Purification pipeline

Modern technologies along with the future of renewable energy require rare earth elements (REEs). As global demand grows, the need for cleaner, more resilient supply chains has become urgent. Unfortunately, current REE extraction, refinement, and separation rely on chemically intensive processes that require large quantities of high-grade input material and generate substantial toxic waste. These environmental and economic constraints have contributed to the United States outsourcing most REE purification to China, creating strategic and supply-chain vulnerabilities. The recent discovery of microorganisms that naturally utilize rare earth elements has revealed a promising biological alternative. Building on this foundation, we aim to harness and enhance biological systems to transform REE biomining. Our group has assembled one of the world’s largest collections of REE-binding proteins and evolved microbial strains capable of interacting with REEs across diverse environments. In this project, we will evaluate and optimize a suite of REE-binding proteins that have recently been shown to separate adjacent rare earth element with high purity. Concurrently, we will refine and engineer microbial strains that can leach, solubilize, and beneficiate REEs from a wide range of complex, low-grade, or unconventional feedstocks. Together, these efforts could revolutionize REE mining by establish a scalable, environmentally sustainable bioprocess.