DOE will build nation's first large-scale facility to turn fossil fuel waste into rare material

[Nevilledog]

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CNN
@CNN
The vast majority of critical minerals and rare earth elements that help power electric vehicles and wind turbines come from mining operations overseas. But a new initiative is looking for ways to extract them from fossil fuel waste.

cnn.com
DOE will build nation's first large-scale facility to turn fossil fuel waste into rare materials...
A initiative spearheaded by the Department of Energy is looking for ways to extract rare earth elements from fossil fuel waste.
1:30 PM · Feb 14, 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/energy-coal-waste-recycling-batteries-climate/index.html

(CNN)The vast majority of critical minerals and rare earth elements that help power electric vehicles and wind turbines come from mining operations overseas. But a new initiative spearheaded by the US Department of Energy is looking for ways to extract them from fossil fuel waste.

The Energy Department plans to build the nation's first large facility to extract critical minerals like nickel and cobalt from waste like coal ash. Those metals could then be used in components for renewable-energy batteries, cell phones and electric vehicles, among other technologies.

On Monday, the department is releasing a request for information from industry, developers and research institutions on how to build and operate the new facility, shared first with CNN.

"Since we get fossil fuels from the earth, there's a lot of other components other than just the carbons," Jennifer Wilcox, the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, told CNN. "There's critical minerals like cobalt and nickel, and there's also rare earth elements."

*snip*

[Budi]

1. This is the most brilliantly advanced process. Impressive!

"There's critical minerals like cobalt and nickel, and there's also rare earth elements."

This lessens the exploitation of mining in countries with little regulations.

Well done!

[crickets]

2. Neat. K&R for visibility.