Highlights
- MIT-founded startup Phoenix Tailings develops a groundbreaking process to extract rare earth metals from mining waste without toxic byproducts or carbon emissions.
- The company aims to produce over 3,000 tons of rare earth metals by 2026, representing 7% of total U.S. production, using an electrochemical extraction method.
- Phoenix Tailings currently produces neodymium, dysprosium, nickel, and magnesium.
- Applications of their products include wind turbines, electric cars, and defense technologies.
The green energy economy is powered by rare earth elements. These are the exotic materials needed in copious amounts to produce the magnets that help power everything from electric vehicle motors and wind turbines. And as Zach Winn writes for MIT News (opens in a new tab) actually abundant amounts of rare earth metals are sitting unused in the United States and many other parts of the world today. However, they are intermixed with enormous amounts of toxic mining waste. Enter Phoenix Tailings (opens in a new tab), now in the process of scaling up a process for a process they refer to as harvesting materials, including rare earth metals and nickel, from mining waste. The company co-founded by MIT alumni utilize water and recyclable solvents, a concoction that helps collect oxidized metal, then mixing such metal in a heated molten salt mixture to be zapped with electricity.
The company’s pilot production facility is based in Woburn, Massachusetts, and represents, according to MIT News, the only site in the world producing rare earth metals without toxic byproducts or carbon emissions.
Now, with support from the Department of Energy, Phoenix Tailings is expanding the list of metals it can produce and accelerating plans to build a second production facility. And importantly their source for eventual refined process is mining waste. Mining and processing mineral ores generate about 1.8 billion tons of waste in the U.S. each year.
Given the use of electricity which of course can have a carbon footprint, the company’s separation and refinement process attempts to offset this with renewable energy contracts.
Who are the founders?
For the founding team, including MIT graduates Tomás Villalón, PhD (opens in a new tab), and Michelle Chao (opens in a new tab) ’14 along with Nick Myers (opens in a new tab) and Anthony Balladon (opens in a new tab), the work has implications for geopolitics and the planet.
Have the company founders received support in the form of formal mentoring?
Yes. The founders also utilized MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service (opens in a new tab) (VMS) and went through the U.S. National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program (opens in a new tab). Professor Donald Sadoway (opens in a new tab) has been advising the venture as well.
How much product do they expect to produce?
Phoenix Tailings projects over 3,000 tons of rare earth metals by 2026, representing what they project to be 7% of total U.S. production then. Of course, this is a projection subject to any number of assumptions and actual unfolding dynamics, from changes in the forthcoming new Trump presidency to other unfolding market forces.
Tackling a global problem
Villalón got interested in chemistry and materials science after taking Course 3.091 (Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry) during his first year at MIT. In his senior year, he got a chance to work at Boston Metal (opens in a new tab), another MIT spinoff that uses an electrochemical process to decarbonize steelmaking at scale. The experience got Villalón, who majored in materials science and engineering, thinking about creating more sustainable metallurgical processes.
How did the early pilot process go?
First the founding group established a system design, then to test the hypothesis they acquired a quantity of mining waste (red sludge) and via a prototype reactor in Villalón’s backyard they produced a small amount of rare earth concentrate with pure iron.
What about financing?
To start the team bootstrapped with loans to start.
The company has also received two grants with the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program (opens in a new tab) totaling more than $2 million.
Specifically, the 2023 grant supports the development of a system to extract nickel and magnesium from mining waste via a way that uses carbonization and recycled carbon dioxide.
What facility is in place today?
The company operates the refinery in Woburn, MA. Phoenix Tailings puts mining waste rich in rare earth metals into its mixture and heats it to around 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit. When it applies an electric current to the mixture, pure metal collects on an electrode. The process leaves minimal waste behind as compared to the existing process.
From rare earths to nickel, magnesium, and more
An economical process when compared to conventional production methods, according to co-founder Villalón the process produces no toxic byproducts and is completely carbon free when renewable energy sources are used for electricity.
What metals are they producing?
As reported by MIT News, the Woburn facility is currently producing several rare earth elements for customers, including neodymium and dysprosium, which are important in magnets**.** Customers are using the materials for things like wind turbines, electric cars, and defense applications.
They are producing both nickel and magnesium as critical materials for clean energy applications like batteries.
The founders report to MIT News that their process is compatible with a wide array of ore types and waste materials.
What process improvements are the team working on?
The team is using the most recent government grant to adapt its process to produce iron from mining waste without emissions or toxic byproducts.
Daniel
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