Agreement inked to develop hydrogen recycling of end-of-life wind turbine magnets

Magnet metal and rare earths miner Pensana has signed a cooperation agreement with oil, gas and wind power company Equinor, forming a working group to share technical and commercial information to develop a low-energy method for recycling end-of-life magnets at Pensana’s rare earths hub in the Saltend Chemical Park, in the UK. Pensana chairperson Paul Atherley says the agreement relates to processing end-of-life magnets from wind turbine nacelles using properties found in hydrogen as a powerful reductant. Recycling permanent magnets using hydrogen not as a fuel, but as a reductant, while also benefitting from the decarbonised power supply within Saltend, offers the parties a clean alternative that uses 88% less energy than virgin magnet manufacture.