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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Williston Basin Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy awarded 13 Carbon Ore, Rare-Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) programs as part of the CORE-CM Initiative, designed to develop the technology and upstream and midstream supply chains to extract rare-earth elements (REEs) and CMs from the nation’s coal supplies. The intent is to catalyze regional economic growth and job creation while strengthening the use of domestic resources. The Williston Basin CORE-CM Program aims to drive the expansion and transformation of coal and coal-based resource usage within the Williston Basin to produce REEs, CMs, and nonfuel carbon-based products (CBPs). The work constitutes Phase 1 of a long-term program. The objectives of Phase 1 are to identify the existing knowledge base and gaps and to develop a series of assessments/plans, including an initial basinal assessment; a characterization and data acquisition plan; a waste stream reuse plan; a basinal strategies assessment for infrastructure, industries, and business; a technology assessment, development, and field-testing plan; a technology innovation center plan(s); and a stakeholder outreach and education plan. Originally, the CORE-CM programs were to do little if any sample collection as part of the Phase 1 program. As part of the ongoing interactions with DOE regarding the progress of the 13 CORE-CM programs, DOE has decided to extend Phase 1 with additional funding to allow all of the Phase 1 CORE-CM programs to collect and characterize more samples that have potential to be sources of REEs and CMs. The goal of this project is to initiate the development of a new industry in the resource-rich Williston Basin that will generate economic growth and job creation through a coalition team of private industry; university; and state, local, and federal government entities. A coalition team of nearly 30 private industry; university; and state, local, and federal government partners was formed for this program. Partners include the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center, Institute for Energy Studies, and Nistler College; North Dakota State University; Montana Tech University; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Critical Materials Institute; North Dakota Geological Survey; South Dakota Geological Survey; U.S. Geological Survey; North American Coal Corporation; BNI Energy; Basin Electric Power Cooperative; Minnkota Power Cooperative; and many more.

Kay, John P.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Illinois Basin Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (IB-CORE-CM) Initiative (Final Report (Redacted)(Public))

Final Report; Illinois Basin - Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Mineral (IB-CORE-CM) project team has conducted a comprehensive basin-wide assessment of CORE-CM presence in coal, coal-based, and waste stream resources, as well as a thorough examination of mining practices, separation technologies, and the local infrastructure necessary for producing and providing the needed CORE-CM resources for U.S. industry. This final report details the research, methods, and results of the project.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bringing Alaska's Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) into Perspective

The final report outlines the outcomes of the Alaska CORE-CM Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under award DE-FE0032050. Led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, with assistance from other organizations, the project assessed Alaska's potential for Carbon Ore, Rare Earth Elements, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM). Leveraging advanced analytical techniques, the project identified high-potential resource basins, evaluated geochemical and satellite data, and conducted targeted field investigations. Findings revealed promising concentrations of critical minerals in legacy samples and newly collected materials. The project also investigated innovative extraction technologies, including BioExtraction and use of supercritical CO2, which show significant promise for sustainable resource recovery. Additionally, the study explored the reuse of waste streams from active mining operations and coal byproducts such as using alkali-activated coal ash to manufacture concrete. Infrastructure and logistical challenges in Alaska’s remote regions are discussed, alongside strategies to establish a Technology Innovation Center aimed at advancing CORE-CM development in Alaska. The report includes actionable insights to support Alaska’s critical role in securing domestic supplies of essential minerals while addressing economic, environmental, and technological challenges.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Carbon Ores-Derived Critical Materials for Clean Energy Technology Applications

Presented at the 48th International Technical Conference on Clean Energy (Clearwater Clean Energy Conference), Clearwater, Florida, June 16-19, 2024. This presentation describes the Energy & Environmental Research Center’s development of the Upgraded Carbon Ores-to-Products (UCOP) technology to produce high‑quality graphite and other critical materials from coal and coal wastes for clean energy applications such as batteries and electrodes. It outlines the technical approach, including feedstock cleaning, controlled heat treatment, and graphitization, and presents results demonstrating high graphite purity, novel microstructures, and competitive performance relative to commercial graphite. The work highlights the potential for lower environmental impact and domestic supply chains for critical materials amid increasing global demand and supply‑chain constraints.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2022

CORE-CM Williston Basin Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals

Fact sheet on the Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative, an Energy & Environmental Research Center and U.S. Department of Energy project. Includes information on the importance of critical minerals and utilizing lignite from the Williston Basin.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

