Life Cycle datasets of the Italian stone production chain.

The ornamental stone production chain deeply changed in the ‘70s and in the following decades, when the mechanization of processes increased the production and the safety of workers. Nevertheless, the new techniques are also responsible of not negligible environmental impacts. This paper is focused on the currently most diffused techniques of extraction, cutting and polishing of the Italian stone sector (gneiss and marble). The study follows a Life Cycle Thinking approach and aims to make available detailed Life Cycle datasets on specific techniques of stone production. To this aim, primary data were collected in Italian quarries and transformation plants. The realization of the dataset related to the bridge cutting technique is presented. Some results on environmental impacts associated to this particular stone cutting technology show the most relevant flows in relation to different impact categories

Towards better monitoring of technology critical elements in Europe: Coupling of natural and anthropogenic cycles

The characterization of elemental cycles has a rich history in biogeochemistry. Well known examples include the global carbon cycle, or the cycles of the ‘grand nutrients’ nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. More recently, efforts have increased to better understand the natural cycling of technology critical elements (TCEs), i.e. elements with a high supply risk and economic importance in the EU. On the other hand, tools such as material-flow analysis (MFA) can help to understand how substances and goods are transported and accumulated in man-made tech- nological systems (‘anthroposphere’). However, to date both biogeochemical cycles and MFA studies suffer from narrow system boundaries, failing to fully illustrate relative anthropogenic and natural flow magnitude and the degree to which human activity has perturbed the natural cycling of elements. We discuss important interconnections between natural and anthropogenic cycles and relevant EU raw material dossiers. Increased integration of both cycles could help to better capture the transport and fate of elements in nature including their environ- mental/human health impacts, highlight potential future material stocks in the anthroposphere (in-use stocks) and in nature (e.g., in soils, tailings, or mining wastes), and estimate anticipated emissions of TCEs to nature in the future (based on dynamic stock modeling). A preliminary assessment of natural versus anthropogenic ele- ment fluxes indicates that anthropogenic fluxes induced by the EU-28 of palladium, platinum, and antimony (as a result of materials uses) might be greater than the respective global natural fluxes. Increased combination of MFA and natural cycle data at EU level could help to derive more complete material cycles and initiate a dis- cussion between the research communities of biogeochemists and material flow analysts to more holistically ad-dress the issues of sustainable resource management

An analytical and flexible approach for the Life Cycle Assessment of stone products

The need to improve the sustainability of dimension stone products has generated considerable research interest. This ongoing PhD research examines the environmental impact of stone with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, analyzing all the processes from the extraction of the rock to the finished product (from-cradle-to-gate analysis). The project aims to contribute to fill the gap of LCA datasets specific to stone industry processes in order to allow producers and researchers to more accurately evaluate the sustainability of stone products. Moreover, a flexible LCA model was created to enable the calculation of environmental burdens of specific quarries and specific productions. To achieve this goal, the most common Italian granite and marble industrial processes were identified and an LCA parameterized model was developed. The advantage of this approach lies in the possibility of transversally supporting the stone sector with an analytical but flexible tool

Towards an overall framework to assess the sustainability of the use of natural resources

Over the years, the sustainable supply of natural resources for the global economy has drawn increasing political interest. The efficient use of resources is a fundamental issue for sustainability assessment, entailing and affecting environmental, economic and social aspects. It is not surprising that they hold a central role in many different sustainability assessment frameworks. In conventional life cycle assessment (LCA), natural resources are considered as one area of protection (AoP). It is well recognized that the typical approach of this AoP starts from the provisioning function of resources, but natural resources however are also dealt with in totally different frameworks. If one starts from an ecological point of view, provisioning services is only one role natural resources fulfill next to regulating, cultural and supporting functions, all captured by the Ecosystems Services framework. The access to certain resources is a further issue of concern for policy. The identification of the so-called Critical Raw Materials for EU took into account their economic importance for specific sectors and supply risk, the latter being focused on concentration of supply from producing countries showing poor governance and low environmental standards, in turn mitigated by substitutability and recyclability of the materials. Further on, there is no doubt that resource exploitation and use may affect several social aspects (e.g. working conditions) as can be identified by the Social Hotspot Database, and that emissions generated along their use in supply chains (from extraction to manufacturing, use and end of life) might affect human health and natural ecosystems, other two areas of protection in conventional LCA. This presentation proposes an integration of the aforementioned frameworks aiming at depicting an overall framework to assess the sustainability of the use of natural resources

How will second-use of batteries affect stocks and flows in the EU? A model for traction Li-ion batteries

