TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Selective Separation

Tunable Chemistry for Precise Metal Isolation

This technology from Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a simpler, faster and more cost-effective way to separate closely related metals—including challenging actinide and lanthanide elements—by replacing complex solvent extraction systems with a flexible, single-step selective precipitation approach. By pairing tailored complexing and precipitating agents, Selective Separation enables precise, tunable separations across a wide range of metal systems while eliminating the need for harsh organic chemicals, reducing waste and lowering operational complexity. This adaptability extends its value beyond nuclear applications to areas such as rare earth element processing, medical isotope production and broader mineral and chemical separations, providing a scalable and environmentally responsible platform for next-generation metal recovery.

The Challenge:

Separating metals that have nearly identical chemical properties—such as actinides and lanthanides—remains one of the most persistent challenges in nuclear fuel recycling, critical mineral processing and advanced manufacturing. Existing approaches rely on complex, multi-step solvent extraction systems that use large volumes of harsh organic chemicals, require specialized equipment and generate significant secondary waste, making them costly, time-consuming and difficult to scale. These limitations create bottlenecks in recovering valuable materials and complicate efforts to improve efficiency and sustainability across multiple industries. As demand grows for cleaner, more efficient processing of nuclear materials and rare earth elements, there is a clear need for simpler, more selective and more adaptable separation technologies.

Problems Solved:

Selective Separation addresses these challenges by introducing a streamlined separation approach that leverages tunable chemical interactions to selectively control the behavior of metals in solutions. By strategically combining metal-binding and phase-transfer mechanisms, Selective Separation enables certain metals to remain in solution while others are selectively removed, avoiding the need for complex, multi-stage solvent extraction systems. This approach reduces process complexity, lowers costs, and minimizes secondary waste, while maintaining high selectivity even for chemically similar elements such as actinides and lanthanides. Because the underlying chemistry can be tailored to different metal systems, the approach provides a flexible platform adaptable to a wide range of applications in nuclear, rare earth and broader chemical processing industries.

Key Advantages:

• Simplified processing: Replaces complex, multi-step separation systems with a streamlined approach
• High selectivity: Effectively separates chemically similar metals, including actinides and lanthanides
• Reduced chemical burden: Avoids or minimizes the use of harsh organic solvents
• Lower cost and faster throughput: Decreases processing time, equipment needs, and operational expenses
• Reduced secondary waste: Generates fewer byproducts, improving environmental performance
• Flexible and tunable platform: Adaptable to a wide range of metal systems and industrial applications

Market Applications:

• Nuclear Energy (fuel reprocessing, waste management, materials recovery)
• Critical Minerals (rare earth processing, battery materials, supply chains)
• Mining and Metals Processing (ore refining, hydrometallurgy, metal recovery)
• Healthcare and Medical Isotopes (isotope production, radiochemical purification)
• Chemical Manufacturing (catalyst recovery, specialty materials processing)
• Environmental Services (waste treatment, resource recovery from industrial streams)

Development Status: TRL 3

US Patent pending

LA-UR-26-22792

LANL Tech Partnerships: Unlock the Innovative Potential

Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that may provide your company with a competitive edge in the market and unlock the innovative potential that can enhance, refine, and revolutionize your products.

LANL’s licensing program focuses on moving inventions developed by our researchers to commercial innovations. Patented and patent pending inventions and copyrighted software are available to existing and start-up companies through exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements. For specific discussions, please contact licensing@lanl.gov.

Note: This is not a call for external services for the development of this technology.

https://www.lanl.gov/engage/collaboration/feynman-center/partner-with-us/licensing-technology

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