UW Spinout Company Receives DOE Grant for Extraction of Rare Earth Elements

Rare earth elements are critical components in a variety of modern technologies. But existing processes for their extraction and separation are not economically or environmentally feasible for execution in the U.S., contributing to a reliance on foreign sources.

Wyonics LLC, a scientific innovation company based in Laramie that originated at the University of Wyoming, recently received a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help develop new technologies capable of extracting, separating and recovering rare earth elements from domestic feedstocks of uranium- and thorium-bearing minerals.

“Current industrial-scale, rare earth element separation technologies are based on solvent extraction schemes, which produce large amounts of undesirable chemical waste, including the loss of volatile organic solvents and reagents employed in the treatment of feed streams,” says Caleb Hill, UW’s J.E. Warren Chair of Energy and the Environment, Nielson Faculty Fellow and co-founder and chief technology officer of Wyonics. “These concerns have severely limited the development of U.S.-based rare earth element separation facilities. Addressing this issue will require alternative technologies for the extraction and separation of rare earth elements from domestic rare earth-bearing minerals.” 

Hill says the grant, which began this month and runs through April 2024, will support at least one scientific intern at Wyonics and the work of a UW graduate student. Kristin Di Bona, an adjunct professor in UW’s Department of Chemistry and CEO and co-founder of Wyonics, also will be involved with the grant.

DOE recently announced $72 million in funding for small businesses to pursue scientific, clean energy, and climate research, development and demonstration projects. The funding will support 296 projects across 44 states and addresses multiple topic areas such as renewable energy, nuclear energy, cybersecurity, advanced materials and manufacturing, microelectronics and artificial intelligence.

America’s small businesses play a critical role in facilitating the transition from discovery to innovation, helping create a bridge between the scientific laboratory and the commercial marketplace. DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards aim to transform science and technology breakthroughs into viable products and services that can be used by the American people and across all sectors of the nation’s economy. 

Funded through DOE’s SBIR and STTR programs, the selections are primarily for Phase I research and development that focus on establishing technical feasibility for proposed innovations. Phase I awardees will compete for larger Phase II awards to fund prototype or process development. The median Phase I award is $200,000 for a period of six to 12 months.

“America’s small businesses have always played a critical role in moving our nation forward, and this entrepreneurial spirit helped established America as a global leader in science and innovation,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. “President Biden understands this, which is why DOE is providing companies -- coast to coast -- with resources to develop game-changing solutions to tackle the climate crisis and build a clean energy future.”