Neodymium is a magnetic chemical element that is part of the rare earth group used in magnets.
getty
The U.S. government is offering companies $24 million to prototype and test projects that retrieve rare earth critical minerals from scrap materials to make into advanced magnets.
The grants are being offered in the first part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator” funding notice. Applications are due June 25.
Rare earth minerals for use in magnets have been identified as being of particular interest by the U.S. government in collaborative industry projects to develop technologies in high-impact areas.
The idea is to foster a domestic supply chain for critical minerals that promotes national security while uplifting American industry.
Rare earth elements are essential in modern technology.
getty
The DOE explains in the funding offer that the grants are to create “a pipeline to support technology maturation to ultimately unlock private capital investments.”
The agency is particularly interested in promoting private industry backing to prototype the recovery of the following critical minerals from secondary sources of scrap.
These magnet rare earth elements are:
High-strength magnets are made with neodymium and praseodymium. These can be found in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors.
Defense systems need magnets made with dysprosium and terbium to withstand high temperatures.
Other critical mineral projects sought in the initial grant offering include aluminum, cobalt, copper, electrical steel, gallium, germanium, nickel and silicon.
A semiconductor production process.
getty
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled in February an expansion project by MP Materials Corp. to create a rare earth magnet manufacturing campus in Northlake. The project with a $1.25 billion capital investment is expected to add some 1,500 new jobs.
The state is providing a $53.4 million grant to enable the company to produce neodymium-iron-boron magnets that are critical semiconductor manufacturing components.
“We are advancing key objectives under our public-private partnership with the Department of War and accelerating America’s rare earth and magnet independence with an uncompromising focus on speed, execution, and delivery,” noted James Litinsky, MP Materials founder, chairman and CEO in media release issued by the governor’s office.
North Carolina’s Johnston County was selected by Vulcan Elements to expand its neodymium iron boron rare earth magnet production capacity. Gov. Josh Stein announced the venture last year.
“Along with semiconductors and batteries, rare earth magnets are critical components for almost all technologies that use motors, sensors, generators, or actuators–from hard disk drives, robotics, and drones to satellites, submarines, and nearly every defense system,” noted the governor’s office.
The project is being backed by a U.S. Office of Strategic Capital joint $700 million conditional loan commitment with Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies to bolster the U.S. supply chain for domestic magnet production.
In a related venture, United Rare Earths last year licensed two technologies from the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The technologies will be used at a new spent magnet recycling and separation facility in Caryville, Tenn.
“These technologies support the creation of high-performance magnets engineered to use significantly less rare earth content,” according to ORNL.
Jeffrey Willis, United Rare Earths chairman, underscored the importance of critical minerals to national security.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。