X. Zhou, S. Kulkarni, V. Roy, C. Nath, F. Zhao, J.W. Sutherland
Purdue University,
United States
Keywords: techno-economic analysis (TEA), life cycle assessment (LCA), technology adoption, rare earth permanent magnets (REPMs), neodymium−iron-boron (NdFeB), big area additive manufacturing (BAAM)
Summary:
The increased demand for high-performance critical rare earth permanent magnets (REMs) for clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles impends a substantial supply risk owing to their market monopolization by China. To lessen this risk, many new technologies are being explored for extraction of virgin materials from mines, resource diversification, and recycling/recovery of magnet waste from processing and used magnets from end-of-life products. However, most of the technologies are unique and highly complex in terms of chemistry, compatibility, energy, time, capital, and other resources, thus risking an industrial success after long efforts and investments. Environmental and economic viability play a crucial role in the realization of these technologies at an early stage. Integrating environmental and economic assessments during the development of technologies (including products, processes, and systems) help enable industrial decision-making and improvements that harmonize technological advancement with economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability. Leveraging parameter-driven methods such as material flow analysis (MFA), techno-economic assessment (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) can provide decision-support tools for sustainable innovation. By considering MFA that systematically evaluates material flows and stocks, and associated energy flows within systems, TEA combines cost modeling with financial analysis to identify economic performance and guide R&D decisions; and LCA identifies environmental hotspots across a product's life cycle; thus, advancing the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of innovations and industrial adoption. This presentation will consult the working principle of TEA and LCA, followed by their application to the manufacturing of neodymium–iron–boron (Nd2Fe14B or NdFeB) magnets, which have the highest energy density among REPMs. A novel method that uses big area additive manufacturing (BAAM) printers for manufacturing near-net shape bonded permanent magnets with loading volume fraction greater than 0.65 will be demonstrated. For comparison, a typical injection molding (IM), which has a loading volume fraction limitation of 0.65 for nylon binders will also be discussed. The process chains and the needed feedstocks associated with magnet production using IM and BAAM have been characterized. The TEA includes a preliminary step that estimates annual costs, revenues, and profit and a comprehensive step that considers the time value of money and other dynamic factors. A comparative TEA reveals that BAAM is profitable and has a better economic performance than that of IM. Although the BAAM equipment is more expensive than the IM equipment, the increased capital cost for BAAM is more than made up through energy and material savings. The LCA indicates that the variation in magnetic powder usage largely drives the differences across environmental impact categories. Even when recycled magnetic feedstock is used, BAAM-printed magnets exhibit a lower environmental impact than injection-molded magnets, with a particularly notable advantage in ozone depletion. Other scenarios investigated to explore the impact of variables subject to uncertainty are also discussed. Though BAAM is a new technology, both the economic and environmental performance analysis indicate that BAAM is superior to IM, showing the importance of TEA/LCA application during the development, viability, and successful adoption of new technologies for alleviating supply chain risk.