Opportunities / ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF

Collaboration Opportunity: Efficient Adsorptive Recovery of HREEs and Critical Minerals from Coal Derivatives

🔔 Get notices like this every morning · no UEI needed

Description (excerpt)

Opportunity: NETL is actively seeking collaboration to advance and commercialize an innovative adsorptive method for the highly efficient recovery of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) and other Critical Minerals (CMs) from coal and its derivatives. This groundbreaking approach integrates physical enrichment for feedstock pre-concentration, significantly enhancing overall process efficacy. Background: Traditional HREE/CM extraction from coal derivatives is often costly, energy-intensive, and chemical-laden. Existing multi-step chemical extraction operations rely on vast amounts of expensive solvents and chemicals, resulting in low recovery and impure products due to inherently low REE concentrations. The heterogeneity of coal byproducts also demands complex pre-treatment, preventing a universal solution. Thus, there is an urgent need for cost-effective extraction technologies that significantly reduce chemical and energy consumption while offering feedstock flexibility. Description: NETL researchers have developed a process for the cost-effective recovery of concentrated HREEs and other critical minerals (CMs), including Gallium, Germanium, Vanadium, Cobalt, and Nickel. This method significantly reduces processing time to less than 5 minutes, demonstrates high selectivity for HREEs and CMs over fouling metals exceeding 1,000, and is proven effective with coal, coal refuse, and their derivatives. The core process involves an adsorptive technology to recover HREEs and CMs from coal and coal-derived solutions, followed by the release of high-purity HREEs and CMs through a pH-swing regeneration operation. Configured with multiple adsorption columns, the method can be continuously operated. It also incorporates a physical separation step, flotation or sonication enhanced flotation, for pre-concentrating REEs within the feedstock. This unique NETL method successfully recovers HREEs and CMs from feedstocks even at parts-per-million concentrations. By offering unparalleled low-maintenance requirements, affordability, and scalability compared to existing alternatives, it establishes a new standard for HREE/CM recovery technology. Advantages/Benefits: Improved cost efficiency. Minimal pressure drop. High capacity and selectivity for HREEs Short sorption contact times. Regenerable and robust performance tested in cyclability studies. Potential Applications: Coal refuse/waste streams Mine tailing/waste streams Acid mine drainage Industrial demineralization Development  …

View the official notice on SAM.gov →