Extraction and Recycling of Rare Earth Magnets:

Magnetic Materials Group Pilot Plant Development

Dr Lydia Pickering

UK Magnetic Society: Magnetic Materials & Applications18-19th September 2019Laboratorio Elettrofisico, Milan, Italy.

Presentation Overview

• Who we are• Why recycle & what are the challenges• Hydrogen Processing of Magnetic Scrap • SUSMAGPRO Project Overview• Pilot plant development

Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials

2017 EU Critical Raw Materials ListThe EU Publishes a list of critical raw materials every 3 years.

This is also done in Japan & USA (there are some differences between all of them).

Next list is scheduled for 2020

Rare earth magnets

NdFeB Magnet Applications

Energy generation –offshore wind turbines

Automotive (Generators, motors, power steering)

Electronics - loudspeakers, vibrators, motors

Electric bikes (motors)

History of the BCSECM• Virtual multidisciplinary centre • Aims - to develop solutions to the critical materials challenge

by substitution, recycling / reuse and efficient use of materials – along with examination of trade and regulation.

• Launched in March 2017 as part of the Birmingham Energy Institute

• March 2018 – New £21 million project on battery recycling (ReLiB) as part of the Faraday Challenge Fund

• March 2018 - Successful internal DIF bid £2.6 million for new staff and lab spaces

• May 2018 – New EPSRC national network on critical materials (CREAM).

• May 2019 – New €14 million EU project granted on recycling of rare earth magnets (SUSMAGPRO)

The Magnetic Materials Group

Prof Allan WaltonHead of the MMGProfessor of Critical & Magnetic MaterialsCo-Director of the BCSECM

Dr Richard SheridanLecturer in Magnetic MaterialsRare earth alloy development and high temperature magnetics

Prof Rex HarrisEmeritus Professor

David KennedyHonorary Research Fellow

Dr John SpeightHonorary Research Fellow

Andy BradshawProject Manager

Dr Oliver BrooksHyDp

Dr Alexander CampbellSmCo

Dr Malik DegriNeohire – Nanocrystalline NdFeB

Dr Vicky MannCrEAM Network Coordinator

Dr Lydia PickeringNeohire – Recycling

Muhammad AwaisDEMETER

Fernando CoelhoDEMETER

Fabian BurkhardtHyDp

Permanent lecturing staff

Senior staff

Postgraduate staff

PhD students + 3 masters students + 4 undergraduate projects

Recycling NdFeB

Why Recycle Rare Earth Magnets• The EU imports far more NdFeB than we manufacture.

• If short loop recycling can be achieved then the economics become much more favorable.

• Potentially a much smaller environmental footprint.

• Provide a secure supply of materials for the EU.

• Help balance the supply/demand issue.

Problems for Recycling of Rare Earth Magnets• Identification of products which contain NdFeB magnets is not easy.

• NdFeB magnets are often very small (e.g. 300mg in a mobile phone).

• The composition of the magnets is changing.

• The final magnets are coated and have a higher oxygen content than primary alloys.

• The magnets are magnetised and on shredding the magnets break apart and stick to the ferrous scrap.

• Economics for recycling are challenging.

• The products are not designed for disassembly.

Design of Products Containing Rare Earth Magnets

NdFeBsintered magnet

Sintered NdFeBmagnet

Soft magnetic laminations

Hard disk drive Apple iPhone

Examples of end of life products containing NdFeB magnets

NdFeB sintered magnet

Sintered NdFeBmagnet

Soft magnetic laminations

Hard disk driveDrive motor from a

Prius Apple iPhone

Examples of end of life products containing NdFeB magnets

Design of Products Containing Rare Earth Magnets

Epoxy coated magnets

Thermally demagnetised magnetsFull wind turbine module thermally

demagnetised

Loud speaker module from a

Nissan leaf

Current Processing

Industrial Shredding of HDDs Industrial shredding of motor

Scrap assembly provided by Axion Recycling

Image provided by Rene Kleijn, University of Leiden, Van Gansewinkel Group

Electronic and automotive scrap is often shredded prior to separation of materials. For HDDs this is used to destroy the data on the disk. NdFeB in particular has to avoid this route.

