Production of recycled rare earth magnets has started at Birmingham’s Tyeseley Energy Park, which is the UK’s first production on commercial scale manufacturing equipment in over 20 years.
Rare earth magnets are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean technology industries, and are critical raw materials for the transition to clean energy.
The start of production at the rare earths hub at Tyeseley, set up by the University of Birmingham, HyProMag Ltd and Mkango, is a major milestone in securing a supply chain that will fulfil demand for these elements.
The hub uses a recycling method that was developed at the University of Birmingham, and subsequently licensed to HyProMag Ltd, which is the main industrial partner for the Tyseley development.
A huge amount of work has been carried out over the last year on the existing pilot plant at the University to produce a spectrum of NdFeB magnets with a range of magnetic grades. This has allowed us to test recycled magnets in a range of products for the first time with extremely encouraging results. However, the installation of the new equipment at Tyseley Energy Park has allowed us to prove that these properties can be achieved on a commercial scale for the first time on automated equipment. This is a massive step forward and re-introduces commercial sintered magnet manufacturing back into the UK for the first time in over 20 years
Professor Allan Walton, Head of the Magnetic Materials Group, University of Birmingham, and founding Director of HyProMag
Called Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS), it is a short loop recycling method, delivering materials that need only a few process steps to produce recycled ‘sintered’ rare earth permanent magnets that are made to recognised industrial grades.
HPMS is a radically new recycling technology that preserves the quality of the original magnets for reprocessing. Delivering an 88% energy saving and 98% human toxicity saving when compared to primary production, it is a far cleaner and more energy efficient process than the traditional dismantling, thermal demagnetisation and cleaning processes and lends itself to automated and efficient processing.
The Tyseley scale-up is underpinned by a successful pilot at University of Birmingham. Since its commissioning in 2022, the pilot has produced over 3,000 finished rare earth magnets for project partners and potential customers, which are now being tested in a wide range of applications in the automotive, aerospace and electronics sectors. Magnets have been produced to different grades from a variety of different scrap sources. At present this is the only indigenous source of recycled Rare Earth Permanent Magnets in the UK.
The first production runs from the Tyseley site will provide further customer and project partner samples. Commercial production is targeted for 2024, with initial throughput targets of 20 tonnes per year (“tpa”) rare earth magnets and alloys, scaling up to a minimum of 100tpa in subsequent months.
HyProMag has received significant interest for recycled magnets from potential customers and for recycling solutions from original equipment manufacturers and automotive and recycling companies with larger scale-up scenarios capable of producing up to 1,000tpa currently being evaluated.
Will Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango said: “This is a major milestone for the Company, HyProMag and for the UK, creating a strong platform to advance to commercial production and for the scale-up and roll-out of HPMS technology into Germany, United States and other jurisdictions. HyProMag’s recycling technology has major competitive advantages versus other recycling technologies, and is a key enabler for the cost effective and energy efficient separation and recycling of rare earth magnets, avoiding the need for dismantling, and enabling the production of magnets with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. ”
Nick Mann, Operations General Manager of HyProMag said “Beginning production on commercial scale equipment is very exciting for all of us at HyProMag. We are receiving strong market interest to begin delivering recycled magnets to customers at scale – being able to start that over the coming months will be extremely positive. We also look forward to carrying forward the lessons learned as we see equipment arriving in Germany next year and in the USA soon afterwards.”
Professor Allan Walton, Head of the Magnetic Materials Group, University of Birmingham, and founding Director of HyProMag said: “A huge amount of work has been carried out over the last year on the existing pilot plant at the University to produce a spectrum of NdFeB magnets with a range of magnetic grades. This has allowed us to test recycled magnets in a range of products for the first time with extremely encouraging results. However, the installation of the new equipment at Tyseley Energy Park has allowed us to prove that these properties can be achieved on a commercial scale for the first time on automated equipment. This is a massive step forward and re-introduces commercial sintered magnet manufacturing back into the UK for the first time in over 20 years”.
