Overview

• Peer‑reviewed results in PNAS confirm over 90% purity and yield for recovering rare earths from discarded magnets in a single step.
• Flash Joule heating reaches thousands of degrees within milliseconds as chlorine converts iron and cobalt into volatile chlorides, leaving rare‑earth oxides behind.
• Life‑cycle and techno‑economic analyses report about 87% lower energy use, 84% fewer greenhouse‑gas emissions, and 54% lower operating costs than hydrometallurgy.
• Rice licensed the technology to Flash Metals USA in Chambers County, Texas, with the company stating it plans to begin production by the first quarter of 2026.
• The research team frames the approach as strengthening U.S. mineral supply chains, with funding from DARPA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.