Multidisciplinary research towards a secure and environmentally sustainable supply of critical rare earth elements (Nd and HREE)

The rare earth elements (REE) are widely used in modern technologies varying from wind turbines to hard disk drives, low energy lighting to electric cars. They are recognised as critical raw materials by the European Commission and other authorities, because of security of supply concerns. Recent work has highlighted neodymium (Nd) and the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) as being most at risk of supply disruption in the near future.

In this collaborative project funded by NERC and EPSRC under the Security of Supply of Mineral Resources (SoS Minerals) science programme, researchers from the University of Brighton are working on formation of ion adsorption deposits. The project aims to understand the mobility and concentration of Nd and HREE in natural systems, and to investigate new processes that will lower the environmental impact of REE extraction and recovery.

The research team includes 17 investigators from six UK universities and research institutes, with ten industry partners and eight core international research collaborators.