DFRN designs proteins that selectively bind rare earth elements with AI, then validates them in our own Wet Lab. Our fully aqueous process replaces organic-solvent extraction, and is built to produce and supply neodymium and dysprosium oxides in Korea.
NdFeB permanent magnets sit at the core of EV traction motors, wind turbines and robotic actuators. Yet the heavy rare earths that give those magnets their thermal stability, dysprosium and terbium, are separated and refined in only a handful of countries, and Korea has virtually no commercial-scale separation capacity of its own. Securing strategic resources is no longer a question of price; it is a question of access.
Separation and processing capacity for Dy/Tb-class heavy rare earths sits with Chinese firms. It is effectively a monopoly.
89.4% of Korea's rare earth feedstock imports come from China, and for some high-value elements the figure exceeds 95%.
Conventional solvent extraction requires tens to hundreds of stages and large volumes of organic solvent. In Korea, permitting and environmental load then become a direct barrier to entry.
Lanmodulin (LanM) is a natural protein that binds rare earth ions with remarkable selectivity. DFRN generates LanM variants with a protein-sequence AI model, then validates binding strength and Nd/Dy selectivity in our own Wet Lab. Every result feeds back into training, closing a design–validate–learn loop.
It does not stop at AI-generated candidates. Expression and binding data from our in-house Wet Lab is fed back into the model, driving selectivity and hit rate upward cycle by cycle. The proteins that survive go into a real separation process as a working unit operation. The loop is not bound to one target. It is a transferable engine.
DFRN's technology rests on three things: the validation record proving the platform actually works, the position we occupy as a unit operation inside the rare earth process, and the competitive edge of the AI model underneath it all.
Designing a PET-degrading enzyme took DFRN through a full cycle of sequence generation, screening, synthesis, activity validation and retraining in under twelve months. The target material has changed. The model, the data and the integrated Dry & Wet Lab infrastructure carried straight over to rare-earth-binding protein design.
Splitting Nd from Dy in a leached rare earth solution is the hardest and most expensive step in the whole chain. DFRN handles exactly that step with a LanM-based protein instead of organic solvent. Upstream and downstream steps (leaching and calcination) run on partner technology; DFRN drops its separation unit into the middle.
Compared with competing protein generation models, training cost is 1/9 and memory usage 1/1.5. Protein length generation is unlimited, and LoRA fine-tuning switches targets quickly. That is the structural reason a pivot of this kind was possible at all.
The path from selling technology to supplying material. Three phases, executed in order and proven by results rather than promises.
We proved on a genuinely hard enzyme target that the design–validate–learn loop produces functional proteins in the real world.
Designing and validating LanM variants, then inserting DFRN's separation unit into a demonstration line that runs from leaching through calcination.
Scaling the demonstration line to commercial capacity and supplying rare earth oxides directly to domestic magnet and component manufacturers.
Our business is supplying material. That opens three directions of partnership: those who send us feedstock, those who receive the oxide, and those who validate the process alongside us.
Nd₂O₃ and Dy₂O₃ supplied to NdFeB magnet and component manufacturers. Purity (2N–4N) and form factor are open to specification.
A tolling model that recovers rare earths from end-of-life NdFeB magnets and process scrap. The aqueous process keeps the domestic permitting burden low.
Joint demonstration combining upstream leaching and calcination technology with DFRN's separation unit. Universities, national labs and public agencies are welcome.
Oxide supply, scrap tolling, joint demonstration, investment. Every inquiry is welcome.
Before this year is out, we intend to prove it with results.