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Published Tuesday 15th December 09

Fierce competition over raw materials for new green technologies could become a thing of the past, thanks to a discovery by scientists from the University of Leeds.

Researchers from Leeds' Faculty of Engineering have discovered how to recover significant quantities of rare-earth oxides, present in titanium dioxide minerals. The rare-earth oxides, which are indispensable for the manufacture of wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, and hybrid and electric cars, are extracted or reclaimed simply and cheaply from the waste materials of another industrial process.

If taken to industrial scale, the new process could eventually shift the balance of power in global supply, breaking China's near monopoly on these scarce but crucial resources. China currently holds 95 per cent of the world's reserves of rare earth metals in a multi-billion dollar global market in which demand is growing steadily.

Read more (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/291/valuable_rare-earth_raw_materials_extracted_from_industrial_waste_stream)

Our recovery rate varies between 60 and 80 per cent, although through better process engineering we will be able to recover more in the future. But already, the recovery of oxides of neodymium (Nd), cerium (Ce) and lanthanum (La), from the waste products - which are most commonly found with titanium dioxide minerals - is an impressive environmental double benefit."That's great. Both Lanthanum and Neodymium are needed for green vehicles.

Rare earth metals are also important in the defence industry, where their application includes: anti-missile defence, aircraft parts, communications systems, electronic countermeasures, jet engines, rockets, missile guidance systems and space-based satellite power.And that right there is another good reason (if there weren't enough already) to work for peace: to limit the diversion to military use of scarce resources that are desperately needed for civilian purposes.

That's great. Both Lanthanum and Neodymium are needed for green vehicles.

And that right there is another good reason (if there weren't enough already) to work for peace: to limit the diversion to military use of scarce resources that are desperately needed for civilian purposes.

agreed