磁性材料和其中含有的稀土元素的再利用系统和方法

CLAIMS What is claimed is : 1. A system for producing a magnet concentrate containing rare earth elements (REEs), the system comprising : i) a size reduction unit, for receiving discarded waste containing magnetic material to output mixed scrap, the mixed scrap containing magnetic components and nonmagnetic components; ii) a target magnetic materials extraction block, for receiving and separating the mixed scrap into target magnetic material and non-target material; and iii) a chemical processing unit comprising : a) an input for receiving a mixed feed comprising the target magnetic material; b) an acid leaching unit for acid leaching the mixed feed; c) a rare earth element removal unit for removing rare earth elements from the mixed feed via precipitation as an oxalate, carbonate, or other rare earth salts; d) a calcination unit for calcining of the rare earth salts to rare earth oxide; and e) one or more particle removal units for : 1. iron removal by pH adjustment and precipitation; 2. removal of one or more of nickel, cobalt, other transition metals by solvent extraction, pH adjustment, and precipitation as a hydroxide; 3. removal of copper by precipitation, by solvent extraction, or by ion exchange; and 4. removal of boron by solvent extraction or ion exchange, wherein the target magnetic materials comprise magnets containing one or more rare earth elements. The system of claim 1, wherein said magnets containing one or more rare earth elements comprise one or more of : neodymium magnets, samarium cobalt magnets, and cobalt and/or nickel containing magnets. The system of claim 2, wherein the cobalt and/or nickel containing magnets comprise : aluminum nickel cobalt magnets. The system of claim 1, wherein the target magnetic material is suitable for further processing in an external system to generate magnet enriched material having increased magnet content. The system of claim 1 wherein the target magnetic materials extraction block comprises a non-ferromagnetic belt proximate a rotating steel drum, and wherein the mixed scrap is conveyed along the non-ferromagnetic belt such that the magnetic components stick to the drum to be scraped off for collection. The system of claim 5, wherein the non-ferromagnetic belt is a rubber belt. The system of claim 5, wherein a scraper is used for scraping the magnetic components that stick to the drum. The system of claim 1, wherein the target magnetic materials extraction block comprises a non-ferromagnetic belt that passes over a steel idler adapted to exert passive attraction on the magnetic components such that as a result of a magnetic force of attraction, the magnetized components are thrown a shorter distance off the belt, whereas non-magnetized material is thrown a longer distance, allowing the magnetic components to be separated from the nonmagnetic components. The system of claim 8, wherein the non-ferromagnetic belt is a rubber belt. The system of claim 1 wherein the discarded waste comprises : one or more of motors, hard disk drives, speakers, compressors, other electromechanical devices containing magnets, and meatballs. The system of claim 1, wherein the mixed scrap comprises said target magnetic material and non-target material, wherein the non-target material comprises ferrous components. The system of claim 1, wherein magnet content of the mixed scrap is up to 15%. The system of claim 12, wherein magnet content of the target magnetic material is about 30%. The system of claim 13, wherein magnet content of the magnet enriched material is about 70% to 100%. The system of claim 1, wherein the target magnetic materials are received from one or more of a target magnetic materials extraction block and a milling/washing unit. The system of claim 15, further comprising : the milling/washing unit for receiving swarf and magnets that are not usable in their current state, and outputting at least some of said target magnetic material. The system of claim 1, wherein the chemical processing unit is one of a hydrometallurgical or a non-hydrometallurgical processing unit. A method for obtaining rare earth elements (REEs), the method comprising : (i) milling mixed scrap material containing magnets to a milled material of predetermined size; (ii) capturing dust generated by said milling in a dust collector; (iii) re-magnetizing the milled material; (iv) vibrating the milled material to promote mixing; (v) passing the milled material over a set of N screens to produce N + l product fractions, the fractions comprising oversize fraction containing a first set of magnet clumps and fine dust fraction; (vi) combining the fine dust fraction with the dust from the dust collector to form a dust stream; (vii) passing the dust stream through a circuit containing re-magnetizing- clumping-screening to output fine particles comprising a second set of magnet clumps; (viii) short grinding of the first and second set of magnet clumps and then screening to capture the magnetic material in the small size fraction of the screen as a mixed feed; (ix) acid leaching the mixed feed; (x) rare earth element removal by precipitation as an oxalate, carbonate, or other rare earth salts; (xi) calcining of the rare earth salts to rare earth oxide; (xii) iron removal by pH and temperature adjustment and precipitation; (xiii) removal of one or more of nickel and cobalt by solvent extraction, pH adjustment and precipitation as an oxide or hydroxide; (xiv) removal of copper by precipitation or solvent extraction; and (xv) removal of boron by solvent extraction or ion exchange. The method of claim 18, wherein said re-magnetizing comprises passing the mixed scrap over or through a re-magnetizing device or by passing it over a magnetic field. The method of claim 18, wherein N = 2 so that two screens are used to produce three product fractions. The method of claim 18, wherein the acid leaching comprises leaching with one or more of hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, formic acid, citric acid or a combination thereof. The method of claim 18, wherein the rare earth element removal comprises : stoichiometric addition of a salt in the ratio of 50% to 500%, or separation of REEs by solvent extraction, or a combination thereof. The method of claim 18, wherein the rare earth salts comprise oxalates. The method of claim 18, wherein the iron removal comprises : using calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, magnesium hydroxide, magnesium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, or other alkaline reagents or minerals, or a combination thereof in an oxidative environment achieved by the use of air, oxygen gas, or hydrogen peroxide, mixture of SO2 with oxygen or air gasses, permanganate, or other known oxidants in the industry or a combination thereof. The method of claim 18, wherein the calcining takes place at a temperature of 150 °C to 1200 °C. The method of claim 25, wherein the temperature is 650 °C. