Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process

Jin, Hongyue; Park, Dan M.; Gupta, Mayank; Brewer, Aaron William; Ho, Lewis; Singer, Suzanne L.; Bourcier, William L.; Woods, Sam; Reed, David W.; Lammers, Laura Nielsen; Sutherland, John W.; Jiao, Yongqin

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147

Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process

Journal Article · Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147· OSTI ID:1398787

Jin, Hongyue ^[1]; Park, Dan M. ^[2]; Gupta, Mayank ^[1]; Brewer, Aaron William ^[3]; Ho, Lewis ^[4]; Singer, Suzanne L. ^[2]; Bourcier, William L. ^[2]; Woods, Sam ^[5]; Reed, David W. ^[6]; Lammers, Laura Nielsen ^[7]; ^[1]; ^[2]

Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
BioReactor Sciences, Lawrenceville, GA (United States)
Navajo Transitional Energy Co., Farmington, NM (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

The current uncertainty in the global supply of rare earth elements (REEs) necessitates the development of novel extraction technologies that utilize a variety of REE source materials. Herein, we examined the techno-economic performance of integrating a biosorption approach into a large-scale process for producing salable total rare earth oxides (TREOs) from various feedstocks. An airlift bioractor is proposed to carry out a biosorption process mediated by bioengineered rare earth-adsorbing bacterium. Techno-econmic asssements were compared for three distinctive categories of REE feedstocks that require different pre-processing steps. Key parameters identified that affect profitability include REE concentration, composition of the feedstock, and costs on feedstock pretreatment and waste management. Among the 11 specific feedstocks investigated, coal ash from the Appalachian Basin was projected to be the most profitable, largely due to its high-value REE content. Its cost breakdown includes leaching (80.7%), biosorption (16.0%), and oxalic acid precipitation and TREO roasting (3.3%). Surprisingly, biosorption from the high-grade Bull Hill REE ore is less profitable due to the high material cost and low production revenue. Altogether, our results confirmed that the economic potential of applying biosorption to low-grade feedstocks is viable.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 1398787

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1479346

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU--17-42902

Journal Information:: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Journal Name: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 5; ISSN 2168-0485

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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