OxidisedNdFeBmagnet powder

Hydrogen Processing of Magnetic Scrap

(HPMS)

Hydrogen Decrepitation (HD) Process Developed by

Professor Rex Harris, UoB

Nd2Fe14B

Nd - richc-axis

Cast NdFeB exposed to hydrogen at 1 bar absolute and RT (Time in min:sec).

Hydrogen Processing ofSintered NdFeB

Back scattered SEM image of a cross section from a NdFeB magnet

Room Temperature, 1 bar H2 .

Total video time – 40 min

HD Magnet Powder From Sintered NdFeB

Secondary electron image

Manual separation of NdFeB from a HDD

Sintered NdFeBMagnet

Casing

HDD

Disk

Voice Coil Motor

Spindle motor containing resin bonded NdFeB magnet

screw

screws

Voice Coil Assembly

Robotic sorting systeminstalled in the StenaRecycling plant in HalmstadtSweden.

Significant reduction in costsfor recycling due to reductionin manual labour.

The robotic system usessensor info to locate themagnet containing part ofthe HDD and then sectionsthat part of the drive.

Robotic system for segregation of waste streams

Separation of NdFeB From VCM

Voice coil assembly

Voice coil assembly after HD processing

Soft magnetic Fe casing

Hydrided NdFeB powder

Ni electroplate

Ni electroless plated VCM

Processing of Sectioned Hard Disk Drives

Schematic Diagram of HPMS system

Prototype HPMS Reactor for Separating NdFeB Magnets from WEE

Collection vessel

Valve set

Hydrogen vessel

Porous rotating stage inside vessel

Hard disk drives loaded into porous drum

https://www.repromag-project.eu/

The HPMS Process in Action

Extracted Powders

Material extracted from tumbling stage(10 sectioned HDDs).

Sieving with ball bearings is used to preferentially break down the NdFeB compared to the Ni and other impurities

Optical micrograph of x-section through a HD processed sintered NdFeB magnet particle

The Ni content of the extracted powders for 5kg of material was around 400ppm after sieving to 90 microns

• Clean process – no chemical bi-products or waste.• Produces powder with a high surface area.• Low pressure (1 bar absolute).• Easily scalable.• Hydrogen is cheap and can be recycled.• Hydrogen will not react with Sm2Co17, alnico, or ferrite

magnets using these conditions.

Advantages of Using Hydrogen as an Extraction Tool

Re-Processing of ExtractedHydrided NdFeB Powder into New

Magnets

HDDRProcessing

Mix withepoxy resin& press into

bondedmagnets

Mix withepoxy resin& press into

bondedmagnets

Mining Refining

Cast Alloy

HydrogenDecrepitation

HD Powder

Jet Milling

Aligning & Pressing

Vacuum Sintering

Hydrogen RecycledNdFeBPowder

Degas/Press

Melt Spin

Mix with resin & press intobonded magnets

Stena, Acreo, ABI (Sweden)

Scrap sorting & cropping

UoB (UK)

HD separation, purification & HDDR processing

Magneti Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Sintered magnets

Kolektor (Germany)

Injection moulded resin bonded magnets

OBE (Germany)

Metal injection mouldedmagnets

Croppedcorners

HD powder

HDDR powder

Less Common Metals (UK)

Cast alloys

Magnets and cast alloys have been manufactured in 5-10kg batches on industrial equipment.

Recycling routes for HD separated NdFeB powders

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

SUSMAGPRO: A Circular Economy for RE-Magnets

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

Main goal: identify, separate, reprocess and reuse NdFeB magnets at pilot scale, activating a circular economy business model.

