Europe has a new buyer of scrap magnets and rare earth magnetic materials for recycling into freshly minted powders for producing high-quality magnets. Precious metals company Heraeus has begun production at what is now the continent’s largest recycling plant for rare earth magnets.
Located at Bitterfeld-Wolfen about 50 km north of Leipzig in eastern Germany, the new Heraeus Remloy plant positions the company as a key player in the sustainable circular economy as it aims to offer European magnet producers and users a reliable, local source of rare earth iron boride powders for the production of environmentally friendly, high permanence magnets.
“Heraeus Remloy has developed a unique recycling technology to ensure the long-term availability of neodymium-iron-boron magnets and to establish a sustainable circular economy. This technology enables resource-saving processing of used magnets, reduces CO2 consumption by 80 percent compared to primary production, but achieves the same quality of magnets,” says Alexander Buckow, Technical Director of Heraeus Remloy.
The need for its plant is compelling, says the company. Almost half of all rare earth elements are used today for permanent magnets. Demand for NdFeB magnets is expected to double by 2030 and even more than triple by 2040 due to electrification and climate transformation. Demand is expected to exceed supply as early as 2026 without additional sources. In the future, the recycling of used magnets will be able to cover more than 30 percent of the European demand for new magnets.
The facility starts with the capability of producing 600 tons per year of nanocrystalline rare earth magnetic powders from recycled end-of-life electronic devices. The product can be used to produce bonded NdFeB magnets, hot formed NdFeB magnet and rare earth hydrogen storage components. Capacity can be ramped up to 1200 tons/year in the near term.
Sourcing feedstock is a key part of the venture. The company is seeking to purchase end-of-life neodymium magnets and production scrap, building its roster of source companies to become recycling partners. It is looking for suppliers of NdFeB magnets, specifically. Each magnet must have a minimum weight of five grams and there is no upper weight limit. Outside of the effort are SmCo, ferrite or AlNiCo magnets, as well as plastic-bonded magnets, which are not suitable for its recycling process. It has pledged to pay current market price for neodymium and, due to fluctuations in price, to establish a short- to medium-term price fixation with its partners. For more info, see www.heraeus.com.
