New process can extract rare earth metal from energy-saving lamps
Published: Tuesday, Jul 9th 2024, 10:30
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A new method can be used to extract a rare earth from old energy-saving light bulbs. Researchers at ETH Zurich were able to extract significantly larger quantities of the rare earth metal europium than with previous methods.
"If this source were tapped, the lamp waste that Switzerland currently sends abroad for disposal in landfills could instead be recycled here in Switzerland," the developer of the process, Victor Mougel, was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) on Tuesday.
Until now, the extraction and purification of rare earths has been expensive, time-consuming and extremely harmful to the environment. This is because the conventional processes for separating the various rare earths are very chemical and energy-intensive and require numerous extraction steps.
Also for other rare earth metals
With the new process, europium can be recovered in just a few steps, as the researchers from ETH Zurich showed in a feasibility study published in the journal "Nature Communications". And in quantities that are at least 50 times higher than with previous separation methods. "Our recycling approach is significantly more environmentally friendly than all conventional methods for extracting rare earth metals from mineral ores," said Mougel with conviction.
The key to the method is a small molecule that naturally serves as a binding site for metals in enzymes. According to the researchers, the so-called tetrathiometallate can also separate certain rare earth metals from each other.
The researchers have patented their technology. According to ETH Zurich, they are currently working on adapting the separation process for other rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are found in magnets.
©Keystone/SDA
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