• Energy Research

Abstract Copper is an example of an anthropogenically utilized material that is of interest to both resource economists and environmental scientists. It is a widely employed industrial metal, and one that in certain forms and concentrations is moderately biotoxic. It is also one that may be potentially supply-limited. A comprehensive accounting of the anthropogenic mobilization and use of copper must treat a series of life stages: mining and processing, fabrication, utilization, and end of life. Reservoirs in which copper resides include the lithosphere, ore and ingot processing facilities, fabricators, at least a dozen major uses, several intentional and default stockpiles, landfills, and the environment. The flow rates among those reservoirs constitute the cycle. If a non-global cycle is being constructed, imports to and exports from the region of interest must also be included. In this paper we discuss the characteristics of each of the components of anthropogenic copper cycles, as well as generic approaches to the acquisition and evaluation of data over space and time. Data quality and data utility are evaluated, noting that information relevant to technology and resource policy is easier to acquire than is information relevant to human health and ecosystem concerns, partly because the spatial scale required by the latter is considerably smaller and the flow rates rarely analyzed and reported. Despite considerable data limitations, we conclude that information is sufficiently available and the data sufficiently accurate to characterize copper cycles at a variety of spatial scales.

A correlation between the prices of a variety of substances and their dilutions in their initial matrices was shown in 1959 by T.K. Sherwood. The research presented here shows that the relationship holds for engineering metals today, which we termed the metals-specific Sherwood plot. The concentrations of metals in products (e.g., printed wiring boards and automobiles) and waste streams (e.g., municipal solid waste, and construction and demolition debris) were plotted with this correlation. In addition, for the products and waste streams that undergo disassembly at end-of-life, the metals concentrations of the disassembled components were also plotted. It was found that most of the metals that are currently targeted for recycling have post-disassembly concentrations that lie above the metals-specific Sherwood plot (i.e., have concentrations that are more enriched than minimum profitable ore grades). This suggests that material concentration plays a role in the viability of recycling at end-of-life. As products grow in complexity and the variety of materials used, analyses such as this one provide insight for policymakers and those interested in material sustainability into macro-level trends of material use and future recycling practices.

Abstract Wind power technology is one of the cleanest electricity generation technologies that are expected to have a substantial share in the future electricity mix. Nonetheless, the expected increase in the market share of wind technology has led to an increasing concern of the availability, production capacity and geographical concentration of the metals required for the technology, especially the rear earth elements (REE) neodymium (Nd) and the far less abundant dysprosium (Dy), and the impacts associated with their production. Moreover, Nd and Dy are coproduced with other rare earth metals mainly from iron, titanium, zirconium, and thorium deposits. Consequently, an increase in the demand for Nd and Dy in wind power technology and in their traditional applications may lead to an increase in the production of the host metals and other companion REE, with possible implications on their supply and demand. In this regard, we have used a dynamic material flow and stock model to study the impacts of the increasing demand for Nd and Dy on the supply and demand of the host metals and other companion REE. In one scenario, when the supply of Dy is covered by all current and expected producing deposits, the increase in the demand for Dy leads to an oversupply of 255 Gg of total REE and an oversupply of the coproduced REE Nd, La, Ce and Y. In the second and third scenarios, however, when the supply of Dy is covered by critical REE rich deposits or Dy rich deposits, the increase in Dy demand results in an oversupply of Ce and Y only, while the demand for Nd and La exceeds their supply. In the case of an oversupply of REEs, the environmental impacts associated with the REEs production should be allocated to Dy and consequently to the technologies that utilize the metal. The results also show that very large quantities of thorium will be co-produced as a result of the demand for Dy. The thorium would need to be carefully disposed of, or significant thorium applications would need to be found.

AbstractDie in feuchter Luft (RH = 93%) mit 3 ppm H2S untersuchte Sulfidierung (CuJS‐Filmdicken) zeigte für die Messing‐Legierungen eine um den Faktor 50‐100 größere Beständigkeit gegen Sulfidierung im Vergleich zu reinem Cu.

