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Partners to Reclaim Rare-Earth Magnets from Hybrids
A new venture in Japan aims to begin recovering rare-earth magnets from scrapped hybrid cars by 2015, The Nikkei reports.
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A new venture in Japan aims to begin recovering rare-earth magnets from scrapped hybrid cars by 2015, The Nikkei reports.
Scrappage firm Mitsubishi Materials Corp. is developing equipment to dismantle hybrid motors and will install it next year at a recycling facility in Mie Prefecture run by an affiliate of Honda Motor Co. The plant will then begin reclaiming magnets from hybrid cars supplied by Honda Trading Corp.
By 2020, Japan is expected to scrap 400,000 hybrids annually, according to The Nikkei. The Tokyo-based newspaper says those vehicles will yield about 24 tons per year of dysprosium, which has the highest magnetic strength of any element on Earth.
Dysprosium also is used in such devices as computer hard drives, commercial lighting and fuel injectors. Virtually all the material is produced in China, where demand has pushed up prices about thirtyfold over the past 10 years.
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