MagREEsource’s challenge: building an industry based on recycled rare-earths magnets

Magnets play a key role in the energy transition – for example, in the manufacture of electric cars and wind turbines – but China has established a virtual monopoly on them, which is now causing problems. One solution is to recycle magnets. Sophie Rivoirard’s team at the Néel Institute (CNRS) has developed a hydriding process that weakens end-of-life magnets and turns them into powder, which can then be used to manufacture new ones. This technology led to the creation, in 2020, of the company MagREEsource, based near Grenoble. MagREEsource has committed to manufacturing magnets by building a pilot plant that is already producing 50 tonnes per year. A factory currently under construction will produce 1,000 tonnes by 2030. However, an entire supply chain needs to be established: magnet recovery, recycling, manufacturing, and sale at competitive prices... Concerns about self-sufficiency favour a project of this nature, but Donald Trump’s policies and the Chinese monopoly make it difficult to predict how the markets will develop.