Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets by Du, Xiaoyue and Graedel, T. E. (2011)

Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets

Title

Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets

Author(s)

Xiaoyue Du

Thomas E. Graedel

Year

2011

Type

Journal Article

Source

Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 15, Issue 6, Pages 836-843

DOI

10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00362.x

Abstract

The rare earth elements are indispensible in modern technology, especially in the applications of permanent magnets. Very little quantitative information is available on rare earth elements used in permanent magnets, however. This study looks back to 1983, when neodymium‐iron‐boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets were first manufactured, and reaches to 2007, when the market of permanent magnets was well developed. We draw on the historical data on permanent magnets from China, Japan, the United States, and Europe to provide the first estimates of global in‐use stocks for four rare earth elements—praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), terbium (Tb), and dysprosium (Dy)—in NdFeB permanent magnets. In‐use stocks amount to 62.6 gigagrams (Gg) Nd, 15.7 Gg Pr, 15.7 Gg Dy, and 3.1 Gg Tb; these stocks, if efficiently recycled, could provide a valuable supplement to geological stocks as they are almost four times the 2007 annual extraction rate of the individual elements.

More Information

http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00362.x

Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets

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