10 research outputs found

    RMIS – Raw materials in the battery value chain

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    This final report provides the content for the batteries value chain and the related battery raw materials data browser for the JRC Raw Materials Information System. This content includes information and data both on primary and secondary raw materials. The main sections developed are highlighted presented in below table. The content is structured around general questions that both the general public and policy makers may have. Datasets that particularly contribute to improve the availability of data on secondary raw materials, as requested by the Circular Economy Action Plan (2015) are found in the Stocks and Flows, the Reuse sections and in each interactive chart when clicking on the representation of ‘stock’ and ‘waste’.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

    Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Intensive Rearing of Poultry or Pigs. Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)

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    The BAT reference document (BREF) entitled 'Intensive Rearing of Poultry or Pigs' forms part of a series presenting the results of an exchange of information between EU Member States, the industries concerned, non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection, and the Commission, to draw up, review and, where necessary, update BAT reference documents as required by Article 13(1) of the Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions. This document is published by the European Commission pursuant to Article 13(6) of the Directive. This BREF for Intensive Rearing of Poultry or Pigs concerns the activities specified in Section 6.6 of Annex I to Directive 2010/75/EU, namely '6.6. Intensive rearing of poultry or pigs': (a) with more than 40 000 places for poultry (b) with more than 2 000 places for production pigs (over 30 kg), or (c) with more than 750 places for sows. In particular, this document covers the following on-farm processes and activities: - nutritional management of poultry and pigs; - feed preparation (milling, mixing and storage); - rearing (housing) of poultry and pigs; - collection and storage of manure; - processing of manure; - manure landspreading; - storage of dead animals. Important issues for the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU in the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs are ammonia emissions to air, total nitrogen and total phosphorus excreted. This BREF contains ten chapters. Chapter 1 provides general information on pig and poultry production in Europe. Chapter 2 describes the major activities and production systems used in intensive poultry or pig production. Chapter 3 contains information on the environmental performance of installations in terms of current emissions, consumption of raw materials, water and energy. Chapter 4 describes in more detail the techniques to prevent or, where this is not practicable, to reduce the environmental impact of operating installations in this sector that were considered in determining the BAT. This information includes, where relevant, the environmental performance levels (e.g. emission and consumption levels) which can be achieved by using the techniques, the associated monitoring and the costs and the cross-media issues associated with the techniques. Chapter 5 presents the BAT conclusions as defined in Article 3(12) of the Directive. Chapter 6 presents information on 'emerging techniques' as defined in Article 3(14) of the Directive. Chapter 7 is dedicated to concluding remarks and recommendations for future work.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

    Material System Analysis of five battery-related raw materials: Cobalt, Lithium, Manganese, Natural Graphite, Nickel

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    The transition to climate-neutrality is expected to boost the demand for batteries in the coming years. If the EU wants to be competitive in the global market of battery manufacturing it has to ensure a sustainable, secure supply of raw materials needed for the batteries value chain. Therefore, reliable systemic information on recent availability of these raw materials within the EU economy is crucial to identify hotspots and define ways to secure their sustainable supply. Material System Analysis (MSA) can provide crucial information for the recent past on sustainable resource management, including the provision of evidence to inform policy decision-making on the sustainable and competitive supply of e.g. battery raw materials. This report focuses on the MSA studies of five selected materials used in batteries: cobalt, lithium, manganese, natural graphite, and nickel. It summarises the results related to material stocks and flows for each material. The MSA studies, were performed for five consecutive reference years, i.e. from 2012 to 2016. This report however presents only the MSA results for 2016. Priority has been given to official and publicly available data sources. Because of their importance for the future battery value chain in Europe, the five MSA have been harmonised considering the latest available datasets publicly available on batteries stocks and flows (update from the ProSum database). The five battery-related materials analysed show a very strong reliance on imports along the value chain. In particular the material systems are all highly dependent on imports of primary and/or semi-processed materials. The EU self-sufficiency was analysed separately for each stage. For the extraction stage, naturals graphite had the lowest value of EU self-sufficiency in 2016 (less than 1% of the amount used in manufacturing was extracted in the EU), while nickel had the highest (37% of nickel in its primary forms was extracted in the EU). For the EU manufacturing stage, 75% of the products containing cobalt and lithium consumed in the use stage were produced in the EU, in 2016. On the other hand, the EU manufacturing of manganese, natural graphite and nickel products was self-sufficient to satisfy the EU consumption and supplying the external market. For all these materials the functional recycling of old scrap is still low and under development in the EU. Cobalt has the highest end-of-life recycling input rate (EOL-RIR) with 22%, while for lithium, this rate is close to 0%. This indicates that the EU is currently able to only slightly decrease its dependency on primary material using secondary materials recycled domestically. For the period covered by the MSA (2012-2016), results confirm that battery manufacturing has not been a dominant application. Based on the strong promotion of clean technologies, the demand for these raw materials is expected to multiply. As a consequence, imports of these materials will intensify, as domestic processing and manufacturing increases. The situation is however less clear for the net balance of the final products (containing these materials). In the coming years, the expansion in EU capacity to produce significant amounts of batteries and related final products will determine industry’s competitiveness on the world battery market.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

    Raw Materials Information System (RMIS): 2019 Roadmap & Progress Report - Context, content & foreseen priorities

