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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia Water Research Institute at West Virginia University has been awarded $5 million by the U.S. Department of Energy to scale up its successful Rare Earth Recovery Project, which will include building a facility at a new acid mine drainage treatment plant near Mount Storm.

MORGANTOWN — The development of a steady domestic supply of crucial rare-earth elements has been in the works for some time, and mining engineers at West Virginia University are among those working toward that goal.

Scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium are the 17 REEs. These elements play a vital role in technologies ranging from green energy and consumer electronics to missile defense systems and aerospace applications.

Written by: Carrie Staton

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center (NBAC) at West Virginia University (WVU), partnered with InnerAction Media (IAM) in 2019 to produce two videos that showcase Morgantown, Fairmont, Star City and the surrounding areas along the Monongahela River.

by Sydney Maurer, The Hampshire Review

CAPON BRIDGE, W.Va. – Capon Bridge’s Capon School Street has been selected as the first site to benefit from the newly reactivated FOCUS WV grant program launched by the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University.

When asked if the old coal mine is now like a potential gold mine because of rare earth elements, Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz, professor and director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at WVU, responded, “That’s a nice way of putting it.”

“The red phosphor in your television screen, for example, is europium. That’s a rare earth element,” said Dr. Ziemkiewicz.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition consists of essentially all the companies involved in the shale gas industry.  It is holding its annual Shale Insight conference in October in Pittsburgh and welcomes student participation. This is a good opportunity for faculty to become familiar with the industry and for students to meet potential employers. Skills that are in demand include not only petroleum engineering and geology but GIS, remediation, ecological assessment. Students participation is particularly encouraged in the Technology Showcase and Student University Research Showcase sessions.

Find more information here: https://shaleinsight.com/

Power plants across the country utilize more than four times as much water as all U.S. homes and account for 41 percent of total water withdrawals, according to federal data. 

Now, with the aid of a $400,000-Department of Energy grant, West Virginia University researchers are seeking ways to quench the thirst of the nation’s power plants in a more cost-effective, environmentally-friendly fashion. 

Paul Ziemkiewicz , director of the Water Research Institute at West Virginia University’s Energy Institute, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Tuesday, May 14, on recent research advances on the development of a domestic source of rare earth elements.

RREs, the minerals that make electronic devices work, are essential to the economy and national security.  Currently, the primary source of these minerals worldwide is China.  

Originally written by Connor Griffith, WVNews