VALUABLE MATERIALS EXTRACTED FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTE.. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. I Case study 32.
Why use dwindling supplies of valuable raw materials when an EPSRC-funded project shows that they can be recovered simply and cheaply from the waste materials of another industrial process?
≼ Lanthanides.
A group of 15 rare earth metals indispensable in a huge range of applications from healthcare to transport.
Researchers from the University of Leeds have discovered how to recover significant quantities of rare earth oxides from industrial waste. These materials are indispensable in the manufacture of wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting and electric cars, but can be very expensive to mine and purify.
The Leeds breakthrough came when the team, led by Professor Animesh Jha, discovered that a patented process they had developed for improving the yield and purity of titanium dioxide was also leading to extraction of significant quantities of rare earth metal oxides as co-products of the refining process.
IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER.
Just how much rare earth metal oxide can be recovered from the new process depends primarily on the source of the titaniferous mineral concentrates that provide the raw material, and recovery rates are improving as the technology develops. Already, oxides of neodymium, cerium and lanthanum have been recovered from what would otherwise be waste material.
> While recovering valuable rare earth metals, this technology also cuts costs and carbon dioxide emissions and eliminates hazardous wastes. > Rare earth metals are vital to the functioning of many devices that are core to delivery of healthcare, communications and transport in the modern world. Research leads to breakthrough. The fifteen rare earth metals occur more commonly in the Earth’s crust than precious metals such as gold and platinum, but their oxides are rarely found in sufficient concentrations to allow for commercial mining and purification. Add the fact that China has a near monopoly on these scarce, but crucial resources, and the issues are clear. But these rare materials are often found alongside the rather more common titanium dioxide and have traditionally been discarded as waste during its purification.
With rare earth metals crucial to so many modern technologies, additional demand for device related applications is set to outstrip supply. So, if scaled up to an industrial level, this new process could eventually shift the global balance of power in the global supply of these rare and expensive materials. For more information about EPSRC and the impact it is making visit www.epsrc.ac.uk.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
=
RARE EARTH METALS
INDISPENSABLE MATERIALS
www.epsrc.ac.uk