October 10, 2026 - Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are working to turn coal waste into a source of critical minerals, using microorganisms and artificial intelligence as part of a $6 million National Science Foundation project.

Decades of coal use and mining in Alaska have left behind piles of dust and ash. UAF researchers are viewing that waste as an untapped resource, and the initiative is now receiving federal funding as it advances.

Microbial extraction

Instead of harsh chemicals or heavy machinery, microscopic organisms bind to valuable minerals in the waste material. Artificial intelligence models will predict which waste materials offer the highest yield and optimize harvesting conditions.

Srijan Aggarwal, UAF professor of environmental engineering, said the project builds on years of prior work.

“We have been actually working with this team for close to seven to eight years to develop sustainable microbial technologies to extract rare earth elements from waste resources, and this project is actually a natural next step,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal said ash left behind from coal mining or power plant use contains notable amounts of rare earth elements.

“After, say, coal mining or use of coal in say power plants and such, when we have the ash that’s remaining... it surprisingly is quite rich in some of these rare earth elements. And that’s kind of one of our motivations to see if we can turn our waste into an opportunity,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal said the approach relies on natural processes rather than synthetic treatment.

“They are, you know, I call them nature’s tiny chemical factories. They are pretty efficient in many of these things. They produce certain compounds or they bind to some of these ions so we can use their natural metabolic processes to get these elements out of waste-based streams like coal ash,” Aggarwal said.

Supply chain and workforce development

Rare earth elements are used in cell phones, electric vehicles and defense technology. Supplies are currently dominated by foreign nations. For Alaska, successful field testing could strengthen both domestic security and local industry.

The project also includes a workforce development component.

“One other major thrust of this research is workforce development. We are developing courses, called micro-credentials, that students and the industry can utilize to learn how mining, biotechnology, and AI all intersect,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal said he is also focused on moving the work beyond the laboratory.

“I am very excited about the fact that to take something that is working in the lab and to see if it can actually work in the field or can it be translated to an actual process that industry could use,” Aggarwal said.

Project partners and funding

The National Science Foundation-funded project brings together researchers from UAF, the University of Alaska Anchorage, Montana Technological University and the University of Wyoming. The effort aims to establish what researchers call a “smart bio-refinery” that could strengthen domestic supplies of critical minerals and reduce reliance on foreign sources.

Aggarwal is a principal investigator on the project and leads UAF’s portion of the work, which is supported by nearly $913,000 of the total $6 million award. Collaborators include Brandon Briggs and Subhabrata Dev at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Robin Bullock at Montana Technological University, and Tyler Brown and Haoming Ma at the University of Wyoming. Other collaborators on the full project include Masoumeh Heidari and Mohammad Heidari at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Courtney Young at Montana Technological University and Serena Gerace at the University of Wyoming.

“This collaboration brings together expertise that no single institution could provide on its own,” Aggarwal said. “We’re connecting environmental engineering, microbiology, mineral processing and AI to recover valuable elements from materials left behind as waste.”

At UAF, Aggarwal will co-lead work with UAA’s Dev to determine how bioreactor operating conditions affect recovery, process stability and energy demand.

“We want to understand how to keep these biological processes working reliably as the materials and operating conditions change,” Aggarwal said. “Alaska’s remote energy challenges make energy use a central part of that question.”

Artificial intelligence will support two connected efforts: predicting how readily rare earth elements can be recovered from different materials and developing controls that adjust bioreactor operation as conditions and energy availability change. A virtual pilot plant will connect experimental results with computer models of recovery processes and the energy systems that support them.

The collaboration will also strengthen research capacity and workforce development across Alaska, Montana and Wyoming through industry-aligned coursework and micro-credentials, an early-career leadership council and a tri-state field course. Aggarwal will lead the early-career program and co-lead online education efforts with Bullock.

The project is funded through NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. It is one of eight projects receiving a combined $39.9 million to strengthen research capacity across 16 jurisdictions. The award is in addition to NSF’s support for the UAF-led NSF Critical Mineral Accelerator Engine in Alaska.

Over the next four years, researchers hope to turn the lab science into market-ready Alaska jobs.