Penn State’s Center for Critical Minerals will receive $2.1 million in federal funding to design, build, and test a modular pilot-scale research and development unit intended to recover vital rare earth elements and other critical minerals from Pennsylvania streams and other environmental sources.
These minerals are prevalent in essential components of everyday life, including batteries, cellphones, automobiles, appliances, and electronic devices. Critical minerals also play a central role in defense and homeland security applications, making them vital to national security and domestic economic growth.
The pilot system will help extract these much sought-after resources, provide environmental benefits, and show the viability of a full-scale plant to help Pennsylvania become a leader in this burgeoning industry and advance the development of an independent energy future.
“Abandoned mine drainage is one of Pennsylvania’s largest sources of stream impairment,” said Sarma Pisupati, professor of energy and mineral engineering and director of the Center for Critical Minerals. “This funding to build a pilot-scale facility at Penn State to demonstrate the feasibility of extracting rare earth and other critical minerals from acid mine drainage will generate vital information and data for robust techno-economic analysis and scaling up to a full-scale plant.”