DOE to award $25M for wastewater miningMetal Tech News - November 5, 2025ARPA-E supports 10 U.S. projects refining lithium, rare earth recovery....

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DOE to award $25M for wastewater mining
Metal Tech News - November 5, 2025

ARPA-E supports 10 U.S. projects refining lithium, rare earth recovery.
Advancing domestic resource recovery under the Trump administration's energy and mineral independence agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) plans to invest nearly $25 million in 10 projects for the extraction of critical minerals from wastewater, an initiative aimed at converting industrial and municipal waste streams into new domestic supply sources for essential materials.

Launched under the Realize Energy-rich Compound Opportunities Valorizing Extraction from Refuse waters, or RECOVER, program, the effort supports development of systems capable of recovering critical minerals from oilfield brines, mine drainage, and other wastewaters.

Established earlier this year, RECOVER aligns with the "Unleashing American Energy" and "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production" executive orders, both designed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources for minerals vital to energy and manufacturing.

"These minerals are called critical for a reason. They enable our nuclear reactors, advanced electronics, and energy storage technologies," said ARPA-E Director Conner Prochaska. "RECOVER will join the other initiatives in DOE's critical minerals campaign to reshore the processing of critical materials and strengthen our domestic supply of these vital resources."

Through RECOVER, ARPA-E seeks technologies that operate alongside existing wastewater treatment systems to capture lithium, rare earth elements, and other high-value materials while reducing disposal volumes and creating new economic incentives for resource recovery.

Selected projects will deliver energy-productive, durable, and highly selective processes that use minimal sequential steps and are automated, scalable, and adaptable to both existing and new wastewater facilities.

So far, selected projects include:

• University of Texas at Austin – advancing bio-inspired membranes to recover lithium, phosphate, ammonium, and other ions from oilfield and municipal wastewater. By mimicking biological selectivity at an industrial scale, the $2 million project aims to convert complex waste streams into domestic mineral sources for U.S. energy and manufacturing.

• University of Missouri, Columbia – deploying AI-augmented ion-imprinted polymers to capture critical minerals such as neodymium, praseodymium, and terbium from mining waste. Engineered with polymer cavities tailored to specific ions, this $2.8 million project targets rare earth recovery from acid mine drainage and similar sources.

• Phoenix Tailings Inc. (Woburn, Massachusetts) – developing tailored ligands that form temperature-stable, volatile complexes with critical minerals in dilute brine streams. By enabling fractional distillation to isolate pure salts at low concentrations, the $1.6 million project advances a novel separation pathway for strategic materials used across U.S. clean energy and defense applications.

As part of DOE's broader critical minerals and materials campaign, RECOVER selections will proceed to award negotiations. Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding, and the Energy Department has the option to rescind selections during negotiations.

Through these combined efforts, DOE aims to transform waste into a resource base for U.S. industry – building resilient domestic supply chains essential to sustaining the next generation of nuclear, electronic, and energy storage technologies.
Source:https://www.metaltechnews.com/story/2025/11/05/tech-bytes/doe-to-award-25m-for-wastewater-mining/2540.html

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