Recovery of neodymium as value added product NdF3 from rare earth magnet

Abstract

Rare earth metals (REMs) have broad applications in the manufacturing of fluorescent materials for lamp, CRT and plasma displays, permanent magnets for hybrid car, hard disk of personal computer etc. These equipments are disposed at the end of their life which cause hazardous to environment and also affect human health as well as aquatic life. In order to conserve the natural resources and reduce the environmental pollution, the hydrometallurgical process has been studied to recover the valuables from magnet of the hard disk of the personal computers. The various process parameters have been studied to leach out the neodymium and other associated metals viz. iron, nickel, boron using sulfuric acid as lixiviant at different pulp density and time. A quantitative dissolution of neodymium and other metals was achieved under the optimized condition. Pure neodymium fluoride salt was produced from the purified solution by the selective precipitation, crystallization/ evaporation processes.