With the explosive growth of new energy vehicles and industrial automation equipment, the
annual scrap volume of global motors has exceeded 2 billion units, and the stacks of used
motors are giving rise to a 100 billion renewable resources market. The traditional manual
dismantling method has low efficiency, high metal loss, and the industry pain point that it is
difficult to separate copper enameled wire and silicon steel sheet. Motor rotor and stator
recycling machine through intelligent dismantling and accurate sorting technology, to
achieve the closed-loop regeneration of copper, aluminum, rare earth permanent magnets
and other high-value materials, to promote the motor recycling industry to the direction of
high efficiency, cleanliness, high value upgrade. In this article, we will deeply analyze the
technical innovation path of this equipment and the opportunity of industry chain change.
Technical breakthroughs and process flow of motor rotor
stator recycling machine
Motor recycling needs to overcome the three major technical barriers of structural dismantling, material
sorting, and pollutant control, and the new generation of equipment integrates the whole process of
crushing, sorting, and purification through modular design, and the copper recovery rate is increased
to over 98%.
1. Intelligent pretreatment system
Separation of whole machine crushing and magnetic separation
Hydraulic shear crushes the motor shell to 50-100mm pieces, and multi-layer strong magnetic drum separates
cast iron shell and ferrous metals such as screws, with a separation precision of 99.5%.
Precise separation of stator and rotor
The six-axis robotic arm equipped with laser vision positioning system identifies the connection point between
rotor and stator, and the high-frequency vibration blade realizes non-contact cutting to avoid
damaging the internal copper coil.
2. Core material sorting technology
Efficient separation of copper and aluminum
The eddy current sorter utilizes the difference in electrical conductivity of metals to separate copper wires and
aluminum end caps into different channels at 30,000 rpm, with a purity of 99.2% and 97.8% respectively.
Rare earth permanent magnet recycling
NdFeB magnet adopts low-temperature crushing technology (-196℃ liquid nitrogen treatment) to avoid
high-temperature demagnetization, the magnet integrity rate is increased to 92%, and the magnetic energy
product loss rate is <5%.
Silicon steel sheet regeneration treatment
The pyrolysis furnace decomposes the insulating paint film at 450℃, the electrostatic sorting machine rejects
the oxidized layer, and the iron loss value of regenerated silicon steel wafers is restored to 85% of the
new product standard.
3. Environmental protection and safety control
Copper enameled wire de-enameling technology
High-temperature pyrolysis (600℃) and chemical immersion (sodium hydroxide solution) double process
synergy, paint removal rate>99%, exhaust gas by RTO incineration benzene emission <1mg/m³.
Dust collection system
Cyclone separation + cloth bag dust removal combination device, so that the dust concentration in the
work area is less than 4mg/m³, to meet the GBZ 2.1 occupational health standards.
Industry Pain Points and Technological Innovation Direction
1. Improvement of material separation precision
Micron-level sorting technology breakthrough
High-voltage electrostatic separator reduces the particle size of copper-aluminum mixed crushed material
to 0.1-0.5mm, and uses the difference in dielectric constant to realize micron-level sorting, and the
copper recovery rate breaks through the industry bottleneck of 99.5%.
AI Visual Recognition System
Deep learning algorithms train 100,000 motor structure image libraries to automatically identify the copper
wire winding method of different rotor models, and increase the speed of disassembly program
generation by 20 times.
2. Energy consumption and cost optimization
Low-carbon crushing process
The twin-shaft shredder adopts frequency conversion drive technology, and the power consumption of tons of
processing is reduced from 35kW-h to 22kW-h, and the energy saving is 30% with the waste heat recovery system.
Pharmaceutical recycling
Paint stripping solution is regenerated by electrolysis to remove impurity ions, and the reuse rate of sodium
hydroxide is more than 85%, which saves more than 500,000 yuan of processing cost per year.
3. Challenges of technology application
Micro-motor dismantling problem
Micro motors with a diameter of <5cm (such as drone motors) require the development of micromanipulators
and microscopic vision systems, which increases the disassembly cost by 40%;
Oxidized loss of rare earth magnets
Oxidized weight gain of up to 3% in the crushing process of NdFeB, argon gas is needed to protect the
crushing bin to maintain the oxygen content <50ppm;
Composite insulating material processing
Polyimide, mica paper and other high-temperature-resistant materials pyrolysis is not complete, catalytic
cracking technology can reduce the decomposition temperature from 800 ℃ to 450 ℃.
Industry chain change and market opportunities
1. New energy vehicle drive incremental demand
Blue ocean of drive motor recycling
In 2025, the amount of retired motors in China's new energy vehicles will reach 1.2 million tons, with
permanent magnet synchronous motors accounting for more than 70%, and the value of neodymium-iron-boron
magnets used in a single vehicle will be more than 2,000 yuan;
Aluminum shell motor recycling
Integrated die-casting aluminum shell can be directly used in the production of new car motors after melting
and regeneration, reducing the carbon footprint by 60%.
2. Technology iteration has given rise to a new model
“Rise of the “mobile recycling station
Containerized integrated equipment can be deployed in automobile dismantling plants, realizing the whole
process of motor dismantling, sorting and regeneration to be processed on-site, and reducing logistics costs by 70%;
Closed-loop system of direct material supply
Recycled copper wire is directly supplied to enameled wire factories, and silicon steel sheets are annealed
and coated for transformer core manufacturing, reducing costs by 15% in a synergistic industrial chain.
3. Evolution of global policies and standards
EU Ecodesign Directive
In 2030, the proportion of recycled materials used in electric motors will exceed 30%, and the recycling rate
of rare earth magnets will be increased from less than 1% to 25%;
Carbon tariffs force upgrading
Motor recycled copper carbon emissions reduction of 85% compared with mineral copper, in line with the
international supply chain ESG audit requirements, premium space of 8%-12%.
Conclusion: Technology Reconstructs Motor Recycling Value Chain
The technological leap of motor rotor stator recycling machine is breaking the inefficient predicament of
traditional resource recycling industry. Through intelligent dismantling, high-precision sorting of materials
and the deep integration of low-carbon processes, this equipment not only pushes the regeneration
efficiency of copper, rare earths and other strategic resources to a new height, but also provides a
brand-new path for the manufacturing industry to develop “urban mines”. With the acceleration of
the internalization of global carbon costs, with the ability to recover all components and green
certification of the technical solutions will become the core infrastructure for the sustainable
development of the motor industry chain. In the next five years, the motor recycling equipment
market size is expected to grow 28% annually, and the technology leader is expected to take the
lead in the trillion-dollar circular economy track.