Project: New concepts for efficient extraction of mixed rare earths oxides from monazite concentrates and their potential use as dopant in high temperature coatings and sintered materials

Acronym	MONAMIX (Reference Number: ERA-MIN-2017_87)
Duration	30/04/2021
Project Topic	The objective of MONAMIX project is to demonstrate the potential use of mixed REOs with naturally occurring composition, obtained from monazite concentrates, as dopant in the design of high temperature zirconia coatings and sintered materials. The naturally mixed REOs doped zirconia thermal barrier coatings (TBC) will be designed to increase the lifetime of Ni/Cr alloys or reduce the critical raw materials (CRMs) content in substrate alloys. Sintered natural mixed-REOs doped zirconia will be also designed as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with controlled ionic conductivity and low REO content. MONAMIX project addresses mainly the topic 2 of ERAMIN II call: Design: 2.1: Product design for increased raw material efficiency and 2.4: Product design for critical materials substitution . A hydro-chemical method for monazite concentrates purification by selective leaching and their usage for hydrothermal synthesis of mixed nanostructured zirconia doped with different REO/ZrO2 molar ratios by a cost efficient process will be developed. The mixed REO-ZrO2 materials obtained will be used as target material to obtain TBCs at TRL 4 and validated on industrial systems by RF sputtering and electron beam deposition and study their structural stability vs. mixed REO/ZrO2 molar ratios for TBCs aiming to increase the lifetime of Ni/Cr alloys or reduce the CRMs content in substrate alloys. Bulk mixed REO-ZrO2 will be obtained at ICMCB-CNRS, Bordeaux by using various innovative sintering techniques (TRL 4-6). Densification process and ionic conductivity will be optimized for SOFCs. Elimination of separation stages and mixed REO utilization instead of individual REO, if validated in applications, may reduce production costs along the whole fabrication cycle from raw materials to product, providing nanomaterials for high-tech applications in high temperature coatings (up to 1400-15000C) and SOFCs with operating temperature around 4000C, with cost efficiency and sustainable production.
Website	visit project website
Network	ERA-MIN 2
Call	ERA-MIN Joint Call 2017

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	National R&D Institute for Nonferrous and Rare Metals	Coordinator	Romania
2	Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development	Partner	Italy
3	SC MGM Star Construct SRL	Partner	Romania
4	Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux	Partner	France