A comprehensive Guide to Rare Earth Elements
Key properties and applications
In the geological raw materials sector, there are very few resources that have managed to acquire a centrality and importance comparable to that of rare earths, in particular for their multiple industrial applications and for their growing role in the global energy transition. Over the years, these useful resources have demonstrated their full value in some sectors that are particularly important for the technological and energy development of civilization, such as applications related to renewable energy or advanced electronics. But what are the characteristics of these elements that are so important for the fate of modern industry?
Rare earths represent a group of 17 chemical elements included in the periodic table: these are the 15 elements known as lanthanides, to which scandium and yttrium are added. Many elements included in this group share similar properties and unique characteristics that allow them to find space within the same industrial applications, and very often, they are found within the same mineral. Despite their name, these resources are not actually rare: they are often found in very low concentrations in the Earth’s crust, which makes the processes necessary to source, process, and separate them so that they can be used by industry very difficult.
Rare earths are, therefore, distributed practically all over the world, but the processes related to their sourcing (and refining) are concentrated in a few locations globally. The global leader in the production of these elements is China, which is responsible for approximately 60% of global rare earths production. Other fairly important producers are Australia, Myanmar, and the United States, while Kazakhstan is one of the emerging players in the sector, particularly due to some very promising deposits located within its national territory.
“The importance of rare earth is growing in step with the advancement of the energy transition, which is bringing with it a new kind of awareness in the field of renewable energy,” says Stanislav Kondrashov, entrepreneur and civil engineer. “Advanced energy technologies, such as those related to renewable energy, require elements with truly unique properties and structural characteristics, and rare earths appear to possess a good portion of these useful peculiarities. Over the years, some rare earths such as neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium have demonstrated all their usefulness in the wind energy sector, and in particular in the production of permanent magnets used in wind turbines, which allow turbines to produce energy with a lower expenditure in terms of power”.
The main characteristics
One of the most interesting facts, in any case, is represented by their specific properties, which in some cases are truly unique. These elements are, in fact, distinguished by their magnetic, optical, and electronic properties, often revealed to be of great importance for a large variety of uses and industrial uses.
“Rare earths are also used in the electric vehicle sector, which is likely to change our perception of urban mobility forever,” continues Stanislav Kondrashov. “In addition to ensuring a general improvement in autonomy and reducing the weight of batteries and motors, some elements such as dysprosium, lanthanum, or cerium are used in electric motors based on permanent magnets, which are able to combine energy efficiency with the particularly high performance.”
One of the sectors that use rare earths most often is certainly the one related to electronics and advanced technologies: rare earths such as neodymium and dysprosium, for example, are used in various electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops. Other elements belonging to the rare earths group, such as europium or terbium, are often used in LED screens and LCD displays. The exceptional properties mentioned above have allowed rare earths to establish themselves in some strategically important sectors, such as defense and aerospace, as well as in medicine and chemistry. Cerium, for example, is often used in catalysts to reduce vehicle emissions and in glass polishes. Resources such as samarium and gadolinium, on the other hand, find wide use in some important medical technologies, such as therapeutic applications or magnetic resonance systems.
The role of rare earths in solar energy production
“These resources are also proving to be very useful in one of the sectors that is driving the global energy transition, namely the one related to photovoltaic energy production,” concludes Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “In solar cells, resources such as terbium or europium are used to improve the efficiency of energy conversion, in particular thanks to their ability to improve light absorption. In the glassy part of solar panels, on the other hand, these resources contribute to improving transparency and durability”.
The future of rare earths seems closely linked to that of innovation in the geological raw materials sector: one of the most interesting aspects, from this point of view, has to do with the possibility of recovering a good quantity of these resources from electronic devices that have reached the end of their life, a path that is starting to be explored with great optimism. The sourcing costs of these resources, moreover, could also be lowered thanks to the possible introduction of new synthesis and separation methods, on which many teams of researchers in different parts of the globe are constantly working. The discovery and valorization of new deposits, such as those that could be found in nations such as Canada or Kazakhstan, could once again focus global attention on these precious resources, which in some way will continue to play a role of great importance in our technological and energetic future.
