image of person in a research laboratory: Syed Islam co-invented a process to recover rare earth elements from scrap magnets. Under a new licensing agreement, Islam and colleague Ramesh Bhave will apply their technology to mined ores. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL: Owner of U.S. heavy rare earth mine licenses ORNL separation technology

Caldera Holding, the owner and developer of Missouri’s Pea Ridge iron mine, has entered a nonexclusive research and development licensing agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to apply a membrane solvent extraction technique, or MSX, developed by ORNL researchers to mined ores. MSX provides a scalable, efficient way to separate rare earth elements, or REEs, from mixed mineral ores.

The MSX technology was pioneered at ORNL by researchers in the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Innovation Hub, or CMI, led by Ames National Laboratory. The inventors, Ramesh Bhave and Syed Islam of ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division are named in 26 inventions and five active licenses related to the recovery of REEs. Link to infographic on REEs and their uses HERE. 

image of person in a research laboratory: Syed Islam co-invented a process to recover rare earth elements from scrap magnets. Under a new licensing agreement, Islam and colleague Ramesh Bhave will apply their technology to mined ores. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Syed Islam co-invented a process to recover rare earth elements from scrap magnets. Under a new licensing agreement, Islam and colleague Ramesh Bhave will apply their technology to mined ores. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy 

Link to the full story: Owner of U.S. heavy rare earth mine licenses ORNL separation technology

Published In: Critical Materials Innovation Hub, Building a Circular Economy, CMI Project 3.2.6 Highly selective separation and recovery of rare earth elements for clean energy