rare earth element extraction and separation

The rare earth elements are critically important for a wide range of modern technologies. However, obtaining them selectively and efficiently from natural sources and recycled materials is challenging and often requires harsh or wasteful conditions. Here we show that a macrocyclic chelator appended to a solid resin can overcome this challenge by acting as a robust platform for both the extraction and separation of these elements. This resin preferably captures the large rare earth elements in mixtures of these ions, giving rise to higher extraction efficiencies for them over the smaller ions. We further demonstrate that this resin can be used to separate rare earth elements. As a proof-of-principle validation, this resin was demonstrated to selectively extract rare earth elements in the presence of many different types of competing metal ions in a bioleachate solution obtained from autoslag waste, leading to their enrichment.

Coordination chemistry↗
DOE OSTI2023

AN ACID BAKING APPROACH TO ENHANCE RARE EARTH ELEMENT RECOVERY FROM BITUMINOUS COAL SOURCES

Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 elements typically classified as light and heavy rare earth elements, which play a crucial role in developing the latest technologies for energy, defense, and medical sectors. Even though REEs have been found in more than 200 minerals, only bastnaesite, monazite and xenotime are commercially exploited for REE extraction. However, the recent exponential increase in REE demand has spurred countries such as the United States into research for the extraction of REEs from secondary sources such as coal, acid mine drainage, and coal ash. Several coal sources (e.g., Fire Clay seam coal) across the United States have been identified to contain elevated concentrations of rare earth elements (>600 ppm), and various researchers have investigated the feasibility of both physical and hydrometallurgical extraction techniques for rare earth concentration and subsequent extraction. However, both physical and direct leaching were concluded to be inefficient for RE beneficiation and extraction due to low recoveries. Alternatively, thermal treatment provides promising means for RE recovery from bituminous coal sources. The positive impact of thermal treatment/calcination was established to be due to the decarbonization and dehydroxylation of the clays, which released entrapped rare earth elements within the dominant minerals and converted them into an acid-soluble form. Nonetheless, the improvement in recovery was limited to the light REEs (LREEs) with an insignificant increase in the heavy REEs (HREE). It was demonstrated that the light and heavy REEs in the material were associated with difficult-to-leach minerals such as monazite, xenotime, and zircon, which were not decomposed by simple calcination due to their high thermal stability. Hence, roasting in the presence of chemicals was necessary to ensure the decomposition of those REE-containing minerals. As such, this study was focused on the acid baking treatment of bituminous coals with an aim to enhance REE recovery, especially HREEs. Based on the presence of REE minerals like monazite and xenotime, three pre-leach treatment methods, i.e., 1) roasting, 2) direct acid baking, and 3) acid baking after roasting were investigated. Roasting tests at 600 ⁰C revealed that the recovery of light REEs (LREEs) was enhanced while the recovery of HREEs remained relatively unaffected. LREE and HREE recovery values of 38.3% and 21.3%, respectively, were achieved using a 50 g/L sulfuric acid solution at 5% solid concentration and a solution temperature of 75 ⁰C for 2 hours. Comparatively, direct acid baking at 250 °C provided substantial increased LREE and HREE recovery values to approximately 49.4% and 53.0%, respectively, using an equivalent acid dosage. Recoveries were maximized to 77.0% and 79.6% for LREE and HREE, respectively, by roasting followed by acid baking. Similar results were obtained from the treatment of a second bituminous coal source. Due to strong correlations between REE and Al recovery values, tests were performed on kaolinite and illite, which were prominent clay minerals within the source coals. These experiments revealed that the REE recovery improvements were likely a result of dehydroxylation of clays and subsequent release and decomposition of REE-bearing minerals such as monazite, xenotime and zircon. Subsequently, a parametric study was conducted to identify the impact of acid baking parameters on rare earth element recovery. The factors investigated using a three-level statistical experimental program were acid baking time, acid solution concentration, baking temperature, and acid solution-to-solids ratio which were found to significantly impact REE and contaminant element (Al, Fe, and Ca) recovery. An increase in baking temperature up to around 250 ⁰C improved the light and heavy REE recovery values by more than 50 absolute percentage points