Startup Turns Mining Waste Into Critical Metals For The U.S.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
At the heart of the energy transition is a metal transition. Wind farms, solar panels, and electric cars require many times more copper, zinc, and nickel than their gas-powered alternatives. They also require more exotic metals with unique properties, known as rare earth elements, which are essential for the magnets that go into things like wind turbines and EV motors.
Today, China dominates the processing of rare earth elements, refining around 60 percent of those materials for the world. With demand for such materials forecasted to skyrocket, the Biden administration has said the situation poses national and economic security threats.
Substantial quantities of rare earth metals are sitting unused in the United States and many other parts of the world today. The catch is they're mixed with vast quantities of toxic mining waste.
Phoenix Tailings is scaling up a process for harvesting materials, including rare earth metals and nickel, from mining waste. The company uses water and recyclable solvents to collect oxidized metal, then puts the metal into a heated molten salt mixture and applies electricity.
[...] The company expects to produce more than 3,000 tons of the metals by 2026, which would have represented about 7 percent of total U.S. production last year.
Now, with support from the Department of Energy, Phoenix Tailings is expanding the list of metals it can produce and accelerating plans to build a second production facility.
[...] The key for all of this isn't just the chemistry, but how everything is linked together, because with rare earths, you have to hit really high purities compared to a conventionally produced metal," Villalon explains. As a result, you have to be thinking about the purity of your material the entire way through."
Villalon says the process is economical compared to conventional production methods, produces no toxic byproducts, and is completely carbon free when renewable energy sources are used for electricity.
The Woburn facility is currently producing several rare earth elements for customers, including neodymium and dysprosium, which are important in magnets.Customers are using the materials for things likewind turbines, electric cars, and defense applications.
[...] We want to take our knowledge from processing the rare earth metals and slowly move it into other segments," Villalon explains. We simply have to refine some of these materials here. There's no way we can't. So, what does that look like from a regulatory perspective? How do we create approaches that are economical and environmentally compliant not just now, but 30 years from now?"
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