Roadshow Stop

The first SUSMAGPRO roadshow stop of 2023 took place close to home for partners Pforzheim University and Steinbeis Europa Zentrum in the frame of the EFFEKTE Science Tuesdays at the Triangel Open Space in Karlsruhe, Germany.  

Raising questions, but above all providing answers - that's what the EFFEKTE series has been doing since June 2022 up until the EFFEKTE science festival in summer 2023 with lectures and discussions on exciting scientific topics. Every 'Science Tuesday', universities and research institutions from the Karlsruhe region present themselves and their research projects, answer questions and enter into dialogue with citizens. 

The SUSMAGPRO roadshow stop was organised on the first Science Tuesday of 2023, where the audience had a lively exchange with the project partners, visited an interactive exhibition and a few corageous members even participated in a treasure hunt! 

Programme of the evening

Introductory presentation: Recycling of Rare Earths for permanent magnets - challenges and opportunities

• Prof. Dr. Carlo Burkhardt is Professor of Manufacturing Technology and Head of the Institute for Precious and Technology Metals (STI) at Pforzheim University. He is the coordinator of the EU projects SUSMAGPRO and REEsilience, which aim to achieve a more sustainable supply of rare earth magnets in Europe.

Keynote 1: Old becomes new - The production of new ready-to-use permanent magnets from waste material

• Stefan Rathfelder is an academic staff member and PhD student at the Institute for Precious and Technology Metals (STI) at Pforzheim University. In SUSMAGPRO, he works on the magnet production process.

Keynote 2: Can this be done on a large scale? - Industrialisation of processes developed in the lab

• Since 2021, Nelson Brito has been managing director of the newly founded technology start-up 'HyProMag GmbH'. Prior to that, he worked as a research associate on the recycling of magnetic materials at the Institute for Precious and Technology Materials (STI) at Pforzheim University, among other things. He has many years of experience with automation, manufacturing and material innovations in customer-oriented development projects. 

Keynote 3: Recycling starts with design - Why the end of life of a product already plays a role at the beginning

• Laura Grau is an academic staff member and PhD student in the field of magnet recycling at the Institute for Precious and Technology Metals (STI) at Pforzheim University. Prior to her work on permanent magnets, she worked on other recycling topics on the field of lightweight packaging. 

Keynote 4: Indeed sustainable? A challenge in communication

• Maëva Pratlong manages EU projects at the Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and supports project partners in communication, clarifying intellectual property issues, developing exploitation strategies for project results, and administrative and financial project management.

Treasure hunt in electric waste: Laptop Dismantling Contest

Image: © TRIANGEL

Following the keyonte presentations, the audience's turn had come! In a dismantling competition, teams of volunteers competed against each other and took apart old laptops as quickly as possible to get to the rare earth magnets built into them (in the fan and the hard drive). During this process, it became very clear, how important Design for Recycling / Repair really is. 

Interactive SUSMAGPRO Exhibition

To round off the evening, the audience could visit an interactive exhibition on SUSMAGPRO, including various old and new magnets, a virtual reality experience and the digital citizen lab DiscoveREEs. 

Thank you to all participants and to the Triangel and EFFEKTE teams for making this entertaining and educational evening possible!

Images: © TRIANGEL