June 2024 has been a busy month for PASSENGER, featuring the biannual consortium meeting as well as the second progress review meeting by the European Commission. The two meetings were held back-to-back in a 2-day hybrid event in Madrid and online, showcasing the project’s achievements in rare earth-free permanent magnets and setting the stage for future developments.
Day 1: Consortium meeting highlights
PASSENGER coordinator, Rodolfo Miranda from IMDEA, kicked off the meeting with an overview of the project progress over the past six months, highlighting the milestones reached and the challenges ahead, setting the stage for an engaged discussion between the partners.
The morning session was dedicated to the progress update from the technical work packages. Partners from Metalpine, MBN, ILPEA and BARLOG discussed the latest progress regarding the development and production scale-up of PASSENGER magnetic loose powders with specific key performance targets. The characterization of the two different magnetic phases of Mn-Al-C (epsilon and tau phase) shows that approximately the 90% value of the target coercivity and remanence have been reached. The target values for PASSENGER improved strontium ferrite were achieved with flying colours, and superior performance was proved compared to commercially available ferrite in terms of coercivity, remanence and compressed density. Subsequent presentations from BARLOG, IMA and TUDA explained the progress in the pilot scale production of permanent magnets, using the loose powders as starting material. The most promising bonded ferrite magnets produced in these pilot plants were tested for certain commercial applications namely traction motors for e-vehicles (e-scooters), gear motors and water pump motors. As summarised by application-WP lead partners from WILO, the experiments showed that it is possible for PASSENGER’s bonded ferrite magnets to replace standard bonded Nd-Fe-B in certain specific applications. In the future, further experimental work is planned to optimize the magnets’ properties and validate their use for such applications, with particular focus on the evaluation of long-term functionality and systematic assessment of key performance properties (e.g. corrosion behaviour and temperature-related operation).
The afternoon session focused on techno-economic, health and safety assessment, dissemination, exploitation and standardisation updates. ICAMCYL and MNLT explained that PASSENGER magnets cannot only replace conventional REE-based magnets in certain applications, but moreover, they hold significant advantages in terms of increased safety, and lower economic and environmental impact throughout the entire product life compared to Nd-Fe-B. ESF presented the most recent communication and dissemination activities, including participation in high-profile events (e.g. JEMS 2025 and Raw Materials Week 2023) and collaborations with other European projects, notably the set-up of the CRMs4EU cluster, achieving broad project visibility and networking opportunities. The project exploitation plan and IP analysis were also presented to the consortium, including the plans in terms of product standardisation.
Day 2: European Commission Review
On 12 June 2024, the PASSENGER team had the opportunity to meet with the project expert reviewer and officers from the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). We shared our achievements in the development of rare earth-free permanent magnets so far, and discussed upcoming challenges, receiving positive feedback and valuable recommendations for the project’s future.
Next steps
Looking ahead, the PASSENGER team is set to optimize the properties of our magnets, seek to validate their use in specific applications, and assess their long-term functionality. Stay tuned for more updates!
The PASSENGER partners during the consortium and review meetings in Madrid, Spain, 11-12 June 2024