• 4 recycling and reprocessing plants for EOL magnets with an initial capacity of 100 t/a.

.

• Integration of recycled magnets in end user products; automotive rotors, water pumps, loudspeakers and wind turbines with renowned industration partners (Bunting, Grundfos, ZF, B & C Speakers, Senheiser and Siemens).

event namemonth day(s), yearcity, country

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

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Technical Objectives (TO)TO1: To develop an innovative pilot sensing and robotic sorting line that will locate and concentrate Nd-Fe-B-magnet-containing components by separating collected waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), particularly hard disk drives (HDDs), automotive systems and acoustic transducers.

The line will be capable of supplying 6 tonnes of Nd-Fe-B per year.

TO2: To develop and scale up two pilot-scale facilities to extract Nd-Fe-B magnets from pre-processed components using the Hydrogen-based Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS) technology.

Each pilot plant will be capable of 50 t/yr of clean Nd-Fe-B powders from the components identified in TO1 and sourced within the project and externally.

A third, smaller pilot for integrated HPMS recycling/metal injection (SDS) feedstock production will be capable of 10 t/yr.

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

event namemonth day(s), yearcity, country

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

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Technical Objectives (TO)TO3: To develop 4 pilot remanufacturing processes that convert the extracted Nd-Fe-B materials into either refined and purified cast alloys or magnets in sintered, injection-moulded or metal-injection-moulded forms at three different sites across the EU.In total, the capacity will be installed to process >100 t/yr of cast alloys and permanent magnets for different sectors of the Nd-Fe-B market. In collaboration with the end-user companies the recycled Nd-Fe-B magnets will be tested to show they meet industry standards for OEM components.

TO4: To produce 500 demonstrators (motors, water pumps and loudspeaker modulesas well as end-user sensor applications) based on recycled magnets to gain useracceptance for recycled products.

To start designing existing and new products to make magnet recycling easier, as wellas contributing to future standards for recycling-friendly designs.

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

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SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

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Economic Objectives (EO)

EO1: To analyse the market and determine the geographical locations, volumes, chemicalcompositions, and positions in the applications for scrap Nd-Fe-B magnets;

focusing initially on the HDD, automotive, loudspeaker, water pumps and wind-turbinesectors, later extending this to other economically relevant forms of scrap.

EO2: To produce a long-term business plan extending beyond the lifetime of the projectfor exploitation of the SUSMAGPRO manufacturing and recycling processes.

The target capability will be to sustainably produce 15% of EU demand (450 t/yr) for Nd-Fe-B magnets within 5 years of the project.

The plan will incorporate buy-back schemes for automotive components and otherfinancial incentives to see products returned to collection points at their EOL, therebystrengthening EU competitiveness.

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

event namemonth day(s), yearcity, country

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

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Environmental Objectives (ENO)ENO1: To reduce the environmental impacts and health risks related to the presence ofmetals like REEs and e.g. nickel (from coatings) in landfills in compliance with the EU’senvironmental regulations. The figures for reduced impact will run parallel with thetargeted recycling rates.

ENO2: To reduce the energy consumed in, and the environmental damage associatedwith, the mining and refining of REEs by maintaining a circular economy for thesematerials within the EU. These figures will depend on the particular circular-economyroute, but the target is an average of >75% reduction of energy and even higher figuresfor a reduction of human toxicity levels, contributing significantly to meeting ambitiousEU energy and climate targets for 2030.

ENO3: To reduce the amount of waste related to Nd-Fe-B applications by improvingprimary production recyclability, making magnets themselves inherently more recyclableand eco-friendlier.

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

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SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

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Societal Objectives (SO)

SO1: To raise awareness by communicating findings to the general public,university/research/industry, local and national governments and the EC throughpolicy briefs, reports, trainings and a roadshow concept.

SO2: To cluster with related national and H2020 projects, with the EIT KIC rawmaterials (i.e., lighthouse programmes & zero-waste cluster), non-EU initiativesand global-standards organisations.

