Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process
Abstract
© 2017 American Chemical Society. 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 bioreactor is proposed to carry out a biosorption process mediated by bioengineered rare earth-adsorbing bacteria. Techno-economic assessments were compared for three distinctive categories of REE feedstocks requiring different pre-processing steps. Key parameters identified that affect profitability include REE concentration, composition of the feedstock, and costs of 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 pre-processing (leaching primarily, 77.1%), biosorption (19.4%), and oxalic acid precipitation and TREO roasting (3.5%). Surprisingly, biosorption from the high-grade Bull Hill REE ore is less profitable due to high material cost and low production revenue. Overall, our results confirmed that the application of biosorption to low-grade feedstocks for REE recovery is economically viable.
- Authors:
-
[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)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1398787
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1479346
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-17-42902
Journal ID: ISSN 2168-0485
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517; AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 2168-0485
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; biosorption; rare earth elements; recycling; techno-economic
Citation Formats
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., and Jiao, Yongqin. Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147.
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. Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147
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., and Jiao, Yongqin. Mon .
"Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1398787.
@article{osti_1398787,
title = {Techno-economic Assessment for Integrating Biosorption into Rare Earth Recovery Process},
author = {Jin, Hongyue and Park, Dan M. and Gupta, Mayank and Brewer, Aaron William and Ho, Lewis and Singer, Suzanne L. and Bourcier, William L. and Woods, Sam and Reed, David W. and Lammers, Laura Nielsen and Sutherland, John W. and Jiao, Yongqin},
abstractNote = {© 2017 American Chemical Society. 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 bioreactor is proposed to carry out a biosorption process mediated by bioengineered rare earth-adsorbing bacteria. Techno-economic assessments were compared for three distinctive categories of REE feedstocks requiring different pre-processing steps. Key parameters identified that affect profitability include REE concentration, composition of the feedstock, and costs of 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 pre-processing (leaching primarily, 77.1%), biosorption (19.4%), and oxalic acid precipitation and TREO roasting (3.5%). Surprisingly, biosorption from the high-grade Bull Hill REE ore is less profitable due to high material cost and low production revenue. Overall, our results confirmed that the application of biosorption to low-grade feedstocks for REE recovery is economically viable.},
doi = {10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02147},
journal = {ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering},
number = 11,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
A strategy for the dissolution and separation of rare earth oxides by novel Brønsted acidic deep eutectic solvents
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