RARE EARTH SALTS: A BREAKTHROUGH SEPARATION TECHNOLOGY FOR RARE EARTHS

摘要

Rare Earth Salts is a technology company that is changing the way rare earths are separated. The company is based in Beatrice, Nebraska and commissioned its first commercial separations units in June 2017 and have run them consistently since. The technology was developed by Dr. Joseph Brewer after having developed a proprietary solar cell using rare earths. The completion of that work came with the dramatic price increases of 2010-2011. With concerns over reliable supply of rare earths out of China investors told Dr. Brewer that the technology was not fundable unless there was a domestic supply of rare earths. As a result, Dr. Brewer reviewed 70 years of mineral processing and developed a novel electrochemical rare earth separation process in a near neutral pH environment.