relative to performances achieved when direct leaching. As aforementioned, acid baking was needed to both decompose the clay minerals and liberate the REE minerals, which allowed access for the acid to solubilize the REEs. Acid concentration of the solution used for acid baking was studied as a means of minimizing the amount of acid needed to achieve a target REE recovery. However, thermo-gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analysis (TGA-DSC) of sulfuric acid under oxidizing atmosphere revealed that the addition of water decreased the evaporation temperature, which explains the lower REE recovery values obtained when using acid concentrations less than 100%. Using pure sulfuric acid at an acid-to-solid ratio of 0.8:1 resulted in recovery values of around 70% for both LREEs and HREEs. The decomposition reaction time was relatively quick with 65% of the TREEs recovered within the first 10 minutes. Following the identification of optimum operating conditions through the parametric study, a systematic leaching study was carried out to examine the impact of leaching parameters, such as solid-to-liquid (S/L) ratio, temperature, and time, on REE recovery using acid baking conditions of 1:1 acid to solids ratio at 250 °C for 30 minutes. The solid-to-liquid ratio was varied from 1-20% by weight at 25 °C, 50 °C, and 75 °C solution temperatures. The results indicated that reaction time and solution temperature considerably impacted the recovery of heavy and light REEs. Interestingly, LREE recovery reduced from 68% at 5% S/L to 58% at 20%S/L, whereas HREE recovery of 78% remained unaffected. The decrease in the LREE recovery was determined to be due to La and Ce precipitation, likely through isomorphic substitution with calcium in gypsum. The kinetic data indicated that 67% LREE and 77% HREE recovery could be obtained within the first 15 minutes of the reaction, suggesting fast reaction kinetics. Furthermore, raising the solution temperature from 25 °C to 75 °C increased the LREE and HREE recovery from 60% and 32% to 67% and 79%, respectively. The kinetic modeling results demonstrated that the rate-limiting step in the LREE dissolution was diffusion and chemical reaction, whereas the HREE extraction was controlled by only chemical reaction. The leaching study concluded that using 20% S/L at 75 °C for 15 minutes maximized LREE and HREE recovery. The lab-scale precipitation study showed that Fe and Al in solution could be removed at pH 4.5 followed by REE precipitation at pH 6.0 using 6 mol/L NaOH. Finally, the bench-scale data was used to develop a process flowsheet for REE recovery from low-grade bituminous coal sources using acid baking. Finally, based on the proposed flowsheet, a concentrated RE-cake obtained through selective precipitation at pH 6.5 was re-leached using HCl at pH 1.5. The resultant leachate was used to identify the impact of various operating parameters on REE recovery and purity with an aim to maximize REE precipitation efficiency while minimizing the oxalic acid dosage. The operating parameters for this investigation were oxalic acid dosage, iron (III) contamination, solution pH and temperature. The resultant model suggested that oxalic acid dosage and reaction pH are the most significant factors for the REE precipitation efficiency, followed by the interaction of oxalic dosage and Fe concentration. Test results indicated that increasing the oxalic acid concentration from 0g/L to 80g/L improved the REE precipitation efficiency from approximately 4.2% to 95.0%. Furthermore, raising the solution pH from 0.5 to 2.5 considerably enhanced the precipitation efficiency from 0.0% to 98.9%. A solution temperature elevation decreased REE recovery, which indicated an exothermic reaction between REEs and oxalate anions. Finally, a high level of Fe contamination adversely impacted REE precipitation efficiency. The speciation analysis revealed that the dominant iron species in the solution system were Fe-(C₂O₄)₃³⁻, Fe-(C₂O₄)²⁻, and Fe-(C₂O₄)⁺, which consumed the majority of the oxalate anions

rare earth elements, acid baking, high-temperature↗
DOE OSTI2023

System and method for predicting the presence of rare earth elements

A system for predicting rare earth elements (REEs) in a feedstock sample includes a measurement instrument that records a measurement for a sample, a processor communicatively coupled to the measuring instrument, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and containing machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to correlate the measurement series using a model; and predict a presence of one or more rare earth element based at least in part on the correlation. A method for predicting rare earth elements includes measuring feedstock samples via XRF or PGNAA, to generate a measurements of elements of interest with a lower atomic weight than REEs; correlating the measurements with a model; and predicting a presence of one or more rare earth elements based at least in part on the correlation.

