Practical trainings, student assistants and theses

Rare earth elements (REEs) are vital to numerous industrial applications. The studies on REEs recovery from various secondary resources revealed that spent permanent magnets contain a significant amount (approximately 31-32 wt%) of rare earth metals. However, the presence of Fe and other metals poses a challenge for recovering REE from the leachate solution. It was observed that the REE will also co-precipitate with Fe upon precipitation, resulting in the loss of resources. To address this, an extraction chromatography method has been proposed for the selective recovery of REE from leachate solutions. Our latest research reveals that selective ligands based on different media can recover REE from aqueous solutions even in the presence of other metals.
The master's thesis aims to develop novel diglycolamide-phosphoric acid combined impregnated resins with different compositions for the selective recovery of the REE from the spent magnet leachates. The prepared impregnated resins will be optimised with different experimental parameters to assess the best possible recovery of REEs. Furthermore, the studies will be examined through various spectroscopic and analytical investigations to understand the insights into the extraction/sorption behaviour. The application to real magnet leachates would be tested.

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or related field
• Knowledge of ion or extraction chromatography, and impregnation of inert carrier resins
• Knowledge of analytical techniques such as FTIR, SEM, AFM, XRD, etc
• Duration: 6 months
• Start Date: Starting in June 2026 is possible
• Work location : Freiberg

• Conduct literature research on extraction chromatography on resins, impregnation with various ligands, and their applications in metal recovery
• The characterization and understanding of the insights of impregnation behaviour using various techniques, XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, etc
• Design and conduct laboratory experiments under several parameters such as contact time, acid concentration, sorption models, etc
• Optimize experimental conditions for recovery of REE from magnet leachates
• Prepare a thesis report and present findings at conferences or workshops