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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 2 7 When examining the distribution of REEs in a sample, it is important to recognize that supply and demand— and therefore the price of individual REEs—varies widely. While some HREEs have a high price, there may be a limit- ed market, which should be considered when examining various materials as a potential source of REEs. Some REEs may also be considered critical depend- ing on the application, such as REEs for clean energy. DOE has identified five critical REEs, including yttrium, neo- dymium, europium, terbium, and dys- prosium. Several Northern Appalachia AMD sludge samples were identified to have concentrations above 2000 ppm and greater than 50% critical REE. The total critical element concentration is valuable when considering which ma- terials should be examined further for economical extraction of REEs. CONCLUSIONS Even with the recent downturn in U.S. coal production, the amount of coal being domestically mined and uti- lized contains more than four times the current U.S. consumption of REEs. With the U.S. being import-reliant on REEs for use in advanced technologies for energy and defense, a tremendous op- portunity exists for coal and coal-pro- ducing areas to extract these valuable and strategic elements. NETL is cur- rently leading the effort to locate the best coal or coal-based resources for REE and critical materials extraction. This effort encompasses the entire coal value chain. With chemical characteri- zation analyses of more than 3000 data- sets, valuable findings such as the high REE concentration in AMD have been re- alized. ~AM&P For more information: Mary Anne Al- vin, technology manager, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 626 Co- chrans Mill Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15236- 0940, 412.386.5498, maryanne.alvin@ netl.doe.gov. Acknowledgments NETL federal projects managers, Charles Miller, Jessica Mullen, and Vito Cedro; NETL scientists and engineers, Evan Granite and Thomas Tarka; DOE Fossil Energy personnel, Pete Rozelle and Regis Conrad; and numerous exter- nal project stakeholders are acknowl- edged for their efforts with respect to the REE program field characteriza- tion and resource assessment efforts. KeyLogic Systems LLC’s contributions to this work were funded by NETL un- der the Mission Execution and Strategic Analysis contract. Disclaimer Neither the U.S. government nor any agency or employee thereof makes any warranty, express or implied, or as- sumes any legal liability or responsibil- ity for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, appara- tus, product, or process disclosed in this article. 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