Exposition d'alliages Cu-Ni-Sn a H 2 S dans l'air humidifie, et determination de l'epaisseur des films de sulfure resultants

A cycle is the quantitative characterization of the flows of a specific material into, within, and from a given system. An anthropogenic elemental cycle can be static (for a point in time) or dynamic (over a time interval). The about 350 publications collected for this review contain a total of 1074 individual cycle determinations, 989 static and 85 dynamic, for 59 elements; more than 90% of the publications have appeared since 2000. The cycles are of varying quality and completeness, with about 80% at country- or territory-level, addressing 45 elements, and 5% at global-level, addressing 30 elements. Despite their limitations, cycles have often been successful in revealing otherwise unknown information. Most of the elements for which no cycles exist are radioactively unstable or are used rarely and in small amounts. For a variety of reasons, the anthropogenic cycles of only perhaps a dozen elements are well characterized. For all the others, with cycles limited or nonexistent, our knowledge of types of uses, lifetimes in those uses, international trade, losses to the environment, and rates of recycling is quite limited, thereby making attempts to evaluate resource sustainability particularly problematic.

Abstract The copper flows and stocks of the European economy are investigated and evaluated over a 1-year period in the early 1990s. The method applied is statistical entropy, which quantifies the distribution pattern of a substance (e.g. copper) caused by a system (e.g. political economy). Contemporary copper management can be defined as a simple chain of four processes: production of refined copper from ore; manufacture and fabrication of products and goods; consumption, utilization and storage (infrastructure) of goods; and separation of copper from waste for recycling and finally, landfilling (waste management). Relevant recycling streams (new and old scrap) within or between production, manufacture, and waste management processes also characterize the system. Throughout the life cycle of copper the statistical entropy varies considerably among the above-mentioned processes and covers about 50% of the possible range between total dissipation and maximal concentration of the total throughput of copper. Nevertheless, present copper management does not show a clear entropy trend across its life cycle. The system as a whole neither dissipates nor concentrates copper significantly with regard to the original ore. Even a more optimized waste management system with higher recycling efficiency could not significantly change this finding since today's copper flows into waste management are small compared to the consumption of copper. The relatively limited impact on the entropy trend of contemporary waste management may increase in the future because the infrastructure, which has been established over the last few decades, will be continuously renewed and replaced. As a result of these larger waste streams, decreasing overall entropy trends will be realizable, provided efficient recycling technologies are applied. This indicates the possibility for long-term feasible (perhaps sustainable) copper management. The entropy approach improves our understanding of industrial metabolism and is a useful decision support and design tool, since complex systems can thereby be quantified by a single metric per substance.

Abstract Several scenarios have been proposed recently for the future electricity generation approaches that include a substantial share of renewable technologies. The proposed increase in the market share of these technologies has led to increasing concern regarding the availability of the metals required for these technologies, as well as for the impacts associated with their production. In this regards, it is of interest that most of the metals that are essential for renewable technologies are coproduced with other metals: indium, germanium, and cadmium with zinc, and tellurium and selenium with copper, for example. An increase in the demand for the companion metals can be met either by increasing the recycling of these metals, the efficiency of their recovery, or their extraction from primary resources, the latter of which will lead to an increase in the production of the host metals with possible implications on their supply and demand. In this paper we develop a “green energy” scenario to investigate these metal-related issues in detail. Among the results of interest are the following: (1) More Se and Te may require mining more copper than can be used, while extracting more arsenic than can conveniently be sequestered; (2) more In and Ge may require mining more zinc than can be used, while extracting more cadmium than can conveniently be sequestered; (3) oversupply mining of copper and zinc will decrease their virgin metal prices, and thereby discourage end of life recycling of those metals; (4) the greenhouse gases produced by mining oversupplies of the host metals zinc and copper will, in some case, exceed the greenhouse gases savings produced by a fossil fuel to solar cell transition; (5) these challenges can be minimized, but probably not avoided, by increasing the recovery rates of Se, Te, In, and Ge from the host metal ores, and by more efficient end of life recycling.

Metallurgical iron cycles are characterized for four anthropogenic life stages: production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and waste management and recycling. This analysis is conducted for year 2000 and at three spatial levels: 68 countries and territories, nine world regions, and the planet. Findings include the following: (1) contemporary iron cycles are basically open and substantially dependent on environmental sources and sinks; (2) Asia leads the world regions in iron production and use; Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent States present a highly production-biased iron cycle; (3) purchased scrap contributes a quarter of the global iron and steel production; (4) iron exiting use is three times less than that entering use; (5) about 45% of global iron entering use is devoted to construction, 24% is devoted to transport equipment, and 20% goes to industrial machinery; (6) with respect to international trade of iron ore, iron and steel products, and scrap, 54 out of the 68 countries are net iron importers, while only 14 are net exporters; (7) global iron discharges in tailings, slag, and landfill approximate one-third of the iron mined. Overall, these results provide a foundation for studies of iron-related resource policy, industrial development, and waste and environmental management.