Michigan Tech Awarded $2.5 Million to Unlock Net-Zero Emission Mineral Extraction Technologies in Mining Industries
Source: https://dev.greencoolearth.com/umbraco/#/content/content/edit/1403?doctype=articlePage&create=true\
The project, to help mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Minnesota achieve net-zero emissions while extracting critical minerals from mine tailings, has received $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE awarded grants to develop rapid carbon mineralization and critical mineral extraction technology to 16 projects nationwide, totaling $39 million. Michigan Tech’s project is the only one in the state to receive funding from Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER), a new initiative through the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The MINER initiative funds technology research that increases mineral yield, while decreasing required energy and subsequent emissions, in order to mine and extract energy-relevant minerals. Michigan Tech’s project is titled “Energy Reduction and Improved Critical Mineral Recovery from Low-Grade Disseminated Sulfide Deposits and Mine Tailings.” It seeks to permanently and cleanly mineralize and store carbon dioxide, potentially enabling the mining industry in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Minnesota to achieve net carbon zero while extracting critical minerals from low-grade ores, said principal project investigator (PI) Lei Pan, an associate professor in Michigan Tech’s Department of Chemical Engineering. Chemical engineering professors Tim Eisele and David Shonnard are co-PIs on the three-year project, along with researchers from University of Utah and University of Nevada, Reno. “MINER research targets potential carbon-dioxide-reactive ores to unlock net-zero or net-negative emission technologies,” Pan explained. “We will take carbon dioxide from the mining operation and store it safely and permanently in minerals. With our technology, we estimate 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year can be sequestered in mine tailings.”