Rare earth magnets, based upon neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) are a key material in electric vehicles where they are used in drive motors, generators, power steering and in loudspeakers. In recent years the supply of rare earths has had restrictions introduced from the main producer, China. Recycling of rare earth magnets presents a significant opportunity and REAP aimed to develop a recycling supply chain for the loudspeaker market. We investigated novel ways of liberating rare earth magnets from automotive and consumer audio modules. European Metal Recycling pre-processed automotive and flat screen TV loudspeaker scrap to provide a feed of scrap components containing NdFeB magnets to HyProMag.

HyProMag evaluated a patented process, in conjunction with the University of Birmingham, to extract the magnets as a demagnetised alloy powder which could be used in the remanufacture of magnets. The quality, quantity, availability and value of the scrap was determined for speakers from various sources and a calculation of value added to the scrap was made. The short loop recycling processes which have been developed by HyProMag had a significant environmental benefit compared to primary production of magnets.

The project built upon previous work using the HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap) route, which has been used to liberate and reprocess magnets from computer hard disk drives. Current lab scale recycling technology at the University of Birmingham proved that the patented HPMS process had the ability to liberate NdFeB alloy powder from hard disk drive scrap that had been through a simple pre-processing step. For this technology to become commercially viable, multiple scrap sources from varied sectors must be utilised, therefore alternative material feeds must be evaluated. This project was focussed on scrap found in audio applications using feeds that EMR already had access to, such as automotive speakers and flat panel TV speakers.

The REAP project was funded by the Catalysing Green Innovation challenge, delivered by Innovate UK for UK Research and Innovation, and ran for 9 months from October 2020.