Critical Materials Innovation Hub News

ORNL receives four 2020 FLC technology transfer awards

CMI-funded research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used membrane solvent extraction to create a cost-efficient recycling of rare earth elements. This earned a US patent, was licensed to Momentum Technologies and won a national FLC award for technology transfer.

Ramesh Bhave, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

American Manganese announces purity from recycling test results on EV battery materials for DOE CMI project

American Manganese announces up to 99.72% purity from recycling test results on electric vehicle battery materials for U.S. Department of Energy Critical Materials Institute project

INL: Sustainable e-recycling process economically competitive with current practices

As they discard their cellphones, Americans are throwing away nearly $200 million in unrecovered gold every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The problem until now has been a lack of affordable or environmentally friendly recycling options. An alternative, less toxic process developed at Idaho National Laboratory may offer a way to affordably recover precious metals from electronic devices, according to a recently published analysis.

Rare-earths experts at CMI debut a unique new research capability

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute have a new and more accurate tool—a start-to-finish, controlled atmosphere materials processing system.

Controlled Atmospheric Materials Processing System

STEM Magazine From Trash to Treasure: Electronic waste is mined for rare earth elements

STEM Magazine for educators features CMI research in "From Trash to Treasure: Electronic waste is mined for rare earth elements"

Image of Ramesh Bhave, in research laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORNL develops sorbent to recover lithium from geothermal brines

ORNL News story on CMI-funded research in diversifying supply

diagram of pulling lithium and other elements from geothermal brine

INL: Peculiar fluids offer clean alternative to traditional rare earth separation

CMI research based at Idaho National Laboratory investigates unique materials that don’t behave like normal solids, liquids or gases and could displace toxic chemicals used in metal production processes.

Donna Baek in laboratory at Idaho National Laboratory

CMI bacteria capture rare earths from electronic waste

CMI researchers created gel beads with special bacteria that can absorb critical materials from electronic waste. This is a next step from earlier research where CMI researchers developed bacteria that can select rare earth elements.

Kemetco Research begins testing cathode material for CMI project

American Manganese announced that its independent contract lab, Kemetco Research, has begun testing cathode material from disassembled electric vehicle battery packs supplied by a Critical Materials Institute (CMI) Team Member.

ORNL: From trash to treasure: electronic waste is mined for rare earth elements

Rare earth elements are the “secret sauce” of numerous advanced materials for energy, transportation, defense and communications applications. Their largest use for clean energy is in permanent magnets, which retain magnetic properties even in the absence of an inducing field or current.