As an important step toward overcoming the technical and environmental limitations of current REE processing methods, the LLNL team has patented and demonstrated a biobased, all-aqueous REE extraction and separation scheme using the REE-selective lanmodulin protein. Lanmodulin can be fixed onto porous support materials using thiol-maleimide chemistry, which can enable tandem REE purification…

LLNL researchers have discovered that some inexpensive and commercially available molecules used for other applications, could render certain lanthanide and actinide elements highly fluorescent. These molecules are not sold for applications involving the detection of REEs and actinides via fluorescence. They are instead used as additives in cosmetic products and/or in the pharmaceutical…