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DOE to hold Critical Materials Energy Innovation Hub workshop

DOE to hold Critical Materials Energy Innovation Hub workshop

A “criticality matrix” shows how the impact of supply risk for certain critical minerals. This matrix was developed by the National Research Council panel for a 2008 report, “Minerals, Critical Minerals and the U.S. Economy.” Credit: NRC; NAE.

The Advanced Manufacturing Office of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will be holding a half-day workshop on April 3 in Arlington, Va., to “discuss foundational aspects for a Critical Materials Energy Innovation Hub.” The registration deadline is soon — March 30!

The workshop anticipates a Funding Opportunity Announcement and will explain the concept of critical materials, review background and introduce the Critical Materials Hub focus and expectations.

The Hub’s mission includes “identifying more efficient use of critical materials in energy technologies and improving the efficiency, and reducing the production costs, for supplies of critical materials” to help reduce the risk of supply shortages and interruptions for domestic manufacturers.

A limited number participants can attend via webinar, and the entire event will be posted on the AMO website sometime after the event.

Outside of the DOE realm, see “Issues of scarce materials in the United States,” by Steve Freiman and Lynnette Madsen in the the April issue of The Bulletin (see e-magazine version online) for an in-depth analysis of critical and scarce materials. Freiman also was a guest on a recent Kojo Nnamdi radio show on the subject.

Rare earth elements is subject of D.C. area radio show featuring ACerS’ Steve Freiman

Rare earth elements is subject of D.C. area radio show featuring ACerS’ Steve Freiman

ACerS past president was a guest on a recent radio broadcast to discuss rare earth elements. Credit: Wikipedia.

Steve Freiman, ACerS past president, was a guest on the Kojo Nnamdi radio show on Monday to discuss the science and politics of rare earth elements. Sharing the studio with Freiman was Richard McGregor, Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times. Nnamdi is based at WAMU at American University in Washington, D.C.

The issue lit up on Nnamdi’s radar when the United States recently asked the World Trade Organization to settle a long-standing trade dispute with the  Chinese earlier this week.

Freiman explains how they are used in applications, how their electronic structures give them their unique properties and make it difficult to find substitutes. He also talks about the difficulties connected with mining of rare earth ores, the pending reopening of the Molycorp mine in the US, urban mining and more.

Coincidentally, Freiman wrote (with Lynnette Madsen) an article on this topic for the April issue of The Bulletin. The article (pdf), “Issues of scarce materials in the United States,” discusses critical raw materials in terms of the ideas of scarcity and criticality of raw materials, including rare earths. Frieman was a member of the 2008 National Research Council Committee on Critical Material Impacts on the U.S. Economy.

The interview is the first 28 minutes of Monday’s broadcast. Nnamdi asks insightful questions and does a good job balancing the scientific and political challenges involved with the rare earth issue.

The April issue of The Bulletin is available online now, and will land in mailboxes later this week.