Sofía Riaño, a postdoctoral researcher from KU Leuven, presented part of the work developed for the European H2020 NEOHIRE (NEOdymium-Iron-Boron base materials, fabrication techniques and recycling solutions to HIghly REduce the consumption of Rare Earths in Permanent Magnets for Wind Energy Application) at the 2nd Advances in Green Chemistry Conference (AGChem 2018) in Poznan, Poland, on April 16th 2018. The audience consisted mainly of researchers and experts in the field of ionic liquids.
Sofía´s presentation, titled “Ionic Liquid-Based Solvent Extraction for the Recovery of Neodymium and Dysprosium from NdFeB Magnets”, focused on the importance of rare earth recycling using green chemical recycling processes. In contrast to the increasing rare earth elements (REEs) demand, the supply of such materials experiences a shortage. The recycling of REEs from NdFeB magnets through solvent extraction with ionic liquids is an alternative to overcome this situation while reducing the impact of the balance problem and environmental issues related to mining.
