Potential Uses of Rare Earth Elements Found in Marine Minerals

Detailed Description
Rare earth elements (REEs) and rare metals are key ingredients for glass, lights, magnets, batteries, and catalytic converters, and used in everything from cell phones to cars. For example, to make the magnet for one wind turbine, you need about 300 kilograms of neodymium. Wind turbines also contain significant amounts of dysprosium, praseodymium, samarium, cobalt, and rhenium.
REEs listed by element name, its ymbol, and selected applications
Scandium
Sc
Super alloys, ultra-light aerospace components, X-ray tubes, baseball bats, lights, semiconductors
Yttrium
Y
Ceramics, metal alloys, rechargeable batteries, TV phosphors, high-temperature superconductors
Lanthanum
La
Batteries, optical glass, camera lenses, petroleum refining catalysts
Cerium
Ce
Catalysts, metal alloys, radiation shielding, water purifier
Praseodymium
Pr
Magnets, lasers, pigments, cryogenic refrigerant
Neodymium
Nd
High-strength permanent magnets, lasers, infrared filters, hard disc drives
Samarium
Sm
High temperature magnets, nuclear reactor control rods and shielding, lasers, microwave filters
Europium
Eu
Liquid crystal displays, fluorescent lighting, red and blue phosphors
Gadolinium
Gd
Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent, memory chips, nuclear reactor shielding, compact discs
Terbium
Tb
Green phosphors, lasers, fluorescent lamps, optical computer memories
Dysprosium
Dy
Permanent magnets, lasers, catalysts, nuclear reactors
Holmium
Ho
Lasers, nuclear reactors, catalysts, magnets
Erbium
Er
Lasers, vanadium steel, infrared absorbing glasses, optical fibers
Thulium
Tm
Portable X-ray machines, microwaves,
Ytterbium
Yb
Infrared lasers, chemical reducing agent, rechargeable batteries, fiber optics
Lutetium
Lu
PET scan detectors, superconductors, high refractive index glass, x-ray phosphor
Sources/Usage
Public Domain.