Neodymium Ion Bor magnets in Hard Disk Drives

HDDs found in laptops have almost 75% less REEs compared to desktop PCs

Nearly 850 kg of Nd, 140 kg of Pr and, 40 kg of Dy can be recovered annually in Denmark from the waste computer HDDs

More information can be found in: Habib, K., Schibye, P.K., Vestbø, A.P., Dall, O and Wenzel, H. 2014. Material Flow Analysis of NdFeB magnets for Denmark: A comprehensive waste flow sampling and analysis approach. Environmental Science & Technology 48 (20): 12229-12237.

Figure: Content of rare earth elements in 20 different NdFeB magnets from HDDs 

Contact: Henrik Wenzel, henrik.wenzel@kbm.sdu.dk, +45 6550 7374