May. Great news for May! Dr. Zhang has been ranked 5th among scientists and engineers in the rare earth category of Highly Ranked Scholars™. Congratulations on this impressive achievement!

Highly Ranked Scholars™ are the most productive (number of publications) authors whose works are of profound impact (citations) and of utmost quality (h-index). 

Apr. Shiyu successfully passed her PhD preliminary exam on 31st April. Congratulations to her!

Apr. Congratulations!! Yi has passed her Ph.D. qualifying exam, and she is Ph.D. candidate now! Thank you, Dr. Zhang!

Apr. A proposal that Dr. Zhang is involved as a co-principal investigator has been selected to negotiate by DOE. The project will use further advanced processing techniques to obtain high-grade rare earth oxides of individual rare earth elements, as well as high purity chemical compounds of lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel. The details can be found here.

Apr. Congratulations!! Peidong has passed his Ph.D. qualifying exam, and he is Ph.D. candidate now! Thank you, Dr. Zhang!

Apr. The U.S. DOE public announcement was released on 04/18/2024, stating that a project of Dr. Zhang was selected for award. Congratulations! A detailed list of the selected projects can be found here.

Apr. Congratulations!! Sepehr has passed his Ph.D. qualifying exam, and he is Ph.D. candidate now! Thank you, Dr. Zhang!

Sep.-Dec. In collaboration with PNNL and other partners, we received a project focusing on critical mineral recovery from biological ores. A release has been announced by ARPA-E. 

Sep.-Dec. New patent granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office

Method For Recovering Valuable Elements From Precombustion Coal-Based Materials 

Inventors: Drs. Rick Honakier & Wencai Zhang

Sep.-Dec. Two manuscripts were recently accepted by Minerals Engineering

Liu, W., Xiao, Z., Das, S., & Zhang, W. (2024). Mechanism and kinetic study of rare earth extraction from allanite by direct acid leaching. Minerals Engineering, 205, 108489. 

Muhoza, E., Gibson, K., Zhang, W., & Amini, S. H. (2023). Evaluation of lactic and succinic acids as green depressants for selective flotation separation of bastnaesite from calcite. Minerals Engineering, 204, 108435.

Sep.-Dec. Dr. Wencai Zhang received the Outstanding Young Engineer Award from the Mineral Processing Division of SME, in recognition of his contribution to critical mineral recovery from different sources. 

Aug. Our proposal focusing on phytomining has been selected for funding by OSMRE.

Aug. Dr. Bin's manuscript about thermal phase transformation behavior of florencite has been accepted by Powder Technology. Congratulations!

May. Graduation season! Two PhD and one MS are graduated from our research group. Dr. Bin will stay in our group to continue his research as a postdoc research association. Dr. Qi will work in the LIB recycling industry as a hydrometallurgist. Sharon will work in the lithium mining industry as a process engineer. 

Feb. Sharon got 1st place in the ED Poster Competition at SME. Bin got 4th in the MPD Poster Competition at SME. Congratulations to Sharon and Bin!

Feb.  Dr. Douglas Wicks, Program Manager at ARPA-E, visited our lab and gave us a seminar - "Catalyzing a Sustainable Renaissance of American Mining"

Feb. Zhongqing has passed his Ph.D. qualifying exam, and he is a Ph.D. candidate now. Congratulations!!

Feb. A proposal that Dr. Zhang involved as a co-PI has been selected to negotiated by DOE. Dr. Bahareh Nojabaei is the PI of the prjoect. Congratulations to Dr. Nojabaei and the project team. The selection nofication is here. 

Feb. Welcome new student, Yanan Pan. Yanan got her B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering at Jiangsu University of Technology  and M.S. degree in Resources and Environment Engineering at the East China University of Science and Technology in China. Yanan did great research on lithium extraction. Look forward to seeing Yanan at VT soon! 

Feb. Congratulations on Qi for taking an internship at Austin Elements Inc. Qi assist the engineers and scientists at Austin Elements in running a pilot circuit for spent LIB recycling.  

