(205d) The Issues and Opportunities Associated with Recycle and Reuse of Strategic and Critical Materials

Strategic and critical mineral supply chains are nationally recognized as being important to the US manufacturing industry, energy supply, and national defense.  For example, the largest industrial consumers of rare earths in the U.S. are catalyst manufacturers, representing almost 30% of the domestic market by volume in 2008 (40 to 45% in the previous five years).  Rare earth elements are also essential to the production of catalysts for the cracking of crude petroleum and of automotive catalytic converters for treating engine exhaust and catalyst that contain rare earth elements influence the production of a diverse range of end user products from aircraft windows to dentures, plastic food packaging, etc. Many facets of the strategic and critical materials supply chain involve “chemistry” or “chemical engineering” from novel digestion and separation processes to reduction and refining to utilization in “old” and “new” products and technologies as well as recycle and reuse. This presentation discusses the issues and opportunities associated with recycle and reuse of critical materials.