During the first period, the engineering teams (IDENER and A3i-Inovertis), together with partners (SINTEF, UPS, Tecnalia), as well as the industrial partners responsible for the pilots (Elkem and LCM), established the corresponding conceptual engineering design for the process. Moreover, since the project involves the full value chain to prove technical and economic viability of this technology for recycling magnetic waste, a Value Chains Stakeholders Analysis Report was realized by PNO. The report is available at the project website.
During the second period of the project, the consortium finalised the engineering work related to the main pilot, which includes the basic and detail engineering of the ionic liquid extraction (ILE) and high temperature electrolysis (HTE) pilot units, with enough flexibility to be able to accommodate different RE-containing wastes. After the tender and purchasing phase of the equipment, the pilot was built up within dedicated facilities for RE alloy (REA) production at Elkem site. The pilot tests using permanent magnet swarf (PMS, in-process waste from the permanent magnet production from VAC) and spent permanent magnets (SPM) from STENA were carried out successfully.
On the other hand, pilot tests were carried out in the existing pilot unit at LCM using PMS-waste pre-treated by a pure hydrometallurgical method.
The REA obtained were used to manufacture new permanent magnets at VAC, which showed the same properties as magnets obtained from virgin material. In this way, the REE4EU project has demonstrated a closed-loop recycling process for permanent magnets at pilot scale, using RE-containing wastes available in Europe.
Moreover, a market analysis was carried out (available at the website of the project), where the prospective European market of secondary RE elements contained in selected EoL products that have the potential to become viable feedstocks for RE recovery at industrial scale has been studied.
During the last period of the project, the flexibility of the REE4EU pilot plant towards different RE-containing waste streams was demonstrated in the replication activities related to the validation of the REE4EU's technology for nickel metal hydride battery waste. Then, the ILE and HTE pilot units were slightly adapted to accommodate the needs of this specific waste material. Moreover, a pure HM upgrading process was demonstrated at pilot scale by SNAM.
Moreover, A3-iInovertis and PNO have finalised the economic and environmental assessment as well as the business plan. First results were presented to relevant invited stakeholders in a workshop that was held in Brussels 24th April 2019. The response from the audience (Apple Inc, Urban Mining Company, Valeo, Toyota Motor Europe, Eurometaux, REEtec, European Recycling Platform, EIT Raw Materials, among others) was very positive. The stakeholders think that the REE4EU project presented a smart and innovative concept and that the technology has a great potential to be introduced in the market in the near future.
From an environmental point of view, the REE4EU technology leads to a reduction of the climate change impact by ca. 50% and to a reduction of the primary energy consumption by ca. 35%. From an economical point of view, and considering a proper plant size and optimized design, or considering just a small increase of the current primary RE market price, the REE4EU solution would lead to a RE master alloy production cost lower than that from the current scenario.
More details on the economic evaluation and environmental footprint of the REE4EU technology can be found on the presentations shown at the REE4EU Exploitation Workshop, available at the website of the project.
The developed preliminary business plan, including cost assessment and return on investment for potential investors according to different market scenarios, constitutes a stand-alone confidential document that will be used in the exploitation activities planned after
