Green processes for Rare Earth Elements Separation, recovery & valorization from permanent Magnets (GREEn SM)

The aim of this proposal is to develop innovative sustainable and selective chemical recycling methods for rare earth elements (REE) from end-of-life (EoL) devices giving them a new life into high value materials for advanced applications.Specifically, the enhancement of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium from EoL permanent magnets (also named “Super Magnets”, SM) will be taken as a relevant representative case study for setting up the separation and recovery chemical processing. In this project, recovering processes will be developed based on green chemistry principles,as an alternative to the extremely high energy and resource consuming conventional approaches. Thanks to the expertise of the involved research units (RU), sustainability aspects, i.e. environmental impact, economic cost and reemployment of the recovered REE, will be pursued through the design, synthesis and application of specific classes of complexing agents able to interact selectively and effectively with metal ions shaping complexes with the desired structure & properties. Specifically,each step of treatment, from the mechanical and thermal pre-treatments of waste SM to the valorization of all the recovered fractions, will be designed in order to provide the best semi-finished material for feeding the following step, limiting undesired by-products and using only low-hazardous reagents, solvents and operative conditions. The use of innovative low pollutingextraction techniques such as the Cloud Point Extraction and/or the Aqueous Biphasic System, will be investigated. The procedure will, on the one hand, overcome the limitations related to the typical solvent extraction procedures for REE affination, which are based on the use of large amounts of unsafe extractants and solvents. On the other hand, it will provide suitable precursors for advanced applications in emerging photonic technologies where REE materials play a fundamental role. In this context, the aim of GREEn SM is to explore the potential of the REE-rich materials recycled from EoL SM to be employed as core units in state-of-the-art materials and devices for white light generation, near-infrared optical amplification, anticounteirfeiting and photonic sensing by simple and cheap synthetic and processing steps, following sustainability principles.