The Case Western Reserve University story "Scientists developing climate-friendly method to process ‘rare earth’ minerals; could make U.S. less reliant on foreign metals" features CMI project lead Rohan Akolkar.
Case Western Reserve University research aligns with Biden Administration order to increase domestic sources for metals—especially for clean-energy uses.
A Case Western Reserve scientist is working on a more sustainable way to chemically transform so-called “rare earth” minerals into metals for renewable energy applications.
If successful, the new process could one day help increase American production of the metals, which are now primarily imported from China. Rare earth metals are crucial for making not only wind turbines and electric cars, but also items like smartphones, computer screens and telescopic lenses.
With $1.7 million in support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Critical Materials Institute, Rohan Akolkar, the Milton and Tamar Maltz Professor of Energy Innovation, is developing a high-temperature electrochemical process to convert these minerals into highly sought-after metals for clean-energy applications.
Akolkar and his team are working on processing a mineral called neodymium, in particular. Neodymium is also expensive, priced at more than $60,000 per metric ton.
“Because neodymium is important in clean-energy applications, electronic devices and electric cars, it is in great demand,” said Akolkar, who is also the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Advance Energy Research at the Case School of Engineering. “We believe that our unique approach to converting domestic neodymium ores into metal will be cheaper, cleaner and far more sustainable than any existing technique.”
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