U.S. Department of Energy Critical Materials Strategy

Bauer, Diana; Diamond, Dermot; Li, J.; Sandalow, David; Telleen, P.; Wanner, Brent

doi:10.2172/1000846

Cited by 185 publications

(173 citation statements)

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“…The ability to perform OER at low overpotential in neutral pH ranges (pH 6-8) has been achieved with the development of a cobalt phosphate (CoP i ) catalyst (31). This OER catalyst features many of the properties of the oxygen-evolving catalyst of photosystem II (PSII) including its structure (32)(33)(34) and its ability to self-assemble (35,36), repair itself (37), and manage the proton-coupled electron transfer chemistry of water splitting akin to the Kok cycle of PSII (38). Of pertinence to this study, the catalyst can perform OER in natural waters of a wide variety of solution environments including buffers capable of supporting biological growth (39).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient solar-to-fuels production from a hybrid microbial–water-splitting catalyst system

Torella

Gagliardi

Chen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

391

265

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Photovoltaic cells have considerable potential to satisfy future renewable-energy needs, but efficient and scalable methods of storing the intermittent electricity they produce are required for the large-scale implementation of solar energy. Current solar-to-fuels storage cycles based on water splitting produce hydrogen and oxygen, which are attractive fuels in principle but confront practical limitations from the current energy infrastructure that is based on liquid fuels. In this work, we report the development of a scalable, integrated bioelectrochemical system in which the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha is used to efficiently convert CO2, along with H2 and O2 produced from water splitting, into biomass and fusel alcohols. Water-splitting catalysis was performed using catalysts that are made of earth-abundant metals and enable low overpotential water splitting. In this integrated setup, equivalent solar-to-biomass yields of up to 3.2% of the thermodynamic maximum exceed that of most terrestrial plants. Moreover, engineering of R. eutropha enabled production of the fusel alcohol isopropanol at up to 216 mg/L, the highest bioelectrochemical fuel yield yet reported by >300%. This work demonstrates that catalysts of biotic and abiotic origin can be interfaced to achieve challenging chemical energy-to-fuels transformations.

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient solar-to-fuels production from a hybrid microbial–water-splitting catalyst system

Torella

Gagliardi

Chen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

391

265

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A utility scale wind turbine, another green power source, uses more than a ton of heavy-duty and lightweight magnets, 700 pounds of which is neodymium [8]. As the worldwide implementation of clean energy and other applications increase, many studies have identified the supply of particular REEs (dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, yttrium, and europium) to be at risk in the short and medium term [9,10].…”

Section: Isrn Metallurgymentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Impact of Rare Earth Elements

Koltun

Tharumarajah²

2014

ISRN Metallurgy

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The diverse properties of rare earth elements have seen broad and growing applications in clean energy technologies, hybrid vehicles, pollution control, optics, refrigeration, and so on. This study presents a "cradle-to-gate" life cycle assessment of the energy use, resource depletion, and global warming potential resulting from the production of rare earth elements (REEs) using the Bayan Obo rare earth operation in Inner Mongolia, China, as a representative system. The study aggregates data from the literature, LCI databases, and reasonable estimations. A novel economic value-based allocation method for the multiple coproducts of the process is proposed. It is found that four of the high priced REEs scandium, europium, terbium, and dysprosium have very high GWPs from production relative to the rest. A mass-based allocation is also provided for comparison. Impacts on immediate local environment from waste streams that can be toxic are not included in this study.

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“…In recent years, increasing demand for permanentmagnet materials coupled with limited RE mineral resources and limited RE supplies have spurred the need to discover viable replacement compounds for the rare-earth based magnets [5][6][7][8]. In particular, much attention has been focused on Zr 2 Co 11 and related phases prepared with different processing routes [9][10][11][12][13].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%