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of washing of the feed using water, surfactants, or solvent prior to said acid leaching. The method of claim 18, wherein the acid leaching utilizes lixiviant. The method of claim 18, further comprising : (i) obtaining feed material containing magnetic material, the magnetic material comprising ferromagnetic material and non-ferromagnetic material; (ii) reducing the size of the feed material to form a reduced size feed material; (iii) separating the reduced size feed material into the ferromagnetic material and the non-ferromagnetic material; and (iv) separating the ferromagnetic material into a magnet-enriched target magnetic material concentrate and a non-target magnetic material-depleted scrap. A system for obtaining rare earth elements (REEs), the system comprising : a chemical processing unit comprising : an input for receiving mixed feed containing magnetic components; acid leaching unit for acid leaching the mixed feed; a rare earth element removal unit for removing rare earth elements by from the mixed feed via precipitation as an oxalate; a calcination unit for calcining of the rare earth oxalate to rare earth oxide; one or more particle removal units for : iron removal by pH adjustment and precipitation; removal of one or more of nickel, cobalt, other transition metals by solvent extraction, pH adjustment, and precipitation as a hydroxide; removal of copper by precipitation, by solvent extraction, or by ion exchange; and removal of boron by solvent extraction or ion exchange. The system of claim 30, wherein the magnetic components are received from one or more of a target magnetic materials extraction block and a milling/washing unit. The system of claim 31, further comprising : the milling/washing unit for receiving swarf and magnets that are not usable in their current state, and outputting said magnetic components. The system of claim 30, wherein the chemical processing unit is one of a hydrometallurgical or a non-hydrometallurgical processing unit. A system for producing a magnet concentrate comprising : i) a size reduction unit for receiving discarded waste containing magnetic material to output mixed scrap, the mixed scrap containing magnetic components and nonmagnetic components; and ii) a target magnetic materials extraction block receiving the mixed scrap and separating the mixed scrap into target magnetic material and non-target material; wherein the target magnetic materials comprise magnets containing rare earth elements. The system of claim 34, wherein said magnets containing one or more rare earth elements comprise one or more of : neodymium magnets, samarium cobalt magnets, and a cobalt and/or nickel containing magnets. The system of claim 35, wherein the cobalt and/or nickel containing magnets comprise aluminum nickel cobalt magnets. A system for obtaining rare earth elements comprising : a chemical processing unit comprising : an input for receiving mixed feed containing target magnetic materials; an acid leaching unit for acid leaching the mixed feed; a rare earth element removal unit for removing rare earth elements by from the mixed feed via precipitation as an oxalate; a calcination unit for calcining of the rare earth oxalate to rare earth oxide; one or more particle removal units for : iron removal by pH adjustment and precipitation; removal of one or more of nickel, cobalt, other transition metals by solvent extraction, pH adjustment, and precipitation as a hydroxide; removal of copper by precipitation, by solvent extraction, or by ion exchange; and removal of boron by solvent extraction or ion exchange. A method comprising : a) obtaining feed material containing magnetic material, the magnetic material comprising ferromagnetic material and non-ferromagnetic material; b) reducing the size of the feed material; c) separating the reduced size feed material into the ferromagnetic material and the non-ferromagnetic material; and d) separating the ferromagnetic material into a magnet-enriched target magnetic material concentrate and a non-target magnetic material-depleted scrap. The method of claim 38, wherein the reducing the size comprises use of a milling process. The method of claim 38, wherein further comprising further separation of the non-ferromagnetic material using one or more of : eddy current separators, shaker tables, air tables, optical sorters, and gravity sorters. A method of preparing a magnet concentrate, the method comprising one or more of : (i) milling mixed scrap material containing magnets to a milled material of predetermined size; (ii) capturing dust generated by milling in a dust collector; (iii) re-magnetizing the milled material; (iv) vibrating the milled material to promote mixing; (v) passing the milled material over a set of N screens to produce N + l product fractions, the fractions comprising oversize fraction containing a first set of magnet clumps and fine dust fraction; (vi) combining the fine dust fraction with the dust from the dust collector to form a dust stream; (vii) passing the dust stream through a circuit containing re-magnetizing- clumping-screening to output fine particles comprising a second set of magnet clumps; and (viii) short grinding of the first and second sets of magnet clumps and then screening to capture the magnetic material in the small size fraction of the screen as the magnetic concentrate. A method for obtaining rare earth elements from a mixed feed, the method comprising : acid leaching the mixed feed; rare earth element removal by precipitation as an oxalate, carbonate, or other rare earth salts; calcining of the rare earth salts to rare earth oxide; iron removal by pH and temperature adjustment and precipitation; removal of one or more of nickel and cobalt by solvent extraction, pH adjustment and precipitation as an oxide or hydroxide; removal of copper by precipitation or solvent extraction; and removal of boron by solvent extraction or ion exchange.