Strategic Materials and Recovery Technologies

Through funding received to date, University of Kentucky researchers have established the Strategic Materials and Recovery Technologies (SMaRT) Center to enhance the reputation of the University as a center of excellence in critical materials. The center will utilize an administrative structure that will support faculty members and research professionals across the UK campus in the submission of research proposals and meeting report requirements.

The research focus of the center will include the development of technologies that advance the processing of critical materials from the initial resource to purified metal production. The initial funding for the center will be utilized to gain a competitive advantage for national center funding from organizations such as the National Science Foundation. Ultimately, it is the goal of the proposed center to be broadly recognized as a center of excellence in critical materials through the development of innovative technologies, educational contributions, research funding, intellectual property products, and peer-reviewed journal publications.

Our vision is to enhance and expedite the impact of research ongoing at the University of Kentucky, so The Strategic Materials and Recovery Technologies (SMaRT) Center may be established as a regional and national center of excellence for the recovery of critical and strategic materials in a sustainable and socially responsible manner. The vision of this center is to close the loop of the circular economy by providing a cross-disciplinary center of technical excellence focused on A) recovery B) processing C) purification and D) extraction of essential energy supporting materials.

It is anticipated that this center will transcend the silos of conventional disciplines such as mining chemical engineering, manufacturing, logistics, and economics. Broadly defined, the purpose of this center will be focused on providing modern society with key materials via “resource” engineering from primary and secondary sources. The objective of this center will be 3-fold, A) develop technologies to overcome critical gaps to enhance the stability and sustainability of critical energy-dependent materials supply B) engage strategic partners to commercialize and scale technologies into the marketing place, and C) disseminate knowledge and skills through training, education and workforce development in the nascent field of “resource recovery” engineering.

Analytical Instrumentation

Alliance Coal Analytical Laboratory: Ash analysis furnace, total sulfur analyzer, calorimeter, particle size analyzer, dynamic and static viscometers, fume hood, microscopes, load cell for compressive strength analysis of small specimens; environmental chambers for atmospheric control of experiments; thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA), digital scanning calorimeter.

Surface Chemistry Analytical Laboratory: Goniometer for contact angle measurements, zeta potential analyzer, surface tensiometer (Du Noüy ring), Shimadzu 1280 UV-Vis spectrophotometer for surfactant concentration measurements; turbidity meter.

Analytical chemistry: inductively coupled plasma-optical electron spectroscopy (ICP-OES)

Mineral Processing

Crushing, Grinding and Sample Preparation: Hardgrove grindability tester, hammer mill, Holmes 10 x 15 hammer-mill crusher, 5-inch by 6-inch jaw crusher, Chipmunk jaw crusher, roll crusher, riffle, ball mill, pro-splitter table and vibratory feeder, Gilson testing screens, Ro-tap sieve shakers, suitable sieves, sieve cleaner, gyratory screen separator, Draiswerke pulverizing system, Holmes pulverizer, variety of scales and balances, Buehler polishing table, Retsch SM 200 Cutting Mill, Amerishred AMS 300HD Dual Head Hard Drive Shredder; barrel handling equipment. Dust-generating equipment is appropriately enclosed and vented; equipment used on potentially explosive materials is shielded and sealed to guard against electrical spark.

Drying Room: Controlled ovens that conform with ASTM standards for air drying solids.

Dust-generating equipment is appropriately enclosed and vented; equipment used on potentially explosive materials is shielded and sealed to guard against electrical spark.

Unit Processing Laboratory (wet): Deister table, Mozley table, Cimbria Heid dry air table separator, 18 x 24 commercial jig, 4 x 6 jig, Carpco portable laboratory cyclone unit, Krebs and Weir dense medium cyclone system instrumented with data acquisition and computer control, Krebs and Multotec classifying cyclones, Multotec concentrating spiral, fluidized-bed separator, Franz isodynamic separator, Eriez Drum magnetic separator, Eriez High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separator, Davis Tube magnetic separator, high tension electrostatic separator, batch and continuous flotation cells (Denver, Wemco,

Hazen-Quinn), flotation columns, float/sink equipment, batch pressure filters, wet-vac wet sieve tester, air-jet sieve, slurry splitter, centrifuge, batch vacuum filter, high pressure plate filters, continuous laboratory thickener, process control instrumentation, variety of mixers, sumps and pumps.

Extractive Metallurgy

Leaching/Solvent Extraction Laboratory: Batch and continuous counter-current leaching systems, column leaching systems, batch and continuous counter-current solvent extraction systems, stirred autoclaves and pressure leaching vessels, gas fueled rotary kilns; 3D printer for rapid prototyping, potentiostat for electrochemical experimental techniques.

Metal Making

Electrowinning cell

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy (CAER) investigates energy technologies to improve the environment. Researchers contribute to technically-sound policies related to fossil and renewable energy.

The Kentucky Geological Survey is a state supported research center and public resource within the University of Kentucky. The Center conducts research and provides unbiased information about geologic resources, environmental issues, and natural hazards affecting Kentucky.

The Electron Microscopy Center (EMC) is a multi-user shared equipment center that serves the entire university community and industries locally and nationwide.

The University of Kentucky's Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering is an open access research facility serving academic and industrial users in fields as diverse as engineering, the physical and life sciences, the arts, medicine, pharmacy, and agriculture. 

Pilot-Scale Processing Plant aims at recovering rare earth elements from coal and its byproducts in Eastern Kentucky.