Japan's extraction of rare earth from the deep seabed, for LED luminescent materials

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun (The Yomiuri Shimbun) reported that Japanese researchers, lawmakers and business circles all hope to make use of LED products of rare earth metals in the deep sea near the coast of Japan, and Japan in 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Rare earth metals are highly concentrated in the east of the Ogasawara Islands Japan South Bird Island (Minami Torishima) of the sea, is expected to re sea 5000 meters deep seabed in Japan 200 years enough.

Japan's University of Tokyo professor Kato Taiho (Yasuhiro Kato) and its research team successfully from the South bird island in the sea of rare earth metal extracting yttrium (Yttrium) and Ce (cerium) LED to be used as luminescent materials.

Some liberal Democrats to the government's proposal, hope these can be applied to the Japanese LED games, but the government is also considering the commercialization of LED and for the Olympic venues to show Japan's rich marine resources to foreigners.

If the large-scale refining outside the seabed of rare earth luminescent materials, except for LED, but also widely used in electric vehicles, batteries and wind, but at this stage because the deep sea is not easy, rare earth metals can be extracted is still limited.

There is a compressed air pipe technology is placed on the seabed, and out of the rare earth metal using buoyancy principle. To invest in this technology companies and institutions about 30, including TOYOTA, Mitsui shipbuilding and University of Tokyo. He formed an alliance to apply for funding from the Japanese government plans to invest a large amount of research, rare earth metal refining technology.

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