Electrolyte System for Forming Rare Earth Elements

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Electrolyte System for Forming Rare Earth Elements

For metal industry members who are dissatisfied with the energy usage and cost of current electrodepositing solutions. This technology is a new process for forming rare earth elements that uses less energy by operating at lower temperatures than current processes.

Opportunity:   Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize the Electrolyte System for Forming Rare Earth Elements.

Overview:        This technology is a method of forming rare earth elements, such as lanthanide elements, using an electrolytic process. Current technologies use electrolytes that operate at much higher temperatures. The electrolytes used with this process can be done with comparatively less energy input by operating at lower temperatures. The melts can also easily be liquified and recycled for making bromides.

Description:    This technology is a process for forming rare earth elements using a molten salt electrolyte. The rare earth element is prepared from a bromide melt, such as a molten bromide salt electrolyte. A bromide of the rare earth element is converted to the rare earth element. The molten salt electrolyte may be used as an electrolyte and may be used to electrodeposit the rare earth element or a rare earth element alloy. The bromide melt may also be used in electroplating or electrorefining processes. Additionally, the bromide melt may be used for cathodic polarization of metal oxides to remove oxygen and prepare a porous metal. The rare earth element may be formed at a lower temperature than with conventional processes.

Benefits:          Benefits include:  

• The possibility of using these melts in an efficient manner, without affecting the overall process efficiency, cost and product quality
• Uses comparatively less energy input
• Easily liquified and recycled

Applications:   Applications and Industries include:

• Metal Industries (both primary and secondary)
• Electrodepositing Rare Earth Elements
• Electroplating
• Electrorefining of oxidize products

Development Status:  Experiments have been performed with reproducible results on a laboratory-scale operation.

IP Status:        US Patent Application No. 62/887,436, “Methods of Forming a Metal Alloy, Methods of Forming Rare Earth Elements, and Methods of Recovering a Metal from a Waste Material,” BEA Docket No. BA-1053

INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Kala Majeti at td@inl.gov or 248-877-8866.