TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Biosorption-based method for Sc separation from REEs and non-REEs

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop its biosorption-based method for Sc separation from REEs and non-REEs.

Background:

Scandium (Sc) is a high value transition metal that has many industrial applications.  While not rare in the earth's crust, Sc-rich minerals are not often found in economically viable concentrations (rarely exceeding a couple hundred ppm), which makes Sc expensive to extract, thus limiting its commercial application.  Currently, there are no known economically viable, large-scale primary Sc deposits in the US or Europe.  Instead, Sc is produced from wastes that are generated during rare earth, aluminum, titanium, nickel, zinc, tungsten, and uranium refining or in secondary wastes from coal mining and combustion where Sc concentration levels are in the parts per million.  For example, coal/coal combustion byproducts (CCP) contain an average Sc concentration of 36-70 ppm along with up to 1000 ppm rare earth elements (REEs).  Since Sc is trivalent in nature and behave like some sought-after REEs, there are challenges to extracting valuable Sc from industrial waste streams that are effectively valueless.  The forms of waste are usually aqueous and contain Sc plus mixed REEs (lanthanides, Y) as well non-REEs (e.g. Fe, Al, Ca, Mg, Na).  There is a great need for a technological change in economics for Sc extraction; perhaps it could be facilitated by the development of novel methods that can efficiently separate Sc from the chemically similar lanthanides and the abundant non-REEs in an environmentally friendly manner.

Description:

The novel technology developed at LLNL is a new, effective means of separating and concentrating Sc from lanthanides and non-REEs in unconventional, waste-derived feedstocks, thereby transforming an essentially valueless solution into valuable Sc concentrates.  The results represent an important advance in the development of an environmentally sustainable alternative to organic solvent-based critical metal recovery approaches. LLNL researchers have developed a biosorption-based approach for the selective recovery of Sc from residue leachates of prepared low-grade industrial feedstocks, including coal/coal byproducts and bauxite residues. Specifically, they developed a cell encapsulation approach whereby Arthrobacter nicotianae (A. nicotianae) bacteria are embedded within a polymer matrix (e.g., Si-sol gel or PEGDA hydrogel) and the resulting microbe particles are loaded into packed-bed columns.  A. nicotianae was used due to its exemplary selectivity for Sc relative to REEs and non-REEs at low pH.  After this biosorption step which selectively recovers Sc, subsequent REE separation from non-REEs can then be implemented downstream.

Advantages/Benefits: 

• Cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solid liquid extraction (SLE) approach to Sc and REE recovery from dilute solutions.
• One-step separation of Sc from physiochemically similar REEs
• Downstream separation of REEs from non-REEs in subsequent extraction step (already covered in previous ROIs).
• Extraordinarily effective extraction. This is due to microorganisms’ synthesis and display of high-density surface-accessible functional groups (e.g., carboxylates and phosphates) during growth, facilitating high-capacity Sc adsorption [19].
• Bio-adsorbed Sc and REEs can be readily recovered using water-soluble environmentally sound organic acids such as citrate or by lowering the pH.
• Biomass can be reused, independent of cell viability.
• Promising results even with complex sample matrices such as leachates from NdFeB hard disk drive magnets, mine tailings, and coal byproducts.

Potential Applications: 

Sc extraction from aqueous waste streams ranging from mine tailings to coal byproducts.

Development Status: 

Current stage of technology development:  TRL 2

LLNL has patent(s) on this invention.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2021/0332392 COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF FOR SCANDIUM SEPARATION FROM RARE EARTH CONTAINING MATERIAL published 10/28/2021

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. 

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note:  THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT.  Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's biosorption-based method for Sc separation from REEs and non-REEs should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.
2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.
3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's biosorption-based method for Sc separation from REEs and non-REEs.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA  94551-0808

Attention:   IL-13551