Glossary of Rare Earth and Protein Design Terms

Materials

Rare Earth Elements: The 15 lanthanides plus scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y) — 17 elements in total. Despite the name they are not scarce in the earth's crust. What is hard is not mining them but telling them apart, because they are chemically so similar. At DFRNDFRN performs that separation step with proteins.
Heavy and Light REE: The higher-atomic-number end (typically Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and yttrium, from gadolinium upward) is called heavy; the lower end (La to Eu) light. Definitions vary slightly between sources. Heavy rare earths are scarcer, harder to separate and command higher prices.
Neodymium: The workhorse element of permanent magnets. With iron and boron it forms the NdFeB magnet, which sets the power density of EV traction motors and wind turbine generators. At DFRNDFRN supplies it as neodymium oxide (Nd₂O₃).
Dysprosium: Added in small amounts to NdFeB magnets so they hold their magnetism when hot. Essential wherever motors run warm, and, being a heavy rare earth, especially exposed on supply. At DFRNDFRN supplies it as dysprosium oxide (Dy₂O₃).
NdFeB permanent magnet: Built around the Nd₂Fe₁₄B phase, the strongest commercial magnet family in use today. Found in EV traction motors, wind turbines, robotic actuators and hard drives. At DFRNDFRN's feedstock is these magnets at end of life, plus manufacturing scrap.
Oxide: The form rare earths are usually traded in. Separated rare earths are precipitated and heated (calcined) into a stable oxide powder, which magnet makers then reduce to metal. At DFRNDFRN sells this oxide — not technology, not reagents.
Purity notation (2N-4N): N counts the nines. 2N is 99%, 3N is 99.9%, 4N is 99.99%. Requirements vary by application; magnet feedstock typically calls for 3N or better. At DFRNDFRN's supply specification is the 2N-4N range.

Protein

Lanmodulin: A naturally occurring protein that binds rare earth ions with remarkable selectivity. Discovered in methanol-utilising bacteria, it strongly prefers rare earths over common metals such as calcium. The wild type carries four EF-hand motifs, three of which are reported to bind at picomolar affinity. At DFRNDFRN uses LanM as the starting point for variants with improved Nd/Dy selectivity.
EF-hand motif: A metal-binding site with a helix-loop-helix fold, best known from calcium-binding proteins. In lanmodulin these loops are what grip rare earth ions. The number of sites relates to how many ions a single protein can hold. At DFRNWild-type LanM has four. DFRN's design target is six (a target, not a result).
Protein design AI: A machine learning model that generates amino acid sequences intended to have a target function. Candidates are synthesised, expressed and assayed, and the results go back into training — a closed loop that raises the hit rate each cycle. At DFRNDFRN proved this loop on a PET-degrading enzyme before moving it to rare earths.

Process

Solvent extraction: The current industry standard: metals dissolved in water are pulled into an organic solvent to separate them. Each pass separates only slightly, so many stages are stacked to amplify the effect — which is why the method needs large solvent volumes and a large site. At DFRNThis is the separation step DFRN aims to replace.
Separation factor: How well two elements separate in a single stage, defined as the ratio of their distribution ratios. The closer to 1, the harder the separation. Neighbouring lanthanides have small values, so reaching high purity demands many stages.
Number of stages: One separation operation counts as one stage. Refining primary ore to high purity can take hundreds of stages, and a full-suite circuit can exceed a thousand. Hydrometallurgical processing of magnet scrap reaches high purity in roughly 20 stages. At DFRNDFRN targets 1-3 stages (a target, not a result).
Hydrometallurgy: Recovering and refining metals through aqueous chemistry rather than high-temperature melting. The flow runs leaching, separation, precipitation, calcination. At DFRNDFRN's separation unit drops directly into this flow.
Leaching: Dissolving solid feedstock in acid or alkali to bring the target metal into solution. For magnet scrap, this is where rare earths enter water as ions. At DFRNDFRN runs this upstream step on partner technology.
Calcination: The finishing step: heating separated and precipitated material to convert it into a stable oxide, ready to ship as powder. At DFRNDFRN runs this downstream step on partner technology as well.
Aqueous process: A process whose reaction medium is water. No organic solvent storage or handling systems, and no spent-solvent disposal stream, which lowers permitting and environmental load. At DFRNDFRN's binding and release run in water at ambient temperature and pressure.

Business

Resource recovery: Reclaiming elements from end-of-life products and process by-products and returning them to the materials supply. It treats what society has already accumulated as ore. At DFRNDFRN's feedstock is end-of-life NdFeB magnets and process scrap.
Process scrap: Swarf, rejects and offcuts from magnet manufacturing. Its composition is known and impurities are low, which makes it easier feedstock than post-consumer waste.
Tolling: Toll processing: the owner keeps title to the material, DFRN processes it under contract and returns what is recovered. The owner recovers value from its own waste stream without building a plant. At DFRNOne of the arrangements DFRN offers magnet and component manufacturers.