Rare earth elements, NdFeB magnets, magnet recycling, ion exchange, adsorption, pregnant leach solution, hydrometallurgy, leaching, critical raw materials, WEEE
Topic 2 – Targeting secondary sources to enhance access to raw materials
We are preparing a RAMP JTC 2026 Topic 2 proposal (REEGROUP) on group-level recovery of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnet waste, using an integrated ion-exchange/adsorption flowsheet to purify the pregnant leach solution and separate a light-REE (NdPr) fraction from a heavy-REE (Dy(+Tb)) fraction.
TU Wien is the confirmed scientific lead, responsible for IX/adsorbent process development and flowsheet integration. We are looking for:
(1) a hydrometallurgy/leaching research institute (EU or associated country) to lead leaching-chemistry design and PLS characterisation;
(2) an EU or associated-country organisation able to supply and characterise real NdFeB magnet waste (production scrap or WEEE-derived) for the project; and
(3) an Austrian company able to join the consortium, whether as feedstock supplier, downstream validation partner, or co-funding/exploitation lead. An EU or associated-country industrial partner able to validate the recovered oxide products as offtake or polishing feed is also of interest.
TU Wien is Austria's largest technical university. Within the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, the Separations Engineering and Simulation group (Prof. Michael Harasek) develops and scales separation processes — adsorption, membrane and thermal separation — combining bench- and pilot-scale experimental work with process simulation.
Available infrastructure includes ICP-MS/OES for elemental analysis of leachates and eluates, and materials characterization facilities for adsorbent and resin development, operated by an experienced team of process engineers and materials researchers. Fixed-bed column systems for adsorption and ion exchange are designed and built in-house, so the continuous test rig can be dimensioned around the real leachate compositions characterized in the project rather than around existing equipment.
Our REE activity builds on a recent peer-reviewed review comparing adsorption, solvent extraction and ion exchange for REE recovery from NdFeB magnet leachates (Asasian-Kolur, Sharifian & Harasek, Separation and Purification Techno
logy 405, 138950, 2026), which identified flowsheet validation on real, impurity-rich leachates as the field's main open gap.
