A method is provided for treating a rare earth metal-bearing scrap material by melting an extractant selected from the group consisting of bismuth (Bi) and lead (Pb) and contacting the melted extractant and the scrap material at a temperature and time to recover at least one of the light rare earth metal content and the heavy rare earth metal content as a metallic extractant alloy, which can be subjected to vacuum distillation or sublimation to recover the rare earth metal(s). The method can be practiced to recover the light rare earth metal content and the heavy rare earth metal content concurrently in a one-step process or separately and sequentially in a two-step process.

A single-heating stage method for reclaiming or recovering metals like nickel and vanadium from a petroleum waste byproduct has three steps: melting the petroleum waste byproduct in a reducing atmosphere, generating agglomerated metal in the melted byproduct, and lifting the agglomerated metal to an exposed surface of the melted byproduct. The metal precipitates out of the molten byproduct, agglomerates into a separate portion, and rises to an exposed surface of the melted petroleum waste byproduct even though the metal may have greater density than the molten petroleum waste byproduct. The original petroleum waste byproduct stratifies into a byproduct remnant and the agglomerated metal disk. The agglomerated metal disk is separable from the byproduct remnant and may be additionally separated into constituent metals in those embodiments with multiple metals in the disk.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for recovering a rare earth element, including subjecting a workpiece containing at least a rare earth element and an iron group element to an oxidation treatment, then turning the treatment environment into an environment where carbon is present, and subjecting an oxidation-treated workpiece to a heat treatment, thereby separating a rare earth element in the form of an oxide from an iron group element, according to which an oxide of a rare earth element can be efficiently separated from an iron group element at low treatment cost, and also wear and damage to the treatment container can be suppressed to allow the container to be used repeatedly for a long period of time. The method of the present invention as a means for resolution is characterized in that the oxidation-treated workpiece is mixed with petroleum coke as a carbon supply source, placed in a treatment container, and then subjected to the heat treatment in an inert gas atmosphere or in vacuum at a temperature of 950 C. to 1150 C. (excluding 1150 C.).

The present invention provides a method for producing a valuable metal from a starting material that contains waste lithium ion batteries, the method being capable of effectively obtaining a metal which has a reduced phosphorus content. The present invention provides a method for producing a valuable metal from a starting material that contains waste lithium ion batteries containing phosphorus, the method comprising: a melting step in which the starting material is melted, thereby obtaining a melt; and a slag separation step in which slag is separated from the melt and an alloy containing a valuable metal is recovered. According to the present invention, an alloy is recovered, while making it sure that the recovery ratio of cobalt from the starting material is from 95.0% to 99.6%, thereby suppressing the phosphorus content in the alloy to 0.1% by mass or less.

A method for treating battery waste includes: a first heat treatment step of heating the battery waste in an atmosphere containing at least one selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor; and after the first heat treatment step, a second heat treatment step of changing the atmosphere in the first heat treatment step and heating the battery waste in an atmosphere which is different from the atmosphere in the first heat treatment step and which contains a larger amount of oxygen than that in the first heat treatment step.

Provided are systems and methods for transport vehicles using recyclable metallic fuels. The method includes capturing fuel products, including a metal oxide and unburnt fuel from the combustion of a metallic fuel, storing the unburnt metallic fuel and the fuel products, and recycling the metal oxide to recreate the metallic fuel and/or byproducts. Heat generated by the combustion and/or sintering of the metallic fuel may be transferred to a working fluid to drive the production of electricity and/or to provide propulsion in land, air and water vehicles and spacecraft. Furthermore, the thermal energy harvesting system may be used to generate electricity. The system includes a thermal (heat) engine having an induction heating assembly for heating the metallic fuel. Processes for complete combustion of the metallic fuel and recycling the metallic fuel in a sintering loop are described.

Provided is a method for increasing the rate of recovery of valuable metals when waste batteries batteries are treated by a dry process. The valuable metal recovery method in the dry step S20 includes a melting step ST21 including melting waste batteries to form a melt, a slag separation step ST22 including separating slag from the melt, and an alloy separation step ST23 including separating an alloy of valuable metals from the melt, wherein the slag has an aluminium oxide content of 20% by weight to less than 75% by weight and an iron content of 5% by weight to 40% by weight, calculated as metallic iron, and silicon oxide and calcium oxide are added as fluxes in the melting step ST21 so that the slag can have a melting point of at least 1,500 C., preferably at most 1,650 C.

The invention relates to a process for selectively and continuously extracting a series of desired species from a matrix, comprising the steps of:injecting a plasma (310) in an extraction chamber by means of a plasma torch,continuously monitoring (320) the excited elements extracted from the matrix and contained in the plasma by optical emission spectroscopy, and for each species of the series,setting a distance (330) between the support and the plasma torch, and the composition of the injected plasma as a function of the monitored excited elements so that only one desired species of the series of species is being extracted from the matrix under molecular form, andproviding (400) a plate in the extraction chamber, exterior to the plasma, causing collection of molecules comprising said desired species by deposition onto the surface of the plate.

[Object] To provide a method for processing steelmaking dust, a method for producing zinc, and a method for producing an iron- and steelmaking raw material, which are more advantageous than the Waelz method in terms of energy and economy.

[Solving Means] A method for processing steelmaking dust according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: adding a calcium compound containing Ca to steelmaking dust containing zinc, the number of moles of Ca being equivalent to or more than the number of moles of Fe in the steelmaking dust; and heating and reducing, in a furnace, the steelmaking dust to which the calcium compound has been added. A ratio of the number of moles of Ca in the calcium compound to the number of moles of Fe in the steelmaking dust is adjusted to be not less than 1.3 and not more than 1.5.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for recovering a heavy rare earth element from a workpiece containing at least a heavy rare earth element and an iron group element, which can be put into practical use as a low-cost, simple recycling system. The method for recovering a heavy rare earth element from a workpiece containing at least a heavy rare earth element and an iron group element of the present invention as a means for resolution is characterized by including at least the following step: a workpiece is subjected to an oxidation treatment or mixed with an oxidation-treated RFeB based magnet alloy, and then subjected to a heat treatment in the presence of carbon at a temperature of 1000 C. or more, thereby separating a heavy rare earth element in the form of an oxide from an iron group element.