Redox reactions ‘mine’ old fluorescent light bulbs for europium

A new redox method can extract and recycle europium from real-life waste such as compact fluorescent lamps. in just three simple steps this protocol yields the lanthanide in quantities at least 50 times higher than state-of-the-art solutions used by the chemical industry. Researchers have already patented the technology and created a start-up to commercialise it.

Rare earths – a set of elements including all of the lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium – have become tremendously important in our day-to-day lives, with applications that range from small components in electronics to green technologies such as batteries, wind turbines and electric cars. However, these elements are mostly mined outside of Europe and North America and are difficult to extract, refine and recycle. ‘The sourcing and purification of rare earth elements is expensive, labour-intensive and ecologically devastating,’ says first author Marie Perrin from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.