Rare Earth Magnet Recycling and Materialization for a Circular Economy—A Korean Perspective

The Republic of Korea is one of the largest consumers and a leading exporter of electronics, medical appliances, and heavy and light vehicles. Rare-earth (RE)-based magnets are indispensable for these technologies, and Korea is totally dependent on imports of compounds or composites of REEs, as the country lacks natural resources. Effect on rare earth supply chain significantly affects Korea’s transition towards a green economy. This study investigates the Republic of Korea’s approach to developing a secure rare earth supply chain for REE magnets via a recycling and materialization process known as ReMaT. It investigates the progress Korea has made so far regarding ReMaT from both technical and non-technical perspectives. Rare earth elements are successfully recycled as part of this process while experiments at the industrial scale is carried out. In this paper, the research results in terms of the extraction efficiency of rare earth elements are discussed and a comparison with previous relevant studies is provided. This study also highlights the opportunities and challenges regarding the implementation of the ReMaT process in order to create a downstream rare earth value chain based on circular economy principles.

Retrospective analysis of pediatric patients with multiple rare-earth magnets ingestion: a single-center experience from China

Background The aim of this study was to characterize patients who ingested multiple rare-earth magnets, reveal the harm of rare-earth magnet foreign bodies in the digestive tract, and develop a clinical management algorithm. Methods This was a retrospective review of patients with rare-earth magnet foreign bodies in the digestive tract admitted to a university-affiliated pediatric medical center in China, between January 2016 and December 2019; the subset of medical data evaluated included clinical symptoms, signs, treatments and outcomes. Results A total of 51 cases were included in this study, including 36(70.6%) males and 15(29.4%) females. The magnets were passed naturally in 24(47.1%) patients and removed by intervention in 27(52.9%) patients, including 5(9.8%) cases by endoscopy and 22(43.1%) cases by surgery. Twenty-two (43.1%)cases had gastrointestinal obstruction, perforation, and fistula. Compared with the non-surgical group, the time of the surgical group from ingestion to arriving at the hospital was longer([80(5–336) vs 26(2–216)]hours, p < 0.001) while there was no significant difference in the mean age or the number of magnets swallowed. Conclusions Magnets are attractive to children, but lead to catastrophic consequences including gastrointestinal obstruction, perforation, and surgical interventions when ingested multiple magnets. Endoscopic resection should be urgently performed in the presence of multiple magnets as early as possible within 24 h, even in asymptomatic patients.

Retrospective analysis of pediatric patients with multiple rare-earth magnets ingestion: a single-center experience from China.

Background The aim of this study was to characterize patients who ingested multiple rare-earth magnets, reveal the harm of rare-earth magnet foreign bodies in the digestive tract, and develop a clinical management algorithm. Methods This was a retrospective review of patients with rare-earth magnet foreign bodies in the digestive tract admitted to a university-affiliated pediatric medical center in China, between January 2016 and December 2019; the subset of medical data evaluated included clinical symptoms, signs, treatments and outcomes. Results A total of 51 cases were included in this study, including 36（70.6%） males and 15（29.4%） females. The magnets were passed naturally in 24（47.1%） patients and removed by intervention in 27（52.9%） patients, including 5（9.8%） cases by endoscopy and 22（43.1%） cases by surgery. Twenty-two（43.1%）cases had gastrointestinal obstruction, perforation, and fistula. Compared with the non-surgical group, the time of the surgical group from ingestion to arriving at the hospital was longer（［80（5-336） vs 26（2-216）］hours, p<0.001）while there was no significant difference in the mean age or the number of magnets swallowed. Conclusions Magnets are attractive to children, but lead to catastrophic consequences including gastrointestinal obstruction, perforation, and surgical interventions when ingested multiple magnets. Endoscopic resection should be urgently performed in the presence of multiple magnets as early as possible within 24 hours, even in asymptomatic patients.