Critical materials and a CO2 economy—where capture of carbon dioxide is driven by a demand for its use in sustainable products—have a symbiotic relationship that could be exploited to accelerate deployment of one another.
In this presentation, George Guthrie will provide an overview of Los Alamos R&D in critical materials, highlighting potential opportunities that exist at the intersection with a CO2 economy. A particular emphasis will be on unconventional separations and on revolutionizing measurements, both of which represent core needs for Los Alamos and are areas we are leveraging into critical materials (particularly in the context of rare earth elements). In addition, Guthrie will discuss this intersection in the context of acceleration of deployment at a regional scale, using the Four Corners region as an example.