NEOCYCLE: Upcycling of NdFeB magnets in the EU for green applications

The NEO-CYCLE project stands at the vanguard of sustainable material recovery, poised to revolutionize the way we reclaim and repurpose materials from spent neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets sourced from hard disk drives (HDDs). Currently, the project is actively working towards a demonstration at TRL 6 aiming to deliver high-quality materials to industries that are as diverse as they are demanding, including pharmaceuticals, ammonia production, fertilizers, and polymers. In doing so, NEO-CYCLE is not just addressing the technical feasibility of such an endeavor but also charting the necessary pathways to ensure these upcycled materials reach the market successfully.

 

The project leads the charge in demonstrating processes such as Solid-State Chlorination, Electrochemical separation, and purification. These processes are fine-tuned to separate and purify Nd, Fe, and B, aiming to meet the exacting purity demands of the market.

 

Simultaneously, NEO-CYCLE is committed to upcycling these elements into industrial catalysts, showcasing their potential across four case studies. These efforts are geared towards maximizing the value that can be extracted from these previously discarded materials.

 

Partnering with leading commercial companies, NEO-CYCLE is also in the process of validating the quality and efficacy of the final products, ensuring they stand up to the expectations of end-users.

Our main tasks

• Project Coordination and day-to-day management activities.
• Multidisciplinary design optimization enhancing extraction process efficiency through collaborative expertise.
• Optimized engineering & robust control based on developing and refining extraction process designs with stable control mechanisms.
• Digital twins development
• Data mining and interoperability

Partners

AGENCY OF EUROPEAN INNOVATIONS | ASRO | CASALE | COMAR CHEMICALS | CONFAGRICOLTURA | ECOCASTULUM | ECORESET | FLAMMA GROUP | FRAUNHOFER | FRAUNHOFER AUSTRIA | HOLOSS | IBERIAN SUSTAINABLE MINING CLUSTER | IDENER.AI | L'UREDERRA | LASER CONSULT | POLITECHNIKA WARSZAWSKA | POLITECNICO DI TORINO | REGIONE LOMBARDIA | RMF TECH | STENA RECYCLING | TU BERGAKADEMIE FREIBERG | UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PAVIA | UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA | VYTAUTO DIDZIOJO UNIVERSITETAS

Start date – finish date

09 / 2024 - 08 / 2028