News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

DOE Funds Rare Earth Research in KY, WV

iStockPhoto

The U.S. Department of Energy has decided to continue to fund research that investigates recovery of rare earth elements from coal and coal byproducts.

Rare earth elements have numerous economic and defense applications. They’re used in devices like cell phones, and in medical equipment. Conventional recovery methods are difficult, expensive and generate a lot of contaminated waste.

The majority of these elements are currently mined in China.

The Department of Energy is putting almost 17 and a half million dollars into rare earths research projects.

A lot of that money is going into Appalachia. $2.7 million will go to West Virginia University, which is exploring acid mine drainage solids as a possible source for rare earth solids. $6 million will go the University of Kentucky. Researchers there are exploring coal washing byproducts for rare earth elements.

A Massachusetts-based company called Physical Sciences Inc., is also getting $6 million to process fly ash for rare earths. Fly ash is what’s left after you burn coal.

Glynis Board drills deep for her ReSource stories on energy and the environment. She hails from the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and is based in Wheeling. Glynis is a West Virginia University graduate who has honed her video and audio storytelling skills at West Virginia Public Broadcasting since 2004. Her work has won the Edward R. Murrow Award and “outstanding reporter” honors from the AP.
Related Content