SBIR-STTR Award

Urban Mining Company has invented and patented a Magnet to Magnet recycling Process that allows us to take low grade NdFeB magnet scrap, reduce it to a powder, then recycle it into high performance magnets capable of functioning in the most stringent civilian and military applications. Our process is environmentally friendly; as it does not involve large scale melting smelting nor toxic chemicals and it does not rely on rare-earth mining. The energy savings, savings on raw materials, coupled with the fact that is a low dysprosium magnet technology make Magnet to Magnet recycling a one stop solution for America's NdFeB magnet supply as we can operate outside of the normal supply chain. Our process requires some process control R&D in order that we can work with all grades of scrap magnets and so that we can precisely control the magnetic properties of our products.

Neodymium-iron-boron rare-earth based magnets are key components of mobile phones, electric vehicles, wind-turbines and many critical US defense systems. Despite their importance, the US is completely reliant on imports from China for their supply. Future supply risk renders this situation untenable, yet re-establishing the supply chain for these magnets in the US could take two decades. Urban Mining Company offer a solution; the Magnet to Magnet recycling system takes waste magnets from end-of-life appliances, reduces them to powder, and then reforms them into new magnets with better magnet properties than starting materials. This process could alleviate supply risk in the US by largely operating outside of the conventional magnet supply chain. In the proposed study, the Magnet to Magnet recycling system will be modified to work with as many different grades and compositions of scrap magnets as possible, to make the process more robust. The second phase of the proposed study then turns to making recycled magnets from ultrafine magnetic powders; these magnets are predicted have exceptional magnetic properties that will be of great utility in defense and commercial applications where weight is a critical factor.