TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: BIOENGINEERED PEPTIDE PLATFORM FOR LOW-WATER CRITICAL MINERAL RECOVERY

This Bioengineered Peptide Platform enables selective recovery of high-value critical minerals from dilute and complex process streams using a bioengineered, low-chemical, low-water approach that integrates directly into existing bioleach operations. As demand for critical minerals accelerates across clean energy, electronics and defense sectors, mining operators need more efficient and sustainable enrichment methods. This platform offers a biologically enabled preconcentration step that can unlock value from low-grade ores and complex streams while reducing environmental impact.

The Challenge:

Critical mineral recovery from bioleach and hydrometallurgical circuits faces persistent bottlenecks:

• High reagent consumption in solvent extraction (SX), ion exchange (IX), and precipitation steps
• Poor economics at low ppm concentrations, where valuable metals are diluted or masked by competing ions
• High water usage and secondary waste streams
• Increasing ESG and regulatory pressure to reduce environmental footprint
• Growing demand for secure domestic supply of gallium, rare earth elements (REEs), cobalt, nickel and other critical materials

Traditional separation technologies are chemical-intensive, multi-stage and inefficient in early-stage or dilute process streams.

Problems Solved:

This technology introduces a bioengineered, low-water preconcentration step that integrates directly into existing bioleach operations.

The platform:

• selectively binds target metals in complex, dilute streams;
• concentrates them at the liquid surface for physical recovery;
• reduces reliance on external chemical reagents; and
• enables earlier-stage enrichment where conventional systems are least efficient.

The result is a cleaner, more efficient pathway to recover high-value critical minerals. The platform combines engineered metal-binding peptides designed for high selectivity and cooperative binding to specific critical minerals with self-assembling interfacial proteins (e.g., hydrophobin-based scaffolds) that localize to gas–liquid interfaces. The system is designed as a drop-in module compatible with existing infrastructure.

Key Advantages:

• Reduced operating costs through lower reagent consumption
• Improved recovery from low-grade and dilute streams
• Lower water use and waste generation
• Minimal capital disruption via integration with established circuits
• Platform flexibility across multiple critical minerals

Market Applications:

• Mining & Hydrometallurgical Processing
• Critical Materials & Strategic Metals Supply Chains
• Battery & Electrification Materials
• Semiconductor & Advanced Electronics Materials
• Industrial Metals Refining & Recycling
• Environmental & Water Treatment
• Defense & National Security Supply Chains

Development Status: TRL 3

US patent application pending

LA-UR-26-23312

LANL Tech Partnerships: Unlock the Innovative Potential

Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that may provide your company with a competitive edge in the market and unlock the innovative potential that can enhance, refine, and revolutionize your products.

LANL’s licensing program focuses on moving inventions developed by our researchers to commercial innovations. Patented and patent pending inventions and copyrighted software are available to existing and start-up companies through exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements. For specific discussions, please contact licensing@lanl.gov.

Note: This is not a call for external services for the development of this technology.

https://www.lanl.gov/engage/collaboration/feynman-center/partner-with-us/licensing-technology

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