CMI Project 3.1.2 Biological separation of energy-critical rare earth elements

News & Highlights

Fractional REE composition of monazite leachate and AMD feedstock before and after extraction with a middle REE- selective LanM variant. The predicted value of each solution, presented as dollars/kmol, was determined using the REE oxide values from our working TEA.

Leveraging LanM process model to quantify economic impact on REE selectivity

$Separation of equimolar Tb-Dy feed loaded to 3 mM tREE with (top) isocratic 10 mM HCl (pH 2.0) and (bottom) proprietary effluent. (right) Yield-purity curve showing the enhanced performance of the new separation scheme relative to HCl. The 95% purity Dy fraction can be upgraded to 99.5% purity in a second cycle.$ Research Highlight

First demonstration of adjacent lanthanide separation by lanmodulin

Research Highlight

Leveraging the LanM process model to quantify economic impact of REE selectivity

Research Highlight

Established a computational pipeline for predicting REE selectivity of lanmodulin variants

Research Highlight

New lanmodulin variant enables single-stage Gd vs Dy separation

The goal of this project is to develop an economical and environmentally sustainable protein-based process for rare earth element (REE) separation from electronic waste (E-waste). Researchers will target separations that range from relatively “easy” (i.e., neodymium (Nd) v. dysprosium (Dy)) to highly challenging (i.e., Dy v. terbium (Tb), and Nd v. praseodumium (Pr)) using size-reduced lanmodulin proteins. By combining the acid-free leaching process with the all-aqueous protein-based REE separation process, researchers anticipate the development of an end-to-end process with significantly lower chemical consumption and environmental impact relative to conventional hydrometallurgical processes.