- Rare Earth elements are metals that have become essential in manufacturing today’s new technologies. Education is needed to mine, process, reuse and recycle products essential for the prosperity of the United States economy. Wake Up America.
- Attachments : picture of rare earth oxides and periodic table.
- A prior review #1266 is about Rare Earths and what you should know about them. Rare Earth elements are 17 metals in the Periodic Table. Atomic Numbers 57 to 71. And, they are not “rare”. They are all around us in today’s technology. In smart phones, hybrid cars, power tools , wind turbines, wine bottles, and a long list of other products. And, they are not “rare” in the environment either. The dirt in your back yard contains these “rare earths”. What is rare is to find them in concentrations great enough to make mining them economical. There is only one mine in the U.S. and it was closed by California environmentalist in 2002. (Although a lot of research is in process to reopen these mines.)
- Even the rarest, “rare earth metal” , Thulium, is 200 times more abundant than gold. See Review #1266 for a summary on each of these metals.
- Dyprosium, Dy66, is one of the most critically needed materials on the planet today. It is used in every high-tech product and clean energy technology invented in the last 30 years.
- A National Presidential Priority needs to be set for the U.S. to invest in better understanding of how to extract these metals, how to use them more efficiently, how to reuse and recycle them, and how to find substitutes for them. The top priorities are needed for:
--------------------- dyprosium
--------------------- neodymium
--------------------- terbium
--------------------- europium
--------------------- yttrium
- Today China has 100 times more researchers working on this problem than we have in the U.S. While our government is funding Solyndra and Volt electric cars.
- Batteries, photovoltaic’s, and lighting need economical access to cerium, neodymium, and terbium. High performance magnets in wind turbines, disc drives, and hybrid cars need access to dysprosium.
- Other critical elements include lithium, helium, cobalt, rhenium.
- Research investment is needed to find substitutes in the use of these elements in their specific applications. Nanoscience can synthesize and control materials at the level of atoms and molecules and at few tens of nanometers. This science is needed to learn exactly how each of these elements works. In that way efficiencies and substitutes can be invented.
- Another area of research is in using microorganisms in the mining of low concentrations of these metals. See Review #1374 - Microbes Dominate Life on Earth to learn more.
- Research is also needed on how to “lifecycle process” these elements. How to reuse and recycle them efficiently and in environmentally acceptable ways.
- Today all cell phones get thrown away yet each phone contains 40 different parts with rare earth elements. A Toyota Prius contains 30 pounds of rare earth material. Policies should have incentives and education aimed at manufacturers and retailers to always accept returns of their products for reprocessing. Then, the products should be designed for easy removal and recovery of critical parts by consumers.
- The main goal should be to be more efficient and resilient in handling shortages of rare materials. Who knows what new technology may rely on the next material in the future. And, then it could change with new inventions. Having alternatives and effective reuse and recycling programs is essential to our prosperity in the future. ( I actually started such a program at Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1971, the Blue Stripe Exchange Program to recover yttrium)
- Politically I think government polices are best done not with mandates and enforcement laws, but, with education, communication, facilitation, and transparency. Businesses want to do the right thing, if not, their consumers can convince them to do the right thing. It all involves education. It is just that sometimes you need a 2 x 4 to get their attention. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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707-536-3272, Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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