Materials' Criticality – Mitigation Options and Impacts
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Materials’ Criticality – Mitigation Options and Impacts Dr Adrian Chapman Oakdene Hollins 20th March 2013 RSC Environmental Chemistry Group, Burlington House What are CRMs? Rare Earths Tungsten What are CRMs? Industrial minerals often considered too – e.g. Fluorspar Criticality Ranking – 12 Studies Most Moderately Near Not Critical Critical Critical Critical Beryllium Antimony Bismuth Aluminium Gallium Cobalt Chromium Boron / borates Indium Germanium Fluorspar Cadmium Magnesium Manganese Lead Copper PGMs Nickel Lithium Molybdenum REEs Niobium Silicon / silica Selenium Tin Rhenium Silver Vanadium Tungsten Tantalum Titanium Tellurium Zirconium Zinc Source: Oakdene Hollins Oakdene Hollins – Critical Raw Materials • “Mind the gap” – resource security strategies in an uncertain world (Oakdene Hollins’ White Paper, 2012) • Critical raw material flows in the UK economy (for WRAP & Defra (UK), in press) (focus on electronic items) • Critical metals in strategic energy technologies with Fraunhofer ISI and HCSS (for European Commission, 2011 & in press) • Study on by-product metals (International Lead & Zinc, Copper and Nickel Study Groups, 2012) • Expert review of material criticality studies (Private client, 2011) • Study into the feasibility of protecting and recovering critical raw materials (for European Pathway to Zero Waste, 2011) • Lanthanides resources and alternatives (for UK Departments for Transport & Business, Innovation & Skills 2010) (Reports available from www.oakdenehollins.co.uk) EU “Critical 14” Source: Fraunhofer ISI (graphical representation). Which CRMs are in which products? Germanium Magnesium Antimony Beryllium Fluorspar Tantalum Tungsten Graphite Niobium Gallium Indium Cobalt PGMs REEs Automotive/Aerospace Batteries Catalysts Cemented carbide tools Chemicals sector Construction Electrical equipment Electronics/IT Flame retardants Optics Packaging Steel & steel alloys Source: Oakdene Hollins for Technology specific concerns – EU SET Plan EU JRC (2011, 2013) - Critical metals in strategic energy technologies Responses to Materials Criticality Data collection Trade and Procurement and and International Stockpiling Dissemination Co-operation Resource Primary Design and Efficiency Production Innovation Strategies Source: Oakdene Hollins Opportunities for the chemical sciences Resource Primary Design and Efficiency Production Innovation Strategies Source: Oakdene Hollins ‘Criticality’ ≠ Geological Scarcity Tungsten mined supply is 69,000 tonnes Reserves are 300,000,000 tonnes Other Countries, 600,000 United States, 140,000 China, 1,900,000 Bolivia, 53,000 Canada, Russia, 110,000 250,000 Source: USGS Primary Production – Mining and Extraction EU “Critical 14” Source: EC DG ENTR Primary Production – Mining and Extraction Sources: Guardian and Telegraph Environmental Country Risk – EU CRMs Environmental risk considered as part of analysis Assess potential of supply disruption due to environmental policy changes LCA also evaluated, but not included Source: EC DG ENTR Environmental impacts of production UNEP Data EC JRC Data Ranking Material per kg 1 Gold 2 Platinum (PGM) 3 Silver 4 Tantalum 5 Indium 6 Gallium 7 Mercury 8 Rare Earths 9 Molybdenum 10 Chromium Source: Staal in UNEP (2010) Source: EU JRC (2012) with own analysis Role for Chemistry? Improved extraction and separation - • Processing efficiency – minimise losses • Economic access to lower ore grades - e.g. reduce energy usage • Minimise impacts of processing – new technologies? • Improved by-production – many CRMs are by-products of base metals Antimony Beryllium Cobalt Fluorspar Gallium Germanium Niobium Indium Magnesium Graphite PGMs REE Tantalum Tungsten Supply entirely from by-production Supply partially from by-production Design and Innovation - Substitution Permanent Lighting Mattresses Li-ion batteries magnet motors phosphors Natural Rubber Rare Earths Rare Earths Graphite Reduce De- Blend natural & Reduce rare Reduce rare graphite materialisation synthetic rubber earth content earth content content Synthetic rubber, Alternative New magnetic New luminescent Titanium alternative sources material materials materials nanoparticles dandelion Other lighting Alternative Textile & foam New motor types formats Fuel cells, NiMH system mattresses (LED, OLED) Improve internal Alternative Night vision Increase public Hammocks, sofas combustion products goggles transport motors Design and Innovation - Substitution Limited options for recovery from recycling, remanufacturing and reuse in major applications. Most appropriate for substitution? EU Critical 14 Relevant initiatives; • CRM_Innonet – CIKTN with other partners • European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials – European Union — Target of substituting of 3 applications • FP7/Horizon 2020 funding linked substitution of critical raw materials Source: Oakdene Hollins for Resource Efficiency – Recycling and reuse Post-Consumer Recycling Levels Source: UNEP Recycling rates of metals Post-Consumer Recycling Levels BUT Not all recycling reduces consumption and individual uses may vary Source: UNEP Recycling rates of metals Rare Earth Magnet Recovery • Hard disk drives (HDD) account for ~1/3 of REE magnet demand • Processes available to cut HDD & remove REE magnets for recycling • Chemical and metallurgical processes required for full recovery • Wind Turbines & (H)EVs in long term due to length of lifetimes Source: Oakdene Hollins for Recovery from Waste Electronics • Many metals used in very small quantities, e.g. on PCBs • Technical and processing challenges e.g. Current practice of shredding for recovery can limit recovery: • Copper and precious metals recovered • Rare earths and others lost in ferrous fraction • Others materials are reactive – lost in slag Summary • Raw material concerns will continue despite lower prices due to resource nationalism and growing consumption • These concerns have led to a greater awareness of supply chain risk, traceability/provenance and environmental impact • Several mitigation options exist, however the most appropriate need to be selected for a given material and application • The chemical sciences could have a role to play in at least 3 of these areas – Primary production – Design and innovation, through substitution – Resource efficiency EC Projects on Raw Materials EU Study on Critical Raw Materials Revised list of EU Critical Raw Materials using wider scope and improved methodology European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials Development of a Strategic Implementation Plan to promote innovative solutions the EU's raw materials challenges EU Statistical Information on Raw Materials Deposits (Euromin) Analysis of information on the quality and quantity of EU deposits, working towards harmonisation of data Materials’ Criticality – Mitigation Options and Impacts Dr Adrian Chapman [email protected] www.oakdenehollins.co.uk 20th March 2013 RSC Environmental Chemistry Group, Burlington House .