​Rare Earth Recycling

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Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) technology is uniquely situated to provide processing of spent Rare Earth Element (REE) alloys and other recyclable products. Similar to the separation of bulk-REEs from mining processes, recycling occurs by dissolving the metals in solution and processing through SPE to separate the individual elements from one another and from other base metals (i.e. iron and boron from NdFeB magnets).

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The flexibility of SPE to be quickly optimized for different processing requirements provides for cheaper development and more scalable units than traditional Solvent Extraction techniques. Until now, because of the large economies of scale required to process the REEs by traditional methods, very little progress has been made in implementing REE recycling.

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The low capital equipment cost and decreased reagent requirement of IntelliMet's SPE process allow for profitable extraction and production of recycled REEs at the current level of REE scrap production. Efficient and cost-effective recycling of REEs means less metal waste in junkyards and greater availability of these important metals that form the backbone of many “green-tech”
applications.

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