A cracking discovery: Eggshell waste can recover rare earth elements needed for green energy
A cracking discovery: Eggshell waste can recover rare earth elements needed for green energy
A collaborative team of researchers has made a cracking discovery with the potential to make a significant impact in the sustainable recovery of rare earth elements (REEs), which are in increasing demand for use in green energy technologies. The team found that humble eggshell waste could recover REES from water, offering a new, environmentally friendly method for their extraction.
The researchers, from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Natural Sciences, and iCRAG, the Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences, have just published their findings in the journal ACS Omega.
REEs, which are essential for the technologies used in electric cars and wind turbines, for example, are in increasing demand but in relatively short supply. As a result, scientists must find new ways of extracting them from the environment—and in sustainable ways, with current methods often harmful.