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.

Nanosize platelets of an aluminum material slide and join in a staggered orientation to form larger crystals.

PNNL researchers Daniel Deng and Yehia Ibrahim join the 2025 class of National Academy of Inventors Fellows.

IDREAM researchers uncovered how dimeric complexes control how aluminum hydroxide minerals dissolve.

Nanoscale domains of magnetically susceptible critical materials encounter enhanced magnetic interactions under external magnetic fields, providing a promising new avenue for separations.

ThermalTracker-3D can help streamline permitting, reduce costs, and shorten development time of energy projects.

The size of graphene oxide sheets affects the ability of assembled membranes and adsorbents to separate rare earth elements.

Trace amounts of iron and chromium can incorporate into gibbsite, affecting how the mineral dissolves.

Expanding the nation’s largest wind power plant time series database; helping grid planners navigate a resilient energy future with better data.

Engineers at PNNL devised a system that allows radar antennae to maintain stable orientation while mounted on platforms in open water that pitch and roll unpredictably. They were recently invited to participate in DOE's I-Corps program.

A PNNL team has developed an energy- and chemical-efficient method of separating valuable critical minerals from dissolved solutions of rare earth element magnets.

Increasing concentrations of ions slows the rate of particle aggregation in boehmite suspensions.

Surface manganese mining from nodules in South Dakota is now possible with a new scalable selective precipitation process.

Cobalt substitution for magnesium in a model mafic mineral dramatically slows reaction with carbon dioxide to form a cobalt-doped carbonate.

PNNL's accomplishments in FY 2024 help address the remaining challenges the wind industry faces.

New IDREAM research explores the effects of electrolyte species on boehmite nanoparticle aggregation in legacy wastes.

Precipitation with sodium hydroxide in a flow-gel device enables the rapid extraction of magnesium from seawater in a new scalable process.

Hydrogen atoms released and trapped in irradiated gibbsite are destabilized by synthetic-precursor residuals.