Review of the Liquid Metal Extraction Process for the Recovery of Nd and Dy from Permanent Magnets

Neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) based rare earth (RE) magnets are critical to green economy due to their vital role in permanent magnet applications such as electric motors and generators. The accumulating RE magnet waste in the form of end-of-life products (EoL), criticality of supply-demand, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Metallurgical and materials transactions. B, Process metallurgy and materials processing science Process metallurgy and materials processing science, 2021-06, Vol.52 (3), p.1213-1227
Main Authors: Rasheed, Mohammad Zarar, Nam, Sun-Woo, Cho, Ju-Young, Park, Kyoung-Tae, Kim, Bum-Sung, Kim, Taek-Soo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bismuth
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Dysprosium
Electric motors
End of life
Green economy
Hydrometallurgy
Intermetallic compounds
Invited Review Article
Liquid metal extraction
Magnesium
Materials Science
Metallic Materials
Nanotechnology
Neodymium
Permanent magnets
Reaction mechanisms
Reduction (metal working)
Silver
Structural Materials
Surfaces and Interfaces
Thin Films
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Summary:Neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) based rare earth (RE) magnets are critical to green economy due to their vital role in permanent magnet applications such as electric motors and generators. The accumulating RE magnet waste in the form of end-of-life products (EoL), criticality of supply-demand, and the huge environmental costs associated with RE mining translated into an increased focus on RE recycling processes in the last decade. Environmentally friendly pyrometallurgical techniques were developed as an alternative to the traditional hydrometallurgical route due to the generation of large amounts of waste in hydrometallurgy. Liquid metal extraction (LME) is a promising pyrometallurgical technology as it has the ability to handle a wide variety of scrap feed materials, from swarf to ingots; to produce clean material with minimal impurities; and to allow the separation of metallic species without metallothermic reduction. So far, magnesium, silver, copper, and bismuth have been used as LME agents while exploration of other possibilities is ongoing. This article presents a systematic review of previous studies on the extraction agents in terms of the reaction mechanisms, behavior of the RE elements, extraction efficiencies, and the formation of intermetallic compounds during the process.
ISSN:1073-5615
1543-1916
DOI:10.1007/s11663-021-02102-z