00:01This black powder holds huge potential. It's neodymium, a raw material that belongs to the rare earth elements.
00:09And it's found, for example, in these so-called permanent magnets, which are in high demand in the automotive industry.
00:16They are built into every electric car motor, as you can see at this factory of a major German car
00:22maker.
00:23They make electric motors compact, powerful and efficient.
00:27But it's becoming more and more difficult for companies to get products made with rare earth elements.
00:37Rare earth resources are not distributed evenly across the globe.
00:41There are mining areas with very high concentrations that are easy to extract.
00:46These are mainly in Asia, specifically in China.
00:49Over the years, this has led to the development of a monopoly with 98% of magnet production, as well
00:55as the separation and metallization of mine ore.
00:59One startup is aiming to break this monopoly.
01:03The system makes it possible to recycle permanent magnets.
01:07It's brand new technology.
01:09The rare earth elements are separated from the magnets through a complex process.
01:12It's considered environmentally friendly because it runs on hydrogen.
01:18For the startup's employees, the first order of business is to learn.
01:23That's because expertise in magnetic technology has all but disappeared in Germany over the past 40 years.
01:29Now it's time for a fresh start.
01:32In recent years, magnets weren't taught.
01:35Not in chemistry, not in physics, not in material science.
01:40Because it was a technology from which we had essentially moved on.
01:44Magnets had been a cheap commodity that we bought from China.
01:48But awareness that they are a key material has been growing again in recent years.
01:57The biggest challenge for recycling is simply finding used magnets on the market.
02:02There are very few suppliers.
02:04At the moment, the recycling process is focused on old hard drives.
02:09These come from data centers or banks that are upgrading their hardware.
02:12They are inexpensive and easy to transport.
02:16First, the hard drives must be broken down.
02:19Otherwise, the machine cannot extract the rare earth elements.
02:22The magnet is installed in this corner.
02:26Permanent magnets are also used in wind turbines and electric cars.
02:32But many of these products are not yet being recycled because they are still in use.
02:38The market situation is unclear.
02:43That is indeed a challenge right now, partly because there are apparently players in the market
02:49who are buying this scrap metal at very high prices.
02:53Prices that make recycling completely uncompetitive.
02:56And we suspect that some of it is being shipped abroad and ultimately ends up back in China.
03:02But at the moment, that's just a guess.
03:06Despite all the obstacles, full-scale production is expected to be up and running as early as next year.
03:13Funding has been secured by partner companies from Canada and the UK.
03:18This machine here comes from China and is actually supposed to press new magnets from recycled material.
03:23But it's still sitting idle.
03:25That's because Chinese experts are needed to get it up and running.
03:29But they haven't been allowed to leave the country yet.
03:32China is trying to prevent the knowledge of magnet production from reaching Germany and Europe.
03:37And it's imposing extensive export controls.
03:43The export regulations are open to interpretation.
03:50In some Chinese regions, there are no issues at all.
03:54In others, there are restrictions regarding who the customers are and what the products are intended for.
04:07Chinese export controls are making it harder to do business.
04:11German manufacturers like MUT in Jena are benefiting from this.
04:16More and more Western countries are turning to a circular economy to reduce their dependence on China.
04:22The specialty firm's older books are full.
04:25And it is looking to hire new employees.
04:28The company acquired its expertise in recycling plants from the University of Birmingham.
04:33Nevertheless, it is unable to completely shake off its dependence on China.
04:43Europe is pursuing a strategy to bring more facilities of this kind online.
04:48But this is still insufficient to meet global demand, at least not yet.
04:51Right now, because of the shift to electrification across all sectors,
04:56the overall demand for magnets is simply much greater than what is being returned to the market from end-of
05:02-life applications.
05:05Automotive supplier ZF labels the magnets it installs
05:09so that the rare earth elements they contain can be easily identified.
05:13This is intended to make recycling easier and thus make the circular economy more efficient.
05:30You can still use the different vehicles there for them.
05:33You know we've been making for a long-term load for people who are using this kind of a natural
05:33habitat.
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