Scale-up of magnet production by HyProMag GmbH. Founded in October 2021, HyProMag GmbH is scaling up the recycling and production of rare earth magnets in Pforzheim, Germany, targeting first commercial production in 2025, with growth to date supported by both grant funding and equity investment since inception. The company's strategy is to become an EU market leader in the production of recycled magnetic powders, alloys and sintered magnets for motors, generators and sensors used in a wide range of high-tech applications across multiple business sectors. To achieve this, HyProMag will provide customers with comprehensive expertise in the entire (currently underdeveloped) magnet recycling value chain with highly automated sorting, separation and manufacturing technologies based primarily on its own IP and exclusive IP from partner companies. A first series project is being evaluated with a German premium car manufacturer (OEM) to replace loudspeaker magnets in electric vehicle doors, currently sourced from China, with 100% recycled magnets using the IP-protected Hydrogen Processing of Magnetic Scrap (HPMS). Initial prototypes have been produced and are currently being evaluated with the Tier 1 loudspeaker supplier. As production volumes of permanent magnets for the automotive speaker project alone would be up to 400 tonnes per year, there is a clear need for rapid scale-up. The aim is to cover the entire value chain technologically, from the dismantling of products containing magnets, both mobile (server farms, wind farms) and stationary (traction and industrial motors, mixed waste), to the preparation of the material, the production of both magnetic alloys and finished coated permanent magnets. This complementary technology expansion strategy aims to increase market share in key markets and to access new industries, customers and applications in new markets where HyProMag GmbH is not yet present.

GREENE addresses one of the Europe’s Grand Societal Challenges, aligned with the European Green Deal and the recently released Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age, which alongside the Circular Economy Action Plan, sets the framework for the transformation of the EU’s industry. Rare-earth-element (REE) permanent magnets based on Nd–Fe–B are vital for use in electric vehicles and wind turbines, making then central to Europe’s green-energy future. These magnets have outstanding properties, but they are not without their weaknesses. There is, of course, the well-known dependence on imports from China, on which Europe is presently totally dependent. However, here, in line with the scope of the Resilient valu chains 2023 call, GREENE will focous on a redesign of Nd-Fe-B magnets as an advanced material where the Nd in the grain boundary is replaced. At the same time, we will address the problem of translating the under-used intrinsic properties of the hard-magnetic Nd2Fe14B phase into better extrinsic properties of the magnet. And, since the process will apply equally well to fresh or recycled feedstocks, we will also be impacting on the problem of supply dependence.

Rare Earths (RE) are crucial materials for Europe's successful green and digital transition, thus classified as highly critical. The market for RE magnets itself is relatively small - about €6.5 billion - however its downstream leverage is enormous: the mobility business in the EU27 alone is expected to grow to about €500 billion by 2030, with 6 million jobs. While being a world leader in the manufacturing of e.g. electric motors, the EU27 is fully import-dependent along the entire value chain of RE magnet materials. Despite a growing market, European magnet production capacity is underutilised and tends to serve specialised niche applications. In addition, RE magnets are increasingly imported as part of motors and generator assemblies and products. The main reasons for these developments are that China has a monopoly in the RE supply chain across all stages from mining to refining. To overcome this issue, REEsilience will categorise RE for geographic locations, quantities, chemical composition, ethical and sustainable indicators, ramp-up scenarios, and pricing, considering all value streams from virgin to secondary material. It will build a production system that ensures a resilient and sustainable supply chain for RE as critical raw materials for the e-mobility, renewable energy and further strategic sectors in Europe with less dependencies on non-European economies. A newly-developed software tool will determine optimum mixing ratios to ensure consistently high product quality with maximum secondary materials for high-tech applications. Combined with new and improved technologies for alloy production and powder preparation, especially of secondary materials, the yield and stability of processes will be further enhanced, allowing further augmentation of the proportion of secondary materials in RE PM production, reducing at the same time waste, environmental damage, and consumption of energy linked with virgin production.