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.”
As demand for critical minerals surges, the US is at a supply-chain disadvantage for them. The US currently imports more than 80% of its rare earth elements from offshore suppliers. Much of its critical mineral supply needed to power batteries is also shipped from overseas.
To read the full story, visit https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/energy-coal-waste-recycling-batteries-climate/index.html.
Author: Ella Nilsen, CNN
Image: CNN