CORE-CM Williston Basin Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals

Fact sheet on the Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative, an Energy & Environmental Research Center and U.S. Department of Energy project. Includes information on the importance of critical minerals and utilizing lignite from the Williston Basin.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development of Biological and Electrochemical Technologies for the Clean Extraction of Copper and Critical Materials from Low Grade Ores

As we transition toward renewable energy resources and electrification, there will be an increasing demand for critical materials, including copper. While copper is currently mined in the US, processing capacity is not sufficient, and intermediate mining products are shipped to Asia for further processing. The goal of this research was to develop a transformative hydrometallurgical process for the production of copper from low-grade ores that would eliminate the need for smelting and would increase the domestic processing capacity in the US, The project initially focused on the electrochemical reduction of copper concentrate using vanadium, followed by the biological oxidation to produce a stream compatible with existing solvent extraction and electrowinning operations. We discovered an efficient electrochemical process that could produce copper salts from concentrate without the need for biological oxidation, and this technology has been licensed and spun-off into a start-up company. The microbes involved in the current state-of-the-art bioleaching processes were genetically modified to introduced a number of new traits, including increased sulfur oxidation, salt-tolerance, and binding of other critical metals such as cobalt, molybdenum, rhenium, and the rare earth elements. The project was extended to also explore the electrochemical oxidation of copper concentrate using cerium which would potentially eliminate production of hydrogen sulfide that occurs with the reductive leaching process. This technology was found to have slower kinetics, however could it still be developed as an alternative process for domestic copper production and has been found to be applicable to other critical minerals.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Out-of-distribution detection with non-parametric density estimation for models predicting processing history of uranium ore concentrates

The rapid advancement in machine learning (ML) and computer vision (CV) coincides with the growth of interest in deploying these ML/CV models in numerous fields from medicine to social science. Similar to those areas, we have witnessed a great number of works in materials science employing ML/CV models – neural networks in particular – in their studies in recent years. These models have proven to obtain accurate performance in various tasks. However, these models struggle to attain a similar performance when encountering test samples coming from a distribution that is different from the training set. More importantly, they fail without providing any warning to the users. Therefore, we propose a framework for detecting out-of-distribution (OOD) samples to alert users when a human intervention might be necessary in this work. Specifically, we explore the use of a non-parametric density estimation method to detect OOD samples. Here, we assess OOD detection capability of the proposed framework on ML models developed for categorizing precipitation routes of U 3 O 8 when encountering OOD datasets that contain samples (1) undergone different imaging acquisition process, (2) undergone different material synthesis process, and (3) different materials than ID set. Through those experiments, we achieve an average area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of at least 91% on average in detecting OOD samples. With minimal overhead cost and superior performance, the proposed framework enables a reliable and safe system when deploying in real-world scenarios.

Convolutional neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2022

Zn speciation and fate in soils and sediments along the ground transportation route of Zn ore to a smelter

We discuss assessment of Zn toxicity/mobility based on its speciation and transformations in soils as critical for maintaining human and ecosystem health. Zn-concentrate (56% Zn as ZnS, sphalerite) has been imported through a seaport and transported to a Zn-smelter for several decades, and smelting processes resulted in aerial deposition of Zn and sulfuric acids in two geochemically distinct territories around the smelter (mountain-slope and riverside). XAFS analysis showed that the mountain-slope soils contained franklinite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) and amorphous (e.g., sorbed) species of Zn(II), whereas the riverside sediments contained predominantly hydrozincite [Zn 5 (OH) 6 (CO 3 ) 2 ], sphalerite, and franklinite. The mountain-slope soils had low pH and moderate levels of total Zn (~1,514 ppm), whereas the riverside sediments had neutral pH and higher total Zn (12,363 ppm). The absence of sphalerite and the predominance of franklinite in the mountain-slope soils are attributed to the susceptibility of sphalerite and the resistance of franklinite to dissolution at acidic pH. These results are compared to previous Zn analyses along the transportation routes, which showed that Zn-concentrate spilled along the roadside in dust and soils underwent transformation to various O-coordinated Zn species. Overall, Zn-concentrate dispersed in soils and sediments during transportation and smelting transforms into Zn phases of diverse stability and bioavailability during long-term weathering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