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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是实现新技术，如增材制造和电子产品，这些技术需要称为稀土元素（REE）的特殊天然材料。目前的稀土提取方法产生大量的有毒物质，需要缓解。所提出的解决方案推进了一种提取方法，该方法是环境友好的并且不产生有毒副产物，可以与广泛的材料来源（包括回收商品）一起使用，使用更少的能量，并且易于扩展以显著更低的成本提供。 SBIR第一阶段项目提出了一种反应器系统，该系统采用精密超高温加热来蒸发目标材料成分，随后冷凝以分离稀土元素。 该方法优化了热能，有效地实现了从广泛的源材料中提取和分离稀土元素的可定制温度，包括含有大量钇，铕和铽的回收荧光灯泡（FLB）粉末。该项目将设计一个完全集成的原型系统，该系统摄取废弃的FLB粉末，通过精确加热提取稀土成分，然后通过控制蒸发和冷凝将其分离为高纯度。 研究任务包括开发一种可靠的校准程序，同时设置反应堆电流，电压和温度，以实现最佳蒸发。 最终目标是证明商业可行性，产生一种替代的稀土提取和分离方法，在经济和环境上上级现有的化学工艺。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.