4.6 Article

Sustainable Recycling of Rare-Earth Elements from NdFeB Magnet Swarf: Techno-Economic and Environmental Perspectives

Journal

ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 9, Issue 47, Pages 15915-15924

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05965

Keywords

rare-earth elements; neodymium-iron-boron magnet; swarf recycling; techno-economic analysis; life cycle assessment

Funding

  1. Critical Materials Institute (CMI), an energy innovation hub - U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office

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The paper introduces an innovative technology using copper nitrate to dissolve REEs in NdFeB magnet swarf and recover them with a recovery rate of nearly 97%. The economic and environmental impacts have been quantified, showing the feasibility and benefits of adopting this acid-free dissolution technology for recycling.
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are increasingly susceptible to supply risks due to their limited geographical availability and growing demand in clean energy applications such as neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. When NdFeB magnets are produced, 6-73% of swarf is generated during the manufacturing steps. This paper presents an innovative technology that utilizes copper nitrate to dissolve REEs in NdFeB magnet swarf and subsequently recovers similar to 97% of them as mixed rare-earth oxides (REOs) of purity higher than 99.5%. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) quantified the economic and environmental impacts of adopting the proposed acid-free dissolution technology, projecting a net profit margin of 12-43% and a global warming impact reduction by up to 73% compared to the prevailing REO production routes in China. As copper nitrate is the single largest contributor to the cost and environmental footprint, recycling of copper nitrate was investigated as well as using alternative copper salts (e.g., copper acetate), revealing significant improvements in TEA and LCA results. Dysprosium was a major revenue source, highlighting the importance of targeting electric vehicle magnets that are rich in dysprosium. As the REO market is volatile, sensitivity analysis was employed to evaluate the profitability of the proposed technology under different REO prices over the last 11 years. Overall, our results confirmed the economic and environmental viability of the proposed technology for sustainable recycling of REEs from the NdFeB magnet swarf.

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