ME2C Environmental says Penn State completes initial round of testing to evaluate its rare earth element technology

Midwest Energy Emissions Corp, also known as ME2C Environmental, has announced that Pennsylvania State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has completed the initial round of testing to evaluate the company’s new Rare Earth Element (REE) technology.

The company announced in June 2021 that Penn State would evaluate its REE technology’s capture capacity and regeneration potential under certain conditions – which has yielded exciting results thus far.

READ: ME2C Environmental enlists Penn State to test rare earth capture and regeneration technology

“The initial results received by Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences will lead to the further testing and development of this emerging technology focused on rare earth capture, as well as the cleanup of coal ash ponds and wastewater from coal-fired power plants,” said Richard MacPherson, CEO of ME2C Environmental, in a statement. 

“We expect to have Penn State continue with the evaluation of the technology’s extraction capacity of certain rare earth elements as well as its regeneration potential and other factors necessary to move forward with pilot scale testing. The careful vetting of this technology was thoughtfully planned as we began down this path nearly two years ago in collaboration with Dr. Scott Drummond. We believe that the cleanup of coal ash ponds and runoff heavily contaminated with coal refuse is the leading environmental concern facing the U.S. and the energy sector today and we are hopeful to bring a cost-effective, environmentally sound solution to market as we move into early 2022.”

MacPherson added: “With confirmation of our technology’s ability to capture certain rare earth elements, we will continue to evaluate the commercial viability, including the ability to effectively reuse this sorbent. As we have previously announced, we expect to be able to move forward with in-field, pilot-scale testing later this year. The commercialization of this new technology will not only be very significant for the utility industry, as well as to environmental leaders, such as Michael Regan, Director of the EPA, who is actively working to impose stricter regulations for coal ash and wastewater, but to the growth and future path of our company.”

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