What is a Rare Earth Magnet?
Rare earth magnets are the world’s strongest permanent magnet made from alloys of rare earth metals. Neodymium, dysprosium, and samarium-cobalt are some of the most common rare earth magnets in use. Developed in the late 1960s, these magnets produce a significantly stronger magnetic field than any other type of magnet. This has made them extremely popular in today’s modern technology where their strength allows for smaller and lighter magnets to be used for any given application.
Despite the name, rare earth metals are not very rare. Rare earth metals are found in the Earth’s crust in groups like zinc or copper. They are relatively difficult to mine due to them being mixed in with other elements. They are called ‘rare earth metals’ because they do not exist in large quantities like coal or copper, so in any given cubic kilometer, they are “rare”.
What are Rare Earth Magnets Used For?
Rare Earth Magnets are used in a range of automotive, communications, electronics, defense, aerospace, medical technologies, and even the cell phone you are probably holding right now. Rare earth magnets are absolutely critical to most clean energy technologies and are especially in high demand for batteries, electric motors, and renewable energy generators. Some important applications of rare earth magnets include:
Wind turbine generators
MRI Machines
Electric motors used in Electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and electric bicycles
Defense applications such as precision-guided missiles, smart bombs, and aircrafts.
Hard disk drives
Why Should Rare Earth Magnets Be Recycled?
China controls more than 90% of global production of rare earth elements. This single source poses sovereign risks. Trade wars expose the supply chains to breakdowns for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide so it’s important to have a secure domestic supply.
There are no substitutions for rare earth magnets that can create the same performance. Since the invention of these magnets, new fields of application have appeared every year, with an annual growth in demand of more than 30%. Demand will eventually surpass supply. According to some experts, that will happen within the next 20 years. Therefore, it is crucial to start recycling what we have.
There are also increasing concerns of environmental impacts from mining and processing rare earth elements. Recycling these rare earth magnets reduces the need for additional rare earth metal mining and has a drastically lower carbon footprint.
Lastly, it is estimated that roughly 50 million metric tons of electronic waste is disposed of every year and only ~12.5% of e-waste is recycled. This electronic waste contains significant concentrations of rare earth elements and other precious metals. Theoretically, recycling this e-waste could cover a substantial part of the demand for rare earth magnets. Even a recent life cycle assessment has indicated that recycling rare earth magnets is a promising alternative to conventional mining and production.
Recycling Rare Earth Magnets
REEcycle, located in Houston, Texas, purchases scrap rare earth magnets.
We don’t procure, process, and supply just any scrap. We have a very specific niche business recycling these rare earth magnets. This niche, along with our patented recycling process, uniquely positions us well ahead of all other rare earth magnet recyclers.
With a 99.8% recovery efficiency, our end-of-life magnets can be successfully re-used in the most advanced technical equipment around the world. REEcycle’s recycling process also uses a proprietary solvent that can safely and efficiently extract rare earth elements from scrap - leaving no waste behind.
Learn about our process here and contact us today for more information about rare earth magnet recycling.
