Lei Pan (ChE) was quoted by Interlochen Public Radio in a story about the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Critical Minerals Recycling Grant Program. The program will offer $4.75 million in matching grants for research projects focused on recycling critical minerals found in electric vehicle batteries and other technologies.
Pan was part of a team that partnered with Eagle Mine in the Upper Peninsula and was awarded a total of $10.6 million in federal dollars to research domestic battery recycling and reprocessing mine tailings.
“We’re definitely looking forward to new ideas and new innovation. Making sure that the battery recycling industry will become more sustainable in the future, and become more profitable.”
The EGLE Recycling Unit grant is to advance the research, development, or demonstration of concepts or projects intended to create innovative and practical approaches to increase the reuse and recycling of batteries and other critical minerals.
Pan’s research interests include particulate separation, surface chemistry, and process modeling.