Rare Earth Elements
NOVA-4R
Innovative Transformational R&D Program
Approach: Lawful Collaboration with Stakeholders
Research Focus: Defense-Critical Supply Chains
Purpose (Guiding Policy): Building Resilient Supply Chains
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REEs Applications
Image Source: U.S. Congressional Report 2020
Rare Earth Elements
Rare Earth Elements (REE) and Nonfuel Critical Minerals (NCM) are now widely used in Aerospace, Aviation, Auto-and-Fluid Catalysts; Green & High Technology, Medical Systems, Metallurgy; Military Defense Systems, and Telecom Systems.
REE are especially indispensable in emerging Clean Energy Technologies, such as Alloys; Catalytic Converters; Composite Materials; Electric Propulsion; Electric Vehicles; Energy-efficient Lighting; Metamorphic Manufacturing; Turbines; Water Treatment Systems etc.
Image Source Above: https://www.usgs.gov/
After the untimely demise of Dr. Aziz Ahmad Siddiqi Ph.D. a renowned Scientist, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist former President RESOCHEM Corporation USA, Mr. Mohammad Afzal Mirza Director Special Projects (2005-2019) and Cofounder of MUGHALS-RESOCHEM Corp. LLC (MRC) is the lead of a well qualified, experienced and capable team. Project NOVA-5A is part of Program ASGR.
Project NOVA-5A Focus
REEs + CM: lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium
(Nd), promethium
(Pm), samarium
(Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium
(Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium
(Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium(Er), thulium
(Th), yterrbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), and the transition elements scandium (Sc) and yttrium
(Y). 
Image adopted from American Science: https://www.americanscientist.org/
Image Brief Description
Color-coded to indicate the way each element is formed, distills the work of astronomers over the course of the past century and it continues to be updated with new discoveries. This information is useful in a variety of scientific pursuits, such as studying how the Milky Way formed.
Image below compares individual commodity returns between 2010 and 2019, Source: U.S. Global Investors.
REE and CMs
Recovery of from Coal
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has launched a R&D Program named Feasibility of Recovering Rare Earth Elements. The Program consists of developing process and production technologies, environmental management, and field materials sampling and characterization, along with systems integration, optimization and efficiency improvements to produce REEs and CMs from coal and coal by-products streams, such as coal and coal refuse, clay/sandstone over/under-burden coal seam materials, power generation ash and aqueous effluents as acid mine drainage (AMD) sludge.
Pakistan Clean Coal - Conversion of Coal-to-Liquid
Government of Pakistan Estimate, Approximately 175 Billion Tons of Coal
MRC (USA) LLC and SELECTUM (PAK) PLC are collaborating to develop a Viable Economic Model of Two Energy Related Catalyst Projects i.e. CHP-1US-H (Combined Heat and Power Generation) and UCG-CTL PAK (Underground Coal Gasification - Coal to Liquid).
Since 2014, Dr. Aziz Siddiqi Ph.D. (Imperial College London) a renowned Scientist, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist President RESOCHEM Corporation USA and President MRC LLC had focused on Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Technology and his active areas of research were “Coal-to-Liquid” (CTL) and Industrial Plants Operational Efficiency.
After the untimely demise (2019 December 19th) of Dr. Aziz Ahmad Siddiqi PhD (from March 2020), Prof. Jalaluddin Qureshi, Ph.D. President / CEO, International Water Saver Environmental Services (IWSES) USA, along with his qualified, experienced and capable team, are committed taking Project NOVA-3A to the next level.
Whereas, Mr. Mohammad A. Mirza, Director Special Projects Falcon investment Group LLC (USA), and Prof. Muhammed Sharif Bhatti PhD, President SELECTUM PLC (PAK), are structuring the Underground Coal Gasification / Coal-To-Liquids (UCG-CTL) Project in Pakistan, in accordance with the applicable Laws and Regulatory Framework of respective countries. Mr. Mohammad A. Mirza is the Principal Director of Project CM9.
Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)
According to National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) National Laboratory System (NLS), Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) takes advantage of the same chemical reactions of coal to produce product gases, as those occurring in conventional gasifier reactors. The main difference is that in UCG the underground coal seam itself becomes the reactor, so that the gasification of the coal takes place underground instead of in a manufactured gasification vessel at the surface.
How UCG Works?
Gasification is a technological process that can convert any carbonaceous (carbon-based) raw material such as coal into fuel gas, also known as synthesis gas (syngas). Gasification occurs in a gasifier, generally a high temperature/pressure vessel where oxygen (or air) and steam are directly contacted with the coal or other feed material causing a series of chemical reactions to occur that convert the feed to syngas and ash/slag (mineral residues). Syngas is so called because of its history as an intermediate in the production of synthetic natural gas. Composed primarily of the colorless, odorless, highly flammable gases carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), syngas has a variety of uses.
UCG Process
In UCG Process, injection wells are drilled into an unmined coal seam, and either air or oxygen is injected into the seam along with water. The coal face is ignited, and the high temperatures (about 1,200°C) from the combustion and limited oxygen causes nearby coal to partially oxidize into hydrogen, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and minimal amounts of methane (CH4) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). These products flow to the surface through one or more production wells located ahead of the combustion zone. As the face is burned and an area depleted, the operation is moved to follow the seam. The graphic below illustrates the general process.
UCG History
UCG has been identified as a potential process for utilizing Unmineable Coal since the late nineteenth century. The process was first developed, during 1925, by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch at Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute for Kohlenforschung in Mulheim Germany. Former Soviet Union invested heavily in UCG research. By 1939 the Soviets had successfully begun operating a UCG plant in the Ukraine. Later (and to this day) the Skochinsky Institute of Mining Moscow became a center for UCG expertise. The UCG technology developed by the Institute was implemented in three brown coal and two black coal power stations in the 1960s. One of these facilities, the power station at Angren, Uzbekistan, still operates, producing about a million standard cubic feet of syngas per hour.
During late 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. government instituted several research projects and trials of UCG. China also has a significant history of coal gasification and current installed capacity, and continues to add more gasification capacity at substantial rates, using a wide range of gasifier choices including both Chinese technology and foreign gasifier types.
Syngas
The Syngas can be further converted (or shifted) to nothing but hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2) by adding steam and reacting over a catalyst in a water-gas-shift reactor. When hydrogen is burned, it creates nothing but heat and water, resulting in the ability to create electricity with no carbon dioxide in exhaust gases. Furthermore, hydrogen made from coal or other solid fuels can be used to refine oil, or to make products such as ammonia and fertilizer. More importantly, Hydrogen enriched Syngas can be used to make gasoline and diesel fuel.
Current Status
With increasing global demand of natural gas, interest in UCG has revived around the world. Australia, Pakistan, South Africa are actively working on pilot projects.
Oil & Gas Value Chain
