XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 981
energy. (United Nations, 2023) (The White House, 2023)
The increased demand for clean energy technologies to sup-
port the transition has already resulted a significant growth
in mineral demand, a trend which is projected to continue
and accelerate, particularly if efforts to meet Sustainable
Development Scenarios (SDS) for climate mitigation con-
tinue to remain a priority. (International Energy Agency,
2023) (International Energy Agency, 2024)
The U.S. Government (USG) has recognized the
strategic need for critical minerals and materials (CMM)
in the context of energy security, onshoring clean energy
technology manufacturing, and securing CMM supply
chains. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) strat-
egy to addresses that need has included over a decade of
research and development efforts into diversifying supply,
developing substitutes, and improving reuse and recycling.
(U.S. Department of Energy, 2021) Recent policies such
as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and
the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have accelerated and
expanded these efforts, dedicating tens of billions of dollars
to critical minerals and clean energy technology research,
with an increased focus placed on rapidly demonstrating
and deploying the technologies which will establish domes-
tic CMM supply chains. (Congressional Research Service,
2023) (Congressional Research Service, 2023)
The urgency of the establishing domestic CMM sup-
ply chains along with the size of the investment has led the
DOE to seek was to accelerate and de-risk these research,
development, demonstration, and deployment (RD3)
efforts. One recently successful effort in this area—accel-
erating RD3—has been the development of the Institute
for Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) frame-
work. The IDAES Integrated Platform (IDAES-IP) is an
open-source, multi-scale modeling framework which was
designed to provide a robust, configurable platform for
“advanced optimization-based decision-making”: equa-
tion oriented (EO) modeling with support for screening
process designs, determining optimal operating parameters
and configurations, and reducing risk of scale-up through
uncertainty quantification (UQ) and the scientific design of
experiments (SDoE). (Lee, et al., 2021) The IDAES Core
Modeling Framework (IDAES-CMF) is python-based, and
provides a flexible platform that is easily applied to other
application-areas, providing a suite of solvers, libraries for
unit operations and thermophysical property models, and
support for superstructure-based optimization. (Lee, et al.,
2021)
This paper describes the Process Optimization
and Modeling for Minerals Sustainability (PrOMMiS)
Initiative, which extends the IDAES-CMF framework to
modeling CMM systems. PrOMMiS is focused on ampli-
fying the impact of DOE RD3 in the CMM space with an
initial focus on accelerating and de-risking projects enter-
ing the pilot- and demonstration-scale. It builds upon over
a decade of research into both process optimization and
modeling, as well as CMM research funded by the DOE’s
Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
and within the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
Technologies Office (AMMTO)-funded Critical Materials
Innovation Hub (CMI). The approach followed in develop-
ing PrOMMiS will be explored, and several early examples
of applying PrOMMiS are summarized.
APPROACH &METHODOLOGY
PrOMMiS development has been driven by the urgent need
to support DOE-funded CMM RD3 efforts, particularly
projects currently entering the pilot- and demonstration-
scale of development. Modeling needs include (1) process
modeling and cost libraries for simulation, multi-criteria
optimization, and techno-economic analysis (2) optimi-
zation capabilities for process configuration screening and
to identify promising flowsheets (3) optimization-under-
uncertainty approaches to produce designs that are robust
to process variability, and (4) uncertainty quantification
capabilities to inform and maximize knowledge gained
from budget- and schedule-constrained pilot campaigns
and experiments.
Consequently, three guiding principles were estab-
lished to focus the project team:
• Rapidly establish the capability by leveraging existing
projects and learning by doing
• Ensure long-term impact: flexible, foundational plat-
form developed with input from key stakeholders
• Maximize support and integration with other CMM
research portfolios and modeling efforts
Further guidance was received from FECM’s Office
of Resource Sustainability (who funds the initiative) that
efforts should not be limited to the unconventional CMM
resources and processing pathways which are the focus of
FECM research, but instead should include projects and
feedstocks within the AMMTO and CMI purview, notably
recycling and reuse.
