WYONICS LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 20d

Description

The rare earth elements are commodities of great value that are necessary for many applications of modern technology, including national security (e-g-, missile defense), consumer products (e-g-, smartphones), and renewable energy (e-g-, wind turbines)- It would not be an overstatement to suggest that the United States economy and national security are now dependent on a stable supply of rare earth elements- Nevertheless, despite an increasing demand, rare earth metals are not currently being mined in the United States, due in part to the cost and negative environmental impacts of mining operations- As such, rare earths are imported almost exclusively by China, who controls an estimated 85-97% of the rare earth market, allowing not only the ability to set the price, but also to limit or restrict access to this precious commodity- Alternative rare earth sources are being investigated to alleviate the cost and environmental impact associated with mining in order to establish a reliable source of rare earths in the United States- Coal and coal by-products such as fly ash are known to contain rare earths, with an estimated 6 million MTs of rare earths in the western state coal basins- Proposed herein is a method for extracting rare earths directly from coal or coal by-products using inexpensive, nonvolatile ionic liquids designed for the direct dissolution of coal at low temperatures (<100 °C)- Once solubilized, the coal will be passed through a series of rare earth-specific biosorbents, and recovered utilizing electrodeposition-