The goal of this SON is to develop technologies and processes to enable recovery of critical minerals from waste Department of War (DoW) materiel to reduce reliance on mining operations and foreign sources. Proposals should address various considerations:
- Identify the targeted DoW materiel waste, including but not limited to magnets, batteries, and coatings for corrosion protection, for recycling and recovery efforts.
- Identify the composition of the targeted materiel and identify the content of all critical minerals of interest.
- Identify whether existing recycling methods are utilized and hypothesize how the proposed methodology will be more efficient or resource effective.
- Technologies and processes can include mechanical, chemical, thermal, or other methods that will produce high yields of high purity critical materials.
- Technologies and processes should enable high purity and high yield separation of target critical mineral(s).
- Waste streams from the process should be fully considered and efforts should focus on minimization of waste and reduction of the hazard level of the waste.
- Although the effort should focus on a laboratory-based process, the proposal should analyze the scalability of the process to justify development.
- Proposed technologies should minimize or eliminate the use of TSCA-restricted chemicals and CERCLA hazardous substances.1
Proposals should include a plan to conduct a preliminary Life Cycle Analysis2 (LCA) to help indicate the life cycle cost benefit associated with the proposed process relative to current processes. Proposals should establish a life cycle framework that can mature as the technology or process advances through the development and acquisition processes. This tiered approach aims to develop and document a minimum data set at each stage of research and development that can be used to make informed decisions and streamline transition to an acquisition program. The LCA may include varying depths of data and information that can inform: the goal and scope of an analysis; the identity and quantity of relevant inputs and outputs to the system; and the estimation of life cycle impacts and costs. A preliminary LCA would help indicate the cost benefit associated with the proposed process relative to current processes. Any proposals that do not include an LCA should provide a reason for exclusion.
The goal of this SON is to enable a scalable process to recover critical minerals from DoW materiel that could also be applicable to recycling and recovery efforts from household and commercial waste products. Such processes would increase the supply of strategic materials and critical minerals for the defense Industry and would make recycled materials a viable source. A successful process would reduce reliance on foreign nations for critical minerals mining and refining, as well as reduce the cost, energy, and hazardous byproducts through mining operations.
Defense articles are highly dependent on rare earth elements (REE) and other critical minerals and DLA Materials of Interest3. For example, almost all sensors targeting and tracking devices are dependent on rare earth materials such as neodymium and samarium, while phosphors require other rare earths such as lanthanum and dysprosium, and many defense microelectronic devices are dependent on gallium arsenide. However, the only current significant U.S. source of REE is the Mountain Pass mine in California. Furthermore, nearly all refining and separation technology of REE is performed in China. Consequently, U.S. defense equipment is dependent on critical minerals from China, which can easily be interrupted, causing resilience issues.
Our dependence on unreliable overseas suppliers is partly because the rare earths and other critical materials are being mined in only a few locations worldwide, and partly because they are found only in very low concentrations in ores, which makes extraction, separation, and refinement difficult with up to 2,000 tons of hazardous waste produced per ton of REE refined.
Only about 1% of REE in discarded products are currently recycled4. This is due to the fact that only small amounts of REE are used in many products, collection of products for recycling remains is not generally done, and REE and other critical mineral recycling often use hazardous chemicals and large amounts of energy. Yet, recycling of products to recover critical minerals does exist to a degree, including magnets, cellular phones, and hard drives. There are known DoW products that contain significant amounts of specific critical minerals, such as magnets, batteries, electronics displays, and some corrosion mitigating coatings, and their disposal is centralized across DoW depots and bases and can be further centralized to improve profitability of a recycling process. Remaining gaps exist in the technologies to enable safe and effective recycling and recovery of critical minerals from most products.
The cost and time to meet the requirements of this SON are at the discretion of the proposer. Proposers submitting a Standard or Limited Scope Proposal must provide the rationale for the proposed scale. The two options are as follows:
Standard Proposals: These proposals describe a complete research effort. The proposer should incorporate the appropriate time, schedule, and cost requirements to accomplish the scope of work proposed. SERDP projects normally run from two to five years in length and vary considerably in cost consistent with the scope of the effort. It is expected that most proposals will fall into this category.
Limited Scope Proposals: Proposers with innovative approaches to the SON that entail high technical risk or have minimal supporting data may submit a Limited Scope Proposal for funding up to $350,000 and approximately one year in duration. Such proposals may be eligible for follow-on funding if they result in a successful initial project. The objective of these proposals should be to acquire the data necessary to demonstrate proof-of-concept or reduction of risk that will lead to development of a future Standard Proposal. Proposers should submit Limited Scope Proposals in accordance with the SERDP Core Solicitation instructions and deadlines.
John La Scala, Ph.D.
Program Manager for Weapons Systems and Platforms
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP)
