There is an increasing demand for rare earth elements (REEs) in renewable energy, consumer products, and defense applications. Due to the uncertainty in the global REE supply chain, there is an urgent need for the development of new technologies that enable cost-effective recovery of REEs from alternative feedstocks. To address this need, we developed an innovative biotechnology that relies on bacterial native cell surface functional groups and incorporates enhanced bioengineered features to sequester and recover REEs. Bacterial strain were engineered to display lanthanide binding tags on the cell surface to enhance REE adsorption capacity and selectivity. To improve the scalability of using microbes for REE recovery, we have developed a column setup with immobilized microbes in polymers for a flow-through operation. Technology features and REE recovery performance from leachates of a few representative feedstocks will be described. Preliminary predictions on the economic viability of integrating a biosorption approach into an industrial-scale REE recovery process will be discussed. These results pave the way for a biomass-based, scalable, and environmentally sustainable REE recovery process.

Applying biosorption for rare earth element recovery from low-grade sources

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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