Strategic Materials: Technologies to Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability
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Strategic Materials: Technologies To Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability May 1985 NTIS order #PB86-115367 Recommended Citation: Strategic Materials: Technologies to Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, OTA-ITE-248, May 1985). Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-601153 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 Foreword This report presents the findings of OTA’s assessment of Strategic Materials: Technologies to Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability. The study was requested by the House Committee on Science and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The United States imports well over $1 billion worth of chromium, cobalt, man- ganese, and platinum group metals annually. Many of the uses of these metals are essential to the industrial economy and the national defense. The United States imports virtually all of its requirements for these metals; their production is highly concentrated in two regions of the world: the Soviet Union and southern Africa. The potential for interruption of supplies from these sources has heightened con- gressional interest in alternatives to continued import dependence, This study assesses the technical alternatives to continued reliance on south- ern Africa and the U.S.S.R, for strategic metals. Promising opportunities for do- mestic and diversified foreign production and for conservation and substitution are identified for each metal. Technical, economic, and institutional barriers to the implementation of the alternatives are reviewed and governmental options to overcome those barriers are identified and analyzed. We are grateful for the assistance of the project advisory panel, workshop par- ticipants, contractors, and the advice of many government agencies in the United States and Canada. As with all of our studies, however, the content of the report is the sole responsibility of the Office of Technology Assessment. JOHN H. GIBBONS Director Technologies to Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability Advisory Panel Walter S. Owen, Chairman* Professor of Materials Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Arden Bement William A. Owczarski Vice President, Technical Resources Manager, Technical Planning TRW, Inc. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Group Edwin Clark R. Byron Pipes Senior Associate Director, Center for Composite Materials Conservation Foundation University of Delaware Tom Clough R. K. Pitler Director of Technology Senior Vice President and Atlantic Richfield Co. Technical Director Allegheny-Ludlum Research Center Robert G. Dunn Senior Vice President Dennis Readey AMAX Metals Group Head, Department of Ceramic Engineering Ohio State University Michael E. Fisher professor of Chemistry, Physics, and James K. Sebenius Mathematics Assistant Professor Cornell University John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Herbert H. Kellogg Professor of Extractive Metallurgy Albert Sobey Columbia University Director, Energy Economics General Motors Corp. Hans Landsberg Senior Fellow Alex Zucker Resources for the Future Associate Director Oak Ridge National Laboratory Ernest K. Lehmann president E. K. Lehmann & Associates Jessica Tuchman Matthews Vice President World Resources Institute ● Robert Ellsworth resigned as panel chairman in August 1983, when he became Chairman of the Board of Howmet “1’urbine Components CorfI Walter S, Owen became chairman in September 1983. iv — OTA Project Staff on Strategic Materials: Technologies to Reduce U.S. Import Vulnerability Lionel S. Johns, Assistant Director, OTA Energy, Materials, and International Security Division Audrey Buyrn, Industry, Technology, and Employment Program Manager Lance N. Antrim, Project Director Wendell Fletcher John Newman* Kirsten U. Oldenburg Katherine Gillman Margaret Hilton Karen Larsen Patti Litman* Richard Parkinson Diana Rowen Nick Sundt* Paula Wolferseder* Contractors Charles River Associates, Inc. INCO Research and Development Center Earth Resource Associates Sierra Research J. K. Tien Massachusetts Institute of Technology George St. Pierre James A. Broadus Kathryn Van Wyk David Stauffer Susan Stauffer DMEA, Ltd. Judith Bolis Iris Goodman Greg Shuey Administrative Staff Patricia Canavan Carol Drohan Andrea Amiri * lmhouw (.ontra(. tor Advanced Materials Workshop Participants H. Kent Bowen Robert Pohanka Materials Processing Center Office of Naval Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology Arlington, VA Cambridge, MA Dennis Readey John Busch Department of Ceramic Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ohio State University Cambridge, MA Columbus, OH Joel Clark David W. Richerson Department of Materials Science