Jan. Happy New Year! We made dumplings together!

Dec. New manuscript "Economic analysis of precious metal recovery from electronic waste through gas-assisted microflow extraction" has been accepted by Resources, Conservation & Recycling journal. This manuscript is led by Sidi Deng from Purdue University . A detailed TEA analysis of our GAME system is presented in this manuscript. 

Dec. Bin successfully passed his PhD final defense. Congratulations!!

Nov. Our proposals relating to CO2-reactive minerals have been selected by ARPA-E to negotiate. 

Nov. Qi has passed her Ph.D. preliminary exam. Congratulations! Look forward to her final defense in Spring, 2022

Oct. The proposal that we collaborated with Dr. Aaron Noble and submitted with Albemarle U.S. Inc. (lead) has been selected to negotiate. We will assist the company to start and operate a new lithium mine in North Carolina.

Oct. We appreciate MP Materials funding us a project to improve the flotation chemistry of bastnaesite and its associated alkaline earth gangue minerals.

Oct. A manuscript "A comprehensive review on treatment methods for end-of-life tire rubber used for rubberized cementitious materials" has been accepted for publication in Construction and Building Materials journal. This study is performed by  Thien Tran with the support from our CenTiRe project (Drs. Brand and Zhang serve as the PIs). Congratulations!

Sep. A proposal of Dr. Zhang has been selected by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to be funded. In this project, a novel circuit will be developed to enhance the dewatering of acid mine drainage. 

Sep. Bin and Shiyu made headlines at VT News. Congratulations to Bin and Shiyu. The photo shows Bin and Shiyu are harvesting plants for rare earth elements extraction. 

Aug. Dr. Zhang visited Austin Elements during the summer. Austin Elements has a creative, interdisciplinary team focusing on the R&D of new technologies for waste recycling. 

May Qi's manuscript "Effects of calcination temperature on the occurrence modes of rare earth elements in coal" has been accepted by Powder Technology. This paper explains the transformation of REEs in coal at different calcination temperatures. Congratulations!

May Dr. Wencai Zhang and his colleagues, Drs. Honaker, Noble, and Yang, received the 2022 Best Paper Award of Minerals Journal. Congratulations. 

May A manuscript "Adsorption of cerium (III) by zeolites synthesized from kaolinite after rare earth elements (REEs) recovery" has been accepted by Chemosphere. The manuscript came from the PhD dissertation study of Bin. In this study, REEs were first selectively leached from kaolinite, and then, the leaching residue was used to prepared zeolites that can adsorbed the REEs from the leach solution.

Apr. A manuscript "Lactic acid production from food waste hydrolysate by Lactobacillus pentosus: focus on nitrogen supplementation, initial sugar concentration, pH, and fed-batch fermentation " has been accepted by Journal of Food Science.  This work is done by Dr. Haibo Huang's research group and supported by our EPA project. 

Apr. A manuscript "Alkali pretreatment effects on acid leaching recovery of rare earth elements from coal waste of the Western Kentucky No. 13 and Fire Clay seams" has been accepted by Minerals and Mineral Materials. The manuscript came from the work of Qi. The effect of alkali pretreatment on the acid leaching recovery of REEs from coal wastes was investigated in this study. 

Apr. Dr. Wencai Zhang received Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award from Dean's Office. Congratulations to Dr. Zhang! 

Feb. A manuscript "Partitioning behavior and mechanisms of rare earth elements during precipitation in an acid mine drainage " has been accepted by Colloids and Surfaces A. The manuscript came from the work of Qi. The partitioning behavior and mechanisms of REE during precipitation in acid mine drainage were evaluated and revealed. 

Jan. A manuscript "Process development for recovering critical elements from acid mine drainage" has been accepted by Resources, Conservation, and Recycling. The manuscript came from the work of Qi. An innovative process was developed by Qi to produce high-purity critical element products from acid mine drainage. 