Fuka, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS1988

Partitioning of rare earth elements between hibonite and melt and implications for nebular condensation of the rare earth elements

The effect of oxygen fugacity on the partitioning of REEs between hibonite and silicate melt is investigated in hibonite-growth experiments at 1470 C. The experimental procedures and apparatus are described, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs and characterized in detail. The absolute activity coefficients in hibonite are estimated as 330 for La, 1200 for Eu(3+), and 24,000 for Yb. It is inferred that ideal solution behavior cannot be assumed when calculating REE condensation temperatures for (Ca, Al)-rich inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites.

Drake, Michael J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ligand-Assisted Separation of Rare Earth Elements via Capillary Electrophoresis

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a class of critical materials vital in applications such as EVs, batteries, and defense weapons systems. These elements are found primarily in ores, and due to their similar chemical behavior, the challenge remains to find an effective means of separation. The addition of ligands of varying charge, size, denticity, etc. can help to increase separation, yet the mechanistic behavior and factors influencing separation are still poorly understood. Here, iminodiacetic acid (IDA) is used to exploit and maximize differences in electrophoretic mobilities between adjacent REEs. Mobilities and diffusion coefficients of REEs in aqueous media are measured via CE and are compared to MD and FEM simulations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Adsorption of Rare Earth Elements to Kaolinite [dataset]

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical components of modern technology behind renewable energy, transportation, and electronics but have a limited current supply. A substantial portion of global REE production relies on ion adsorption deposits. A high abundance of kaolinite in REE enrichment zones within these deposits suggests that kaolinite controls the subsurface migration of REEs. This study aimed to improve the current understanding of REE binding to kaolinite under varying water chemistry conditions. We conducted batch experiments with kaolinite (KGa-2) and three REEs (Nd, Dy, and Yb) at varying pH, electrolyte concentration, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), low molecular weight organic acids (citric and oxalic acids), and total REE concentration conditions. Increasing electrolyte concentration inhibits REE adsorption at pH 7, suggesting that ion exchange contributes to adsorption at these pH values. DIC affects adsorption above pH 7−8 by forming strong aqueous complexes with heavy REEs. Citric acid decreases REE adsorption via aqueous complexation of REEs at pH 5 but does not affect adsorption at pH 5. The surface complexation model captures the main adsorption trends with two mechanisms: ion exchange on basal planes at pH ∼6 and inner-sphere surface complexation to edge sites at pH ∼6. Equilibrium constants for surface complexation increase in the order of Yb Dy Nd, indicating a higher strength of adsorption for heavy REEs. This study demonstrates how water chemistry conditions control the adsorption mechanisms that may determine the mobility of REEs in subsurface environments rich in kaolinite.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Process design for recovering rare-earth elements from mine tailings with low rare-earth concentrations via sequential leaching and solvent extraction

