DOE Announces $6.9 Million for Research on Rare Earth Elements from Coal and Coal Byproducts
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy today announced it is investing $6.9 million in rare earth element (REE) research through two funding opportunities. DOE announced today that three projects have been selected to receive approximately $3 million for research aimed at producing salable rare earth elements (REEs) from domestic coal and coal by-products. In addition, DOE has announced the availability of an additional $3.95 million for projects in three new topic areas to accelerate separation and extraction processes for REEs.
REEs are a series of 17 chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust. Due to their unique chemical properties, REEs are essential components of technologies spanning a range of applications, including electronics, computer and communication systems, transportation, health care, and national defense.
The demand for REEs has grown significantly in recent years, stimulating an interest in economically feasible approaches for domestic REE recovery. Since 2014, DOE has engaged in research to determine the economic feasibility of producing REEs from domestic coal and coal by-products.
The new projects were selected under the Production of Salable Rare Earth Elements from Domestic U.S. Coal and Coal Byproducts funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Descriptions of the selected projects follow:
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