FHL is proud of its record of hosting many different types of research, from genomics to subtidal ecology. The collaborative work described in this Tide Bite is new for us, but of great potential importance – and a nice example of applied work requiring the wisdom of a basic scientist – in this case, someone capable of identifying algae (not easy!) and understanding their ecology and life histories. It is great for FHL to have professional collaborations with organizations like the Pacific Northwest National Lab (Battelle, U.S. Department of Energy) and other outside-UW entities, to extend the breadth of our research and interactions.
Tom Mumford started here as a graduate student; today is the due date for students applying to come to FHL for 2024 summer courses. Last summer ~70% of our students received scholarships, with an average award of just under $3,000. Please help us make these transformative experiences possible for more students by donating to our Adopt-A-Student fund!
How does FHL Research help build your cell phone?
by Tom Mumford
Tom is a long-time FHLer, first coming to the Labs in 1969 for his doctoral research. He’s been involved since, in both research and teaching the summer marine botany course and zoobots. His “day job” was with the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources, and upon retirement he’s continued his involvement with kelp conservation and restoration. The work below was done with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) scientists Michael Huesemann and fellow phycologist Scott Edmondson.
When was the last time you worried about where your Neodymium was coming from? Or your Dyspropium? Whoa, wait a minute! What are Neodymium and Dyspropium? And why should I care? Well, these are two of the 17 elements called rare earth elements (REEs), soft silvery Lanthanide series metals (Figure 1), that are critical components in strong magnets used in motors for electric cars, batteries, lasers, TV screens, hard disk drives, PET detectors, and a host of obscure but critical machines and electronic devices. These metals are currently refined from ore which comes mainly from huge environmentally-destructive open pit mines in China and Russia. The U.S. Department of Energy‘s ARPA-E program is putting a great deal of research money into developing alternative domestic sources for these strategically-critical elements, using more environmentally friendly methods with the goal of being carbon neutral.
You might ask, how did FHL get involved in this research? REEs are found in seawater in vast amounts but in minute concentrations (parts per billion – ppb – to parts per million – ppm). Various ways have been proposed to extract the REEs from seawater, but one of the more promising is the fact that some seaweeds can bioconcentrate REEs on the order of 103 to 106 times above background seawater concentrations. If seaweed can be cultured in natural seawater and we let them do the “work” of concentrating these key elements, that would be an efficient and eco-friendly method of solving this modern need. The trick is to figure out which seaweed to grow, how to grow it economically at a large scale and in the right conditions to optimize REE bioconcentration, and then how to process the seaweed into something that has the same or greater REE concentrations than the ore currently being refined. Oh, and ideally be able to also use any seaweed material left over to add value – for example as biofuels or biochar – thus allowing us to show that this whole process has a positive Life Cycle Energy assessment.
In 2020 a team of biologists, engineers, and economists from the PNNL at Sequim WA, Colorado State University, and the University of Washington received a two-year grant to demonstrate the feasibility of the obtaining REEs from seaweeds through the process outlined above. The project was called UNCLE SAM (UNrealized Critical Lanthanide Extraction via Sea Algae Mining: Biomining Critical Minerals). I harbor a suspicion that PNNL scientists have to be able come up with great acronyms in order to be funded! My main task while based at FHL was to collect a variety of seaweeds from various locations at different times of the year in large enough quantities to be analyzed for initial screening, then get live material to Sequim for the lab to start cultivation experiments (Figure 2). It was important that the experimental algae were clearly identified species, in order to be consistent with all work we do in the future and work done by other researchers. While most of the species were “no brainers” to identify, the “Ulva” (sea lettuce) species turned out to be problematic. This won’t surprise any marine scientist who has tried to identify thin green blades that have few distinguishing characteristics! I worked with Wilson Freshwater at the University of North Carolina Wilmington to barcode the Ulva specimens from various locations in Washington. He got most of them identified, but several are yet to be named. Fortunately the plants didn’t care what we called them, they grew and did their REE thing. The culture work suggests that the Ulvas are the seaweeds most likely to be used for this work (Figure 3). So the next time you gaze out across the green tide at False Bay on San Juan Island (Figure 4), think “Neodymium!”
The second part of the project that I was involved with was the modeling for the Technical Economic Analysis and the Total Life Cycle Assessment. I helped research different ways to grow seaweeds through literature searches and discussions with colleagues, and then worked with PNNL scientists in devising ways to increase the yields of REEs and lower energy costs of cultivation. Working on these issues with economists and engineers has stretched my knowledge and has been a great exercise learning to work as a team. The fact that this whole project was done during COVID meant that most of the work was done on Zoom, by handing off specimens in parking lots, and working on FaceTime in the culture rooms.
We have been awarded funding for a follow-up project to further develop this process. The project is called Exploring Macroalgae as Critical Mineral Crops or E(MC)2 (see what I mean about PNNL acronyms?). The work will focus on optimizing the REE concentrations in seaweed as well as developing better methods to extract the REEs from seaweeds in more economically and environmentally favorable ways.
So, FHL is playing a part in a large strategic geopolitical effort. Someday soon when you use your cell phone in your electric car, you can be thanking seaweed!
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