SBIR Phase I: Rare Earth Element Extraction from End-of-Life Fluorescent Light Bulb Powder

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enable new technologies, such as additive manufacturing and electronics, that require special natural materials known as Rare Earth Elements (REE). Current REE extraction methods produce large quantities of toxic materials requiring mitigation. The proposed solution advances an extraction method that is environmentally friendly and generates no toxic byproducts, can be used with broad material sources (including recycled goods), uses less energy, and is readily scalable to deliver at a significantly lower cost. This SBIR Phase I project proposes a reactor system that incorporates precision ultra-high temperature heating to evaporate targeted material constituents and subsequently condense to separate REEs. The approach optimizes thermal energy to efficiently achieve tailorable temperatures for the extraction and separation of REEs from a broad range of source material, including recycled Fluorescent Light Bulb (FLB) powder that contains significant concentrations of Yttrium, Europium and Terbium. This project will engineer a fully integrated prototype system that ingests waste FLB powder, extracts the REE constituents via precision heating, and then separates them in high purity via controlled evaporation and condensation. Research tasks include development of a reliable calibration procedure that simultaneously sets reactor current, voltage, and temperature for optimal evaporation. The end goal is to demonstrate commercial viability that yields an alternative REE extraction and separation approach that is economically and environmentally superior to existing chemical-based processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.