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Review on E-waste Recycling: Part II—Technologies for Recovery of Rare Earth Metals

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Abstract

Rare earth elements (REEs) commonly referred to as ‘Seed of Technology’ have spread over the canvas of modern technology. Its consumption is increasing rapidly due to rising demand for smart electronics, energy-efficient lighting, catalyst, electric vehicles, and green energy sector. It is impossible to meet this growing demand of REEs from the limited global reserve, and also due to low concentration with mining production. Despite this, REE recycling rate is low and attributed to inefficient collection, technological difficulties, and a lack of incentives. In order to ensure sustained availability of REEs, it is necessary to augment supply from unconventional resources and to give emphasis to exploit and expand technologies to meet the future necessities of rare earth metals. With ample research and development work carried out across the world, several innovative processes have been developed, some of which are translated in to industrial technology for commercial deployment. Presently, recycling and/or recovery of REE is mostly limited to permanent magnets, NiMH batteries, and fluorescent lamps. There have been little recycling efforts for small consumer electronics. Recycling technologies for the above three categories are nearing maturity and have already moved to industrial scale in many of the developed countries including Japan, USA, UK, Germany, etc. Many conventional thermo-chemical and bio-chemical processes have been tested both in pilot and laboratory scale for metal recovery from E-waste. However, physical processes for metal recovery are quite in practice for easier operation and lower carbon footprint. This paper which is part II of the review presents details of these processes/technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Heavy Water Board, DAE, Mumbai, 400 094, India

    U. Kamachi Mudali & Manisha Patil

  2. NITI Aayog, Government of India, New Delhi, 110 001, India

    R. Saravanabhavan & V. K. Saraswat

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  1. U. Kamachi Mudali
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  2. Manisha Patil
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  3. R. Saravanabhavan
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  4. V. K. Saraswat
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Correspondence to U. Kamachi Mudali.

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Mudali, U.K., Patil, M., Saravanabhavan, R. et al. Review on E-waste Recycling: Part II—Technologies for Recovery of Rare Earth Metals. Trans Indian Natl. Acad. Eng. 6, 613–631 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-021-00231-0

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