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.

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

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.

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.

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.

A team of researchers from PNNL provided technical knowledge and support to test a suite of techniques that detect genetically modified bacteria, viruses, and cells.

SAGE is a high-efficiency genome integration strategy for bacteria that makes the stable introduction of new traits simple for newly discovered microbes.

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.