Rare Earth Magnet Recycling

Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets are among the most strategically important materials in the modern economy. These magnets deliver the highest energy density of any commercial magnet type and are indispensable in electric vehicle traction motors, direct-drive wind turbine generators, industrial robotics, magnetic resonance imaging machines, and consumer electronics. The rare earth elements they contain, primarily neodymium and praseodymium, with additions of dysprosium or terbium for high-temperature performance, are subject to acute supply concentration risks, with China controlling over 85 percent of global rare earth magnet production.

Recycling end-of-life magnets offers a pathway to diversify rare earth supply and reduce dependence on primary extraction. However, rare earth magnet recycling remains one of the most challenging areas in the critical minerals circular economy. Current global recycling rates for rare earths are estimated at less than 1 percent, a figure that reflects profound technical, logistical, and economic obstacles. Understanding these challenges, and the approaches being developed to overcome them, is essential for anyone involved in rare earth supply chain strategy.

Where Are Rare Earth Magnets Found?

The applications of NdFeB magnets span a wide range of product categories, each presenting different recycling opportunities and challenges:

• Electric vehicle motors contain large NdFeB magnets, typically 1-3 kilograms per vehicle, representing the fastest-growing demand segment and, eventually, the largest potential recycling feedstock. However, significant volumes of end-of-life EV magnets will not emerge until the late 2020s and 2030s as the first generation of mass-market EVs ages out.
• Wind turbine generators in direct-drive designs use NdFeB magnets weighing 600-700 kilograms per megawatt of capacity. With turbine lifespans of 20-25 years, decommissioned turbines will become an important magnet feedstock in the 2030s and 2040s.
• Hard disk drives each contain two small NdFeB magnets in the voice coil motor, totaling about 10-20 grams of magnet material per drive. Enterprise data centers decommission drives in large quantities, making them the most accessible current source of end-of-life magnets.
• Consumer electronics including smartphones, earbuds, speakers, and electric scooters contain small magnets that are difficult to extract and collect systematically.
• Industrial motors, compressors, and actuators use NdFeB magnets of various sizes and are typically managed through industrial scrap channels with better traceability than consumer products.

Technical Approaches to Magnet Recycling

Several distinct approaches to rare earth magnet recycling have been developed, each with different trade-offs between complexity, cost, material quality, and scalability.

Hydrometallurgical Processing

The most established recycling route involves dissolving scrap magnets in acid solutions and using solvent extraction or selective precipitation to separate the rare earth elements from iron and boron. The recovered rare earth oxides can then be reduced to metals and used to manufacture new magnets. This approach achieves high recovery rates (over 95 percent for rare earths) and can handle mixed or contaminated feedstocks. However, it is energy-intensive, generates significant chemical waste, and requires the complete reprocessing of the material through the same complex supply chain used for primary rare earth production.

Hydrogen Decrepitation (HDDR Process)

The hydrogen decrepitation process exploits the affinity of rare earth alloys for hydrogen. When exposed to hydrogen gas at moderate temperatures, NdFeB magnets absorb hydrogen and undergo a phase transformation that causes the material to crumble into a friable powder. This powder can then be dehydrogenated, milled, and reprocessed into new magnets through conventional powder metallurgy techniques. The HDDR (Hydrogenation-Disproportionation-Desorption-Recombination) variant can produce anisotropic magnet powder suitable for bonded magnets. The University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom has been a leading center for HDDR magnet recycling research, and the process has reached pilot-scale demonstration.

Direct Magnet-to-Magnet Recycling

The most elegant approach aims to recondition end-of-life magnet material directly into new magnets without fully dissolving the rare earth content. This involves demagnetizing, cleaning, and reprocessing the magnet alloy with minimal chemical intervention. The recovered alloy may be blended with virgin material to adjust composition before being re-sintered into new magnets. This short-loop recycling minimizes energy consumption, chemical use, and processing steps, but requires well-sorted, uncontaminated feedstock of known composition, which limits its applicability to controlled industrial waste streams rather than mixed post-consumer scrap.

Logistical and Collection Challenges

Accessing end-of-life magnets is often the most formidable barrier to recycling. In consumer electronics, magnets are small, embedded within complex assemblies, and rarely identified or segregated during conventional e-waste processing. Most e-waste shredding operations are designed to recover copper and precious metals; rare earth magnets end up in iron-rich fractions that are typically sent to steel recycling, where the rare earths are diluted into the steel melt and permanently lost.

Hard disk drive recycling offers a more promising collection pathway because data centers decommission drives in bulk, and the magnets can be removed with relatively simple manual or automated processes. Companies such as Urban Mining Company have developed supply chains specifically for recovering magnets from decommissioned hard drives. However, the ongoing transition from hard disk drives to solid-state drives in many applications means this feedstock will eventually diminish.

For EV motors and wind turbines, the larger magnet sizes and more structured end-of-life management pathways should facilitate collection, but the recycling industry must prepare now for volumes that will ramp significantly in the coming decade. Establishing reverse logistics networks, developing automated magnet extraction tools, and creating standards for magnet scrap grading are all prerequisites for scaling magnet recycling.

Economics of Magnet Recycling

The economics of magnet recycling are challenging but improving. The value of the rare earth content in a kilogram of NdFeB magnet (approximately 30 percent rare earth by weight) fluctuates with rare earth oxide prices, which have been volatile, ranging from crisis-level highs in 2011 to multi-year lows in the mid-2010s and subsequent recoveries. At current pricing, the rare earth content of a kilogram of magnet is worth roughly $15-40, depending on the specific composition and the proportion of heavy rare earths like dysprosium.

Processing costs for magnet recycling vary widely depending on the method and scale. Hydrometallurgical processing at scale can be cost-competitive with primary production, particularly if the recycler avoids the expense of mining and initial ore beneficiation. Hydrogen decrepitation and direct recycling approaches promise lower processing costs but have not yet achieved the scale needed to demonstrate full commercial economics. Policy support, including recycled content mandates and strategic stockpile purchasing, can bridge the gap between current costs and commercial viability.

Policy Developments and Industry Initiatives

The European Union has included rare earth magnets within the scope of its Critical Raw Materials Act, which sets targets for domestic recycling capacity. The EU Battery Regulation addresses permanent magnets in EV motors as part of end-of-life vehicle management. Japan's rare earth recycling programs, driven by the country's near-total import dependence, have supported both research and commercial-scale recycling operations.

Industry initiatives are also advancing. The Rare Earth Industry Association and various academic consortia are developing standards for magnet waste classification and trading. Several startups, including HyProMag in the United Kingdom and Cyclic Materials in Canada, are commercializing novel magnet recycling processes. These efforts, combined with the inexorable growth of end-of-life magnet volumes from the energy transition, suggest that rare earth magnet recycling will transition from niche activity to strategic industry within the coming decade.