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Title: Selective Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Permanent Magnet Scraps with Membrane Solvent Extraction

Journal Article · · Environmental Science and Technology
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Nuclear Materials Processing Group
  3. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Center for Advanced Energy Studies
  4. Molycorp Magnequench, Greenwood Village, CO (United States)

In this paper, the rare earth elements (REEs) such as neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium were successfully recovered from commercial NdFeB magnets and industrial scrap magnets via membrane assisted solvent extraction (MSX). A hollow fiber membrane system was evaluated to extract REEs in a single step with the feed and strip solutions circulating continuously through the MSX system. The effects of several experimental variables on REE extraction such as flow rate, concentration of REEs in the feed solution, membrane configuration, and composition of acids were investigated with the MSX system. A multimembrane module configuration with REEs dissolved in aqueous nitric acid solutions showed high selectivity for REE extraction with no coextraction of non-REEs, whereas the use of aqueous hydrochloric acid solution resulted in coextraction of non-REEs due to the formation of chloroanions of non-REEs. The REE oxides were recovered from the strip solution through precipitation, drying, and annealing steps. Finally, the resulting REE oxides were characterized with XRD, SEM-EDX, and ICP-OES, demonstrating that the membrane assisted solvent extraction is capable of selectively recovering pure REEs from the industrial scrap magnets.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Critical Materials Institute (CMI); Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office
Contributing Organization:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1265582
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1294429
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-15-34473
Journal Information:
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 49, Issue 16; ISSN 0013-936X
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 79 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

Characterization and Leaching of Neodymium Magnet Waste and Solvent Extraction of the Rare-Earth Elements Using TODGA journal April 2017
Mesoporous SiO2 Nanoparticles: A Unique Platform Enabling Sensitive Detection of Rare Earth Ions with Smartphone Camera journal June 2018
REE Recovery from End-of-Life NdFeB Permanent Magnet Scrap: A Critical Review journal September 2016
Rationally designed mineralization for selective recovery of the rare earth elements journal May 2017
Recovery of Rare Earth Elements by Carbon-Based Nanomaterials—A Review journal May 2019
High-throughput screening for discovery of benchtop separations systems for selected rare earth elements journal January 2020
Selective extraction of gadolinium using free-standing imprinted mesoporous carboxymethyl chitosan films with high capacity journal November 2018