This research aims to extract rare-earth elements from fly ash using hydrothermal extraction and coordination chemistry. Rare-earth elements comprise the lanthanide series in addition to scandium and yttrium. These elements have a wide variety of uses, some of which include performing as precatalysts for photoredox reactions, serving as <i>T</i><sub>1</sub>-enhancing contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, and being integrated into components in most cell-phone, computer, and electric-vehicle batteries. Recent studies have shown the presence of rare-earth elements in an abundant by-product of coal burning known as fly ash. After coal is burned to produce electricity, fly ash is the material removed from the combustion gases before exhausting through the smoke stack. Currently, there exists no economically plausible process to extract the rare-earth materials from fly ash. The main goal of this project is to synthesize ligands exhibiting both a hydrophobic moiety to interact with an organically modified silica column as well as multidentate carboxylic acid or phosphate groups to interact with the rare earth elements in solution extracts of fly ash to separate rare-earth elements from other metal ions in fly ash. By reusing the fly ash that would otherwise become waste in a landfill, this project is expected to be integral to increasing the nation’s domestic supply of rare-earth elements while simultaneously reducing the waste of energy-production facilities.

Lanthanide extraction from fly ash using coordination chemistry

2019 Fall National Meeting

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