Recycling Tech: Turning Old Gadgets into Valuable Resources

In the world of technology, old gadgets often end up as trash, but they hold a secret treasure. Rare earth elements (REEs) found in discarded electronics are in high demand, but extracting them is tough. A group of scientists has found a smarter way to do this. They use electricity to heat up old magnets quickly and chlorine gas to separate the useful parts from the rest. This method is faster, uses less energy, and creates less pollution than old ways of doing it. The process starts by grinding up old magnets into tiny pieces. These pieces are then placed on a carbon platform inside a glass chamber. A strong electric current heats the platform to very high temperatures in just seconds. Chlorine gas is then added, which reacts with the unwanted parts of the mix. This reaction turns these parts into vapor, which sticks to the inside of the chamber. The valuable REEs stay behind on the platform, ready to be collected. The team tested this method on different types of magnets and found it works well. The recovered REEs are over 90% pure, and the process recovers more than 90% of the elements from the waste. This method could also be used on other types of electronic waste, not just magnets. The scientists compared their method to the usual way of extracting REEs, which involves using lots of acids and solvents. They found that their method uses 87% less energy, produces 84% fewer greenhouse gases, and costs 54% less to operate. This is a big deal because the world produces a lot of electronic waste every year. In 2022 alone, there were 66. 2 million tonnes of e-waste. Instead of mining for new REEs, which is expensive and harmful to the environment, this method offers a cleaner and more efficient solution.