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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Chem. Eng.
Sec. Separation Processes
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fceng.2024.1420008
This article is part of the Research Topic Solvent Extraction Pathways to Sustainable Industrial Processes: New Solvents, Modelling, and Design Methods View all 5 articles

Leaching and Recycling of NdFeB permanent magnets using ionic non-toxic hydrotropes instead of extractants

Provisionally accepted
Asmae El Maangar Asmae El Maangar Clément Fleury Clément Fleury Stéphane Pellet-Rostaing Stéphane Pellet-Rostaing *Thomas Zemb Thomas Zemb *
  • UMR5257 Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule (ICSM), Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We show hereby that recycling of NdFeB permanent magnets by selective leaching and precipitation is possible, using an electrolyte as hydrotrope, thus avoiding the need of any specific extractant molecules. We analyse the yield of the extractant-free process and show that the non toxic formulation of Sodium Salicylate and ethylacetate used as diluent and choosing the optimal tie-line in a ternary phase diagram allows extraction using any type of acid in the aqueous phase. Iron is well separated from rare earths and the product can be recovered directly form the fluid used in separation by oxalic acid precipitation.

    Keywords: Leaching, critical fluctuations, Sodium Salicylate, solubilisation, Pre-nucleation clusters, lanthanides, NdFeB, Hydrotropes

    Received: 19 Apr 2024; Accepted: 04 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 El Maangar, Fleury, Pellet-Rostaing and Zemb. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Stéphane Pellet-Rostaing, UMR5257 Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule (ICSM), Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
    Thomas Zemb, UMR5257 Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule (ICSM), Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.