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Penn Research Simplifies Recycling of Rare-earth Magnets
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-research-simplifies-recycling-rare-earth-magnets[font face=Serif][font size=5]Penn Research Simplifies Recycling of Rare-earth Magnets[/font]
Media Contact:Evan Lerner | elerner@upenn.edu | 215-573-6604
June 17, 2015
[font size=3]Despite their ubiquity in consumer electronics, rare-earth metals are, as their name suggests, hard to come by. Mining and purifying them is an expensive, labor-intensive and ecologically devastating process.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have now pioneered a process that could enable the efficient recycling of two of these metals, neodymium and dysprosium. These elements comprise the small, powerful magnets that are found in many high-tech devices.
In contrast to the massive and energy-intensive industrial process currently used to separate rare earths, the Penn team’s method works nearly instantaneously at room temperature and uses standard laboratory equipment.
Sourcing neodymium and dysprosium from used electronics rather than the ground would increase their supply at a fraction of the financial, human and environment cost.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201501659Media Contact:Evan Lerner | elerner@upenn.edu | 215-573-6604
June 17, 2015
[font size=3]Despite their ubiquity in consumer electronics, rare-earth metals are, as their name suggests, hard to come by. Mining and purifying them is an expensive, labor-intensive and ecologically devastating process.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have now pioneered a process that could enable the efficient recycling of two of these metals, neodymium and dysprosium. These elements comprise the small, powerful magnets that are found in many high-tech devices.
In contrast to the massive and energy-intensive industrial process currently used to separate rare earths, the Penn team’s method works nearly instantaneously at room temperature and uses standard laboratory equipment.
Sourcing neodymium and dysprosium from used electronics rather than the ground would increase their supply at a fraction of the financial, human and environment cost.
…[/font][/font]
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
The need to recycle from "waste" (=discarded objects) rather than continually extract
resources from the planet is one of the most important ones we need to face.
Doing this for something that is in high demand - and for lower cost! - is a great
step forwards as the need for rare-earth magnets is certainly not going away in
the near future.
Thanks for posting!
