Penn State EarthTalks: Oct. 28 - Recycling As A Strategy To Increase Critical Minerals Supply

 Thandazile Moyo, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State, will give the talk, “Aligning with Recycling as a Strategy for Reliable Critical Metals Supply: Policies, Challenges, and Opportunities in the U.S.,” at 4:00 p.m. on October 28, in 112 Walker Building on the University Park campus. 

The talk will also be available via Zoom.

“The processing and reprocessing of secondary materials is one of the key strategies to secure the supply of critical and energy transition metals in the U.S.,” Moyo said. “Mine waste and end-of-life electronic and electric equipment are widely accepted as important sources of these critical metals. Black mass from waste batteries and printed circuit boards from electronic waste are examples of materials that have received significant attention from research and industry that are looking at gainfully recycling key metals from waste.”

Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams and contains critical metals whose primary sources are geographically concentrated; Moyo said it makes sense to view this waste stream as an “urban mine,” non-geographically bound but enabled and limited by its own challenges.

Recycling these critical materials faces challenges relating to policy, recycling technologies and logistics among others. 

Moyo's talk will explore the technological, socioeconomic and institutional factors affecting the development of a robust electronic-waste recycling industry using critical metal-rich fractions like batteries and printed circuit boards as a case study. 

Her research asks questions such as: How does the categorization of these waste fractions as hazardous waste impact their recycling? How do policies such as the extended producer responsibility (EPR) support the development of this industry? What policy shifts, if any, support the federal government’s Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains to ensure secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals through recycling and reprocessing?

Thandazile Moyo joined the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering as an assistant professor in 2023. 

She is a chemical engineer by training and much of her research is focused on flowsheet design and testing to recover target metals from secondary resources and low-grade primary ores. 

She is interested in the responsible development of these metal-bearing resources and looks beyond the technical, to understand the socio-environmental implications of their development and understand how policy shifts align with circular economy principles.

The talk is part of the EarthTalks fall 2024 series, “Legal Elements of the Energy Transition,” which explores the legal elements of decarbonizing of the energy system. It features a series of Penn State and national experts who will discuss the legal environment for specific low-carbon technologies, and ways in which the legal system itself could or should be used to encourage a transition to cleaner energy technologies. 

For more information about the fall 2024 series, visit the EarthTalks website.

Visit Penn State’s Center for Critical Minerals webpage for more information on issues related to critical minerals and rare earth elements.

[Posted: October 23, 2024]  PA Environment Digest