The rare earth elements (Ln, Y, and Sc) are critical materials, required for many advanced technologies including electric vehicles, wind turbines, smart phones, and national defense. Though the demand for rare earths continues to increase, the U.S. does not currently mine rare earth ore or have a sustainable method to generate a domestic supply. This is due primarily to the environmental impacts of mining and processing of rare earth-containing materials, which require many successive treatments and strong acids. Coal and coal by-products in the western coal basins are estimated to contain ~6 million tons of rare earths. Wyonics has developed a process for the extraction, isolation, and recovery of rare earth elements from Wyoming coal. Efficient, acid-free extraction of rare earth elements directly from Wyoming coal was demonstrated using nonvolatile task-specific ionic liquids. Wyonics’ process will be discussed along with potential applications for new compositions generated from the dissolution of coal in ionic liquids.

Ionic liquid processing of Wyoming coal for acid-free rare earth element extraction

2019 Fall National Meeting

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