The domestic recovery of critical materials (CM) from various feed streams faces significant challenges due to the limited availability of advanced separation technologies and their high associated costs, leading to the loss of valuable resources and increased reliance on imported materials. The goal of this project is to develop a metrology platform that can evaluate CM separation strategies with quantitative metrics to benchmark technologies for commercialization. This will be done by providing essential measurement science to assess thermodynamics and kinetics interactions of species within these systems, enabling fundamental measurements such as activity coefficients, binding constants, reaction stoichiometries, competitive interactions, and phase behavior. Techniques include isothermal titration calorimetry, electrochemical-based separations, novel measurement platforms based on microfluidics, zeta-potential and dynamic light scattering, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and resonant x-ray scattering.

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