50 Minerals Critical To U.S. Security

[Meredith Poor + 883]

Rare earth elements await in waste

Rice lab’s flash Joule heating extracts valuable elements from fly ash, bauxite residue, electronic waste

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/942066

Quote

So there’s plenty of incentive to recycle what’s been mined already, he said. Much of that is piled up or buried in fly ash, the byproduct of coal-fired power plants. 'We have mountains of it,” he said. "The residue of burning coal is silicon, aluminum, iron and calcium oxides that form glass around the trace elements, making them very hard to extract."

Work for Appalachian coal miners.

[nsdp + 449]

unfortuately the pM2.5 and 10, mercury arsenic and toxic metals   not removable with today's technology.  It  will kill more people than benefit from the process use. I went to Rice and heard the presentation at homecoming and asked embarrassing questions they do not have answers for yet.  Coal Ash Is More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/ Not ready for prime time.

[Boat + 1,315]

37 minutes ago, nsdp said:

unfortuately the pM2.5 and 10, mercury arsenic and toxic metals   not removable with today's technology.  It  will kill more people than benefit from the process use. I went to Rice and heard the presentation at homecoming and asked embarrassing questions they do not have answers for yet.  Coal Ash Is More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/ Not ready for prime time.

What about landfills? Is toxicity an individual trait or could they be mined as a rule. This idea of extremely  cheap batteries added with a large overbuild of renewables could almost make electricity super cheap with great sun. Recycling on a landfill size scale would require cheap energy. Any other hurdles? Maybe an idea I need to look up.

Lets say we do all that 20 years down the road. A huge battery build out for a 7 day storm. Plus we have the batteries from say 80% electric cars, more from homes. If the renewable/battery overbuild was enough to save a city for 7 days you need to help pay for it. Recycling landfills could easily be a convenient mine. It might end up as the biggest company in town. We put out a lot of trash. We have trash going back 100 years or more. Although not a perfect solution workers will dream of big storms to get an extra vacation. One other piss poor system needs a modern upgrade. Non critical infrastructure needs to be easily turned off in the times of storms, fires etc. Business shutdowns would have to be more carefully evaluated. 
Sell the idea as free energy during daylight hours, no more death from stores. So who can build a formula that would calculate prices, amount of energy needed for 7 days. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Boat