NEO-CYCLE

The NEO-CYCLE project aims to demonstrate at TRL6 the sustainable upcycling of spent NdFeB magnets coming from hard disk drives (HDDs), reaching high- quality end products for 4 case studies: pharmaceutical, ammonia, fertilizers, and polymers industries and will include necessary paths to reach the market uptake. To reach this aim, NEO-CYCLE involves all the relevant actors in the value chain, from public authorities to WEEE recycling companies, technology developers, associations, NGOs, SMEs, and commercial companies in the targeted sectors.

 

Main project activities:

• Demonstrate Solid-State Chlorination, Electrochemical, and Purification
• Upcycling approaches for Nd, Fe, and B, producing industrial catalysts for four case
• Integrate digitalization: modeling, optimization, monitoring, digital twins, and digital product passports.
• Sustainability (LCA, LCC, s-LCA, circularity, risk, energy efficiency, green logistics, TEA)
• Support market uptake

 

The NEO-CYCLE consortium brings together 23 entities from 12 countries around the world. Among the participants in this initiative are leading academic institutions, research centers, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large industrial centers: Idener Research & Development Agrupacion de Interes Economico (Spain), Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Germany), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Germany), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Flamma S.p.A. (Italy), Politechnika Warszawska, RMF Tech GmbH (Germany), Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (Lithuania), L’Urederra Fundación para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y Social (Spain), Laser Consult Muszaki-Tudomanyos Es Gazdasagi Tanacsado Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag (Hungary), Non-governmental Agency of European Innovations (Ukraine), Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH (Austria), Asociația de Standardizare din România (Romania), Confederazione Generale dell’Agricoltura Italiana (Italy), Holistic And Ontological Solutions For Sustainability, Lda. (Portugal), Ecoreset SA (Greece), Stena Recycling Srl (Italy), Università degli Studi di Pavia (Italy), Clúster Nacional para la Minería Sostenible y Servicios Asociados de la Península Ibérica (Spain), EcoCastulum (Spain), Casale SA (Switzerland), Regione Lombardia (Italy).

 

AEI ROLE:

AEI will provide recommendations to each partner to control or eliminate differential impacts for disadvantaged groups (with a dedicated part related to gender), including the organisation of an online meeting for considering these aspects in engineering projects

AEI will disseminate the project results through civil society organisations through the participation in at least four significant events held by NGOs in different countries at the European and national levels and will do one policy brief.

AEI will define the new skills needed by the project and how training will be accessible, light, and efficient.
AEI will organise courses for soft skills development and workshops for women’s leadership development.