U.S. Rare-Earth Recycling Pipeline Advances with ERI, ReElement

Seventeen rare-earth elements underpin magnets, batteries, displays and other advanced technologies, but production is concentrated abroad: China supplies roughly 69% of global output and the U.S. imports about 75% of its needs.

Recycling end-of-life electronics can recover these critical materials while reducing supply-chain and environmental risks. The recovery pipeline begins with collection and sorting: devices destined for reuse or refurbishment are separated from components slated for material recovery. Shredding is followed by sensor-based sorting, magnetic and density separation to concentrate metal-bearing fractions.

Concentrates undergo metallurgical processing. Hydrometallurgy uses acidic or basic leaching to dissolve and recover rare earths; pyrometallurgy melts material at high temperature but is more energy intensive. Fine separation relies on solvent extraction and increasingly on chromatography to isolate closely related rare-earth oxides.

In a commercial partnership, ERI supplies end-of-life magnets to ReElement, whose purification and separation technology reportedly yields high-purity neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium (≥99.95%, with initial shipments >99.99%) while cutting water use by about 25% and energy by about 75% and minimizing toxic discharge.

The partners plan to scale from pilot to full operations within two years, targeting domestic supply for electric vehicles, wind turbines and defense systems. Consumers and businesses can support the effort by recycling electronics through designated drop-offs, retailers, or IT asset disposition services.