Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economic Assessment for Recycling Critical Metals From Hard Disk Drives Using a Comprehensive Recovery Process

JOM volume 69, pages 1546–1552 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Since the 2011 price spike of rare earth elements (REEs), research on permanent magnet recycling has blossomed globally in an attempt to reduce future REE criticality. Hard disk drives (HDDs) have emerged as one feasible feedstock for recovering valuable REEs such as praseodymium, neodymium, and dysprosium. Nevertheless, current processes for recycling electronic waste only focus on certain metals as a result of feedstock and metal price uncertainties. In addition, there is a perception that recycling REEs is unprofitable. To shed some light on the economic viability of REE recycling from U.S. HDDs, this article combines techno-economic information of an electro-hydrometallurgical process with end-of-life HDD availability in a simulation model. The results showed that adding REE recovery to an HDD base and precious metal recovery process was profitable given current prices. Recovered REEs from U.S. HDDs could meet up to 5.2% rest-of-world (excluding China) neodymium magnet demand. Feedstock, aluminum, and gold prices are key factors to recycling profitability. REEs contributed 13% to the co-recycling profit.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  1. B. Rohrig, Smartphones: Smart Chemistry (American Chemical Society, Washington, 2015), https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/archive-2014-2015/smartphones.html. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  2. U.S. Department of Energy, Critical Materials Strategy (DOE, Washington, 2011), https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/DOE_CMS2011_FINAL_Full.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  3. T.E. Graedel, E.M. Harper, N.T. Nassar, P. Nuss, and B.K. Reck, PNAS 112, 4257 (2015). doi:10.1073/pnas.1500415112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. J.W. Miller, Molycorp to Suspend Production at California Mine (The Wall Street Journal, 2015), https://www.wsj.com/articles/molycorp-to-suspend-production-at-california-mine-1440616302. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  5. K. Binnemans, P.T. Jones, B. Blanpain, T. Van Gerven, Y. Yang, A. Walton, and M. Buchert, J. Cleaner Prod. 51, 1 (2013). doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Z. Sun, Y. Xiao, H. Agterhuis, J. Sietsma, and Y. Yang, J. Cleaner Prod. (2016). doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.116.

    Google Scholar 

  7. B. Sprecher, R. Kleijn, and G.J. Kramer, Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 9506 (2014). doi:10.1021/es501572z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Roskill, Rare Earths: Global Industry, Markets & Outlook (Roskill, 2016), https://roskill.com/product/rare-earths-market-outlook/. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  9. K. Habib, P.K. Schibye, A.P. Vestbø, O. Dall, and H. Wenzel, Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 12229 (2014). doi:10.1021/es501975y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. G. Hatch, Seagate, Rare Earths and The Wrong End of the Stick (Technology Metals Research, 2011), http://www.techmetalsresearch.com/2011/07/seagate-rare-earths-and-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  11. W. Whittington, Desktop, Nearline & Enterprise HDDs—What’s the Difference? (Storage Networking Industry Association, 2008), http://www.snia.org/sites/default/education/tutorials/2008/spring/storage/Whittington-W_Desktop_Nearline_Enterprise_HDDS.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  12. S. Constantinides, Permanent Magnets in a Changing World Market (Magnetics Business & Technology, 2016), http://www.magneticsmagazine.com/main/articles/permanent-magnets-in-a-changing-world-market/. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  13. F. Cucchiella, I. D’Adamo, S.C.L. Koh, and P. Rosa, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 51, 263 (2015). doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.06.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Seagate Technology, Barracuda LP HDD Product Life Cycle Analysis Summary (Seagate, 2011), http://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/global-citizenship/en-us/docs/final-barracuda-lca-summary-report-ams-3-24-14-10-1-2013.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  15. Seagate Technology, Momentus HDD Product Life Cycle Analysis Summary (Seagate, 2011), http://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/global-citizenship/en-us/docs/momentus-lca-summary-report-9-26-2013.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  16. Seagate Technology, Savvio 10K.5 Enterprise HDD Product Life Cycle Analysis Summary (Seagate, 2011), http://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/global-citizenship/en-us/docs/final-savvio-lca-summary-report-10-3-2013-ams-031214.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  17. Intel Corporation, Enterprise-Class Versus Desktopclass Hard Drives (Intel, 2008), http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/enterprise_class_versus_desktop_class_hard_drives_.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  18. A. Shilov, Market Views: Hard Drive Shipments Drop by Nearly 17% in 2015 (AnandTech, 2016), http://www.anandtech.com/show/10098/market-views-2015-hard-drive-shipments. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  19. B. Sprecher, I. Daigo, S. Murakami, R. Kleijn, M. Vos, and G.J. Kramer, Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 6740 (2015). doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b00206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. R. Schulze and M. Buchert, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 113, 12 (2016). doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.05.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. T. Anand, B. Mishra, D. Apelian, and B. Blanpain, JOM 63, 8 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Z. Sun, H. Cao, Y. Xiao, J. Sietsma, W. Jin, H. Agterhuis, and Y. Yang, ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 5, 21 (2017). doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b00841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Tanaka, T. Oki, K. Koyama, H. Narita, and T. Oishi, Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, ed. J.-C. Bunzli and V.K. Pecharsky (Atlanta: Elsevier, 2013), doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-59536-2.00002-7.

