Scale-Up and Commercialization of Rare Earth Separation from Mining Wastes Using Chromatography

Research and demonstration of chromatographic processing of rare earth elements (REE) source materials during Phase I & II activities provided the foundation for the processing of domestically sourced, recycled RE magnets and the extraction of high-quality REO materials vital for domestic magnet manufacturing. The knowledge gained during Phase I & II will be used to design a 24-inch diameter, commercial scale module to process spent magnets that contain significantly higher concentration of valuable magnetic REE than mined ores. Planned activities include operating the module for at least 5 months. Additional refinement and troubleshooting of the scaled chromatography process will be completed before continuous operation. Although Phase I & II operations were successful, much more can be done to optimize the process for the higher REE content and for it to be more efficient and cost-effective. This project will validate the process and provide the foundational information necessary to scale the process to large-scale production. We will also be able to prove the technical and economic advantage of using chromatography for the extension of extracting critical materials, thereby opening opportunities for the use of this technology for other vital metals like gallium, battery materials, cobalt etc. The overarching goal of this project is the successful scale-up of the technology to at minimum TRL 7 by processing magnet waste at commercial scale. Also, a specific goal of having the system repeatedly and efficiently produce upwards of 10kg a day of high-quality REOs with market-defined specification for purity at >90% system efficiency is targeted. This requires not only the design, fabrication and commissioning of a commercial-scale system module, but also significant effort to determine and optimize operational parameters and procedures. To achieve these targets, a back-and-forth flow of technical/operational information will need to occur between Tusaar and commercial customers that can further process the product. The proposed project focusses not only on REE salt production, but also on the commercialization of the domestic rare earth supply chain. The ability to produce economically viable mixed high-quality REO product at commercial scale is vital to the need to move away from dependence upon China for these critical materials.