Image courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Momentum Technologies, located in Dallas, TX, has licensed a new method involving the recovery of rare earth elements. Momentum Technologies has partnered with DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Critical Materials Institute , a DOE-funded Energy Innovation Hub, to commercialize this technology. Their membrane solvent extraction (MSX) process recovers rare earths using a limited amount of energy, labor, and chemical solvents. The MSX process recovers rare earth oxides from electronic waste at purities greater than 99.5% making them reusable in new magnets. Rare earth elements, such as neodymium and dysprosium, are considered critical materials due to their importance to energy technologies (like wind turbines and electric vehicles) and potential for supply risk. Permanent magnets are used in many applications such as electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, and hard disk drives.