Japan’s Nissan Motor Co and Waseda University are testing a new jointly developed process to recycle rare earth elements (REEs) from electrified vehicle motors.

The carmaker announced on Friday the launch of the testing in Japan, which should enable practical application of the new recycling process by the mid-2020s. So far, testing has shown the process can recover 98% of the motors’ REEs, Kallanish learns from the company.

“This method also reduces the recovery process and work time by approximately 50% compared to the current method because there is no need to demagnetise the magnets, nor remove and disassemble them,” it adds.

The multi-stage process starts with a carburising material and pig iron, which are added to the motor and then heated to at least 1,400o C, beginning to melt. Iron oxide is added to oxidise the REEs in the molten mixture. Then, a small amount of borate-based flux is added to the mixture – this can dissolve rare-earth oxides even at low temperatures and efficiently recover REEs.

The molten mixture then separates into two liquid layers, with the molten oxide layer (slag) that contains the REEs floating to the top, and the higher density iron-carbon alloy layer sinking to the bottom. The REEs are then recovered from the slag.

Nissan has been looking into reducing the amount of heavy REEs in motor magnets since 2010. Its collaboration with Waseda University started in 2017. The collaboration partners developed a pyrometallurgy process that doesn’t require motor disassembly in March 2020 and now plan to continue their large-scale facility testing. The aim is to demonstrate commercial applications of the recycling method.

Electric motors use neodymium magnets, containing rare materials such as neodymium and dysprosium. Nissan believes that reducing and recycling scarce rare earths are important not only because of the environmental impact of mining and refining, but also to help with the supply and demand balance, which ultimately leads to price fluctuations for both manufacturers and consumers.

China dominates both the production and processing of rare earth metals worldwide.