Recovering rare earth metals from magnet scrap

摘要

A method is provided for treating a rare earth metal-bearing scrap material by melting an extractant selected from the group consisting of bismuth (Bi) and lead (Pb) and contacting the melted extractant and the scrap material at a temperature and time to recover at least one of the light rare earth metal content and the heavy rare earth metal content as a metallic extractant alloy, which can be subjected to vacuum distillation or sublimation to recover the rare earth metal(s). The method can be practiced to recover the light rare earth metal content and the heavy rare earth metal content concurrently in a one-step process or separately and sequentially in a two-step process.

主权项

1. A method of treating a rare earth metal-bearing scrap material, comprising melting an extractant selected from the group consisting of bismuth (Bi) and lead (Pb) and contacting the melted extractant and the scrap material at a temperature and time to recover at least one of a light rare earth metal content and a heavy rare earth metal content of the scrap material as part of a metallic extractant alloy.