Ethan McClintic
Chemical engineering
Hometown: Casa Grande, Arizona, United States
Graduation date: Spring 2026
FURI | Spring 2026
Study of Rare Earth Element Uptake in Seaweed from Mining Water
Traditional wastewater treatment processes consume substantial energy and are costly. The process also neglects the recovery of valuable and reusable materials. This research uses different seaweed building blocks (agarose and alginate) as biofilters in extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from wastewater. This study consists of spin-coating agarose and alginate onto silicon wafers and measuring REE uptake into the materials in parts per million concentrations using glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) for simulated wastewater and real samples of mining-influenced water from Arizona. These results support and advance the implementation of environmentally friendly wastewater management and REE recovery.
Mentor: Nick Rolston
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