Researchers from West Virginia University and the National Energy Technology Laboratory are working on a project aimed at extracting rare earth elements from the acid mine drainage found at various coal mine sites in the United States.
Besides pioneering a new and less expensive method to recover the 17 elements, the scientists want to bolster domestic supply to reduce the current dependence on Chinese imports. Rare earth elements are used in cell phones, rechargeable batteries, DVDs, GPS equipment, medical equipment and various defense applications.
In their quest, the academics did a preliminary sampling and discovered that minerals such as candium, yttrium and neodymium become soluble in acidic environments, which means that they can concentrate near mine sites. With this information, they developed a potential feedstock for a refinery they wanted to build at the university and analyzed that initial product. They found that about 45 per cent of the rare earths in acid mine drainage are in the heavy categories, which are the more valuable categories.
Besides allowing them to “harvest” RRE, their initiative would also positive effects when it comes to cleaning up coal-polluted streams.
The researchers expect to start extracting rare earth elements from sludge, drainage sites, and groundwater, refining them and taking them to market in a couple of years once their pilot program is completed.
3 Comments
weedjams
Isotopes are different forms of the same element. Therefore, they have the same number of protons and
electrons, but they each have a different number of neutrons. For example, think of the three isotopes of
hydrogen: H-1 is “regular” hydrogen; H-2 is called deuterium and H-3 is known as tritium. They are all
types of hydrogen with only one proton in the nucleus and one electron in the electron cloud, but all three
have different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. In this lab, the “element” is called Candium. The three
types of candy you will use are M&Ms, Skittles, and Reese’s Pieces. You will call the three forms (isotopes)
of Candium “M&Mium,” “Skittlium,” and “Reesium.” Each isotope of an element has a mass with a natural
percent abundance. The atomic mass of the element listed on the periodic table represents the masses of
each isotope and their percent abundances. The relative abundance and mass of small atomic particles are
measured in the laboratory by an instrument called a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer
separates particles by mass and measures the mass and relative abundance of each. From these data a
weighted average is calculated to determine the atomic mass of the element. For every element, each
atom of a given isotope has the same mass; however, you know that each M&M does not have the same
mass just like each skittle does not have the same mass. Thus, in this lab you have to determine the
average mass of one atom of each isotope of Candium. The purpose of this lab is to use the Candium
model to explain the concept of atomic mass and to analyze the “isotopes of Candium” in order to
calculate its average atomic mass. – AP Chemistry- Candium Isotopes Lab; 1.D.2
weedjams
There are many abbreviations associated with the rare earth elements. Rare earth abbreviations include REE, RE, REM, REO, LREE and HREE. Here is a list of what the rare earth abbreviations mean.
RE = rare earth (any of the rare earth elements or any of the ores containing rare earth elements)
REE = rare earth elements – usually (LREE, HREE, Y, Sc, [Th, U])
REM = rare earth metals (synonym of rare earth)
REO = rare earth oxides
LREE = light rare earth elements ((La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm)
HREE = heavy rare earth elements (Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu plus Y) or less commonly (Eu-Lu)
Ric Wilson
Ucore Rare Metals has been picked to separate REE’s from the coal at 99 percent purity. They also own the largest deposit of Heavy REE’s possibly in the world in SE Alaska with deep water port set for production starting in 2020. Go to their site, by far the most advanced REE company in the USA and will supply the world.