Although not yet developed in Europe, second-use of traction batteries enables an extension of their lifetime and potentially improves life cycle environmental performance. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) offer the most promising chemistry for traction batteries in electric vehicles (xEVs) and for second-use. Due to the novelty of the topic and the expected increase of e-mobility in the next decades, more efforts to understand the potential consequences of second-use of batteries from different perspectives are needed. This paper develops a dynamic, parameterised Material Flow Analysis (MFA) model to estimate stocks and flows of LIBs after their removal from xEVs along the specific processes of the european value-chain. Direct reuse, second-use and recycling are included in the model and parameters make it customisable and updatable. Focusing on full and plug-in electric vehicles, LIBs and energy storage capacity flows are estimated. Stocks and flows of two embedded materials relevant for Europe were also assessed (cobalt and lithium). Results showed that second-use corresponds to a better exploitation of LIBs’ storage capacity. Meanwhile, Co and Li in-use stocks are locked in LIBs and their recovery is delayed by second-use; depending on the slower/faster development of second-use, the amount of Co available for recycling in 2030 ranges between 9% and 15% of Co demand and between 7 and 16% for Li. Uncertainty of inputs is addressed through sensitivity analysis. A variety of actors can use this MFA model to enhance knowledge of second-use of batteries in Europe and to support the effective management of LIBs along their value-chain

Toward an overall analytical framework for the integrated sustainability assessment of the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers

The sustainable production and supply of raw materials (nonenergy raw materials) and primary energy carriers (energy raw materials) is a core element of many policies. The natural resource base for their production and supply, and the access thereto, are limited. Moreover, raw material supply is high on environmental and social impact agendas as well. A broad, quantitative framework that supports decision makers is recommended so as to make use of raw materials and primary energy carriers more sustainably. First, this article proposes a holistic classification of raw materials and primary energy carriers. This is an essential prerequisite for developing an integrated sustainability assessment framework (ISAF). Indeed, frequently, only a subset of raw materials and primary energy carriers are considered in terms of their source, sector, or final application. Here, 85 raw materials and 30 primary energy carriers overall are identified and grouped into seven and five subgroups, respectively. Next, this article proposes a quantitative ISAF for the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers, covering all the sustainability pillars. With the goal of comprehensiveness, the proposed ISAF integrates sustainability issues that have been covered and modeled in quite different quantitative frameworks: ecosystem services; classical life cycle assessment (LCA); social LCA; resource criticality assessment; and particular international concerns (e.g., conflict minerals assessment). The resulting four areas of concerns (i.e., environmental, technical, economic, and social/societal) are grouped into ten specific sustainability concerns. Finally, these concerns are quantified through 15 indicators, enabling the quantitative sustainability assessment of the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers

Cobalt in end-of-life products in the EU, where does it end up? : the MaTrace approach

The use of cobalt has experienced a strong growth in the last decades. Due to its high economic importance and high supply risk, it has been classified as a critical raw material for the EU and other economies. Part of the EU's strategy is intended to secure its availability, through fostering its efficient use and recycling. The latter is affected by factors such as the amount of available end-of-life products, and their collection-to-recycling rate. A novel methodology to analyze the impact of these factors on the cobalt flows in society is the model MaTrace, which can track the fate of materials over time and across products. The MaTrace model was expanded, adapted, and applied to predict the fate of cobalt embedded in finished products in use in the EU, considering the underlying life cycle phases within the technosphere. Eleven scenarios were built, assessing different options in the implementation of relevant EU's policies. The flows were projected for a period of 25 years, starting in 2015. The results of the baseline scenario show that after 25 years, around 8% of the initial stock of cobalt stays in use, 3% is being hoarded by users, 28% has been exported, and 61% has been lost. The main contributors to the losses of the system are the non-selective collection of end-of-life products, and the export of end-of-life products, recycled cobalt and final products. The results of the scenarios show that higher collection-to-recycling rates and lower export could increase up to 50% the cobalt that stays in use

EU–Africa Strategic Corridors and critical raw materials: two-way approach to regional development and security of supply

The paper has two interconnected bodies. The first one deals with mineral resource indicators and their role in drawing 11 EU-Africa Strategic Corridors, in a broader context of Africa-EU partnership. The second strives to understand how such Strategic Corridors are also mineral corridors, i.e. development promotors that use mineral resources as a catalyser to create and strengthen value chains and territorial organisation, boosting economic and societal development at regional scale. The results can help understand how Strategic Corridors can improve access to the present and future mines, mitigating the risk of supply disruptions of critical raw materials for the EU