Approaches For The Physical Sorting Of Soft And Hard Magnetic Material Mixtures In The Context Of Rare Earth Recycling

Ihne T, Hahn R, Kühl A, Franke J (2024)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2024

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of the CPSL 2024.

Event location: Hannover

DOI: 10.15488/17758

Abstract

Rare earth (RE) elements applied for magnets are considered as critical raw materials by most industrial countries. On the one hand especially neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets are essential for the current economic transformation as they are used for core technologies such as electric mobility and wind power causing continuously increasing demand. On the other hand, there is a significant supply chain risk due to poor market diversification and bad substitutability. This leads to various economic problems such as steady rising prices, price volatility and potential shortages. In addition, the primary production has a poor ecological footprint. In this context, the recycling of NdFeB magnets has a high economic, geopolitical and ecological potential. However, hardly any recycling is currently carried out on industrial scale due to technical and organizational difficulties. As magnetic extraction from end-of-life (EOL) products by dismantling is only economically feasible in specific cases, the implementation of a universally applicable process based on shredding and multi-stage sorting is essential. Intensive research is currently being carried out for the further processing of the pure NdFeB granulate, but there is a lack of reliable separation processes for the hard and soft magnetic components of the ferrous shredding fraction, which are similar in terms of many physical properties. Therefore, the present paper discusses approaches based on physical sorting principles to close the existing gap in the overall process chain. The solution preferred by the authors is based on a multi-stage process chain realized as a flow process, which primarily exploits differences with regard to the mechanical and magnetic characteristics.

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How to cite

APA:

Ihne, T., Hahn, R., Kühl, A., & Franke, J. (2024). Approaches For The Physical Sorting Of Soft And Hard Magnetic Material Mixtures In The Context Of Rare Earth Recycling. In D Herberger, M Hübner (Eds.), Proceedings of the CPSL 2024.. Hannover, DE.

MLA:

Ihne, Thorsten, et al. "Approaches For The Physical Sorting Of Soft And Hard Magnetic Material Mixtures In The Context Of Rare Earth Recycling." Proceedings of the Conference on Production Systems and Logistics 2024 (CPSL), Hannover Ed. D Herberger, M Hübner, 2024.

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