Research > Funded Research Projects > Rare earth elements recovery

Rare earth elements recovery

Rare earth elements recovery from coal fly ash and integrated chemical looping reactor carbide chlorination process.

Project Summary

This project is a collaboration between Mormair and the Materials Processing Institute. It targets the recovery of rare earth elements (REE) Neodymium, Praseodymium, and Scandium from coal-fly-ash, a secondary derived waste from the UK’s previous century’s coal fired power stations.

Neodymium, Praseodymium, and Scandium have been identified by the UK government as materials which are strategically important to the UK economy. This project aims to develop a small-scale proof-of-concept to demonstrate that the vertical integration of chemical looping reactors and carbo chlorination reactors enables the recovery of Neodymium, Praseodymium, and Scandium from pre-existing and environmentally polluting secondary-derived-waste in an environmentally sustainable way.

The project will result in the vertical integration of two technologies: Mormair’s Chemical Looping Reactor and TCM Research’s Carbo Chlorination Reactor. The project is supported by several international organisations (TCM Research, Resonant Nuteq (Pty) Ltd, Universal Fans (Pty) Ltd, Cula Technologies GmbH, and PSI - Paul Sherrer Institute. Mormair’s chemical looping reactor (powdered from biofuels) does not just power the carbo-chlorination process, the captured carbon is used within the carbo-chlorination process.

This project seeks to enhance the UK's REE supply chain resilience by overcoming energy challenges in REE recovery from secondary derived waste. The project will innovatively address high-temperature processes. By integrating chemical looping reactors into electric arc furnaces and processes such as carbo chlorination reactors, the project aims to unlock the economic potential of this technology while helping to secure the UK’s supply of critical-raw-materials and increasing the UK’s manufacturing capability.

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