I-Corps: Biological solutions for recovery of rare earth elements

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种产生稀土元素(REE)的细菌生物过程。稀土元素是消费电子和电动汽车等技术中使用的关键金属，对这些金属的需求继续以每年8%-10%的速度增长。全球每年产生5000多万吨电子垃圾(电子垃圾)。回收电子垃圾中的稀土元素将减少垃圾足迹、地下水和土壤污染以及电子产品成本，从而影响全球数十亿人。与目前的湿法冶金工艺相比，拟议的技术有可能将稀土氧化物生产的碳足迹减少25%-70%，防止估计为148亿美元的环境破坏。此外，开发国内稀土再利用和回收技术可能提供一条独立于外国进口的道路，并提供一个独特的机会来生成稀土修复和回收管道，从低品位废流(医疗废物、废水、飞灰)中去除重金属污染物，并将稀土重新供应给电子制造商。这个i-Corps项目基于开发一个微生物平台，用于从废物来源中一步生物浸出、分离和生物积累稀土元素。它与提纯工艺相结合，提供低成本、可持续的制造级稀土氧化物(REO)。拟议的工艺使用微生物产生稀土结合配体，这些配体对稀土具有高度专一性，从而消除了标准湿法和火法生产方案中涉及的苛刻酸、高温和压力以及溶剂提取步骤的需要。这一细菌过程建立在发现特定细菌能够选择性地溶解、运输和生物积累复杂来源的稀土的基础上。利用基因和代谢工程，开发了一种细菌平台，该平台具有增强的稀土生物浸出和生物积累能力，并具有很高的特异性。拟议的技术目前有能力从电子废物中回收g/L级别的稀土。如果成功，这可以用来利用废物原料生产REO，减少生产的环境负担。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 I-Corps project is the development of a bacterial bioprocess to generate rare earth elements (REEs). Rare earth elements are critical metals used in technologies such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles, and demand for these metals continues to increase annually by 8-10%. More than 50 million tons of electronic waste (E-waste) are generated globally each year. Recycling REEs from E-waste would impact billions of people worldwide by reducing the waste footprint, groundwater and soil contamination, and electronics costs. The proposed technology has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of rare earth oxide production by 25–70% compared to current hydrometallurgical processes, preventing environmental damage estimated at $14.8 billion. In addition, developing technologies for domestic REE reuse and recycling may provide a path towards independence from foreign importation and offers a unique opportunity to generate an REE remediation and recycling pipeline, removing heavy metal contaminants from low-grade waste streams (medical waste, wastewater, fly ash) and resupplying the REEs to electronics manufacturers.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a microbial platform for one-step bioleaching, separation, and bioaccumulation of rare earth elements (REEs) from waste sources. It is combined with a purification process to provide low-cost, sustainable, manufacturing-grade rare earth oxides (REOs). The proposed process uses microbes that produce rare earth binding ligands that are highly specific for REEs, removing the need for harsh acids, high temperatures and pressures, and solvent extraction steps involved in canonical hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical production schemes. This bacterial process is built on the discovery that specific bacteria are able to selectively solubilize, transport, and bioaccumulate REEs from complex sources. Using genetic and metabolic engineering, a bacterial platform has been developed that exhibits enhanced bioleaching and bioaccumulation of REEs with high specificity. The proposed technology currently has the capacity to recover REEs at the g/L scale from electronic waste. If successful, this could be used to produce REOs using waste feedstocks, reducing the environmental burden of production.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.