DE-FOA-0002555, DOE Topic 8a, "Low-Cost Environment-Friendly Critical Materials Recovery from Produced Water"

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed Among the objectives of the government program, is to support the development of low-cost, low-energy, and environment-friendly technologies to recover critical minerals and materials including rare earth metals from oil-field produced water. Currently the United States is heavily dependent on foreign market for rare earth. Additionaly, disposal methods of produced water are known for issues related to energy, expense, earthquakes, climate, health, and toxicology. The proposed project aims at reducing the cost of rare earth recovery and lowering the cost of produced water treatment. How this problem is being addressed / Overall approach of the project The goal of the proposed project is to show feasibility of a low-cost and environment friendly critical materials recovery process. The proposed novel sorption technology uses metal organic framework at atmospheric conditions to recover critical materials from produced water. With the proposed, the cost of rare earth production is reduced by sixty percent compared to the current market price. This novel development includes material-synthesis-and-characterization, demonstration of the sorption technology, development of a full-scale design, Techno-Economic Assessment and Life-Cycle Analysis of the full-scale process. What is to be done in Phase I During Phase I, the Proposer will design the process for critical materials recovery for 330,000 gallon of produced water per day. The Subcontractor’s current sorbent materials will be improved and optimized to increase percentage rare earth recovered and cover a wider range of materials for selective recovery. Analysis and lab-scale fabrication and testing will be used to achieve this goal. Lab-scale test data will be used to optimize the process design and demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the innovation. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits By using the Proposer’s low-cost and environment-friendly critical materials recovery, the process serves the United States’ $20 Billion critical mineral and materials market. Through commercialization of the proposed technology, cost of rare earth elements is reduced by hundred times and a domestic source of rare earth reduces dependency on the volatile external markets.