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The rare earth elements (REE) are a group of chemically similar elements consisting of scandium, yttrium and the
lanthanides. They are essential to most new and “green” technologies, but their production is anything but green. Today,
China produces more of these elements than the rest of the world together, and dominates the market. Demand is
rapidly exceeding supply, yet only about 1% of rare earths are recycled. Because the main use for rare earths is in
electrical applications, efficient recycling of electrical waste will soon be vital to the continued use of these elements. Rare
earths occur naturally as oxides, and good methods have been established for their extraction.
During the recycling shredding process of WEEE. Scrap is broken into very small pieces or even turning to dust and
REE will stick largely to ferrous fractions due to the magnetic nature. These ferrous fractions are generally sold to steel
recyclers, where they are melted in electric arc furnace (EAF) treatment and the rare earth elements will be lost
due to dilution. This paper presents the separation of rare earth elements and the base metals which contains Co, Cu,
Mn etc in Fe, using pyrometallurgical methods.
International Iron & Steel Symposium
UDCS
Mertol Gökelma
Gabriella Tranell