Rhenium
A by-product of molybdenum roasting that lets jet-engine turbine blades survive above 1,000°C and helps refineries make high-octane petrol.
Tech & minor metals · No. 43
- US critical 2025
- India critical 2023
- HHI 5,210 · highly concentrated
A few percent rhenium lets jet-engine blades survive above 1,000 C, and it is caught from flue gas when molybdenum is roasted.
Chart: Illustration: Rhenium
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Rhenium hides in molybdenite inside porphyry copper deposits. When molybdenum concentrate is roasted, rhenium leaves in the flue gas, which is scrubbed and purified into ammonium perrhenate.
Three things to know
- Superalloys for turbine engines take about 80% of rhenium, and platinum-rhenium catalysts that make high-octane petrol about 15%.
- Recyclers say rhenium must stay above $3,000/kg before reclaiming it from superalloy scrap pays.
- World output more than doubled, from 36,304 kg in 2020 to 77,284 kg in 2024, by World Mining Data's count.
The journey
- 1 Copper-moly orePorphyry deposits containing molybdenite
- 2 MolybdeniteSeparated during copper flotation
- 3 RoastingRhenium escapes in the flue gas
- 4 APRScrubbed and purified to ammonium perrhenate
- 5 PelletsReduced to metal pellets or powder
- 6 End usesSuperalloy melts and platinum-rhenium catalysts