Recycled waste could be a valuable source of rare earth elements
Recycling offers a promising means of supplying the rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium, used in computing and low-carbon technologies, research suggests. If recycling infrastructure and technologies are prepared now 5 December 2013 to deal with the larger volumes of high-tech waste expected in the future, 7-9% of Issue 353 global demand for these critical elements could be met by recycling by the year Subscribe to free 2030. weekly News Alert Rare earth elements (REEs) have particular magnetic and optical properties and are Source: Rademaker, J.H., essential components of high-tech products, including computers and are fundamental to Kleijn,R. & Yongxiang Yang, Y. (2013). Recycling as a some environmental technologies, such as wind turbines and hybrid electric cars. Demand Strategy against Rare Earth for REEs is increasing, yet there is an imbalance in their supply and demand and a shortage Element Criticality: A of some of these crucial elements. About 86% of REEs are produced in China, which has Systemic Evaluation of the recently placed restrictions on their production and export. Potential Yield of NdFeB Magnet Recycling. Recycling is seen as one way to be less reliant on the extraction of these elements, and may Environmental Science & increase their availability. However, historically, there has been little recovery of REEs from Technology. 47: end-of-life products. One problem is that the concentration of REEs in products is very low 10129−10136. DOI.10.1021/es305007w and another is that it is difficult to separate them from each other. Furthermore, previously low prices for REEs have not encouraged the development of suitable separation and Contact: extraction techniques for recycling. [email protected]
Read more about: To explore by how much recycling could relieve the critical supply of REEs, the researchers Environmental used life cycle and material flow methods to estimate the future quantities of neodymium technologies, and dysprosium contained in end-of-life products collected in global and EU-27 recycling Resource efficiency, programmes between 2011 and 2030. The study focused on NdFeB magnets (exceptionally Waste strong magnets containing neodymium and sometimes dysprosium and terbium) used in computer hard disc drives, direct-drive wind turbine generators and electric motors in hybrid The contents and views electric vehicles. included in Science for Environment Policy are based on independent, In the near future (before 2015), the results suggest that 0.5 Gg (giga grammes) of peer-reviewed research neodymium could be recovered globally from end-of-life wind turbines, hybrid and electric and do not necessarily reflect the position of the vehicles and hard disc drives. This represents about 11-15% of the total global demand for European Commission. neodymium in the short-term. No dysprosium would be recovered because it is not used in disc drives and the long lifespan of wind turbines and electric and hybrid vehicles means To cite this these sources will not be available for recycling until 2020. article/service: "Science for Environment Policy": European Commission DG By 2020, 0.45 Gg of neodymium and 0.01 Gg of dysprosium could be recycled globally, but Environment News Alert this represents only 5% and near 0% of the projected total global demand for neodymium Service, edited by SCU, The University of the and dysprosium, respectively. However, in the longer term, the higher volumes of end-of- West of England, Bristol. life products, predominantly wind turbines and electric and hybrid vehicles, entering the global waste stream could mean that 2.2 Gg of neodymium and 0.46 Gg of dysprosium will be available for recycling by 2030, representing 9% and 7% respectively of the total global
demand.
Although the short-term potential for recycling neodymium and dysprosium is low, this research suggests that the longer-term recycling potential is promising. Investing now in REE recycling technologies across the whole chain, from improving the collection rate, to developing better separation, recovery and refining techniques, will help the recycling industry to be prepared for when a larger volume of end-of-life material becomes available.