Strategic Materials and Recovery Technologies

It’s only natural: SMaRT Center to investigate separation and purification of rare-earth elements by microorganisms

It’s only natural: SMaRT Center to investigate separation and purification of rare-earth elements by microorganisms

Rare Earth Oxide Concentrate by Alireza Valian
Rare Earth Oxide Concentrate by Alireza Valian

 

Using naturally occurring and engineered proteins and bacteria, the University of Kentucky in a team with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other academic and industrial partners will separate and purify rare-earth elements so they can be used in the defense sector. Rick Honaker--Mining Engineering professor and SMaRC Center director--will integrate the technology into one of the nation's few rare-earth producing demonstration plants owned and operated by the University of Kentucky.

Under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource (EMBER) program, the team was awarded an initial $4 million in funding R&D in Phase 1 with an option for up to an additional $9 million based on program performance in follow-on phases. The team will leverage advances in microbial and biomolecular engineering to develop a scalable bio-based separation and purification strategy for rare-earth elements (REEs) using under-developed domestic sources.

In addition to exploiting previously identified microbes and proteins that have been tested and used to purify and separate REEs, the team will conduct a bioprospecting campaign to identify new REE-associated microorganisms that exhibit REE-utilization capacity. Results will expand the repertoire of REE-biomining hosts and REE-binding biomolecules.

Other team members include Penn State, Columbia University, Tufts University, Purdue University, and industry partner Western Rare Earths.