Jan. A manuscript "Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Recovery from Coal Waste of the Western Kentucky No. 13 and Fire Clay Seams. Part II: Re-investigation on the Effect of Calcination" has been accepted by Fuel journal. The manuscript came from the work of Bin and Qi. The mechanisms explaining the enhanced recovery of REEs by calcination have been confirmed in the manuscript. 

Dec. Dr. Zhang gave a REMADE Workforce Training webinar on December 7, 2021. In this webinar, Dr. Zhang presented an overview relevant to the production, treatment, and recycling of electronic waste and PCBs to a broad audience. 

Dec. One of Dr. Zhang's patent applications has been formally granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent was developed when Dr. Zhang worked as a postdoc at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Rick Honaker is a co-inventor of the patent. In this patent, a low-cost selective precipitation circuit for REE recovery from leach solutions is revealed. This circuit is currently tested in a rare earth pilot plant in western Kentucky. 

Nov. PMO Virginia, the industrial partner of our Vibrant Virginia project, has announced this project on several social media: www.ktvn.com, www.wboc.com, www.benzinga.com, www.ssntv.com, www.rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com, www.wrde.com, www.wicz.com, www.marketwatch.com, www.digitaljournal.com, www.yournewsnet.com, www.lifestyle.mykmlk.com,  www.pressrelease.cc, and www.usnewswire.org. 

Nov.  Welcome new graduate student, Hao Li, who will join our research group in January 2022. Hao earned his M.S. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and B.S. degree from Virginia Tech. 

Nov.  Welcome new graduate student, Shiyu Li, who will join our research team in January 2022. Shiyu obtained her M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Southern University of Technology in Shenzhen, China.

Oct. Dr. Zhang joined the editorial board of Minerals and Mineral Materials, a new journal launched by OAE Publishing Inc. Dr. Shaoxian Song is the editor-in-chief of this journal.  Minerals and Mineral Materials has a broad scope of mineral researches, including both scientific and technological study. The studies in terms of fundamental theories, new technologies and new mineral materials will be given preference. The coverage includes all scales of research works linked to mineral processing and mineral materials that attract readership in the scientific and industrial communities. Research topics cover, but are not limited to: Ore comminution; Mineral flotation and interface chemistry; Magnetic separation and gravity concentration; Dewatering and wastewater treatment; Circle production and mine remediation; Extractive metallurgy; Mineral powder preparation and modification; and Advanced mineral materials

Oct. Dr. Zhang visited a waste-to-energy facility of Covanta located at Alexandria, Virginia. The facility was built in 1998 and has a processing capacity of up to 350,000 tons per year. Dr. Zhang introduced the progress of the ARPA-e project to the plant managers and discussed opportunities for future collaborations. 

Oct. One of Bin's manuscript "Acid leaching recovery and occurrence modes of rare earth elements (REEs) from natural kaolinites" has been accepted by Minerals Engineering. In this article, the recovery of REEs from a non-ion adsorption type kaolinite was systematically investigated.

Oct. A proposal prepared by Dr. Zhang has been selected by a company to fund. Critical elements will be recovered from acid mine drainages using a method developed by Dr. Zhang.

Oct. A proposal prepared by Dr. Zhang collaborating with other professors have been selected by Vibrant Virginia to fund. Critical elements and battery materials will be prepared from coal and coal refuse in this project. 

Aug. One of Bin's manuscripts entitled "Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Recovery from Coal Waste of the Western Kentucky No. 13 and Fire Clay Seams. Part I: Mineralogical Characterization Using SEM-EDS and TEM-EDS" has been accepted by Fuel journal. 

Aug. One of Bin's manuscripts entitled "The Effect of Mechanical Grinding and Thermal Treatment on the Recovery of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from Kaolinite " has been accepted by Powder Technology journal. This manuscript systematically studies the effect of mechanical grinding and thermal treatment on the recovery of rare earths from a non-ion adsorption type kaolinite.

