REE Secondary Sources

Secondary sources

To tackle climate change, there is a move towards global decarbonisation that will lead to increased demand for a range of REE in the coming decades. As resources of primary REE are finite and global supply is highly dependent on China, adopting circular strategies including reuse and recycling may improve the security of supply of REE for countires like the UK, but also alleviate pressure on primary supply.

Products with embedded REE

Many REE (e.g. Nd, Dy, Pr, Tb) are used in the production of NdFeB magnets. Figure 1 shows the end-use share of NdFeB magnets. These NdFeB magnets embedded in REE-bearing products have different lifespans, ranging from 2 to 3 years in consumer electronics, 9 to 13 years in EVs, and 25 to 35 years in wind turbines. REE plays an important role in green and clean energy technologies, including wind turbines, electric vehicles, fuel cells, and lighting. EVs sales and wind turbine installations have been increasing in the UK during the past few years. Therefore, EVs and wind turbines have a high potential to be future secondary sources of supply of certain REE (Nd, Dy, Pr, Tb). The availability of secondary sources of REE depends on several factors, including historical production, product lifespan, collection rates and the yields of recycling. When REE-bearing products enter the end-of-life stage, there are many opportunities to retain the highest value REE within the UK economy.

Figure 1: End-use share of NdFeB magnets. Data from IRENA (2022)

Current situation and challenges

Potential secondary sources of REE include industry by-products, wastewater and end-of-life products. Among them, the EoL products have the greatest potential for secondary supply. Since the mid-1980s, NdFeB magnets have been manufactured, and widely used, such as in hard disk drives and electric motors. Considering product lifespan, there are already opportunities to recycle the REE within NdFeB magnets as a secondary supply. However, only 1% of REEs are recovered, and less than 1% of NdFeB magnets are recycled. The main destinations of REE-bearing waste include exports to other countries, landfilling and losses as contaminants in various waste streams (Figure 2). REE are technically and economically difficult to be collected and recycled because of the small quantities of REE in many applications, the complexity of products, lack of support for developing novel segregation and scaling up the recycling processes. In the future, there are opportunities to recycle REE from EVs and wind turbines. Therefore, it is important to monitor REE flows across the lifecycle stages at different levels (i.e. substances, components, products), as well as develop end-of-life management to imporve circularity of REE supply.

In the near future, there will be rapidly growing REE demand. In the short term, secondary REE are unlikely to overtake primary supply. In the long term, developing recycling technologies and infrastructure could contribute to tackling the criticality of REE. The stock modelling can show the potential quantities available for recycling and highlight the need for future recycling capacity.

Recycling technologies and circular strategies

Currently, there is no effective REE waste collection and separation systems for REE-bearing products. Various recycling technologies to separate and recycle REE are being developed. Table 1 lists the existing recycling/recovery pilot plants and market players. Many of these technologies are still limited to the laboratory or pilot-scale and are not mature enough to be commercialised yet. REE-bearing waste could be recycled or recovered into oxide forms or alloy forms, as well as being reused, repaired, refurbished, or remanufactured as secondary components returning to the production process.

The page on circular flows further explains a range of recycling technologies and circular strategies for technology metals that are embedded in different components and end-use products. Different circular strategies will result in varying quality and quantity of secondary REE, cost and revenue, as well as social and environmental impacts, therefore, it is important to consider suitable circular strategies for different REE-bearing products in the UK. This relies on whole system thinking to determine the trade-offs between these circular strategies and how these strategies may operate in conjunction with each other, but also understanding the effects of secondary REE use in manufacturing new products.

Table 1: Ownership and location of REE recycling pilot-plants.

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