Approach
To reinforce the project urgency and focus team efforts, a
goal was set to establish a working process flowsheet for
mineral processing within the first year of the project. This
was deemed feasible based on the flexibility and capabili-
ties of IDAES-CMF, the existence of relevant project data,
energy. (United Nations, 2023) (The White House, 2023)
The increased demand for clean energy technologies to sup-
port the transition has already resulted a significant growth
in mineral demand, a trend which is projected to continue
and accelerate, particularly if efforts to meet Sustainable
Development Scenarios (SDS) for climate mitigation con-
tinue to remain a priority. (International Energy Agency,
2023) (International Energy Agency, 2024)
The U.S. Government (USG) has recognized the
strategic need for critical minerals and materials (CMM)
in the context of energy security, onshoring clean energy
technology manufacturing, and securing CMM supply
chains. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) strat-
egy to addresses that need has included over a decade of
research and development efforts into diversifying supply,
developing substitutes, and improving reuse and recycling.
(U.S. Department of Energy, 2021) Recent policies such
as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and
the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have accelerated and
expanded these efforts, dedicating tens of billions of dollars
to critical minerals and clean energy technology research,
with an increased focus placed on rapidly demonstrating
and deploying the technologies which will establish domes-
tic CMM supply chains. (Congressional Research Service,
2023) (Congressional Research Service, 2023)
The urgency of the establishing domestic CMM sup-
ply chains along with the size of the investment has led the
DOE to seek was to accelerate and de-risk these research,
development, demonstration, and deployment (RD3)
efforts. One recently successful effort in this area—accel-
erating RD3—has been the development of the Institute
for Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) frame-
work. The IDAES Integrated Platform (IDAES-IP) is an
open-source, multi-scale modeling framework which was
designed to provide a robust, configurable platform for
“advanced optimization-based decision-making”: equa-
tion oriented (EO) modeling with support for screening
process designs, determining optimal operating parameters
and configurations, and reducing risk of scale-up through
uncertainty quantification (UQ) and the scientific design of
experiments (SDoE). (Lee, et al., 2021) The IDAES Core
Modeling Framework (IDAES-CMF) is python-based, and
provides a flexible platform that is easily applied to other
application-areas, providing a suite of solvers, libraries for
unit operations and thermophysical property models, and
support for superstructure-based optimization. (Lee, et al.,
2021)
This paper describes the Process Optimization
and Modeling for Minerals Sustainability (PrOMMiS)
Initiative, which extends the IDAES-CMF framework to
modeling CMM systems. PrOMMiS is focused on ampli-
fying the impact of DOE RD3 in the CMM space with an
initial focus on accelerating and de-risking projects enter-
ing the pilot- and demonstration-scale. It builds upon over
a decade of research into both process optimization and
modeling, as well as CMM research funded by the DOE’s
Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
and within the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
Technologies Office (AMMTO)-funded Critical Materials
Innovation Hub (CMI). The approach followed in develop-
ing PrOMMiS will be explored, and several early examples
of applying PrOMMiS are summarized.
APPROACH &METHODOLOGY
PrOMMiS development has been driven by the urgent need
to support DOE-funded CMM RD3 efforts, particularly
projects currently entering the pilot- and demonstration-
scale of development. Modeling needs include (1) process
modeling and cost libraries for simulation, multi-criteria
optimization, and techno-economic analysis (2) optimi-
zation capabilities for process configuration screening and
to identify promising flowsheets (3) optimization-under-
uncertainty approaches to produce designs that are robust
to process variability, and (4) uncertainty quantification
capabilities to inform and maximize knowledge gained
from budget- and schedule-constrained pilot campaigns
and experiments.
Consequently, three guiding principles were estab-
lished to focus the project team:
• Rapidly establish the capability by leveraging existing
projects and learning by doing
• Ensure long-term impact: flexible, foundational plat-
form developed with input from key stakeholders
• Maximize support and integration with other CMM
research portfolios and modeling efforts
Further guidance was received from FECM’s Office
of Resource Sustainability (who funds the initiative) that
efforts should not be limited to the unconventional CMM
resources and processing pathways which are the focus of
FECM research, but instead should include projects and
feedstocks within the AMMTO and CMI purview, notably
recycling and reuse.
Approach
To reinforce the project urgency and focus team efforts, a
goal was set to establish a working process flowsheet for
mineral processing within the first year of the project. This
was deemed feasible based on the flexibility and capabili-
ties of IDAES-CMF, the existence of relevant project data,