This event will bring together key stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities of recycling rare earth permanent magnets, focusing on strengthening the value chain for high-performance applications critical to the EU’s net-zero goal.
- business model | circular economy | clean technology | management of resources | waste recycling
- Thursday 5 June 2025, 10:00 - 12:45 (CEST)
- Ixelles, Belgium
Practical information
- When
- Thursday 5 June 2025, 10:00 - 12:45 (CEST)
- Where
- Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot Curie,Rue du Trône 100, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
- Languages
- English
- Part of
Description
The energy transition pursued by the EU is generating strong demand for the most efficient low-carbon solutions based on high-performance permanent magnets, containing rare earth elements (REE). Permanent magnets are used in over 80% of electric vehicle traction motors and in around 80% of offshore wind turbines. However, today, the EU produces neither the magnets nor the rare earths required for these solutions.
Permanent magnets and their recycling are therefore considered strategic by the EU, notably via the Critical Raw Material Act and the Net-Zero Industry Act. The nascent EU permanent magnet recycling industry is addressing crucial challenges: the supply of critical materials and the strategic autonomy of the EU's energy transition.
But magnet volumes, costs and prices do not reflect their strategic value. The positive externalities presented by their recycling face colossal challenges, including organised access to the urban mine, efficient sorting and extraction of magnets from end-of-life products.
All the partners in Horizon Europe’s Magellan project are working to structure a permanent magnet recycling value chain in Europe. Among the partners of this project, ORANO and CEA are working towards a more circular, resilient and low-carbon economy by developing the manufacture and recycling of high-performance permanent magnets incorporating secondary materials.