Aug. Dr. Wencai Zhang joined the editorial board of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration journal as an associate editor. As SME’s peer-reviewed technical journal published in partnership with Springer Nature, MME publishes high-quality, original research publications, in-depth special review articles, reviews of state-of-the-art and innovative technologies and industry methodologies, communications of work of topical and emerging interest, and other works that enhance understanding on both the fundamental and practical levels. MME was published under the name of Minerals & Metallurgical Processing from 1983 to 2018. MME received an impact factor of 1.413 as of 2020 and ranked Q2 in metals & alloys. 

Aug. One of Bin's manuscripts entitled "Enhanced leaching recovery of rare earth elements from a phosphatic waste clay through calcination pretreatment " has been accepted by Journal of Cleaner Production. This manuscript presents a systematically study on the recovery of REEs from phosphatic clay through calcination pretreatment followed by acid leaching.

Aug. A proposal that Dr. Zhang is involved as a co-principal investigator has been selected to negotiate by DOE/NETL. In Phase I, our team will develop a plan for critical element (e.g., Co, Mn, and Li) recovery from coal-related materials. 

Aug. One of Dr. Zhang's proposals developed in collaboration with other professors at VT and several industrial stakeholders has been selected to negotiate by DOE/EERE. In this project, the team will conduct a nationwide characterization of municipal solid waste for biofuel production. 

Jul. A manuscript "A review of rare earth elements and yttrium in coal ash: content, modes of occurrences, combustion behavior, and extraction methods" prepared by Dr. Zhang and other researchers has been accepted by Progress in Energy and Combustion Science journal (impact factor = 29.39 in 2020). This manuscript systematically reviewed several aspects of REEs in coal ash. Dr. Zhang primarily contributed to the section about REE recovery from coal ash. 

Jul. Welcome Zhongqing Xiao joining our research group as a PhD student. Zhongqing got his M.S. degree in Mining Engineering from West Virginia University and he will formally start his PhD study and research in August. 

Jul. One of Dr. Zhang's proposals was selected to fund by Center for Tire Research. In this project, high-grade zinc oxide will be produced from end-of-life tires, while the remaining materials after zinc recovery will be used for other purposes (e.g., road construction). 

Jun. PhD candidate, Bin Ji, won 6th place in the SME MPD poster contest. Congratulations to Bin!

Jun. MS student, Sharon Pedraza, won 2nd place in the SME photo contest. Congratulations to Sharon. [Link to the photo]

Jun. One of Bin's manuscript entitled "Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Recovery and Porous Silica Preparation from Kaolinite" has been accepted by Powder Technology journal. This manuscript presents an innovative method to simultaneously recover REEs and produce porous silica from kaolinite. [Link to the article]

Jun. A story about our research group has been published on Virginia Tech News. This story introduces how we turning trash into treasures by recovering rare earth elements and other critical elements. [Link to the story]

May. Welcome Sharon Pedraza joining our group as a M.S. student. Sharon got her B.S. degree in Mining and Metallurgy Engineering from National University of Colombia - School of Mines in 2019. Then she worked as an engineering assistant in CINO Mining company. Sharon will start her M.S. study on May 10 and she will work on MSWI ash characterization. 

Apr. A proposal that Dr. Zhang involved as a Co-PI was selected for funding. The proposal aims aims to focus on the expansion and transformation of the use of coal and coal-based resources, including waste streams, to produce products of high value to the 21st century energy and manufacturing ecosystem. [Link to the announcement]

Apr. Congratulations to Bin and Qi for winning the WAAIME scholarship. 

The WAAIME Scholarship fund provides financial scholarships to students pursuing earth science degrees including mining, geological sciences, metallurgy, petroleum, mineral sciences, material science, mineral economics, chemical engineering and other related studies.  

