Contract · Federal

Collaboration Opportunity: Efficient Adsorptive Recovery of HREEs and Critical Minerals from Coal Derivatives

Agency: ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF / ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF
Location: MORGANTOWN, WV
Amount: Amount not listed
Posted: Sep 14, 2026
Set-aside: None (open competition)
NAICS code: 541715 - Scientific Research and Development Services (general category) look up NAICS codes

Timeline

Posted

Sep 14, 2026
Status

Open now

What contracts like this typically pay

No award history yet for this category (NAICS 541715).

What this contract is for

Agency: ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF / ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF
Location: MORGANTOWN, WV
NAICS: 541715 - Scientific Research and Development Services (general category)
Scope: Federal

Opportunity: NETL is actively seeking collaboration to advance and commercialize an innovative adsorptive method for the highly efficient recovery of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) and other Critical Minerals (CMs) from coal and its derivatives.

This groundbreaking approach integrates physical enrichment for feedstock pre-concentration, significantly enhancing overall process efficacy.

Background: Traditional HREE/CM extraction from coal derivatives is often costly, energy-intensive, and chemical-laden.

Existing multi-step chemical extraction operations rely on vast amounts of expensive solvents and chemicals, resulting in low recovery and impure products due to inherently low REE concentrations.

The heterogeneity of coal byproducts also demands complex pre-treatment, preventing a universal solution.

Thus, there is an urgent need for cost-effective extraction technologies that significantly reduce chemical and energy consumption while offering feedstock flexibility.

Description: NETL researchers have developed a process for the cost-effective recovery of concentrated HREEs and other critical minerals (CMs), including Gallium, Germanium, Vanadium, Cobalt, and Nickel.

This method significantly reduces processing time to less than 5 minutes, demonstrates high selectivity for HREEs and CMs over fouling metals exceeding 1,000, and is proven effective with coal, coal refuse, and their derivatives.

The core process involves an adsorptive technology to recover HREEs and CMs from coal and coal-derived solutions, followed by the release of high-purity HREEs and CMs through a pH-swing regeneration operation.

Configured with multiple adsorption columns, the method can be continuously operated.

It also incorporates a physical separation step, flotation or sonication enhanced flotation, for...

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