Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from NdFeB Magnet Powders through Reactive Grinding

REEs have grown in importance over the years because of their applications in electronics (smart phone, high definition display), rechargeable batteries, renewable/green energy, and defense industry. The United States consumes around 16 thousand tons of REEs annually. However, China produced roughly 97 percent of the world’s supply of REEs, and will likely continue to dominate the global supply. There is a need to mitigate China’s domination in the production of REEs and manufacture of critical electronic components. One viable means of producing REEs and REE oxides, is from secondary sources such as NdFeB magnets from the End-of-Life electronics. However, the current REEs extraction process is a chemically intensive procedure involving strong acids (HCl and H2SO4), which results in economically unsustainable process and environmental hazards from large amounts of waste acid solutions. Therefore, no mature and economically feasible technologies have been identified for recycling NdFeB magnet powders to recover REEs. ACT proposes to develop an economically efficient process for recovery REEs from NdFeB magnet powders. The proposed method utilizes grinding and milder acid leaching that will reduce the usage of strong acids in current process.