Back to Top
Skip to main content
NETL Logo
REE
NETL’s Mary Anne Alvin sees a brighter future ahead for the nation’s energy communities that have powered the nation for more than a century as the U.S.  undergoes a historic transformation to clean energy.
FOA Logo
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced the selection of six projects to receive a total of nearly $1 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) under funding opportunity announcement (FOA) 2404, Advanced Processing of Rare Earth Elements and Critical Minerals for Industrial and Manufacturing Applications.
polymer
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is partnering with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Duke University and the University of Arizona to develop a reactor that will selectively concentrate rare earth elements (REEs) in an environmentally benign way.
Lanthanides
In partnership with NETL, researchers at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Rutgers, Arizona State University, OLI Systems and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are developing new sensing methods of detecting rare earth elements (REEs) contained within America’s fossil energy resources using luminescent detection.
Rare Earths
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has awarded nearly $18 million to advance eight projects to extract Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and other Critical Minerals (CMs) from materials such as coal waste materials and support revitalization in regions across the country that face economic adversity due to declines in coal and power plants communities.
LIBS
In partnership with NETL, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are building a new prototype sensor for rapid in-field detection and characterization of rare earth elements (REEs) in fossil fuel-based resources and waste materials. REEs are vital in the construction of medical equipment, energy components, defense technologies, modern electronics and a host of other consumer goods. In many cases, these REEs cannot be substituted with other minerals, and other countries control most of the world’s REE supplies.
FOA Logo
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today awarded $19 million for 13 projects in traditionally fossil fuel-producing communities across the country to support production of rare earth elements and critical minerals vital to the manufacturing of batteries, magnets, and other components important to the clean energy economy. Facing persistent shortages in domestic supply, the U.S. has been forced to rely on imported materials, leaving clean energy technology production at greater risk of disruption.
NETL and the U.S. Geological Survey have signed a memorandum of agreement to work together on rare earth elements research.
NETL and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to share geologic samples containing rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals (CM). The arrangement will bolster REE and CM research for both organizations and help ensure vital components of clean energy technology will continue to be manufactured well into the future as the nation works to secure independence from offshore REE reliance.
Pilot scale
A NETL-supported project by Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) has demonstrated its capabilities to produce rare earth element (REE) concentrates using available coal ash resources from Appalachia, providing a potential domestic source of these critical minerals and a means of local environmental remediation.
Kentucky
A NETL-supported project at the University of Kentucky (UK) successfully conducted pilot-scale testing in their facility that was designed to extract mixed rare earth elements from coal and coal by-products using advanced extraction technologies, achieving production of mixed rare earth oxide (MREO) concentrates of up to 98% purity and exceeding original project goals.