Large Scale Trials on the Use of Hydrogen to Extract NdFeB Magnets form Computer Hard Disc Drives

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The magnetic materials group recently completed a project funded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme entitled - Large scale trials on the use of hydrogen to extract NdFeB magnets from computer hard drive disks. The aim of this project was to scale up existing technology developed to extract NdFeB magnets from electronic waste.

The project demonstrated that it was possible to liberate around 2kg of hydrogenated NdFeB materials from 100 hard disk drives using a porous rotating stage inside a 300 litre hydrogen reactor (see images below). 

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