Rapid flash Joule heating technique unlocks efficient rare‑earth element recovery from electronic waste

New gas‑solid separation method promises cleaner, cheaper recycling of critical elements

Rice University

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A team of researchers including Rice University’s James Tour and Shichen Xu has developed an ultrafast, one-step method to recover rare earth elements (REEs) from discarded magnets using an innovative approach that offers significant environmental and economic benefits over traditional recycling methods. 

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Credit: Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

A team of researchers including Rice University’s James Tour and Shichen Xu has developed an ultrafast, one-step method to recover rare earth elements (REEs) from discarded magnets using an innovative approach that offers significant environmental and economic benefits over traditional recycling methods. Their study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sept. 29, 2025.

Conventional rare earth recycling is energy-heavy and creates toxic waste. The research team’s method uses flash Joule heating (FJH), which rapidly raises material temperatures to thousands of degrees within milliseconds, and chlorine gas to extract REEs from magnet waste in seconds without needing water or acids. The breakthrough supports U.S. efforts to boost domestic mineral supplies.

“We’ve demonstrated that we can recover rare earth elements from electronic waste in seconds with minimal environmental footprint,” said Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of materials science and nanoengineering and study corresponding author. “It’s the kind of leap forward we need to secure a resilient and circular supply chain.”

Hypothesis rooted in thermodynamic selectivity

The researchers proposed that FJH combined with chlorine gas could take advantage of differences in Gibbs free energy, a measure of a material’s reactivity, and varying boiling points to selectively remove non-REE elements from magnet waste.

In the presence of chlorine gas, elements such as iron or cobalt would chlorinate and vaporize first, leaving the REE oxides behind. The research team tested this process on neodymium iron boron and samarium cobalt magnet waste using ultrafast FJH under a chlorine atmosphere. By precisely controlling the temperatures and heating the materials within seconds, the non-REE elements were converted into volatile chlorides, which then separated from the solid REEs.

The scientists observed that the nonrare earth elements were removed almost instantaneously, enabling the recovery of a purer rare-earth residue.

“The thermodynamic advantage made the process both efficient and clean,” said Xu, the first author of the study and a postdoctoral associate at Rice. “This method not only works in tiny fractions of the time compared to traditional routes, but it also avoids any use of water or acid, something that wasn’t thought possible until now.”

In addition to laboratory experiments, the researchers conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to benchmark their process. They achieved over 90% purity and yield for REE recovery in a single step. The LCA and TEA revealed an 87% reduction in energy use, an 84% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and a 54% reduction in operating costs compared to hydrometallurgy. 

The process eliminates the need for water and acid inputs entirely, according to the study.

Toward scalable, circular rare‑earth economy

The new method makes it possible to build small or large, easy-to-use recycling units that can be placed close to where electronic waste is collected. These local systems can process used magnets quickly and cleanly, cutting down on shipping costs and helping the environment.

“The results show that this is more than an academic exercise — it’s a viable industrial pathway,” Tour said. 

This Rice intellectual property has been licensed to Flash Metals USA, a startup company in Texas’ Chambers County that will be in production mode by the first quarter of 2026 to capitalize on this process.  

Co-authors of the study include Rice’s Justin Sharp, Bing Deng, Qiming Liu, Lucas Eddy, Weiqiang Chen, Jaeho Shin, Shihui Chen, Haoxin Ye, Khalil JeBailey, Bowen Li, Tengda Si and Kai Gong.

This research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A team of researchers including Rice University’s James Tour and Shichen Xu has developed an ultrafast, one-step method to recover rare earth elements (REEs) from discarded magnets using an innovative approach that offers significant environmental and economic benefits over traditional recycling methods. 

Credit

Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2507819122 

Article Title

Sustainable separation of rare earth elements from wastes

Article Publication Date

29-Sep-2025

 

Scientists successfully recreate wildfire-induced thunderstorms in Earth system models for the first time

The breakthrough enhances scientific understanding of the dangerous storms and their long-term impacts on the climate

Desert Research Institute

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A developing pyrocumulonimbus cloud above Oregon's Gulch Fire, part of the Beaver Complex Fire, in 2014. 