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for advanced technologies and yet face significant supply chain risks due to their concentrated global production and limited domestic availability. Addressing this challenge requires efficient processes capable of upgrading low-grade secondary resources such as mine tailings. In this study, we developed a novel separation flowsheet that integrates sequential leaching and 2-stage solvent extraction (SX) processes to recover high-purity heavy REEs (HREEs) and light REEs (LREEs) from a simulated mine-tailing concentrate containing 2.4 wt% total REEs (TREEs; 0.6 wt% LREEs and 1.8 wt% HREEs). Sequential leaching with controlled pH adjustment selectively precipitated REEs while retaining the large amount of impurities in the solution, producing an REE-enriched leachate by following leaching processes with roughly twice the REE concentration and half the impurity concentration compared to that of single-step leaching. The optimized SX flowsheet employed Cyanex 572 to extract HREEs and Fe over LREEs, followed by Fe removal using tributyl phosphate (TBP), while the raffinate stream was processed by SX with di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) to recover LREEs under optimized conditions balancing both extraction efficiency and purity. Although increased extractant availability in the organic phase improved LREE recovery, it also increased co-extraction of Ca, underscoring trade-offs in process optimization. Both HREE- and LREE-rich solutions were subsequently precipitated into solid products via oxalate precipitation, resulting in high-purity REE solids containing ∼92.0 wt% HREEs (∼95.7 wt% TREEs) and ∼92.8 wt% LREEs (∼94.0 wt% TREEs). In conclusion, this proof-of-concept study using simulated mine tailings demonstrates a promising approach for upgrading low-grade REE resources, while highlighting the need for future validation with real materials.

Mine tailings↗
DOE OSTI2024

Nanoconfined Interfaces for Highly Selective Separation of Critical Rare Earth Elements

Industrial demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has surged over the past three decades due to their unique properties that support sustainable energy and new technologies. Separating individual REEs is challenging and hazardous, typically done through liquid-liquid extraction. There is an urgent need for environmentally friendly and efficient separation technologies for REEs. Porous materials offer promising advances for sustainable REE separation via ion-selective capture. We hypothesize that REE separation can be efficiently achieved in reactive nanopores, such as Zr(IV) and Cr(III) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), through surface functionalization. By integrating material synthesis, interfacial chemistry experiments, theory, computation, and machine learning, we gained insights into the chemical factors controlling REE speciation and their competitive adsorption on MOFs. Our findings show that these materials’ selectivity can be tuned by surface functionalization. The machine learning component addressed ion-specific diffusion based on MOF topology and chemistry.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

CMPO-Functionalized Silica Sorbents for pH-Tunable Separation and Enrichment of Rare-Earth Elements from Environmental Matrices

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are crucial in many applications, yet mutual separation is challenging due to their similar chemical behavior. Octylphenyl- N,N-diisobutyl carbamoyl methyl phosphine oxide (CMPO) is an organophosphorus ligand originally developed for extracting actinides and lanthanides from spent nuclear fuel. Here, we report a pH-tunable CMPOfunctionalized silica sorbent for selective REE separation from complex aqueous matrices. A CMPO-associated silica gel sorbent was synthesized and characterized by Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface area, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to confirm the surface functionalization and binding behavior. Sorbent performance was evaluated by using a synthetic 46- element solution and a real phosphate rock fertilizer leachate. Notably, REEs were successfully eluted with ultrapure water, demonstrating reversible desorption controlled by pH adjustment. Packed-bed column studies increased the REE mass fraction from 3.6% to 64% (20-fold enrichment), with up to 30-fold enrichment of neodymium. The adsorption process follows the Langmuir isotherm behavior and follows pseudo-second-order kinetics. The uptake capacity of 1 μmol of REEs per 4.2 μmol of CMPO supports the formation of a predominantly 4:1 ligand:rare earth element(III) pseudocomplex. These results demonstrate CMPO-functionalized silica as a selective, water-elutable, and low-chemical-input platform for sustainable REE recovery from environmental and industrial sources.

chelating ligands↗
DOE OSTI2024

Design and Optimization of Processes for Recovering Rare Earth Elements from End-of-Life Hard Disk Drives

In this poster, we first provide motivation for why rare earth elements as rare earth permanent magnets (REPM) are increasing in demand. We then highlight some of the recent work that has been done by several national labs (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Critical Minerals Institute (CMI)) on recycling rare earth elements from end-of-life hard disk drives (EOL). Then, we mention our long-term plan to design a feedstock agnostic process to recover rare earth elements as rare earth oxides from many different EOL products at once. Next, we discuss how we quantified the rare earth elements available for recycling from EOL hard disk drives from consumer desktops and laptops. We then discuss how we used superstructure optimization to design the optimal pathway. The proposed superstructure was modeled as a MILP optimization problem, selecting the net present value as the objective function. Costing data from the literature was used to inform this model whenever possible. However, due to the novelty of this research area, data were often unavailable, thus requiring the generation of flowsheets implemented in Aspen Plus.

