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Meet The Texas Startup That Recycles Rare-Earth Magnets, Bypassing China
At a factory in San Marcos, Texas, workers gather Bird scooters, computer hard drives, MRI machines and motors from hybrid cars in order to separate out the old rare-earth magnets so they can be ground down and shaped into new ones. These strong permanent magnets are everywhere, even if most people know nothing about them. They go into everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to consumer electronics to missile guidance systems. Yet for years, the U.S. has been largely dependent on China for rare-earth processing. Noveon Magnetics, the startup behind this recycling effort, has a grand plan — and some patented technology — to make a dent in that dependance.
Noveon Recognized by Fast Company as a “Most Innovative Company” in Manufacturing 2023
After the EcoFlux’s debut, Noveon is now scaling operations at its new, 150,000-square-foot facility in San Marcos, Texas, to meet the demand of its pipeline of orders, which currently includes more than 100 customers and 1,000 magnet specifications across the aerospace and defense, industrial, automotive, and energy industries. As it scales, Noveon is also working to cultivate a domestic supply chain.
Charging Up: A chat with Catalina Oana Tudor, CIO of Noveon Magnetics
Catalina Oana Tudor: A magnetic tech leader. Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles gender diversity in the climatetech sector.
The Race to Produce Rare Earth Elements
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon technologies are our best options for warding off the accelerating threat of climate change. Access to rare earth elements, key ingredients in many of these technologies, will partly determine which countries will meet their goals for lowering emissions or increasing the proportion of electricity generated from non-fossil-fuel sources. But some nations, including the US, are increasingly worried about whether the supply of those elements will remain stable.
First Move with Julia Chatterley - Interview with Noveon Magnetics CEO, Scott Dunn
What do the following have in common: a wind turbine, an MRI machine, a stereo speaker, and a washing machine? They all rely on magnets to work. But there’s a problem. The rare earths that make up magnets will come under increasing demand as the world’s population grows, and the United States is heavily dependent on China for production. Plus, traditional mining methods aren’t good for the environment. And that’s where Noveon Magnetics comes in. The Texas-based company says it’s found a way to recycle used magnets by stripping them out of discarded products, melting them down and re-manufacturing them. Joining Julia to discuss is Noveon CEO Scott Dunn.
KVUE gets exclusive tour of unique Central Texas magnet manufacturer Noveon
There is only one magnet manufacturer in the world that has figured out how to use recycled materials, and it's located in Central Texas.
The work of Noveon Magnetics has caught the eye of top lawmakers, as well as large companies across the U.S.
Rare earth metals boom, San Marcos-based magnet recycler draw international crowd to San Antonio
More than 200 metal heads — of a sort — from around the world recently gathered downtown. They were not here to celebrate their favorite bands, but to discuss some of the planet’s most valuable minerals at the annual International Rare Earths Conference, held Thursday and Friday at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk hotel. The attendees — who came from Mongolia, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Chile, Korea, Australia and elsewhere — represented industry and government agencies and the growing attention focused on 17 elements used in electronics ranging from cellphones to F-35 fighter jets.
US companies work to ramp up domestic rare earth manufacturing
China has dominated the Rare Earth Element supply chain for decades. The U.S. is working to build out its own facilities, using more environmentally friendly manufacturing. "The foreign dependency is real. It's actually not getting better," Noveon Magnetics CEO Scott Dunn said. "A lot of years and a lot of dollars have to really be invested in this space." Noveon Magnetics is helping increase domestic Rare Earth Magnet production with a sustainable shortcut.
Global Conflicts Expose Dire U.S. Munitions Shortage
Rare earth minerals – a set of 17 metallic elements – are the essential materials of bombs, bullets, rockets, and missiles. They are critical in manufacturing powerful magnets used in precision-guided munitions. Some rare earth elements possess temperature stability necessary for some high-tech bombs exposed to intense heat during launch toward target, such as the Javelin missiles so crucial to allowing Ukrainian forces to fend off Russian tanks.
Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 could send 240 mln PCs to landfills - report
Hard drives used in personal computers and data storage servers are recycled to gather materials for use in electric vehicle motors and even renewable power generation."Turning end-of-life computers into the magnets that power sustainable technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines will help meet the rising global demand for electricity," said Noveon Magnetics Chief Commercial Officer Peter Afiuny. Afiuny added hard drives are often discarded before they reach the end of their functional lifespan, creating an excess of rare earth magnetic material waste.
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Australian Strategic Materials to sell rare-earth alloy to Noveon Magnetics.
The United States' only rare-earth magnet company is ready to ramp up manufacturing — and shift to the U.S. part of an industry that is primarily located in China.
Recycling rare earth elements is hard. Science is trying to make it easier.
Rare earth magnet recycling ramps up in Texas.
San Marcos company aims to energize U.S. magnets supply.
U.S. decides against national security tariffs on rare earth magnets from China, Japan, EU
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U.S. to rebuild rare-earth production, government support for de-dependence on China.
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