The demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has significantly increased due to their indispensable uses in integrated circuits of modern technology. However, due to the extensive use of high-tech applications in our daily life and the depletion of their primary ores, REE’s recovery from secondary sources is today needed. REEs have now attracted attention to policymakers and scientists to develop novel recovery technologies for materials’ supply sustainability. This paper summarizes the recent progress for the recovery of REEs using various emerging technologies such as bioleaching, biosorption, cryo-milling, electrochemical processes and nanomaterials, siderophores, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, and supercritical CO₂. The challenges facing this recovery are discussed comprehensively and some possible improvements are presented. This work also highlights the economic and engineering aspects of the recovery of REE from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Finally, this review suggests that greener and low chemical consuming technologies, such as siderophores and electrochemical processes, are promising for the recovery of REEs present in small quantities. These technologies present also a potential for large-scale application.

由于稀土元素在现代技术的集成电路中的不可缺少的用途，对稀土元素（REE）的需求已大大增加。然而，由于在我们的日常生活中广泛使用高科技应用以及其主要矿石的消耗，如今需要从二次资源中回收REE。现在，稀土元素已引起了政策制定者和科学家的注意，他们开发了新颖的回收技术来提高材料的供应可持续性。本文总结了使用各种新兴技术（例如生物浸出，生物吸附，冷冻研磨，电化学工艺和纳米材料，铁载体，湿法冶金，火法冶金和超临界CO _2）回收稀土的最新进展。。全面讨论了恢复所面临的挑战，并提出了一些可能的改进。这项工作还强调了从废弃电气电子设备（WEEE）中回收REE的经济和工程方面。最后，这项审查表明，绿色环保且化学消耗低的技术（例如铁载体和电化学工艺）有望回收少量存在的REE。这些技术还具有大规模应用的潜力。