Surfactant-based enrichment of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnet e-waste: Optimisation of cloud formation and rare earths extraction

Appropriate waste and resource management are essential for a sustainable circular economy with reduced environmental impact. With critical resources, e-waste may serve as indirect raw material. For example, with NdFeB permanent magnets, Neodymium (Nd) and the co-present Dysprosium (Dy) are critical rare earth elements (REEs). However, there exists no economically viable technology for recycling them from electronic waste (e-waste). Here, a method is presented based on cloud point extraction (CPE). The work involves basic complexation chemistry in a cloud medium with pure REE salts, as well as, with real NdFeB-magnets (nearly 28% REE content by weight) from an old hard disk drive (5.2 g mag…