Mar. One of Dr. Zhang's articles published in International Journal of Coal Geology has been listed as Most Cited article. This article presented an innovative study of rare earth recovery from acid coal mine leachate [Link to the journal website]

Feb. A story about our EPA project has been released on the website of EPA. [Link to the story]

Jan. We offer graduate research assistant and postdoctoral research associate positions. Please check the Positions page of our website

Jan. A proposal prepared by Dr. Zhang in collaboration with an industrial partner has been selected for funding by the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) of DOE (Total project $725,000; VT share $375,000). 

Jan. Welcome undergraduate students, Baxter Jones, Bryce Mclntire, Zhenghao Zhou, joining our research group as undergraduate research assistants. They will work with the PhD students in our group on various research topics.

Jan. PhD candidate, Qi Li, successfully produced a cobalt product containing around 15% of cobalt oxide from a coal-related material. A story describing this success has been published in the media of our department [Link to the story]

Nov. Dr. Zhang received a $25,000 project from EPA. In this project, rare earths will be recovered from coal refuse and rare earth ores using organic acids converted from food waste. A team of undergraduate and graduate students will collaborate on this project. Dr. Haibo Huang from the Department of Food Science & Technology of VT and Dr. Hassan Amini from the Department of Mining Engineering of WVU serve as co-PIs on this project.

Nov.  One of Dr. Zhang's patent applications has been published online. Drs. Rick Honaker and Joshua Werner from the University of Kentucky are co-inventors of this patent. This patent presents an innovative method for the the simultaneous power generation and critical material recovery from coal. [Link to the patent application]

Nov. One of Bin's manuscripts, entitled "Leaching recovery of rare earth elements from the calcination product of a coal coarse refuse using organic acids ", has been accepted by Journal of Rare Earths. In this study, it was found that selected organic acids, such as citric acid and DL-malic acid, are advantageous to mineral acids with the same acidity when recovering rare earths from coal refuse.

Oct. One of our manuscripts, entitled "Effects of contaminant metal ions on the precipitation recovery of rare earth elements using oxalic acid", has been accepted by Journal of Rare Earths.  Solution equilibrium calculation was applied to investigate the oxalic acid precipitation efficiency of rare earths in the presence of different types and concentrations of contaminant metal ions. This study found that trivalent metal ions, such as Fe(III) and Al(III), largely increase the consumption of oxalic acid during the precipitation process, while divalent metal ions impose minor impact.

Oct. Dr. Wencai Zhang received a $550,000 project from the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy of DOE. Systematic characterization studies will be performed on the incineration products of both real and synthetic municipal solid waste (MSW), based on which processing flowsheets will be developed to enable the recovery of critical materials, especially rare earths. This project will lead to a comprehensive dataset in terms of the physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics of MSW incineration ash, which will be an essential and necessary conduit to enable transformational change. [Link to the project announcement]

Oct. One of Dr. Zhang's patent applications has been published online. Dr. Rick Honaker from the University of Kentucky is a co-inventor of this patent. This patent presents an innovative method for the recovery of valuable metals, including rare earths and other critical elements, from precombustion coal-based materials. The technology is currently being tested at a pilot rare earth plant in western Kentucky. [Link to the patent application]

Oct. Dr. Wencai Zhang received a $300,000 project from the REMADE Institute. An innovative air-assisted microfluidic extraction system will be constructed and used to recover precious metals from electronic waste. A gold product of more than 80% purity is expected to be produced upon the completion of this project.

Oct. Dr. Wencai Zhang has published eleven articles in high-rank journals (Fuels, Minerals Engineering, Waste Management, Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and Frontiers in Chemistry) since joining VT. These articles deal with several different topics: (1) Calcination mechanisms for rare earth and lithium recovery from coal coarse refuse; (2) Process flowsheet development for rare earth and other critical metals recovery from an acid mine leachate; (3) Improvements in unburned carbon flotation recovery from coal fly ash using an emulsified collector; and (4) Depression mechanisms of using sodium alginate as an inhibitor in molybdenite-chalcopyrite flotation separation. A good start of our research group! Hope to be more productive in the future!