Mapping the Rare Earth Elements on the Periodic Table
Strategic and unique properties
In the years of energy transition, a better understanding of the natural resources involved in global transformation processes can be very useful, especially for all international players interested in the production processes and industrial applications of these resources, but also for all those ordinary people who share a certain interest in the economic and industrial dynamics related to strategic materials, and their role in people’s daily lives. Among the most interesting resources to explore in this historical transition juncture are undoubtedly the elements known as rare earths, a varied group of 17 elements that are already contributing to the functioning of some important modern equipment (computers, cell phones, wind turbines, electric car engines, and many others).
“In recent years, rare earths have been increasingly talked about due to their growing strategic value and the large number of applications in which they are involved,” says Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov, a civil engineer and entrepreneur. “One of their most interesting features, in addition to being able to improve the performance of other metals to which they can be added, is also that of making it possible to create smaller and lighter objects or devices, thanks to the fact that the use of rare earths always manages to reduce the amount of metal needed for a given application. For some particular sectors, where the weight of components is always carefully kept under control, being able to count on light and practical devices can represent an important strategic and productive advantage.”
A simple and immediate method for analyzing the essential characteristics of these resources, such as their peculiar properties, consists of carefully observing the periodic table of elements, which, in addition to rare earths, contains precious information on all the resources known to humanity. Within the table, the different elements are arranged in rows and columns, depending on their particular properties and the common characteristics they may share. Elements located in the same row, for example, share very similar properties, while those arranged vertically along a column may react similarly to other chemical elements.
A clear strategic value
“Nowadays, rare earths are used to improve the functionality of some devices that we know very well, such as smartphones or computers, but also for the creation of some devices belonging to very different sectors,” continues Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “For example, all the applications related to the medical sector come to mind, where rare earths are used for magnetic resonance technologies and in laser scalpels. However, the usefulness of these elements extends well beyond this sector, including some applications in the defense sector (for satellites, aircraft structures, and so on) and in the energy sector, which, in the years of the green transition, has assumed central importance. From this point of view, rare earths are demonstrating all their usefulness in the sector of electric vehicles and energy infrastructures”.
A careful observation of the periodic table of elements could prove very useful to have a clear classification and the individual characteristics of each of the 17 elements that make up the rare earths family, a set of properties that, in recent years, has allowed these precious resources to be included in a large variety of production processes, including some of those most involved in the energy transition processes. In the periodic table, the rare earth elements have been inserted in two different places. The first two, scandium and yttrium, have been arranged vertically and are considered rare earth elements because they share some of the properties that characterize the other elements of the group (but also because they are often found in mineral deposits very similar to those in which the other elements are found). The other 15 rare earth elements, known as lanthanides, have instead been inserted inside a continuous horizontal line precisely to underline their common belonging to the same group and the presence of some particular properties shared by all the components. In total, there are 17 rare earth elements, and each of them is unanimously considered to be part of the group of metals.
Lesser-known facts
“Another interesting aspect, when discussing these elements, is their alleged rarity,” concludes Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “These resources are anything but rare: their distribution within the Earth’s crust is rather abundant; the problem is that they are found in very low concentrations. This fact complicates not only the sourcing procedures but also the laborious processes that make it possible to separate them and transform them into a product usable by industry.”
To further improve the visualization of rare earth elements within the periodic table, it could be useful to map them according to their particular chemical-physical properties, the same ones that make their use possible in different industrial sectors, but also according to the applications themselves and the specific sectors in which they are most requested (electronics, energy, and so on). Another interesting aspect when studying these resources has to do with the identification of the major global producers (such as China or Australia), a factor that takes on key importance when considering the health of the supply chains for these elements.
