Rare Earth Exchanges

Europe’s Push for NdFeB Magnet Recycling to Reduce Rare Earth Dependency

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Highlights

  • Europe faces critical supply risks with China controlling over 90% of rare earth element refinement and permanent magnet production.
  • Mechanical recycling research shows potential to recover 71.3% of NdFeB magnets from electric motors, increasing magnet concentration from 9.47% to 50.8%.
  • Recycling strategies could potentially supply up to 75% of Europe’s rare earth element demand by 2050, supporting the transition to a circular economy.

_The rising demand for NdFeB permanent magnets, the strongest on the market, highlights a critical challenge for Europe. Used in electric motors, wind turbines, and electronics, these magnets rely on rare earth elements (REEs) like neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), and dysprosium (Dy). With China controlling at or above 90% of REE refinement and permanent magnet production, Europe’s dependence on Chinese imports poses significant supply risks._

The Recycling Potential

To reduce reliance on imports, Europe is exploring REE recycling, especially from NdFeB magnets in electric motors used in e-mobility. Recycling could potentially supply up to 75% of Europe’s REE demand by 2050. However, current recovery rates are below 1%, necessitating innovative recycling solutions.

A Promising Mechanical Pretreatment Method

A recent study by University of Bologna (opens in a new tab) engineers focused on a mechanical pretreatment method to recover NdFeB magnets from demagnetized electric motors. Key steps included:

StepsSummary
Thermal Demagnetization Ensures magnets do not clump during processing
Shredding and Magnetic Separation Isolates NdFeB-enriched fractions from shredded motor components
Material Flow Analysis (MFA): Tracks magnet distribution throughout the process

Gianluca Torta (opens in a new tab), a PhD student and co-founder of RarEarth (opens in a new tab) (www.rarearth.it (opens in a new tab)) and a doctoral candidate at the industrial chemistry department “Toso Montanari” at the University of Bologna and colleagues discuss core outcomes and insights based on this study.

As far as magnet recovery, 71.3% of magnets were retained in the ferrous fraction, with 28.3% in the non-ferrous fraction.  Further magnetic separation increased NdFeB concentration in the non-ferrous fraction from 9.47% to 50.8%.

In terms of efficiency, the study demonstrated a scalable approach for isolating NdFeB magnets and provided valuable data for process optimization.

Conclusion

This research underscores the potential of mechanical recycling to secure Europe’s REE supply chain. With improvements in processing yield and magnet concentration, this method could play a pivotal role in reducing dependency on imports and supporting the transition to a circular economy.

Importantly this study was uploaded to the preprint server ChemRxiv (opens in a new tab), meaning the outcomes should not yet be cited as full evidence.

Call to Action: Gianluca Torta’s Milan recycling startup looks intriguing. See the link (opens in a new tab).

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