Critical Materials Innovation Hub News

Phys.org: New, environmentally friendly method to extract and separate rare earth elements

CMI researchers at Penn State and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory identified a new method to improve extraction and separation of rare earth elements from unconventional sources. The method could eventually be scaled up to help develop a domestic supply of rare earth metals from industrial waste and electronics due to be recycled.

The new method relies on a protein called lanmodulin (LanM) that first binds to all the rare earth elements in the source. Then other metals are drained and removed. Even when a sample has very low amounts of the rare earth elements, this new procedure successfully extracts and separates heavy rare earth elements with high purity.

Penn State News: New, environmentally friendly method to extract and separate rare earth elements

A new method improves the extraction and separation of rare earth elements from unconventional sources, including industrial waste, such as the mine tailings pictured here, and electronic waste.

Mining News North reports on solving the critical cobalt conundrum

The Mining News North story "Solving the critical cobalt conundrum" describes the CMI project with First Cobalt and Colorado School of Mines, "Physio-chemical Beneficiation of Cobalt-bearing Iron Creek Ores"

Two CMI technologies named R&D100 Award finalists

The finalists were announced by R&D Magazine and are presented annually to the top 100 scientific innovations as selected by an independent panel.

3D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions, conserve rare materials

CMI researchers from Ames Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory collaborated in research that was conducted at ORNL to demonstrate that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials.

University of Pittsburgh: Designing a more sustainable electric vehicle

CMI technology developed by researchers at Ames Laboratory with CMI Team member Powdermet has received additional funding to further the technology in a project between Powdermet and the University of Pittsburgh.

ORNL licenses rare earth magnet recycling process to Momentum Technologies

CMI researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a process that can help recover magnets from used computer hard drives, which was licensed to Momentum Technologies

CMI researchers at ORNL developed a process that can help recover magnets from used computer hard drives.

ORNL: Magnets—coming around again

CMI researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated how rare earth magnets can be removed from used computer hard drives and repurposed in an axial gap motor

CMI researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated how rare earth permanent magnets can be harvested from used computer disk drives and repurposed in an axial gap motor.

ORNL: Automated disassembly line aims to make battery recycling safer, faster

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a robotic disassembly system for used electric vehicle batteries to make the process safer, more efficient and less costly.

ORNL: Process to recover metals from batteries licensed by Momentum Technologies

CMI technology for membrane solvent extraction (MSX), developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is licensed by Momentum Technology

CMI project lead Ramesh Bhave at Oak Ridge National Laboratory