Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered a way to recycle rare earth elements from wastewater, according to their paper in the ‘ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces’ journal. Whereas previous projects in this area have failed owing to the complexity of recovery and high levels of expense, the new method is said to bring ‘considerable economic benefits’.
The researchers based their project on the fact that a nanomaterial known as nano-magnesium hydroxide is capable of removing a proportion of metals and dyes from wastewater. The team successfully analysed the nanomaterial to produce relatively inexpensive flower-shaped nanoparticles under a high-powered microscope.
Source: Recycling International