Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are making progress on work to find ways to recycle rare earth metals from e-waste, the Iowa State Daily reports.

The Ames Laboratory Materials Preparation Center purifies metal for research purposes. Once the metals have had their impurities removed, they are sent out to other research centers to be tested for various purposes, such as their magnetic properties and other unique properties. In fact, some of the metal that the Materials Preparation Center has purified is in the Planck Satellite.

“There are no alternatives, only inferior substitutes,” said William McCallum, a senior scientist in the department of Materials and Engineering Physics at Iowa State, when referring to the importance of recycling of rare earth metals.

McCallum is also a senior materials scientist at Ames Laboratory and part of the team evaluating rare-earth recycling.

“We’ll be looking at questions of how you recover rare earths from a wide variety of mixed alloys, at the same time, at a reasonable price, without creating any additional hazardous waste,” he said when the research effort was announced in November of 2010.

The end goal may be developing an alternative to current rare-earth alloy separation processes, which start with an oxide form of rare-earth materials. Researchers will be looking to combine some processing steps so non-rare-earth elements can be separated from rare-earth elements in one continuous process.

In June, the Ames laboratory announced it a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology, or KITECH. The agreement promotes international collaboration in rare-earth research.

The memorandum establishes a framework for the Ames Laboratory and KITECH to work together to make advancements in rare-earth processing techniques, to transfer rare-earth discoveries to industrial applications and to educate the next generation of rare-earth scientists and engineers.

“International challenges call for international collaborations, and this Memorandum of Understanding brings together the principal centers of rare-earth research from South Korea and the United States,” said Ames Laboratory Director Alex King. “We look forward to collaborating on projects that benefit both nations.”

King and KITECH President Kyoung-Hoan Na signed the agreement in Korea in April following the First International Workshop on Rare Metals, sponsored by the Korea Institute for Rare Metals, or KIRAM. King was an invited keynote speaker at the workshop. KIRAM officials also invited King to serve on its International Committee on Rare Metals.

“The importance of rare metals including rare earths is growing increasingly evident,” said Na.  “We are at the point where research and development in rare earths is of paramount importance.  I believe signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ames Laboratory is very meaningful, and I look forward to actual joint research and the exchange of technical information and technical professionals between Ames Lab and KITECH.

The Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University.

Sims Recycling Solutions has become a member of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). NAID is an international trade association for companies providing information destruction services around the globe. The main purpose of NAID is to promote the information destruction industry and the standards and ethics of its member companies.

“Sims is proud to be a member of the NAID organization,” said Steve Skurnac, President, Sims Recycling Solutions, Americas. “Becoming a NAID member will further enhance our data security services for our customers and help us stay up to date on the latest information security measures. Many companies do not realize the potential data risks associated with electronic waste disposal; however, we believe that our NAID membership will give customers the confidence that their electronic waste and the sensitive data it may contain will be managed with industry leading security.”

For more information on the industry affiliations visit http://us.simsrecycling.com/about-us/affiliations.

Sims Recycling Solutions (www.us.simsrecycling.com) recycles electrical and electronics from 49 sites across the globe. In North America, Sims Recycling Solutions operates 13 sites in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Ontario, South Carolina and Tennessee.