Sustainable Strategies for the Exploitation of End-of-Life Permanent Magnets

The growing production of green technologies (such as electric vehicles and systems for renewable electricity production, e.g., wind turbine) is increasing the rare earth element (REE) demands. These metals are considered critical Europe their economic relevance supply risk. end-of-life permanent magnets a potential secondary resource REEs thanks to content neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr) or dysprosium (Dy). scientific literature reports many techniques magnet recovery. This work used life cycle assessment (LCA) identify most sustainable choice, suggesting possible improvements reduce environmental load. Three different processes considered: two hydrometallurgical treatments (the first one with HCl other solid-state chlorination), pyrometallurgical technique. present paper aims push stakeholders towards implementation exploitation at industrial scale.