Browsing by Author "Chojnacka, Ida"
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Item Leaching of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnets without mechanical pretreatment by sulfuric (H2SO4) and hydrochloric (HCl) acids(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2021-12) Klemettinen, Anna; Żak, Andrzej; Chojnacka, Ida; Matuska, Sabina; Leśniewicz, Anna; Wełna, Maja; Adamski, Zbigniew; Klemettinen, Lassi; Rycerz, Leszek; Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering; Metallurgy (MTG); Wroclaw University of Science and TechnologyA simplified approach for rare earth elements leaching from NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnets was investigated. The possibility of simplifying the magnet recycling process by excluding grinding, milling and oxidative roasting unit operations was studied. Attempts to skip the demagnetization step were also conducted by using whole, non-demagnetized magnets in the leaching process. The presented experiments were conducted to optimize the operating conditions with respect to the leaching agent and its concentration, leaching time, leaching temperature and the form of the feed material. The use of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids as the leaching agents allowed selective leaching of NdFeB magnets to be achieved while leaving nickel, which is covering the magnets, in a solid state. The application of higher leaching temperatures (40 and 60◦ C for sulfuric acid and 40◦ C for hydrochloric acid) allowed us to shorten the leaching times. When using broken demagnetized magnets as the feed material, the resulting rare earth ion concentrations in the obtained solutions were significantly higher compared to using whole, non-demagnetized magnets.Item Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from the Leaching Solutions of Spent NdFeB Permanent Magnets by Selective Precipitation of Rare Earth Oxalates(MDPI AG, 2023-07) Klemettinen, Anna; Adamski, Zbigniew; Chojnacka, Ida; Leśniewicz, Anna; Rycerz, Leszek; Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering; Wroclaw University of Science and TechnologyAfter mechanical pre-treatment, the typical hydrometallurgical route of NdFeB magnet recycling starts with leaching in acidic solutions. However, due to the high concentration of iron ions in the leaching solution, the selective recovery of rare earths from the solution is challenging. In our work, the selective precipitation of rare earth oxalates as a potential separation method was proposed. The precipitation of neodymium oxalate was first tested on model solutions, which was then followed by experimental tests carried out on real solutions after the leaching of NdFeB magnets. The recovery of rare earths in the form of oxalates was investigated with the use of different amounts of oxalic acid in relation to its stoichiometric amount. The most efficient separation of rare earths was observed in the case where sulfuric acid was used for leaching. The use of oxalic acid in stoichiometric amounts resulted in the precipitation of about 93% of all rare earths present in the solution, whereas the concentration of Fe and other elements (Ni, Co, and B) practically did not change. An increase in oxalic acid of 20% and 40% more than the stoichiometric amount (100%) led to the increase in the precipitation efficiency of rare earths to 96.7% and 98.1%, respectively. However, the use of oxalic acid in a 1.4 ratio caused a 7% decrease in Fe concentration, which suggests Fe co-precipitation. In order to investigate a possibility of further increasing the separation of rare earths from iron, an additional method was tested, in which iron was first oxidized from Fe2+ to Fe3+ before the precipitation of rare earth oxalates.