Grant: Alliance Grants

The rare earth elements (or REEs), encompassing the lanthanides, as well as scandium and yttrium, are vital to modern technology, finding applications in catalysis, electronic devices, luminescent displays, ceramics, coatings, and metallurgy. They are also essential to the generation, storage, and use of alternative energy, where neodymium magnets are of key importance (43% of REE market). The demand for REEs is expected to increase sharply over the next decade, driven by the increasing use of sustainably-generated electrical energy, leading to an expected increase of the world market from 7 billion dollars currently to 15 billion dollars by 2030. The production and refinement of REEs is dominated by China (70% of world production), which also has the largest mineral reserves. Although Canada has one of the largest mapped REE resources, the exploitation of these strategic minerals is in an incipient phase. This is due in part to the substantial technological difficulties and intrinsic environmental burden associated with the extraction and refinement of these elements, which have similar chemical properties that hinder their separation.To address these challenges, the University of Calgary team comprised of scientists and engineers, and Calgary start-up Summit Nanotech are collaborating to develop a breakthrough technology for the economic development of a domestic REE supply chain, and to train personnel with expertise in REE chemistry and engineering. Using the team's extensive experience in technology development and commercialization, the proposal focuses on the development of new molecular sorbents with high, electrochemically controlled REE selectivity. The sorbent design will be assisted with machine learning and the resulting materials will be afixed to solid supports and incorporated in electrochemical devices. The project aims to deliver a pre-commercial prototype technology that would allow Summit Nanotech to continue their exceptional growth, expanding their portfolio to REE extraction technologies, and completely change the current economics of domestic rare earth element deposits.