Recycling Rare Earths: A Breakthrough 'Flash Joule Heating' Method
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Science and Technology (New technologies, Rare Earth Elements - REEs); Environment & Ecology (E-waste, Circular Economy, Pollution); Indian Geography (Distribution of mineral resources).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 1 (Geography): Distribution of key natural resources across the world.
General Studies Paper 3 (S&T, Economy, Environment): Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Conservation; Indigenization of technology; Infrastructure: Energy. The recycling of critical minerals is a key strategic issue.
Key Highlights from the News
A new, efficient technology has been developed by researchers to extract Rare-Earth Elements (REEs) from e-waste, such as used magnets.
This process works by combining Flash Joule heating and chlorination (FJH-Cl₂).
Key advantages of this new technology:
Reduces energy consumption by 87%.
Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 84%.
Completely eliminates water and acid waste.
Reduces cost by more than half.
It can extract critical metals like samarium, neodymium, and cobalt in a single step with over 90% purity.
This technology has great potential for environmentally friendly recovery of valuable metals from e-waste and reducing reliance on countries like China.
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