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Credit: NASA

On September 5, 2020, California’s Creek Fire grew so severe that it began producing it’s own weather system. The fire’s extreme heat produced an explosive thunderhead that spewed lightning strikes and further fanned the roaring flames, making containment elusive and endangering the lives of firefighters on the ground. These wildfire-born storms have become a growing part of fire seasons across the West, with lasting impacts on air quality, weather, and climate. Until now, scientists have struggled to replicate them in Earth system models, hindering our ability to predict their occurrence and understand their impacts on the global climate. Now, a new study provides a breakthrough by developing a novel wildfire-Earth system modeling framework.  

The research, published September 25th in Geophysical Research Letters, represents the first successful simulation of these wildfire-induced storms, known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds, within an Earth system model. Led by DRI scientist Ziming Ke, the study successfully reproduced the observed timing, height, and strength of the Creek Fire’s thunderhead – one of the largest known pyrocumulonimbus clouds seen in the U.S., according to NASA. The model also replicated multiple thunderstorms produced by the 2021 Dixie Fire, which occurred under very different conditions. Accounting for the way that cloud development is aided by moisture lofted into the higher reaches of the atmosphere by terrain and winds is key to their findings.   

“This work is a first-of-its-kind breakthrough in Earth system modeling,” Ke said. “It not only demonstrates how extreme wildfire events can be studied within Earth system models, but also establishes DRI’s growing capability in Earth system model development — a core strength that positions the institute to lead future advances in wildfire–climate science.”  

When a pyrocumulonimbus cloud forms, it injects smoke and moisture into the upper atmosphere at magnitudes comparable to those of small volcanic eruptions, impacting the way Earth’s atmosphere receives and reflects sunlight. These fire aerosols can persist for months or longer, altering stratospheric composition. When transported to polar regions, they affect Antarctic ozone dynamics, modify clouds and albedo, and accelerate ice and snow melt, reshaping polar climate feedbacks. Scientists estimate that tens to hundreds of these storms occur globally each year, and that the trend of increasingly severe wildfires will only grow their numbers. Until now, failing to incorporate these storms into Earth system models has hindered our ability to understand this natural disturbance’s impact on global climate. 

The research team also included scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, U.C. Irvine, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Their breakthrough leveraged the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) to successfully capture the complex interplay between wildfires and the atmosphere.  

“Our team developed a novel wildfire–Earth system modeling framework that integrates high-resolution wildfire emissions, a one-dimensional plume-rise model, and fire-induced water vapor transport into DOE’s cutting-edge Earth system model,” Ke said. “This breakthrough advances high-resolution modeling of extreme hazards to improve national resilience and preparedness, and provides the framework for future exploration of these storms at regional and global scales within Earth system models.” 

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More information: The full study, Simulating Pyrocumulonimbus Clouds Using a Multiscale Wildfire Simulation Framework, is available from Geophysical Research Letters at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL114025 

Study authors include: Ziming Ke (DRI/Lawrence Livermore National Lab), Qi Tang (Lawrence Livermore National Lab), Jishi Zhang (Lawrence Livermore National Lab), Yang Chen (UC Irvine), James Randerson (UC Irvine), Jianfeng Li (Pacific NW National Lab), Yunyan Zhang (Lawrence Livermore National Lab) 

About DRI 

We are Nevada’s non-profit research institute, founded in 1959 to empower experts to focus on science that matters. We work with communities across the state — and the world — to address their most pressing scientific questions. We’re proud that our scientists continuously produce solutions that better human and environmental health.   

Scientists at DRI are encouraged to follow their research interests across the traditional boundaries of scientific fields, collaborating across DRI and with scientists worldwide. All faculty support their own research through grants, bringing in nearly $5 to the Nevada economy for every $1 of state funds received. With more than 600 scientists, engineers, students, and staff across our Reno and Las Vegas campuses, we conducted more than $52 million in sponsored research focused on improving peoples’ lives in 2024 alone. 

At DRI, science isn’t merely academic — it’s the key to future-proofing our communities and building a better world. For more information, please visit www.dri.edu. 

