(Ames Laboratory: Ames, IA) -- Scientists at the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at Ames Laboratory have developed a two-step recovery process that makes recycling rare-earth metals easier and more cost-effective.

Rare-earth metals are valuable ingredients in a variety of modern technologies and are found in cell phones, hard disk drives in computers, and other consumer electronics, which are frequently discarded for newer and more up-to-date versions.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. consumers disposed of 3.4 million tons of electronics waste in 2012. Continuously increasing global demand for new consumer electronics in turn drives demand for rare-earth metals, which are difficult and costly to mine.

But recycling rare earths isn’t necessarily any easier.

“Recycling rare-earth metals out of consumer waste is problematic, and there are multiple obstacles in the entire chain, from manufacturing to collection infrastructure to sorting and processing,” says CMI scientist Ryan Ott. “We’re looking at ways to make the processing part of that chain—removing the rare-earths from scrap magnet material—better.”

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