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Title: Modeling the Value Recovery of Rare Earth Permanent Magnets at End-of-Life

Journal Article · · Procedia CIRP
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
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Permanent magnets containing rare earth elements (REEs) such as Dysprosium and Neodymium offer an advantage over non-REE containing magnets (e.g., ferrite and AlNiCo) in terms of power relative to size. However, REE availability has varied significantly in recent years leading to volatility in the cost of rare earth permanent magnets (REPMs). The supply of REEs can be increased by recycling consumer products and industrial machinery that contain REPMs at product end-of-life (EOL). This paper discusses the REE recovery process for EOL products. The optimal dismantling of products is examined with an emphasis placed on obtaining used REPMs. The challenge of collecting, managing, transporting, and processing used products is addressed through the development of a cost model for REPM recovery. This model is used to investigate several EOL strategies for recovering REPMs. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify the key factors that influence value recovery economics. A hard disk drive serves as a case study for model demonstration.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Critical Materials Institute (CMI); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Work for Others (WFO); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1185820
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1201673
Journal Information:
Procedia CIRP, Vol. 29, Issue C; Conference: 22. CIRP conference on life cycle engineering, Sydney (Australia), 7-9 Apr 2015; ISSN 2212-8271
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 12 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (11)

Global rare earth resources and scenarios of future rare earth industry journal January 2011
Global In-Use Stocks of the Rare Earth Elements: A First Estimate journal May 2011
Dynamics in the Global Market for Rare Earths journal October 2012
Computer Aided Disassembly Planning: State of the Art and Perspectives journal January 2002
AND/OR graph representation of assembly plans journal April 1990
A Multi-Objective Methodology for Evaluating Product End-of-Life Options and Disassembly journal July 2001
EDAS: Software for End-of-Life Disassembly Analysis journal January 2010
Quantitative evaluation of product disassembly for recycling journal March 1998
Efficiency and feasibility of product disassembly: A case-based study journal January 2008
Determining optimum disassembly sequences in electronic equipment journal September 2002
Recycling Potential of Neodymium: The Case of Computer Hard Disk Drives journal July 2014

Cited By (2)

Economic Assessment for Recycling Critical Metals From Hard Disk Drives Using a Comprehensive Recovery Process journal June 2017
Sustainable disassembly line balancing model based on triple bottom line journal August 2019

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Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
dismantling
disassembly
remanufacturing
recycling