EU project REEsilienceA resilient supply chain for magnetic materials - Steinbeis makes project results visible

The EU project REEsilience is establishing a resilient supply chain for rare earth magnets. A cornerstone of the project is the development of recycling strategies. By promoting the recovery and reuse of rare earth magnets from end-of-life products such as wind turbines and electric vehicles, the overall demand for new rare earths can be reduced. This approach not only helps to conserve valuable resources but also reduces the ecological footprint of rare earth production.

As a project partner, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum is responsible for communication and exploitation of project results as well as clustering activities. In addition, it supports the coordinator with administrative and financial project management.

While project partners are working on achieving decisive results for Europe, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum is supporting them by developing long-term plans for the sustainable use of results after the end of project funding. Through active press and public relations work, Pforzheim University and Steinbeis succeeded in attracting the interest of several German media outlets. Particularly noteworthy here are the reports by ARD Plusminus and the Interview on Deutschlandfunk radio.

Around 2.5 million euros in EU funding go to Pforzheim University, with a further 550.000 euros going to the German British start-up HyProMag GmbH, which is scaling up and commercialising the short-loop recycling process. This is based on the patented hydrogen-based technology ‘Hydorgen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS)’ developed by the Magnetic Materials Group at the University of Birmingham.

Project results

In the third year of the project, the 16 project partners have made scientific, technical and strategic progress in all core areas – covering transparency in the value chain for permanent magnets to production automation, scaling and standardisation in Europe. The focus is now on consolidating the expanded industrial facilities in order to provide an alternative, more sustainable and resilient supply of permanent magnets to various European industries.

REEsilience continues the success story of predecessor projects SUSMAGPRO and REProMag, by contributing to the objectives of the European Critical Raw Materials Act, for example by increasing European production capacities for permanent magnets with recycled content, disseminating more sustainable product design approaches for the circular economy, standardising product information through digital passports, and mapping raw material and material sources.

Due to global geopolitical tensions, which have once again led to restrictions on rare earths and related products such as permanent magnets and production equipment, delays occurred that were beyond the control of the project partners. Steinbeis Europa Zentrum provided significant support to the project coordinator and partners in successfully validating alternative plans with the European Commission’s funding agency responsible for the project through so-called amendments.

The consortium has responded constructively to the complexity of this challenge and, despite some delays and export restrictions, is striving to achieve impactful results.

EU funding: 9.734.436 EUR, 07/2022 - 06/2026

Findings by EU project REEsilience show: exploiting a fraction of low-risk deposits could mitigate EU’s rare earth elements supply risk - Steinbeis EN

Paving the way for a circular economy for Rare Earth Magnets - Steinbeis EN