A team of researchers, led by Marion Emmert, assistant professor of chemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the U.S., have created a means to recover rare earth elements from drive units and motors of electric and hybrid cars that have been discarded.

China currently supplies rare earth materials for many technologies.Emmert and researcher H.M. Dhammika Bandara developed a chemical method to extract the elements from a drive unit’s magnets. The technique uses a two-step chemical extraction process to recover neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium from other materials that are used to make the devices.

The researchers sliced the drive unit of a Chevrolet Spark into pieces and shredded them. The researchers were then able to separate the elements as well as other recyclable materials such as steel chips.

Currently, China has the majority of separation facilities globally, which can be a problem for automotive manufacturers that depend on the magnets made from these elements to produce cars. China currently supplies approximately 97% of rare earths used in manufacturing. The researchers indicate that their discovery could be an alternative source, in reducing the number of elements imported to the U.S.

Relevant link:

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)

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