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Journal

Geophysical Research Letters

Article Title

Simulating Pyrocumulonimbus Clouds Using a Multiscale Wildfire Simulation Framework

Article Publication Date

25-Sep-2025

 

Researchers discover mechanism that can ramp up magnitude of certain earthquakes

University of Texas at Austin

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A team from The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Chile servicing a UTIG seismometer near Calama, Northern Chile, in 2024. UT graduate student Sabrina Reichert is in the background. U of Chile, Santiago researcher Bertrand J. M. Potin is in the foreground.

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Credit: Thorsten Becker/UT Austin

In July 2024, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Calama, Chile, damaging buildings and causing power outages.

The country has endured violent earthquakes, including the most powerful recorded in history: a 9.5-magnitude “megathrust” event that struck central Chile in 1960, causing a tsunami and killing between 1,000 to 6,000 people. However, the Calama quake was different from the megathrust quakes that are usually associated with the most destructive events in Chile and around the world.

Megathrust earthquakes occur at relatively shallow depths. But the Calama quake occurred much deeper underground, at 125 kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface and within the tectonic slab itself.

Earthquakes this deep usually produce much more subdued shaking on the surface. But in the case of Calama, a sequence of events, discovered by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, helped supercharge its strength. In a recent study in Nature Communications the researchers describe a newly-discovered chain of events that was responsible for increasing the earthquake’s intensity.

In addition to helping explain the tectonic forces behind the powerful quake, the findings have implications for future earthquake hazard assessments.

“These Chilean events are causing more shaking than is normally expected from intermediate-depth earthquakes, and can be quite destructive,” said the study’s lead author Zhe Jia, a research assistant professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. “Our goal is to learn more about how these earthquakes occur, so our research could support emergency response and long-term planning.”

Intermediate-depth earthquakes, such as the one in Calama, were long thought to occur due to pressure building up as the rock dried out – a phenomenon called “dehydration embrittlement.” This process happens when a subducting tectonic plate dives toward the Earth’s hot interior, and the increased heat and pressure forces water out of the minerals within the rock. The dehydrated rocks are weakened and fractured, which can lead them to rupture – triggering an earthquake in the slab.

This dehydration process is typically thought to stop where temperatures exceed 650 degrees Celsius. But according to the researchers, the Calama quake was so powerful because it breached this limit – going 50 kilometers deeper into hotter zones through a second mechanism called “thermal runway.” This involves immense friction from the initial slip generating a large amount of heat at the tip of the rupture, which helps weaken material around it and propels the rupture forward.

“It’s the first time we saw an intermediate-depth earthquake break assumptions, rupturing from a cold zone into a really hot one, and traveling at much faster speeds,” said Jia, who is part of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), a research unit of the Jackson School. “That indicates the mechanism changed from dehydration embrittlement to thermal runaway.”

To determine how the earthquake deformed and the extent of the rupture, the University of Texas team collaborated with researchers in Chile and the United States to integrate multiple types of analyses. This included analyzing seismic data from Chile that captured the rupture’s propagation and speed, geopositioning data from the Global Navigation Satellite System to measure how the fault slipped, and computer simulations to estimate the temperature and composition where the earthquake ruptured.

“The fact that another large earthquake is overdue in Chile has motivated earthquake research and the deployment of multiple seismometers and geodetic stations to monitor earthquakes and how the crust is deforming in the region,” said Thorsten Becker, a co-author of the study and a professor at the Jackson School’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and a senior research scientist at UTIG.

Becker and Jia said that learning more about how earthquakes occur at different depths could help with understanding what controls the size and nature of likely future events, which could help predict the degree of shaking and inform infrastructure planning, early warning systems, and rapid response systems.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID), Chile, UC Open Seed Fund, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

A figure from the study illustrating the two rupture mechanisms described in the paper, dehydration embrittlement and thermal runway, and how they may have increased the force of the Calama earthquake.

Credit

Jia et al

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-63480-5 

Article Title

Deep intra-slab rupture and mechanism transition of the 2024 Mw 7.4 Calama earthquake