Processes for the recycling of rare earth permanent magnets

Abstract
Permanent magnets are crucial for numerous technologies. The development towards a growing use of renewable energies will further increase the demand for these kinds of materials. However, even high-grade, costly manufactured magnets are not recycled on an industrial scale today. The metallurgical and hydrogen-based recycling processes described here are based on a materials recycling approach, i.e., they aim at regaining the permanent magnet alloy. Both approaches are comparatively energy-efficient compared to traditional hydrometallurgical processes.