| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
REWAS 2025: Sustainable Practices in Strategic and Critical Raw Materials: Exploring Supply Chain Resilience and Recycling Innovations
|
| Presentation Title |
Rare Earth Metals Production Through Metallothermic Reduction: Preparation of Anhydrous Salt and Reduction Using Sodium Metal |
| Author(s) |
Himanshu Tanvar, Diana Aksenova, Jared Gordon, Richard VanLieshout, Philip Keller, Brock O'Kelley, Andrew Matheson, Jon Siddall, Brajendra Mishra |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Himanshu Tanvar |
| Abstract Scope |
The transition to green energy technologies has led to an increased demand for rare earth metals, particularly neodymium and praseodymium. These metals are essential for manufacturing rare earth magnets, which are integral components of electric motors in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Metallothermic reduction of metal halides offers an economical and sustainable alternative for producing these metals, minimizing waste generation compared to electrolytic methods. However, the key challenges in metallothermic reduction are the production of anhydrous rare earth metal salts and salt/metal phase separation after reduction. This study explores various methods to produce oxide-free anhydrous rare earth halides, their subsequent reduction to metals using sodium as the reducing agent and phase separation using low melting eutectic systems. The research delves into the process thermodynamics and chemistry to elucidate the physicochemical transformations involved in producing magnet-grade Nd-Pr metals. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Extraction and Processing, Pyrometallurgy, Sustainability |