Potential Uses of Rare Earth Elements Found in Marine Minerals

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