Magnetic Cooling Technology: New Research Shows Improvements: Can Compete with Refrigerants According to Studies: Dependence on REEs is One Snag

     Magnetic cooling technology is a solid-state technology that does not use gas refrigerants. It is based on the magneto-caloric effect, where the temperature of a refrigerant material changes when an external magnetic field is applied. The biggest current drawbacks to magnetic cooling technology are the high manufacturing costs of magnetocaloric materials and their dependence on rare-earth elements (REEs). The manufacture of the large-area plates and fine wires required for industrial applications is also challenging.

     Tech Xplore writes that researchers at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) have successfully developed Korea's first full-cycle magnetic cooling technology, encompassing materials, components, and modules. They utilized lanthanum (La)-based and manganese (Mn)-based alloys and were able to fabricate sheet and fine-wire specimens through a series of processes such as hot rolling, cold drawing, and micro-channel machining. The research has resulted in several breakthroughs that advance the technology. These improvements in how the components are fabricated and manufactured are a breakthrough.

     The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol requires that gas refrigerants in common use, such as HFCs, HCFCs, and R22, be banned by 2030. Tech Xplore also notes that several research studies and demonstration projects, one prominent one in Germany, have reported magnetic cooling systems exhibiting coefficients of performance (COP) higher than those of conventional refrigeration methods.

“The team has also achieved world-class results and international competitiveness in component manufacturing and non–rare-earth magnetic refrigerant materials.”

“Principal Researcher Dr. Jong-Woo Kim stated, "Once commercialized, this technology will overcome the limitations of conventional gas-based cooling systems and provide an eco-friendly and stable cooling solution."

     The magneto-caloric effect was discovered in the 1880s, and research has been more or less ongoing since then, with the possibility for commercial development coming only recently. Refindustry explains the magneto-caloric effect as follows:

“When a magnetocaloric material is placed in a magnetic field, its magnetic moments align, causing a slight increase in temperature. Removing the magnetic field allows the material to return to a disordered state, leading to a temperature drop. By cycling this process and integrating a heat exchange system, continuous cooling can be achieved without relying on conventional refrigerants.”

     According to Fynn Hass at Ensun:

“A typical magnetic refrigeration cycle consists of four stages: magnetization, adiabatic demagnetization, heat exchange, and adiabatic magnetization. Each stage plays a crucial role in achieving effective cooling.”

     In 2024, a paper was published in Nature Communications about the use of magnetic cooling technology to cool hydrogen to a liquid state, where it could be used more efficiently for transport. Magnetic cooling was found to be more efficient and less energy-intensive than gas refrigerant-based cooling for this purpose and also eliminates the use of gas refrigerants with high global warming potentials (GWPs). In addition, the process did not use REEs but used cheaper and more readily available materials.

     Earlier efforts to develop magnetic cooling were based on gadolinium, which was found to be costly and difficult to scale. Company MAGNOTHERM has developed its Polaris beverage cooler, which is currently deployed at supermarkets in Frankfort, Germany. Another company Refindustry notes is Camfridge, which was founded in 2005 and is working with non-REE materials.

     Aside from the obvious environmental and climate benefits is the potential for 30% better energy efficiency over traditional cooling methods. Magnetic cooling also has fewer moving parts and does not utilize compression. This makes them quieter, and they require less maintenance. Repairs also require less skilled maintenance than those who must be specially trained to handle gas refrigerants. Another advantage is lower operational costs. Paybacks are estimated at less than three years, and there is room for further cost improvements as the tech is scaled up. This makes the technology viable, even with higher initial costs. Magnetic cooling technology has the potential to be used for residential, commercial, and industrial refrigeration and air conditioning, as well as ground-based heat pumps. Without a need for compressors, it has the potential to make cooling units smaller. However, currently, the size of home units is much larger than vapor-compression systems, which is another downside, both for space and for cost, since smaller most often means cheaper. Much of the size improvements will come with design and manufacturing.  

     Another limitation is dependence on Chinese permanent magnets, although this is expected to change in the next few years as alternative magnets enter the market.

     Matt Ferrell and Sunny Natividad put out a great article and video about Magnetic Cooling on Ferrell’s Undecided podcast in April 2025. In it they note that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and an Iowa State University research team, led by Julie Slaughter, in December 2024, completed a magnetocaloric heat pump (MCHP). They claim it can match vapor-compression heat pumps in weight, cost, and performance. The team studied the magnetocaloric effects of gadolinium and LaFeSi, an alloy of lanthanum, iron, and silicon. Their paper, published in Applied Energy, explains that they designed the MCHP system to optimize system power density (SPD), utilizing gadolinium for smaller systems and LaFeSi alloys for larger systems.

     Ferrell and Natividad note that French-German startup Magnoric is working on a commercial prototype, shown below from a tech fair display. The company is also working on larger 6 kW versions for supermarkets and data centers. The company thinks that industrial magnetic cooling is imminent, but cautions that we are still in the research phase. Hopefully, that means even better-performing models are in the works. 

    Ferrell and Natividad also mention another solid-state cooling technology, elastocaloric cooling, which relies on mechanical stress. It can beat out magnetic cooling in performance and efficiency, but has some lifespan limitations to be worked out. It is also a much newer technology and likely won’t be commercialized for some time, even if it can solve those issues. Below, they show the number of prototypes developed over the years for three solid-state cooling technologies: magnetocaloric, elastocaloric, and electrocaloric.

   

 

 

References:

 

A new era beyond gas refrigerants: Magnetic cooling technology offers eco-friendly alternative. Science X staff. TechXplore. December 3, 2025. A new era beyond gas refrigerants: Magnetic cooling technology offers eco-friendly alternative

Magnetocaloric cooling method produces liquid hydrogen using environmentally friendly technology. University of Groningen. Tech Xplore. November 4, 2024. Magnetocaloric cooling method produces liquid hydrogen using environmentally friendly technology

A systematic study of hot deformation mechanisms in La–Fe–Co–Si alloys and the mitigation of defects in hot rolling process. Seon Yeong Yang, Min Jik Kim, Hadiseh Esmaeilpoor, Kook Chae Chung, Woo Seok Yang, Jeoung Han Kim, Dong Gun Lee, Kwang Seok Lee, Da Seul Shin. First published: 13 May 2025. Rare Metals. 44(8):5727–5747.  A systematic study of hot deformation mechanisms in La–Fe–Co–Si alloys and the mitigation of defects in hot rolling process

Magnetic Refrigeration: A Revolutionary, Disruptive Cooling Technology. Refindustry. November 21, 2024. Magnetic Refrigeration: A Revolutionary, Disruptive Cooling Technology

Magnetocaloric effect. Wikipedia. Magnetocaloric effect - Wikipedia

Magnetic Cooling: Magnetism for Efficiency. Fynn Hass. Esun. June 5, 2023. Magnetic Cooling: The Future of Efficient and Sustainable Cooling Technology - ensun Blog | ensun

How Magnetic Cooling Is Breaking All the Rules. Matt Ferrell and Sunny Natividad. Undecided. April 15, 2025. How Magnetic Cooling Is Breaking All the Rules - Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Scalable and compact magnetocaloric heat pump technology. Julie Slaughter, Lucas Griffith, Agata Czernuszewicz, and Vitalij Pecharsky. Applied Energy. Volume 377, Part D, 1 January 2025, 124696. Scalable and compact magnetocaloric heat pump technology - ScienceDirect