The rare earth metals were extracted from nickel-metal hydride batteries from 386 Honda hybrid vehicles that became unusable by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Honda Motor and the Japan Metals & Chemicals Company last spring began extracting an oxide containing rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries from Honda hybrid vehicles. The operation, the first in the world, is now recovering rare earth metals with a mass-production process at a JMC recycling plant.
By applying molten salt electrolysis to the oxide, Honda has succeeded in recovering metalized rare earth metals that can be used directly as negative-electrode materials for nickel-metal hydride batteries. The rare earth metals extracted in this recycling process have a purity of more than 99%, which is as high as newly-mined rare earth metals. The new procedure allows the extraction of more than 80% of rare earth metals contained in a nickel-metal hydride battery.
The rare earth metals came from nickel-metal hydride batteries from 386 Honda hybrid vehicles became unusable by damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake. As soon as a more batteries are gathered, Honda will begin applying the same recycling process and recover almost all of the rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries collected by Honda dealers through battery replacement. (Read AutoInformed on Honda to Recycle Rare Earth Metals from Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries in World’s First Mass Production Process )
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
