Authors:

Victor Alex

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About Paper:

Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen elements that are critical to making permanent magnets for green energy products such as wind turbines and EVs. They are primarily produced abroad, and it is crucial for the US to have a reliable source to protect our innovation. It is not feasible for the US to mine REEs at large-scale so the alternative is to develop a circular economy process that can take end-of-life magnets and extract pure REEs from them. REEs are physically and chemically similar to each other and thus a challenge to separate. We have developed an effective recycling process but one part of it, acid leaching, has not been well optimized and not much research has been done using eco-friendly organic acids. Acid leaching involves agitating a solid mixture of REEs in acid to dissolve them into a liquid mixture. We plan to conduct a sensitivity analysis to investigate the operating parameters' (such as temperature, acid concentration, etc.) effects on the performance of the REE conversion from solid to liquid. The results of the elemental conversion will be verified by ICP-OES, one of the most accurate instruments in metal elemental analysis. We expect to provide an optimized leaching process with specific conditions that can be replicated to enhance the liquefaction yield of REEs while retaining impurities in solid form. By showing that an organic acid is a viable alternative to stronger mineral acids, it would make the recycling process more sustainable. Keywords: Acid Leaching; Rare Earth Elements; Sustainable; Critical; Recycling Process

Source:

Purdue University / 2024

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No topics listed

Co-authors:

Victor Alex