Amine functionalized graphene oxide yields laminates with an enhanced capacity to adsorb rare earth elements, improved water transport, and greater stability for effective membrane-based separation of critical minerals.

PNNL has formed a partnership with the Orlando-based firm Refinity, which has licensed a key process from PNNL that will help the company convert mixed plastic waste into valuable industrial products like chemicals, plastics, and fuels.

PNNL has developed a next-generation electrical resistivity tomography system for DOE that uses E4D software and AI-enhanced modeling to produce real-time subsurface images that help guide environmental remediation decisions.

Replacing commercial acid with acidic waste enables researchers to improve nickel extraction efficiency, lower projected costs, and improve process economics.

RemPlex 2025 Global Summit on Environmental Remediation attendees share knowledge about cleanup and monitoring of complex sites worldwide; more than 100 presentations are posted online.

Localized gradients in magnetic fields have long-range effects on the concentration of rare earth ions in solution, facilitating field-driven extraction of critical minerals.

Studying a series of rare earth element compounds revealed differences in their magnetic behavior that will be leveraged for separations.

Soil mineral preferentially incorporates rare earth elements based on size, with implications for critical mineral extraction.

RemPlex and IAEA convene international leaders to tackle recruitment and retention in complex environmental cleanup efforts.

Recycling polyolefin materials is challenging. One waste management strategy is plastic upcycling. New work demonstrates a single-step upcycling route coupling cracking and alkylation, recycling carbon and keeping valuable resources active.

The Deep Vadose Zone program leads a treatability study for subsurface remediation of the Hanford Site’s Central Plateau.

PNNL’s Center for the Remediation of Complex Sites convened attendees from around the world to discuss challenges associated with environmental contamination.

Scientists at PNNL have published a new article that focuses on understanding the composition, dynamics, and deployment of beneficial soil microbiomes to get the most out of soil.

PNNL chemists investigate the performance of ion exchange resins for subsurface remediation of uranium, technetium, and chromium.

A PNNL innovation uses steam to recover heat from the high-temperature reactor effluent in the HTL process, substantially reducing the propensity for fouling and potentially reducing costs.

STEM Education programs at DOE and national labs offer environmental management internships; applications are due soon for summer 2023.

A new web-based tool provides easy-to-understand progress metrics and other data about groundwater cleanup sites overseen by the DOE Office of Environmental Management.

PNNL scientists have proposed an "adaptive site management" cleanup strategy for the Hanford Site's Central Plateau that incorporates a structured, flexible approach to environmental remediation.

Ocean biogeochemical modeling software now available as open source to help researchers predict impacts of pollution, sea level rise, and climate change.

Integrating hydrogeology and biogeochemistry are required to model the dynamics of geochemical processes occurring in river corridor zones where groundwater and surface water mix.