Sarma Pisupati , director of the Center for Critical Minerals (C2M) and professor of energy and mineral engineering and chemical engineering at Penn State, will give a public talk, "Securing Domestic Critical Mineral Supply Chains: Penn State's Efforts from Lab to Pilot-Scale," at 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15, in 112 Walker Building at Penn State University Park.
The free presentation, part of the EarthTalks series held by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, also will be available via Zoom.
"Penn State C2M researchers have developed methods to extract and recover rare earth elements cobalt, manganese, nickel and other critical materials from secondary sources abundant in Pennsylvania and across Appalachia, such as acid mine drainage, fly ash and e-waste," Pisupati said. "These efforts not only reduce environmental liabilities but also turn old waste into valuable national assets."
His talk will explore sustainable supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements as a national priority that supports clean energy, advanced manufacturing and national security. To help address the United States' reliance on critical minerals and rare earth elements imports, C2M has built a pilot-scale facility that can extract them from 10,000 gallons of acid mine drainage each day.
Pisupati will spotlight the potential in scalable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies.
"Through strong partnerships with federal agencies, national laboratories and industrial collaborators, Penn State is assisting the nation in meeting its urgent needs for magnets, batteries and advanced materials," he said.
A fellow of the American Chemical Society and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Pisupati established the first U.S. undergraduate program in energy engineering to be accredited by ABET, formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. He has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on 75 externally funded projects and has authored more than 240 research publications. His work has led to one U.S. patent; three more are pending.
The talk is part of EarthTalks' fall 2025 series, "Critical Minerals - A National Economic and Security Imperative," which focuses on the need for a reliable supply chain of critical minerals and the ongoing research to provide them domestically. For more about the series, visit the EarthTalks website.
