Innovation for a More Resilient U.S. Rare Earths Supply Chain
8:30 a.m.
Registration and Breakfast
Princeton Ballroom
9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Overview
Princeton Ballroom
Iain McCulloch, Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Professor in Energy and the Environment, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
9:10 a.m.
Framing the Day
Chris Greig, Associate Director for External Partnerships, Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
9:15 a.m.
Keynote: The Future of Rare Earth Elements Sourcing
Global demand for REEs is projected to triple by 2035. This keynote will explore the landscape of current and future demand in the U.S. and the resource, investment, and process challenges of scaling up our supplies.
Chris Greig, Moderator, Associate Director for External Partnerships, Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
Vasileios Tsianos, Senior Vice President, Neo Performance Materials; Chairman, Rare Earth Industry Association (REIA)
10:15 a.m.
Break
(20 minutes)
10:35 a.m.
Opportunities to Enhance Traditional Supplies
The U.S. currently extracts less than 2% of the REEs mined worldwide, and much of the subsequent processing of those elements happens abroad. This panel will consider scale-up and innovation in traditional practices, including domestic mining and processing opportunities, moving supply chains to trusted international partners, and reprocessing of mining waste.
Anthony Ku, Moderator, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Clear Skies Hydrogen (CSH2); Co-chair, Industrial Advisory Board, International Roundtable on Critical Materials; Industrial Council Member, Critical Materials Innovation Hub; Non-resident Fellow, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
Elisa Alonso, Acting Deputy Director and Assistant Chief for the Minerals Intelligence Research Section, National Minerals Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Pengbo Chu, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University
Mary Lou Lauria, Senior Vice President Environment and Sustainability Global, Worley
Jud Marte, Senior Vice President of Engineering, MP Materials
12:00 p.m.
Lunch
Gratella
1:30 p.m.
Harnessing Unconventional Resources
Secondary and recycled sources could be a significant resource for REEs without the need for mining, but their scale and economic viability are uncertain. The opportunities and approaches for extracting and processing REEs from waste streams such as coal waste, wastewater, discarded electronics, and even the ocean floor will be explored in this panel.
Z. Jason Ren, Moderator, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University; Co-Founder, Chief Scientist, and Director, Princeton Critical Minerals (PureLi Inc.)
Sarah Jordaan, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design, McGill University
Ryan Kingsbury, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
Erica Ocampo, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Metals Company
Jason Trembly, Russ Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Director, Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment, Ohio University
2:45 p.m.
Break
(20 minutes)
3:05 p.m.
The Next Frontier: Electro-Processing
Electro-processing techniques for REE extraction, recovery, and processing from ores and waste streams could offer substantial environmental benefits over traditional approaches, most notably lower energy use and reduced hazardous waste. This panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities in these novel approaches to REE production.
Emily Carter, Moderator, Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Professor in Energy and the Environment, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Applied and Computational Mathematics, Founding Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University; Senior Strategic Advisor and Associate Laboratory Director of Applied Materials and Sustainability Sciences, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Yiguang Ju, Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University; Head, Electromanufacturing Science, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Michele Sarazen, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University
Daniel Steingart, Co-director Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center; Stanley-Thompson Professor of Chemical Metallurgy; Professor of Chemical Engineering; Professor of Chemical Engineering and Climate, Columbia University
4:20 p.m.
Wrap-Up Discussion and Next Steps
4:30 p.m.
Poster Session and Reception
Treehouse Lounge