As part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced nearly $10 million for two projects aimed at lowering costs and reducing the environmental impact of producing rare earth elements and other critical minerals from coal, coal wastes, and by-products. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects are intended to meet growing domestic demand for critical minerals while reducing reliance on foreign supply chains. These minerals are essential components in clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells.
"President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign supply chains by reimagining the use of coal waste and by-products as a domestic source of the critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. "The investments announced today will not only increase our national security and ensure a cleaner environment but will also help deliver high-quality jobs throughout the country."
Currently, over 80% of rare earth elements used in the United States are imported. However, these elements naturally occur within domestic coal reserves, waste coal, and coal ash. DOE aims to harness these resources to build a sustainable domestic supply chain that supports economic growth, clean energy deployment, and national security.
The two selected projects will focus on advanced laboratory and bench-scale testing to improve separation and refining technologies for rare earth elements and critical minerals:
- The California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, California) plans to integrate both traditional and innovative separation methods to obtain highly pure individual rare earth elements while generating critical minerals.
- The University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah) intends to produce high-purity rare earth oxides, salts, metals, and other critical materials from low-grade coal by-products using innovative mineral and chemical separation technologies.
These projects will be managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM). Each project team was required to submit Community Benefits Plans demonstrating engagement with local communities and commitments to job creation, diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and benefits to disadvantaged communities as part of the Justice40 Initiative.
Since January 2021, FECM has committed an estimated $151 million towards projects supporting exploration, production, processing of critical minerals across traditional mining and fossil fuel-producing communities. This includes $17.5 million from initial funding rounds under this opportunity and $33.4 million in additional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for engineering studies focusing on domestic rare earth production facilities using unconventional feedstock materials.
FECM works to minimize environmental impacts from fossil fuels while aiming for net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy through various technology initiatives including carbon capture and conversion, methane emissions reduction, hydrogen production with carbon management, among others.
For more information on these initiatives or to stay updated with FECM announcements visit their website or sign up for news updates.
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