An innovative method for recovering rare earth elements (REEs) from mine waste promises to address pressing environmental challenges while meeting the growing demand for materials critical to the electronics industry. Researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) have unveiled a process that extracts lanthanum, a high-demand REE, from contaminated mine tailings. The method utilizes industrial adsorbents to purify water and recover materials essential for producing smartphones, medical devices, and other electronics.
The global market for REEs, valued at $6.2 billion in 2024, is expected to expand to $16.1 billion by 2034, underscoring the importance of solutions like this. The TMU team’s approach leverages microscopic adsorbents that perform ion exchange, efficiently separating lanthanum from polluted water sources. This dual-purpose technology not only mitigates environmental harm but also contributes to a circular economy by reusing waste materials.
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