{"id":245608,"date":"2023-05-31T19:57:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T14:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=245608"},"modified":"2023-05-31T19:57:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T14:27:21","slug":"recycling-permanent-magnets-for-rare-earths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/recycling-permanent-magnets-for-rare-earths\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling permanent magnets for rare earths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/span><\/b>: The post is based on the article\u202f<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/b>Recycling permanent magnets for rare earths<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/span> published<\/span> in the<\/span> Business Standard <\/span><\/b>on\u202f<\/span>31<\/span><\/b>st<\/span><\/b> May 2023<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/span><\/b>GS 3 \u2013 Changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.<\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/span><\/b>About rare earth permanent magnets.<\/span><\/p>\n

News<\/span><\/b>: Recently, the PM has inaugurated India\u2019s first facility to produce rare earth permanent magnets in Visakhapatnam.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The plant is based on <\/span>indigenous reduction-diffusion technology<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>produces samarium-cobalt (SaCo) rare earth permanent magnets and neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the significance of the Vishakapatnam rare earth permanent magnets plant for India?<\/h2>\n

The supply chain of rare earths is one of the biggest concerns because<\/span><\/b> China has the highest concentration of rare earth metals which gives it a huge strategic leverage.<\/span> Therefore, setting up a production facility for permanent magnets in India is a significant step as it will safeguard India from any supply chain disruption.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, <\/span>India\u2019s Make in India initiative<\/span><\/b> has given a boost in the electronics, defence, and aerospace sectors, which has led to an increase in the demand for rare earth permanent magnets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since India is an importer of these metals, <\/span>setting up such kinds of plants will cater India\u2019s domestic demand while reducing its reliance on China.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is the production of rare earth permanent magnets important?<\/h2>\n

Rare earth permanent magnets have a wide-range applications<\/span><\/b> in electronics, automobiles, the military, etc.<\/span> These are also used in new technologies like hypersonic weapons and directed energy systems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to ordinary ferrous magnets, rare earth permanent magnets generate a very high magnetic field strength and large amounts of torque.<\/span> This makes them ideal for applications requiring high-performance, compact and light-weight motors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, <\/span>a rare earth permanent magnet also has nearly 30 percent of rare earth metals by weight<\/span><\/b>. Recycling them can further benefit India in catering rare earth metal demand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How will recycling rare earth permanent magnets benefit India?<\/h2>\n

According to a report of the United Nations,<\/span><\/b> India was the third-largest country in e-waste generation in 2019. The e-waste generation is expected to increase further in the coming years.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>As these permanent magnets contain rare earth metals, <\/span>recycling them would help in catering to domestic rare earth metal demand in India.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the large amount of e-waste generated in India<\/span><\/b>, recycling them would provide rare earth metals much more than the quantities imported currently.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must Read: <\/span><\/b>Rare Earth Elements: Strategic Importance and Reducing Import Dependence – Explained<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What are the concerns present with e-waste collection and recycling?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

E-waste collection and recycling in India suffer from <\/span>several institutional and management weaknesses.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Only about 22% of the e-waste generated is collected<\/span><\/b> while the recycling technology employed is primitive and it is mostly about scavenging precious metals like gold and silver.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Therefore, <\/span>improving e-waste collection requires a behavioural change in society<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must read: India\u2019s e-waste challenge \u2013 Explained, pointwise<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What can be the way ahead?<\/h2>\n

India does not have a recycling plant for permanent magnets.\u202f<\/span>To address this issue, companies from friendly nations can be incentivised to set up recycling facilities in India while efforts can be taken to develop indigenous technology simultaneously.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Moreover, recycling plants should adhere to environmental norms as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Neodymium and Dysprosium are two elements required to make permanent magnets, which also contain rare earth metals in it.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u202f\u201cRecycling permanent magnets for rare earths\u201d published in the Business Standard on\u202f31st May 2023.\u00a0\u00a0 Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth. Relevance: About rare earth permanent magnets. News: Recently, the PM has inaugurated India\u2019s first facility to produce rare earth permanent… Continue reading Recycling permanent magnets for rare earths<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,216],"class_list":["post-245608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}