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HONDA and Japan Metals & Chemicals have developed the “world’s first” commercial-scale process to recycle highly-prized rare earth metals from used hybrid car batteries.

The process will begin operation in Japan before the end of the month, extracting the elements from used nickel-metal hydride batteries recovered by Honda dealers worldwide. Honda says the process recovers more than 80% of the rare earth metals contained in its batteries.

A detailed explanation of the process has not been disclosed – only a basic flow diagram with labels for calcination and pulverisation steps. Until now Honda had been heat treating used batteries to recycle valuable metals, it says.

“The successful stabilisation of the extraction process at the plant of Japan Metals & Chemicals made possible the extraction of rare earth metals in a mass-production process with purity as high as that of newly-mined and refined metals,” Honda says.

Honda will reuse the recovered metals to make new batteries and a “wide range” of other Honda products. It also plans to extend the process to recovering metals from other used car parts.

The supply of rare earths has made headline news in recent years after China, responsible for more than 90% of all rare earth production, imposed limits on exports.

This has led to a flurry of activity outside of China as manufacturers of a wide range of technologies dependent on rare earths (from mobile phones to missiles) seek new supplies.