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
www.oakdenehollins.co.uk
20th March 2013 RSC Environmental Chemistry Group, Burlington House