Publication

Abstract : Rare Earth Elements (REE) including the lanthanide series elements (La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) plus Y and Sc is the rising future and trend of the world whose immense significance in the field of agriculture, medicine, defence sector, digital marketing etc., make it as an asset of the nation. Though India has more ore than US, it mined 3000 tons of Rare Earth Elements in 2020 while the western nation mined 38000 tons. India faces issues in mining as well in the separation of these Rare Earth Elements from the ore. In order to tackle these problems and to meet the increasing demand of REE we have come up with the new method in which "Lanmodulin", a protein extracted from bacterium "Methylobacterium extorquens" is employed. Under the conditions of low pH and eminent stability the LanM microbeads have an excellent property to attract REE over adsorption and desorption cycles. It is proven that lanmodulin has the ability to extract 90% of the Rare Earth Elements from very complex aqueous feedstock solutions without requiring organic solvents. Chelating agents are used to separate the REE from LanM. We can also extract valuable metals such as bauxite, silver, aluminium and other element in the process of extraction of REE.