Rare Earth metals are becoming ever more important to technology in recent years and the need will continue to grow in the future. Mobile phones are a prime example of the many modern technologies which require the use of several rare Earth metals in order to improve the various features that it has.

Modern smartphones use indium in the touchscreen, gold in various micro electrical components and neodymium magnets in the speakers, receivers and various motors; not to mention the several other metals used to produce the vibrant colours in screen as shown in the image (shown right). Another element lanthanum, is used in the new Toyota Prius batteries and is proven to be twice as efficient as regular lithium/cobalt batteries.

However, these elements are running out, and as less than 1% of all rare earth metals produced are recycled, action must be done to recycle what we have already used. This is realistically our planet’s best approach to tackle this problem as mining in space is far from reality and may not be reliable.

The EU has funded a project called SUSMAGPRO that aims to tackle this problem by funding various institutions to develop a recycling supply chain for rare Earth metals. In total there are 19 different institutions that are part of the project, but the University of Birmingham was the one which was allocated the most money (€3.9 million). This money will be used to start a recycling facility which focuses on magnets made of neodymium, boron and iron, often found in hard disk drives, wind turbine generators and many household appliances, including mobile phones.  

The process that will be used at this facility is a relatively new process developed by Birmingham University themselves, and uses hydrogen to break up the magnetic metal alloys into powder. The hydrogen preferentially enters the rare earth metal, so expands its volume, resulting in a fine powder being produced. The powder is then easily removed by screening and can be processed directly back into new magnets. It is predicted that the facility will be able to produce 20 tonnes of recycled magnets a year which is a considerable amount based on the fact that the magnets in smartphones are very small. Previous methods of extracting rare Earth metals included disassembly and removal of the magnet but this new process saves time, labor, and in the long term, money.

In conclusion, I believe that recycling rare Earth metals is essential for the future of technology and they should be preserved at all cost, as their properties hugely contribute to the increase in efficiency of new products.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.