01.07.2025
Czech scientists have invented a new way to recycle magnets from electric vehicles. This could lead to independence from China. The extreme power of neodymium magnets is used in all electric motors, whether they power cars, fighter jets, or turbines. We also have them in mobile phones and other electronics.
"It's a highly energized thing, and if you're not careful and it flies out, it can crush bones. That’s exactly why the magnet is so effective at converting electricity into motion and vice versa. It’s the strongest magnetic material we can commonly produce on a larger scale," says Miloslav Polášek from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences about silver neodymium magnets, in an interview with Radiožurnál.
Chemical Composition
From a chemical point of view, it concerns lanthanides—rare earth elements—and in small test tubes, I now see in front of me the four most important powders.
"Beautiful green praseodymium, pink-purple neodymium, and then we also have terbium and dysprosium. These are added to magnets in very small amounts and for high-tech use—especially where the magnet may heat up. These are precisely the high-performance electric motors," Polášek explains.
Mines Are in Europe, But Processing is in China
Deposits also exist in Europe, but they are mostly mined in China. According to the International Energy Agency, China controls 90 percent of the processing of the ore, which contains all the elements together and is technologically and environmentally difficult to separate.
"Cascades of equipment are needed—hundreds to thousands of reactors—where it's mixed and extracted, and it produces large amounts of waste, acids, extraction agents. And what's crucial, the ore doesn't just contain rare earth elements. It usually also contains uranium and thorium, generating radioactive waste," describes Polášek.
Magnet Recycling
The gradually developing recycling of magnets from electric motors is similarly demanding. And our experts have now found a new, significantly simpler path.
"We can use water as a solvent, no need for any organic solvents or concentrated acids, room temperature is sufficient. The idea is for it to be a simple method that won’t require super difficult conditions that can't be handled on an industrial scale," explains doctoral student Kelsea Jones, saying the foundation lies in chelators.
Specially created organic molecules that can bind individual elements and thus be separated from used magnets.
"The process begins by dissolving the magnets, to which we add the chelator, and gradually complexes are formed. First, larger lanthanides like neodymium and praseodymium precipitate and can be filtered out, while the smaller ones like terbium and dysprosium remain in solution. This is repeated until we obtain pure samples of individual substances."
Czech Discovery
At the same time, according to Miloslav Polášek, it is possible to process neodymium magnets of any composition:
"Inside the motor, for example, the temperature is higher than on the edge, so a different composition is needed—more heat-resistant than on the edge—so the composition differs. That’s why we need the ability to process any material, so we can make magnets for different applications. We won’t put a heat-resistant magnet in toys, and on the other hand, in high-performance devices, we need to use those high-tech, highest-quality materials."
The experts tested the high efficiency of their method on real magnets from current electric cars of two different car manufacturers.
"We processed the magnet, ran it through several cycles of element separation, and ended up with neodymium with a purity of 99.7%, which is more than sufficient to produce new magnets from that material," says Polášek.
At the same time, Czech experts discovered a surprising fact: in addition to the four mentioned elements, neodymium magnets also contain holmium, which was previously unknown.
"Everyone talks about those four known elements, and nowhere is there any mention of holmium, but it's present in a significant amount in terms of recycling. And it’s not a coincidence—we found it in samples from two different cars from different manufacturers, even from different continents. Yet in both cases, holmium was there."
Czech experts have already patented the neodymium magnet recycling method and are now seeking a commercial partner to utilize it. You can also read more in their scientific article.
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