Compositions and methods of use thereof for rare earth element separation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020277684-A1
Application number	US-201916289382-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 28, 2019
Priority date	Feb 28, 2019
Publication date	Sep 3, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

This disclosure provides engineered microbes coding at least one rare earth element (REE) binding ligand for the preferential separation of REEs, as well as methods of use thereof.

First claim

I/We claim:

1 . A method for preferentially separating rare earth elements (REE) from a REE containing material comprising the steps of:
a) contacting genetically engineered microbes encoding at least one REE binding ligand with the REE containing material to form a microbe REE-complex; b) introducing a tunable solution to the microbe REE-complex; and c) separating at least a portion of the REEs from the microbe-REE complex based on affinity of the REE for the tunable solution compared to affinity of the REE for the at least one REE binding ligand,
wherein at least a portion of the REEs are preferentially separated from the microbe-REE complex.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the REEs are preferentially separated from the microbe-REE complex by tuning a concentration of the tunable solution.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises introducing a tunable solution to the microbe-REE complex, wherein the REEs are simultaneously adsorbed and desorbed from the at least one REE binding ligand.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating steps (b) and (c) by introducing a modified tunable solution to the microbe-REE complex.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the modified tunable solution has a different concentration and/or is a different tunable solution as compared to the tunable solution in step (b).

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the microbe-REE complex is formed in step (a) at a temperature between about 23° C. to about 100° C.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein a temperature of the modified tunable solution is different than the temperature in step (a).

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one REE binding ligand comprises double lanthanide binding tags (dLBTs).

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one REE binding ligand comprises between 2 and 12 copies of dLBTs.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a concentration of the tunable solution is varied during the separating step (c).

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable solution comprises oxalate, an inorganic acid, an organic acid, a carbonate salt, a buffer, or any combination thereof.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the separating step (c) preferentially separates individual REEs, groups of REEs, REEs adjacent to each other on the periodic table, or combination thereof.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the REE containing material is a low grade material, a high grade material, or a combination thereof.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one REE is separated relative to any other REE, any non-REE component, and/or to any other element. in a purity of at least about 10%, at least about 15%, at least about 20%, at least about 30%, at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at least about 55%, at least about 60%, at least about 65%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 85%, at least about 90%, at least about 95%, or at least about 100%,

15 . A method for preparing a bead for rare earth elements (REE) separation comprising the steps of:
a) providing genetically engineered microbes comprising an exogenous nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one REE binding ligand; and b) emulsifying the genetically engineered microbes with at least one other component to form a high cell density bead of the genetically engineered microbes; wherein the genetically engineered microbes are embedded within or on a surface of the bead.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the high cell density bead of the genetically engineered microbes has a cell density of about 10 8 cells/mL, 10 9 cells/mL, 10 10 cells/mL, 10 11 cells/mL, 10 12 cells/mL, 10 13 cells/mL, 10 14 cells/mL, 10 15 cells/mL.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the bead has an adsorption capacity of about 3 to about 30 milligram (mg) of REE per gram (g) of the genetically engineered microbes.

18 . A bead for rare earth elements (REE) separation comprising genetically engineered microbes comprising an exogenous nucleic acid sequence encoding at least one REE binding ligand emulsified with at least one other component,
wherein the bead has a high cell density of the genetically engineered microbes.

19 . The bead of claim 18 , wherein the high cell density of the genetically engineered microbes is at least about 20 wt % or more of the total weight of the bead or least about 20 vol % or more of the total volume of the bead.

20 . The bead of claim 18 , wherein the at least one REE binding ligand comprises double lanthanide binding tags (dLBTs).

Assignees

• L Livermore Nat Security Llc

Inventors

• Park Dan Mcfarland
• Brewer Aaron William
• Jiao Yongqin

Classifications

• C12P3/00

  Preparation of elements or inorganic compounds except carbon dioxide {(recovery of carbon dioxides as by-products C12F3/02)} · CPC title

• C12N15/70

  Vectors or expression systems specially adapted for E. coli · CPC title

• Y02P10/20

  Recycling · CPC title

• C22B59/00 Primary

  Obtaining rare earth metals · CPC title

• C22B3/18 Primary

  with the aid of microorganisms or enzymes, e.g. bacteria or algae · CPC title