India, May 13 -- A Penn State research team was recently awarded a $4.99 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and assess advanced separation technologies for the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements and other critical materials from coal, coal wastes and coal by-products.

The materials, which are abundant in Earth's crust but challenging to extract and primarily sourced from overseas, serve a vital function in modern technology, such as smartphones, electric cars, wind turbines and even in defense technologies like missiles and radar systems. The newly funded project will help to establish a 100% domestic supply chain, reducing U.S. reliance on foreign suppliers.

The project, led by Sarma Pisupati,...