Laliwala, Chris↗
DOE OSTI2020

Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Bioleachates by Precipitation

Rare earth elements are essential components in electronic devices, however because of the limited imports and mining capabilities in the US, recycling these rare earths is crucial. Common practices used to recover REEs including hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy are harmful to the environment. Bioleaching, a form of biohydrometallurgy, is an emerging process that uses organic acids synthesized by microorganisms and can leach REEs at comparable efficiencies to less environmentally conscious processes. Once the REEs are leached by the bio-lixiviant produced by microorganisms, the REEs are suspended in the solution and need to precipitate out in order to be harvested for reuse. Common chemicals used for rare earth precipitation in hydrometallurgy processes include sodium sulfate and oxalic acid. These two reagents were tested at varying stoichiometric excess concentrations in bio-leachate derived from smart phone speaker magnets and bio-lixiviant. Following the precipitation reactions, it was observed that the oxalic acid reaction precipitated an abundance of iron (II) oxalate, an REE contaminate. This is most likely due to the bio-leachate having a higher pH compared to the hydrometallurgical leachates. Therefore, it was determined that sodium sulfate is a better candidate for REE precipitation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Investigation of Rare Earth Elements Mobility Using Molecular Dynamics

Rare Earth Elements (REE) are critical many applications such as electronics, permanent magnets, agricultural etc. Effective separation of REEs is a challenge due to their similarities in chemical and physical properties. Current separation processes are costly and environmentally detrimental. Therefore, research on REEs mobility in water-based solvents is necessary to design effective separation processes. In this research, the key kinetic and thermodynamic parameters, including diffusion coefficient and hydration shell are determined under the influence of external electric field. The diffusion coefficient of metal ions increases due to electric field in pure water.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Investigation of Rare Earth Elements Mobility Using Molecular Dynamics

Rare Earth Elements (REE) are critical many applications such as electronics, permanent magnets, agricultural etc. Effective separation of REEs is a challenge due to their similarities in chemical and physical properties. Current separation processes are costly and environmentally detrimental. Therefore, research on REEs mobility in water-based solvents is necessary to design effective separation processes. In this research, the key kinetic and thermodynamic parameters, including diffusion coefficient and hydration shell are determined under the influence of external electric field. The diffusion coefficient of metal ions increases due to electric field in pure water.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Thermodynamic Model for Nd(III)–Sulfate Interaction at High Ionic Strengths and Elevated Temperatures: Applications to Rare Earth Element Extraction

Neodymium (Nd), a rare earth element (REE), is critical to numerous industries. Neodymium can be extracted from ore concentrates, waste materials, or recycled materials such as recycled Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. In a standard process, concentrated sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) is used as an extraction/leaching agent. Therefore, knowledge of Nd(III)–sulfate interaction at high ionic strengths is important for optimization of the extraction process. In addition, sulfate is also a major species in natural surface waters and present in nuclear waste streams. Nd(III) has been used a chemical analog to trivalent actinides in nuclear waste research and development. Consequently, knowledge of Nd(III)-sulfate interactions is also impactful to the field of nuclear waste management. Here, in this study, we have developed a thermodynamic model that can describe the interaction of Nd(III) with sulfate to ionic strengths up to ~ 16.5 mol·kg –1 and to temperatures up to 100 °C. The model adopts the Pitzer formulation to describe activity coefficients of aqueous species. This model can be used to design and optimize a chemical process for REE recovery from ore concentrates, recycled materials, and acid mine drainage (AMD) and to understand the mobility of REEs and actinides in the environment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