University of Texas
From the ash that results from burning the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet, rare elements emerge, like phoenixes, that could be worth up to 8 billion euros and be used to produce clean energy.
According to recent research led by the University of Texas at Austin, coal ash from power plants power plants in the United States may contain up to 11 million tons of rare metals.
The material value of these resources can reach 8.4 billion dollars (about 8 billion euros), which is equivalent to almost 8 times the US national reserve.
These materials are called rare earths — a set of metallic elements, with names such as scandium, neodymium and yttrium, that exist in the Earth’s core. They play a fundamental role in clean technologyincluding electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.
Contrary to what their name suggests, these metals are not rare in nature—they are difficult to extract and separate from the ore that surrounds themso demand is outstripping supply.
“Basically, we are trying to close the cycle and use waste and recover resources from waste”, explains the researcher. Bridget Scanlon.
The author of the study also explains that, with the demand for materials of this type due to the energy transition, “There has been a movement to look for unconventional sources of rare earthsshe said, “and one of those sources is coal and coal byproducts.”
“There are huge volumes of coal ash across the country [mais propriamente, cerca de 70 milhões de toneladas]. And the initial extraction process… has already been taken care of”, he explained Davin Bagdonco-author of the study.
The coal ash of the Appalachian Basin contain the largest quantities of rare earth elementsbut only 30% can be extracted, explains CNN.
Coal ash from the Powder River Basin, which runs through Wyoming and Montana, has the lowest average concentration of elements, but more than 70% can be extracted.
In April, Joe Biden’s American administration announced a grant of 17.5 million dollars (around 17 thousand euros) in rare earth extraction projects of coal and its residues.
The researcher further explains that the transformation of coal ash into valuable products will not cause the production of even more coal: “We will use most of the old waste“, guarantor Scalon.
“There is no indication that future reliance on coal ash as a feedstock for critical materials will encourage the production of energy from coal,” says a spokesperson for the US Department of Energy.
