CMI scientists at Idaho National Laboratory and Purdue University contributed to this research.
Achievement:
The paper “Applying Design of Experiments to Evaluate Market Opportunity for Bioleaching Rare-Earth Elements from Waste Materials” has been accepted for the CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference, May 2020.
Significance and Impact:
This is one of the first efforts to integrate Design of Experiment (DOE) methods and Techno-economic Assessment (TEA). The study reveals the tremendous potential for DOE to analyze the efficacy of value recovery processes and enhance performance.
Next Steps:
- We have applied the approach to a bioleaching process for REE recovery.
- A DOE framework for evaluating annual profit is proposed.
