January 14, 2026 Dataset Open Access

Research Data: Recovery of rare earth elements by peptide-induced Ln3+ precipitation

Techert, Gerda; Kretzschmar, Jerome; Worbs, Andreas; Steudtner, Robin; Bloß, Christoph; Boelens, Peter; Drobot, Björn; Hübner, René; Schönberger, Nora; Pollmann, Katrin; Lederer, Franziska

Electronic waste and wastewater from mining, industry, etc. are valuable secondary sources of strategic high-tech metals like rare earth elements (REEs). Due to low concentrations of REEs, their recovery is challenging. Current separation processes have high energy consumption and use large amounts of toxic or expensive reagents, resulting in contaminated water and its costly reprocessing. Biomolecules, as environmentally friendly alternatives, are able to overcome these economic and ecological issues. Metal-binding peptides are convincing not only because of their high selectivity and stability under various conditions. In case of biobased production, they are also “renewable” resources and are neither toxic nor difficult to degrade at the process end. Here, we successfully utilized phage surface display (PSD) to screen for peptides with high affinity for REEs. The selected peptide GC22 (CEPDLWIDRFWC), identified by PSD in combination with next-generation sequencing, revealed the ability to precipitate lanthanide and yttrium ions from aqueous solutions in large quantities (> 60 %). It largely favors all REE ions over other commonly occurring metal ions in wastewater. The amorphous REE-GC22-precipitate is characterized by curled and spherical structures. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that in dimethyl sulfoxide Arg9 and Cys12 are most likely involved in metal binding. Reversibility of binding and thus regeneration of the peptide was demonstrated, enabling its potential use for multiple extraction cycles. GC22 thus offers a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative for future REE-recovery from low-REE-concentration wastewaters and e-waste leachates.