Particle Collector

[notebene.3190]

Once you've passed the step that requires the Particle Collector (or in my case, the Particle Collector (Filled)), can you just destroy that item? Is it needed for crafting the ascended weapons for that area or anything like that?

I searched the forum, and there was just a mention in a patch note of the item that they temporarily disabled being able to sell it to a vendor.