Projet DEMETER (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Doctoral Networks
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hybrid and Full Electric Vehicles ((H)EVs) are essential for the transition towards sustainable e-mobility. The permanent magnets in motors/generators of (H)EVs are either NdFeB or SmCo magnets, which contain large quantities of rare earths, which are critical metals with the highest supply risk for Europe. As highlighted by the European Rare Earths Competency Network, recycling of rare-earth magnets from (H)EVs should receive top priority. Reclaiming of rare-earth magnet motors/generators used in (H)EVs is a major challenge because the magnets are difficult to remove from the assemblies. The conventional hydrometallurgical routes for the recovery of rare earths from End-of-Life permanent magnets have a high environmental impact due to inefficient use of chemicals, whereas the conventional pyrometallurgical routes for the production of magnet master alloys are energy-inefficient. DEMETER, the European Training Network for the Design and Recycling of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Motors and Generators in Hybrid and Full Electric Vehicles, concurrently develops (1) innovative, environmentally-friendly direct and indirect recycling strategies for the permanent magnets in the motors and generators of (H)EVs that are currently already on the market and (2) design-for-reuse solutions for motors and generators in the (H)EVs of the future. An intersectoral and interdisciplinary consortium of leading EU universities, research institutes and manufacturers from the automotive and magnet sector trains 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). The research challenges include the development of hydrogen-based grain-refinement technologies to produce nanograin magnets directly from scrap magnets, the recovery of rare earths from SmCo and NdFeB magnets of motors/generators by ionometallurgical methods, and the design of motors/generators with reusable magnets, where the designs are based on 2D and 3D flux paths as well as non-traditional materials.

Mots clés : hybrid and electric vehicles, vehicle recycling, critical raw materials, rare earth elements, rare earths, metals and alloys, automotive engineering, permanent magnets, ionic liquids

Participants :
- Aalborg University (Danemark) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 290081.88 €
- Less common metals limited (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovénie) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 704992.68 €
- Magneti ljubljana podjetje za proizvodnjo magnetnih materialov dd (Slovénie) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 469995.12 €
- École nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de Caen (France) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Valeo equipements electriques moteur (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 525751.2 €
- Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 262875.6 €
- Granta Design (United Kingdom) (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Centro Ricerche FIAT (Italie) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1002240.0 €
- University of Birmingham (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 546575.76 €