Research at the IOCB – Institute of Organic Chemisattempt and Biochemisattempt – focutilized primarily on neodymium magnets, the strongest permanent magnets known, commonly utilized in cars, phones and turbines. Their high charge creates them extremely effective in electricity transmission, but also very dangerous in case of explosion.
Besides neodymium, they are composed primarily of praseodymium, and contain tiny doses of dysprosium and terbium. The IOCB also discovered presence of holmium, significant enough from a recycling perspective, though not disclosed by magnet producers. All elements are members of the lanthanide series, considered to be rare-earth minerals.
According to the International Energy Agency China boasts the largest deposits of these minerals, and controls 90% of its global production. In Europe, these elements are only found in tiny amounts. Miloslav Polášek, one of the scientists at IOCB, explains what all comes with refining these rare-earth elements:
“Cascades of devices are necessaryed – hundreds, even thousands of reactors – where the material is mixed and extracted. This process produces a large amount of waste, acids, and extraction agents. What is essential is that the ore does not contain only rare earth elements, but uranium and thorium too, which generates radioactive waste as well.”
Video of Unikátní způsob recyklace vzácných zemin z ÚOCHB může posílit naši surovinovou nezávislost
Concerns about sustainability, especially as demand for electronic vehicles and hence neodymium magnets is on the rise, were one of the drivers behind the research. According to IOCB researcher Kelsea Jones, it was also just a case of developing an clearer and more accessible way of reapplying electric motors:
“We can utilize water as a solvent, no necessary for organic solvents or concentrated acids. Room temperature is enough. The idea is to keep it simple, something that doesn’t require extremely difficult conditions that would be hard to reproduce on an industrial scale.”
The process relies on the utilize of chelating agents, organic molecules capable of bonding with metal ions. These are added to dissolved magnets, forming compounds with individual rare-earth elements, which can then be filtered out in order of precipitation or according to weight.
Polášek explains, that electric motors include several variations of neodymium magnets. Depfinishing on their location within the motor some necessary to be more heat-resistant, which is reflected their composition. The newly devised method can be utilized for all, and has already been tested on several real-life electric motors.
“We processed the magnets in several cycles of element separation, eventually obtaining neodymium with a purity of 99.7%. That is more than sufficient for producing new magnets,” the expert states.
Following these successful trials, the method is heading to the market. Czech scientists have already secured necessary patents and are viewing for commercial partners.
Leave a Reply