The University of Birmingham, in the UK, has been awarded €4-million to set up a pilot facility to reclaim rare earth metals from scrap as part of a European Union- (EU-) funded Horizon 2020 project.
The facility will focus on recycling magnets made of neodymium, boron and iron. These are found in hard disk drives, household appliances, electric vehicles and wind turbine generators, and are increasingly important in the transition to a green, low carbon economy.