The broader impacts/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve resource efficiency and sustainability to the mining industry. "Red mud" is a hazardous waste product of a key step in aluminum production. For every ton of aluminum produced, 2.5 tons of red mud are pumped into a tailings pond. 120 million tons of red mud are produced annually, with over 30 billion stored in tailings ponds around the world. This project advances a technology to reduce the volume of waste with innovative metals extraction, creating a viable source of metals from waste. This process could also create a supply of critical metals for electric vehicles, wind energy, and other applications. This SBIR Phase I project seeks to develop an end-to-end process for red mud processing. It will utilize ionic liquids as highly selective solvents enabling precise separation of a variety of different metal compounds from a mixed and variable inorganic feedstock. Compared to current industrial practices that typically operate above 1000 degrees C, this approach allows a much lower temperature operation, drastically reducing the energy consumption and thus the cost of metal material processing. Additionally, the unique properties of ionic liquids at low temperatures make them ideal for use as electrolytes in electrochemical processes producing pure metal materials. The proposed project will conduct a feasibility study at laboratory scale.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