and Garrett Turbine Engine Co. Engineering phoenix, AZ Massachusetts Institute of Technology B. Walter Rosen Cambridge, MA Materials Science Corp. Tsu-Wei Chou Spring House, PA Center for Composite Materials Elaine Rothman University of Delaware Massachusetts Institute of Technology Newark, DE Maxine Savitz Arthur Diness Consultant to the Garrett Corp. Office of Naval Research Washington, DC Arlington, VA Thomas Schmid Christopher Hill Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. Congressional Research Service W. Palm Beach, FL Library of Congress Samuel Schneider Washington, DC Inorganic Materials Division Robert Katz National Bureau of Standards Army Materials & Mechanics Research Washington, DC Center Albert Sobey Watertown, MA Director, Energy Economics George B. Kenney General Motors Corp. Materials Processing Center Detroit, MI Massachusetts Institute of Technology Conrad Trulson Cambridge, MA Union Carbide Corp. Robert E. Piret Danbury CT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Acknowledgments OTA also wishes to acknowledge the contributions and cooperation of’ the following agencies and organizations: Allison Division, General Motors Corp. National Association of Recycling Industries Amax, Inc. Metal Properties Council, Inc. American Society for Metals National Science Foundation Automotive Dismantles & Recyclers National Materials Advisory Board Association North Atlantic Treaty Organization The Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Ltd. Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Elkem ,Metals Co. Development The Ferroalloy Association Oak Ridge National Laboratory Garrett Turbine Engine Co. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. General Electric Co. Union Carbide Interlake, Inc. U.S. Congress Globe Metallurgical Division Congressional Research Service Government of Canada General Accounting Office Energy, Mines and Resources Canada U.S. Department of Commerce National Defence College International Trade Administration Gulf Chemical & Metallurgical Co. National Bureau of Standards GTE Corp. U.S. Department of Defense Hal] Chemical Office of the Secretary Inco, Ltd. U.S. Air Force Inmetco, Inc. Army Materials and Mechanics Research International Development and Cooperation Center Agency U.S. Department of Energy Trade and Development Program U.S. Department of the Interior Manufacturers of Emission Controls Bureau of Mines Association Geological Survey National Aeronautics and Space Administration In addition, OTA wishes to express its appreciation to the many individuals, organizations, and com- panies who acted as reviewers for all or part of this report. vii Contents Chapter Page 1. Summary- . 3 2. An Introduction to Materials Import Vulnerability . 56 3. Critical Materials Consumption: Current Patterns and Trends . 59 4. Security of Supply. 83 5. Strategic Material Supply . 125 6. Conservation of strategic Material . 215 7. Substitution Alternatives for Strategic Materials . 263 8. Policy Alternatives for Strategic Materials . 331 Appendix A: Review of Previous Lists and Methods of Selection . 383 Appendix B: Import Sources of Materials Judged to be Nonstrategic, 1978-82 . 386 Appendix C: Overview of Second-Tier Materials . 388 Index . 401 . Vlll CHAPTER 1 Summary Contents Introduction . 5 Identification of Strategic Resources . ’11 Essential Uses of Strategic Materials . 12 Chromium . ..,,... 12 Cobalt . 13 Manganese . 13 Platinum Group Metals . 13 Outlook for the Future . 13 Production of Strategic Materials . 14 Historical Perspective . ...*.., . 15 Technological Approaches to Reduce Materials Import Vulnerability. 17 Summary of Technological Approaches . 17 Implementation of Technological Approaches . 29 Mineral Production and Metal Processing . ..*.., . 31 Substitution Alternatives . 33 Conservation Approaches . 36 List of Tables Table No. A. Domestic Consumption and Production of Strategic Metals . 7 B. U.S. Imports of Strategic Materials–1982 .. .,. ,~, . 10 1-1. Summary of Most Promising Technological Approaches to the Reduction of Strategic Materials Import Vulnerability. , . .......18 1-2. Substitution for Chromium in Metallurgical Applications. .......22 1-3. Potential New Foreign Cobalt Production . .......23 l-4. Current and Projected Manganese Consumption in U.S. Steel Production . .......27 l-5. Outlook for Development of Known Domestic Deposits of Strategic Resources . .......31 List of Figures Figure No. Page l-1. Regional Distribution of Strategic Material Production . 12 1-2. PGM Demand vs. Potential Supply From Recycling . .......29 CHAPTER 1 Summary Three nations, South Africa, Zaire, and the all of the alternatives must overcome substan- U. S. S. R., account for over half of the world’s tial economic and institutional barriers before production of chromium, cobalt, manganese, their full promise to reduce U.S. reliance on and platinum group metals.