National committee member proposes accelerated rare earth development

At this year's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Li Baoquan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a researcher at Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute in Baotou city, put forward a proposal to advance the rare earth industry.

The proposal focuses on three aspects of the current rare earth industry, including the insufficient deep processing capacity for rare earth materials such as lanthanum, cerium, and yttrium; the inadequate layout for rare earth end-of-life recycling; as well as the insufficient overseas layout of the rare earth industry.

As a technical expert who has been deeply rooted in frontline scientific research for 18 years, Li has always focused on the research and development of rare earth materials.

Recently, Li and his research team completed the installation of subsystems for an integrated demonstration system that involves photovoltaics, hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, fuel cell power generation, and thermoelectric cogeneration.

"After the completion of this project, it will address the key technical issues, such as efficient and stable operation of wind, light, hydrogen, electricity, and heat complementary systems," Li stated. "The project will also improve the utilization of rare earth resources, and promote the advancement of clean energy technologies," he added.

Currently, Baotou is also building a rare earth new materials base and a rare earth application base. Li said that the reason for undertaking these research projects is not only to seize the application prospects of rare earth in the energy field, but also to increase the utilization rate of lanthanum and cerium.