The aim of this project is to develop a recycling supply chain for rare earth magnets in the EU and to demonstrate these new materials on a pilot scale within a range of application sectors. Rare earth magnets based upon neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB, also containing dysprosium) are used in a wide range of products, including for example clean energy technologies (wind turbines and electric vehicles) and high tech sectors such as electronics. However in recent years the supply of these materials has come under considerable pressure and neodymium and dysprosium are now deemed to be of greatest supply risk for all elements. The EU imports far more NdFeB magnets than it manufactures (>1,000 tonnes manufactured per annum). It has been estimated that ~ 2,000-3,000 tonnes/annum of NdFeB will be available by 2020 for recycling, which presents a significant opportunity. The aim of this project is to identify, separate, recycle and demonstrate recycled magnets at a pilot scale with a multidisciplinary team located across the EU. The project will target three of the main application sectors including automotive, electronics and wind turbines. The project will develop new sensing and robotic sorting lines for the identified EoL products, building upon technologies developed in the FP7 project Remanence. New hydrogen based technologies will be demonstrated at scale for separating and purifying NdFeB powders from the robotically sorted parts and this technology will be duplicated at another partner in the project. The separated powders will be re-manufactured into sintered magnets, injection moulded magnets, metal injection moulded magnets and cast alloys, at 4 different companies across 3 countries, building upon work in the Repromag Horizon 2020 project. A techno economic assessment will be performed for each potential recycling route alongside a life cycle assessment to assess the environmental benefits over primary production.

The manufacture sector is and will continue experiencing an evolving trend, marked by the exponential growth of additive manufacturing, the ongoing 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and an increasing demand of customization of the manufactured products. However, the production and economical growth of the manufacturing sector needs to meet unpostponable sustainability guidelines and criteria. Already in 2010, the International Energy Agency identified the critical areas that should lead to the undelayable reduction of C02 emissions by 2050. The area that will have the largest impact is the so-called End-Use Energy Efficiency sector, directly linked to the manufacture sector, where the aim is “doing more with less”. This means minimizing the energy losses as much as possible. To be ready for the upcoming challenge, there is a need to create a critical mass of highly skilled young engineers and innovators who will enhance Europe’s position in the engineering sciences. Specifically, these future engineers and innovators need to get familiar with two key technical challenges within the manufacturing sector: the uncertainty induced by the production process (e.g. human errors, geometrical and material variabilities caused by the manufacturing process and/or by the machine setup) and the increasing complexity of the manufactured goods characterized by the critical parts or components. The ambition of the Active PRoduct-to-Process LearnIng fOR Improving Critical Components Performance (APRIORI) training network is to train the next generation of Doctoral Candidates (DCs) to fully sustain the ongoing transition of the EU manufacturing sector. This will be achieved by developing the skills and new technologies that will enable for the first time the development of a unique integrated product design strategy that will drastically improve the performance of critical parts or components under uncertainties.