Study could benefit the U.S. clean energy and electronics industries

Rare earth oxides of gadolinium, praseodymium, cerium, samarium, lanthanum and neodymium. Photo: USDA ARS

Researchers have found a possible new source of rare earth elements – phosphate rock waste – and an environmentally friendly way to get them out, according to a study published in The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics.



The approach could benefit clean energy technology, according to researchers at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and other members of the Critical Materials Institute, a U.S. Department of Energy effort aimed at bolstering U.S. supply chains for materials important to clean energy.