On February 5-7, 2019, the DEMETER Concluding Symposium took place in Leuven. Around 70 experts from 38 organisations and 11 countries participated in the debate about the future of Electric Vehicles and the role of rare-earth permanent magnet phases and motors.
Within the EU REMAGHIC project, KU Leuven developed a process to recover yttrium and europium from a mixed oxide obtained by the processing of lamp phosphor waste based on solvent extraction with undiluted thiocyanate ionic liquids.
Metals in spent samarium-cobalt magnet can be recovered by oxidative dissolution of metals in trichloride ionic liquids, followed by metal removal from the leachate with a series of stripping steps. The ionic liquids can be reused for next cycles after regeneration.
On January 23rd, 2018, Rodolfo Marin Rivera obtained his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering. He successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘Innovative technologies for rare earth element recovery from bauxite residue‘.
ETN DEMETER proudly presents the flagship product of this 4 year-project: the first recyclable e-motor based on recycled NdFeB magnets. Featuring two of the DEMETER Researchers, the video highlights the e-motor’s ecobenefits.
Within the EU H2020 REMAGHIC project, a process was developed by KU Leuven & TECNALIA to recover rare earths from CRT phosphor waste based on roasting and leaching with the green solvents acetic acid and methanesulphonic acid.
New work by SIM² KU Leuven researchers published in Resources Conservation and Recycling demonstrates that the government policies have a much larger influence on the rare-earth supply chain disruption than physical disruptions.
Following their milestone achievements on rare earth (RE) high-performance magnets, Prof. Gutfleisch et al. (TU Darmstadt) published a landmark paper on the vision and reality of heavy RE-free, free RE and RE-free magnets.
Within the EU Remaghic project, new REEs and Mg recovery processes have been developed from a selection of waste streams in order to produce new low cost competitive alloys for the automotive, biomedical and aeronautic industry.
ETN DEMETER (Design and Recycling of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Motors and Generators in Hybrid and Full Electric Vehicles) organises the DEMETER Closing Symposium in Feb’ 2019 (together with SIM² KU Leuven, GloREIA and Valeo).
KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals – Kasteelpark Arenberg 44 – Leuven 3001, Belgium
SIM² KU Leuven is the new KU Leuven Institute on Sustainable Metals and Minerals, one of the 4 flagship KU Leuven Institutes. SIM² mission is to develop, organise and implement problem-driven, science-deep research and future-oriented education, contributing to the environmentally friendly production and recycling of metals, minerals and engineered materials, supporting the transition to a climate-friendly, circular-economy.