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

Concept & Approach

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

Flat screens & EVs

Computer & HDDs

Wind turbines & water pumps

Mobile phoneaudiomodules

SUSMAGPRO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821114.

UoB’s Role

UoB

Dismantling & Analysis of

scrapPre-processing of

scrap

HPMS Processing

Purification of extracted materials

Production of HDDR Powder

Blending & Sintering

Coating Development

MMC201918-19th September, 2019Milan, Italy

Magnetic Materials Group Pilot Plant Development

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Current Processing equipment 5-10 kg strip casting facility for rare earth alloys 300 litre hydrogen reactor 20 gram and 2kg HDDR furnaces Jet mill for NdFeB (5kg / batch) Isostatic presses (10 ton) Uniaxial Press for NdFeB (20 ton) 5 small scale sintering furnaces for NdFeB Pulse Magnetisers Ultrasonic sieve shaker (1 m diameter) Glovebox facilities for NdFeB processing Aligning presses for bonded magnets Pulse Magnetisers

Current Characterisation facilities 2 closed loop permeameters Magscan for 2-D profiling of flux paths Kerr effect microscopy Lakeshore VSM Assessment of hydrogen metal interactions

including; TGA, DSC, Mass Spec, Sieverts system

Scale up in new buildings 2000 litre hydrogenator for separation of

magnets from waste Scale up of HDDR system (10-30kg) 50kg blending system for rare earth alloy

powders 50kg sintering furnace for NdFeB Robotic sorting line (in around 1 year) for

separation of magnet components Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Carbon and

Sulphur analysis ICP-OES analysis Particle size analyser SEM Cutting and grinding equipment Isostatic press Uniaxial press

MMG Equipment

Infrastructure and scale up• €4 million secured to scale up the recycling process in SUSMAGPRO.• £1.6 million secured in Birmingham for IDP innovate project. • Building a pilot magnet sintering line in the plasma building UoB.• Site identified at Tyesley for full commercialisation

Magnet production facility on UoB

campus: Plasma Building

Scale up of Magnet Manufacture

Pilot production line for magnets is being built in the plasma building. 20-50 kg batch sizes. Linked to SUSMAGPRO and Innovate Rare project. Robotic disassembly line is being built at Tyesley and space is being leased in the existing buildings.

Plan of plasma building

Tyseley Energy Park Commercial scale up of recycling processes

Location

UOBBHX

River Cole

Grand Union Canal

Hydrogen production for fuel cell buses

Energy Production

University land and new buildings

Waste handling site for Birmingham

Innovation Hub

AcknowledgementsHyProMS (TSB project in the UK (2008-2010)) : Hydrogen Processed Magnet Scrap

Partners - PowdermatriX (Project Managers),Secure IT Recycling Ltd, Less Common Metals Ltd, Magnet Applications Ltd, Precision Magnetics Ltd, Birmag Ltd, Arnold Magnetics.

Publications –A.Walton et al - Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015)A.walton, I.R.Harris, A.J.Williams – REPM 2012R.S. Sheridan, A.J. Williams, I.R. Harris, A. Walton – REPM 2012.A.Walton, A.J.Williams – Materials World – August 2011A.Walton, A.J.Williams – Recycling International, May 2011M. Zakotnik et al, I.R.Harris, A.J.Wiliams. - Journal of Alloys and Compounds 469 (2009) 314–321.M. Zakotnik, I.R.Harris, A.J.Williams - Proceedings of 19th International Workshop on Rare Earth Permanent Magnets & Their Applications (2006)M. Zakotnik, A.J. Williams and I.R. Harris - Proceedings of 18th International Workshop on Rare Earth Permanent Magnets & Their Applications (2004)US patent – No.13/169839

Thank you for listening

Contact details:Dr Lydia Pickering

l.pickering.1@bham.ac.uk www.magnets.bham.ac.uk