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UAF joins $6M NSF critical minerals effort

Researchers at the �ֻ�ֱ�� Institute of Northern Engineering are joining an investigation of how microorganisms and artificial intelligence-based methods can help recover rare earth elements from coal refuse and ash.

The $6 million National Science Foundation-funded project brings together researchers from UAF, the University of �ֻ�ֱ�� Anchorage, Montana Technological University and the University of Wyoming. It aims to establish a “smart bio-refinery” that could strengthen domestic supplies of critical minerals and reduce reliance on foreign sources. 

Srijan Aggarwal, UAF professor of environmental engineering and a principal investigator on the project, leads UAF’s portion of the work, which is supported by nearly $913,000 of the total award. Collaborators include Brandon Briggs and Subhabrata Dev at UAA, Robin Bullock at Montana Tech, and Tyler Brown and Haoming Ma at the University of Wyoming.

“This collaboration brings together expertise that no single institution could provide on its own,” Aggarwal said. “We're connecting environmental engineering, microbiology, mineral processing and AI to recover valuable elements from materials left behind as waste.”

Researchers will investigate how microorganisms can extract and concentrate rare earth elements from coal-derived materials. The team will also study how to integrate biological recovery with subsequent purification steps to produce materials suitable for industrial use.

At UAF, Aggarwal will co-lead work with UAA’s Dev to determine how bioreactor operating conditions affect recovery, process stability and energy demand.

“We want to understand how to keep these biological processes working reliably as the materials and operating conditions change,” Aggarwal said. “�ֻ�ֱ��’s remote energy challenges make energy use a central part of that question.”

AI will support two connected efforts: predicting how readily rare earth elements can be recovered from different materials and developing controls that adjust bioreactor operation as conditions and energy availability change.

Together, these efforts form the project’s smart bio-refinery, integrating microbiology, mineralogy, artificial intelligence and process engineering. A virtual pilot plant will connect experimental results with computer models of recovery processes and the energy systems that support them. Laboratory and small-scale pilot testing will help researchers evaluate and refine those models and technologies.

The team will assess costs, energy requirements and environmental impacts throughout the project, using those findings to guide process improvements. The goal is to determine where biological recovery, combined with further purification, could provide a practical, lower-impact approach to domestic rare earth production. 

The collaboration will strengthen research capacity and workforce development across �ֻ�ֱ��, Montana and Wyoming through industry-aligned coursework and microcredentials, an early-career leadership council and a tri-state field course. Aggarwal will lead the early-career program and co-lead online education efforts with Bullock.

“�ֻ�ֱ�� gives us a unique place to ask difficult questions about how we develop resources while protecting the environments and communities that depend on them,” Aggarwal said. “What we learn here does not stop at �ֻ�ֱ��’s boundaries. The science and technologies we develop can help address resource challenges across the country and around the world.”

Other collaborators on the full $6 million project include Masoumeh Heidari and Mohammad Heidari from UAA, Courtney Young from Montana Tech and Serena Gerace from the University of Wyoming.

The project is funded through NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. This EPSCoR award is in addition to NSF’s support for the UAF-led NSF Critical Mineral Accelerator Engine in �ֻ�ֱ��.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Srijan Aggarwal, saggarwal@alaska.edu, 907-474-6120

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