    Google Scholar 

  24. L.A. Diaz, T.E. Lister, J.A. Parkman, and G.G. Clark, J. Cleaner Prod. 125, 236 (2016). doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.061.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. T.E. Lister, P. Wang, and A. Anderko, Hydrometallurgy 149, 228 (2014). doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2014.08.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. T.E. Lister, L.A. Diaz, G.G. Clark, and P. Keller, Process Development for the Recovery of Critical Materials from Electronic Waste (International Mineral Processing Congress, Quebec City), 11–15 Sept 2016.

  27. I. Lovell, Teleplan International N.V., Portsmouth, unpublished research, 2016.

  28. B. Olson, Seagate Technology PLC, Bloomington, unpublished research, 2016.

  29. Backblaze, How Long Do Disk Drives Last (Backblaze, 2013), https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-long-do-disk-drives-last/. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  30. B. Schroeder and G.A. Gibson, Disk Failures in the Real World: What Does an MTTF of 1,000,000 h Mean to You? (5th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technology, 2007), http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~bianca/papers/fast07.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  31. Eurostat Statistics Explained, Waste statistics—Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Eurostat, 2016), http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Waste_statistics_-_electrical_and_electronic_equipment. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  32. Electronics TakeBack Coalition, E-waste Facts and Figures (Electronics TakeBack Coalition, 2014), http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts_and_Figures_on_EWaste_and_Recycling.pdf. Accessed 24 March 2017.

  33. D. Kingsnorth, Curtin University, and Industrial Minerals Company of Australia Pty Ltd, Rare Earth Q. Bul. 6, 17 and 22 (2014).

  34. E. Machacek and P. Kalvig, Resour. Policy 49, 186 (2016). doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.05.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. W.T. Benecki, The Global Permanent Magnet Industry, 3rd ed. (Chicora: Mechling Bookbindery & Bookbinders Workshop, 2017), p. 340.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Dimpal, Will Permanent Magnets Save the Rare Earth Industry? (Roskill, 2016), https://roskill.com/news/will-permanent-magnets-save-rare-earth-industry/. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  37. Cash for Computer Scrap, Current Pricing (cashforcomputerscrap.com, 2017), http://www.cashforcomputerscrap.com/current-pricing. Accessed 01 March 2017.

  38. U.S. Geological Survey, Metal Prices in the United States Through 2010, 2013, http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5188.

  39. APMEX, Spot prices and Historical Prices (APMEX, 2017), http://www.apmex.com/spotprices/gold-price. Accessed 23 Feb 2017.

  40. InfoMine, Historical Copper Prices and Price Chart (InvestmentMine, 2017), http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/. Accessed 27 February 2017.

  41. SteelBenchmarker, Price History: Tables and Charts (SteelBenchmarker, 2017), http://steelbenchmarker.com/files/history.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2017.

  42. L. Cong, H. Jin, P. Fitsos, T. McIntyre, Y. Yih, F. Zhao, and J.W. Sutherland, Proced. CIRP 29, 680 (2015). doi:10.1016/j.procir.2015.02.015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office. We thank Dr. Bill Olson (Seagate Technology), Ian Lovell (Teleplan), and Dr. Carol Handwerker (Purdue University) for their assistance with understanding the electronics remanufacturing industry and opportunities for electronics recycling. We thank Nora Heikkinen for her support in figure editing. This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA

    Ruby Thuy Nguyen, Luis A. Diaz, D. Devin Imholte & Tedd E. Lister

Authors
  1. Ruby Thuy Nguyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis A. Diaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Devin Imholte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tedd E. Lister
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruby Thuy Nguyen.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 194 kb)

Appendices

Appendix 1

figure a

Annual REO Sales and Percent ROW Magnet Demand Met

Appendix 2

figure b

Main Revenue Streams from HDD Recycling with and without REO Recovery

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nguyen, R.T., Diaz, L.A., Imholte, D.D. et al. Economic Assessment for Recycling Critical Metals From Hard Disk Drives Using a Comprehensive Recovery Process. JOM 69, 1546–1552 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2399-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2399-2

search

Navigation