Researchers Recover Rare Earths from E-Waste to Make Car Batteries

For extracting rare earths from e-waste to make car batteries, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) under the US Department of Energy, in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL), have designed a new process based on a natural protein, that could extract and purify rare earth elements (REE) from low-grade sources. It could offer a new avenue toward a more diversified and sustainable REE sector for the US.

The bacterial protein called lanmodulin can extract and purify rare earth elements in complex metal mixtures at one step, including e-waste and coal by-products.

Rare earth elements are essential for the US to gain competitiveness in the clean energy industry, because rare earths are commonly used in many high-tech and national security equipment, including computer components, high-power magnets, wind turbines, mobile phones, solar panels, superconductors, hybrids power/car batteries, LCD screen, night vision goggles, and adjustable microwave resonator.

Up to now, the chemical processes for extracting and purifying rare earth elements are complex and harmful to the environment. Extracting or recovering rare earth elements from new sources such as e-waste and coal by-products, while using natural products such as lanmodulin, may bring great changes.

In 2018, the team of Professor Joseph Cotruvo of PSU isolated the bacterial protein lanmodulin and characterized it, showing that it is the only known macrochelator that can evolve naturally to isolate rare earth elements in a reversible manner. Classical macromolecular isolation elements such as iron or calcium cannot selectively isolate rare earth elements.

The LNL and PSU teams studied the chemistry of the lanmodulin solvent and its potential for industrial applications, such as for car batteries. Their research provides direct evidence that lanmodulin particularly likes to combine with lanthanide elements (belonging to rare earth metals), and has a low affinity for most non-rare earth elements.

In addition, unlike other chemical extraction methods, this protein can quantitatively and selectively extract rare earths from e-waste and coal before combustion in one step.

• < Prev
• Next >