Rare earth elements (REEs) have many critical uses in components used in advanced technology (e.g., electric vehicles, industrial magnets) and the lack of a reliable domestic supply has been identified by the US DOE as a vulnerability to US economic security. We are working on developing an economical industrial process for extracting REEs from coal fly ash (the waste product left over after coal is burned for electricity generation) by coupling a hydrothermal extraction process with the engineering of a ligand-associated media for concentrating REEs from the extraction liquid. Traditional REE extraction requires large amounts of acids and organic solvents. Our process may provide an organic solvent-free and environmentally friendly method of extracting and recovering REEs. In addition, the residual material left after REE extraction will have most of the problematic toxic materials removed, which will allow the “beneficiation” of large amounts of fly ash to be used as building materials with less risk of metal leaching. We will discuss the process of collecting and characterizing fly ash and wastewater sludge feedstock from coal-fired power plants near Detroit, MI by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Ash samples were then subjected to high pH hydrothermal conditions from 100-350 °C to produce a REE enriched leachate. Sorption media from commercially available sources and synthetic varieties have been successfully loaded to a commercially available organosilica media. Column experiments have been conducted to evaluate the optimal ligand/media ratio for repeat use cycling and this process is a promising application of green chemistry for extracting valuable materials from a waste product. We will focus on the connection between environmental chemistry and industrial applications by discussing cost-benefits, availability of feedstocks, and the political influences around the industry of recovering REEs from coal fly ash and powerplant wastewater feedstocks.

Rare earth element recovery from coal fly ash: Hydrothermal extraction and ligand-associated media sorption

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.