n9ve: From End-of-Life Magnets to Virgin-Grade Rare Earths
With support from EIT RawMaterials, Portuguese startup n9ve is transforming end-of-life wind turbine magnets into high-purity rare earth oxides, helping build a more secure and circular European supply chain for critical raw materials.
Every wind turbine reaching the end of its working life contains something Europe desperately needs: rare earth elements, locked inside the permanent magnets that drive the generator. A single 10 MW direct-drive turbine holds around 6.5 tonnes of NdFeB magnets — roughly 2 tonnes of rare earths. Europe currently imports 98% of these materials, almost entirely from China, and as the continent accelerates its wind repowering programmes and electric vehicle rollout, the supply problem will only get more acute.
n9ve, a Portuguese startup funded by EIT RawMaterials, is working to change that. The company has developed a patented hydrometallurgical process to recover rare earth elements from end-of-life permanent magnets, and its pre-industrial prototype is already producing rare earth oxides at over 99% purity, at a cost more than 50% below current market prices.
EIT RawMaterials’ funding helped bring together a pan-European consortium that includes SE&C IKE from Greece, Galp, Portugal's largest energy company, Enercon from Germany, and the National Institute of Chemistry from Slovenia.
Recovery over recycling
n9ve's approach sets it apart from most rare earth projects currently active in Europe. While many focus on what the industry calls "short-loop" recycling — making new magnets directly from old ones — n9ve works on the "long loop": breaking down end-of-life magnets into their elemental components and recovering the rare earths themselves in pure oxide form.
