A Biotechnology Application for Rare Earth Extraction from Geothermal Brines
- Key words
- mineral extraction, bioadsorption, biosorption, rare earth, rare earth elements, rare earth metals, REE, REEs
- Conference
- Stanford Geothermal Workshop
- Year
- 2017
- Session
- Emerging Technology
- Language
- English
- Paper number
- Jiao
Full text
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Abstract
Using our bioengineered rare earth-adsorbing bacteria, we have developed a novel biosorption system for the extraction of rare earth elements (REE) from low-grade sources such as geothermal brines. We have demonstrated the proof of concept for this process through competitive REE adsorption and desorption in batch mode, and now a continuous flow system relying on immobilized microbes on abiotic surfaces is currently under development at the laboratory scale. Synthetic geothermal brines spiked with REE have been tested to assess REE biosorption performance with promising results. Future work will include performance tests with minimally pretreated (temperature and pH) geothermal brine collected from Blue Mountain (NV), Salton Sea (CA), and other selected geothermal sites.
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