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    The European Commission's (EC) Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) emphasises that raw materials are essential for the sound and sustainable functioning of Europe’s industries and, in a broader context, of Europe’s economy and society. The EC is committed to promote the competitiveness of industries related to raw materials. These industries play an important role in many downstream sectors in the European Union (EU) such as construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, pharmacy, equipment, renewable energy devices, and defence. These sectors have a combined added-value of around EUR 1,000 billion and provide employment for some 30 million people. Securing an undistorted supply of raw materials and, in particular, Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) is thus crucial and requires a sound and continuously developed knowledge base, namely the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB), as highlighted in the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials. In this context, and responding to a specific action of the 2015 Circular Economy Communication, the JRC is further advancing the EC's Raw Materials Information System (RMIS), which was first released in March 2015. The markedly upgraded second version (hereinafter “RMIS 2.0”, or simply “RMIS”) was announced in the 2017 JRC “RMIS Roadmap & Progress Report” and officially launched during the 2017 “Raw Materials Week”, organised by DG GROW in Brussels. RMIS 2.0 broadened goal and scope of the first version, significantly expanded the network of its knowledge providers, and responded – often in quantitative terms – to the latest policy and knowledge needs on raw materials. In particular, important thematic sections such as “raw materials’ profiles”, “country profiles”, “supply chain viewer” and “raw materials knowledge gateway” were included. Since its conception and first release in 2015, RMIS has been developed in close cooperation with DG GROW. DG GROW helps the JRC to recognise policy and knowledge needs related to raw materials, and supports the JRC in identifying how RMIS can best meet these needs. RMIS development is supported by (and should be intended as part of) a well-established and extensive network of knowledge providers in the area of raw materials, which includes – among others – EC-funded projects, European Agencies (EASME, EEA, etc.), academia, European Geological Surveys, industry and business associations. Interactions and knowledge exchanges among the various stakeholders of this network are promoted in the yearly “RMIS Workshop” events, held at the JRC in Ispra, Italy, which attracts every year an increasing number of participants. Today, the RMIS is the EC’s reference web-based knowledge platform on non-fuel, non-agriculture raw materials from primary (extracted/harvested) and secondary (recycled/recovered) sources. RMIS responds to the need of strengthening the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB) and acts as the core access point to such knowledge and as interface for policy support. The knowledge accessible through RMIS is, to the extent possible, made available for the European Union (from regional, national and EU data), with the ambition of providing it in a harmonized way. This 2019 “RMIS Roadmap & Progress Report” presents RMIS in its latest form, highlights the progress made since 2017, connects this with most recent and relevant policy and knowledge needs on raw materials, and provides an overview of the development goals that could help fulfil such needs.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

    LESS Spark Ignition Engine: An Innovative Alternative to the Crankshaft Mechanism

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    In recent years, the internal combustion engine has been the subject of debate mainly concerning its environmental impact. Despite all the discussion it becomes clear day by day that combustion engines will continue to occupy their dominant role over the following decades, especially in the mid- and large-size power spectrum ranges and retain a large share of the market in the smaller-size segment of their application. In this context, in the present paper, a novel engine kinematic mechanism is introduced, which converts rotary to reciprocating motion, and aims to become a potential replacement for the traditional crankshaft mechanism of piston engines. Following a description of the fundamental principles of the new design, we detail the main problems with the application of the new design in the first prototype SI engine and the actions and improvements implemented to overcome them. The actual measurement data from basic engine performance parameters are provided and evaluated, leading to conclusions and decisions for further action which should be implemented in the next improvement steps. Overall, the new SI engine, implementing the novel kinematic mechanism, seems to be quite promising especially in hybrid automotive applications, a fact that encourages the implementation of further improvement plans

    Material system analysis : functional and nonfunctional cobalt in the EU, 2012–2016

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    A comprehensive data inventory of the current materials cycle in industry and society is crucial for an informed discussion and for decision-making on the supply of raw materials. Particularly, it is key to understand how these materials are functionally and nonfunctionally recycled, and enable the assessment of recycling indicators needed for the monitoring of circular economy. In this context, a material system analysis (MSA) of cobalt for the European Union (EU) from 2012 to 2016 is presented and discussed. Detailed results are provided for the year 2016, and the evolution of the flows over time is presented from 2012 to 2016. In addition, six indicators are calculated to characterize the cobalt cycle. In 2016, the EU28 embedded around 24,000 metric tons (t) of cobalt in manufactured products, and 33,700 t were put into use. The main losses of the system are due to nonselective collection of postconsumer waste (disposed), and nonfunctional recycling of old scrap. From the years analyzed, it was possible to detect a shift in the imports; the import of primary material decreased more than 99% between 2012 and 2016, and the import of semiprocessed and processed materials increased around 31% in the same period. This indicates that after 2012, the EU became more dependent on imports in downstream stages of the supply chain. One way to decrease this dependency is to establish higher collection targets, and to establish recycling targets based on the recovery of single materials, in order to decrease the amount dissipated through nonfunctional recycling

    Mateerial System Analysis of five battery-related raw materials: Cobalt, Lithium, Manganese, Natural Graphite, Nickel

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    The transition to a climate-neutrality is expected to boost the demand for batteries in the coming years. If the EU wants to be competitive in the global market of battery manufacturing it has to ensure a sustainable, secure supply of raw materials needed for the batteries value chain. Therefore, reliable systemic information on recent availability of these raw materials within the EU economy is crucial to identify hotspots and define ways to secure their sustainable supply. Material System Analysis (MSA) can provide crucial information for the recent past on sustainable resource management, including the provision of evidence to inform policy decision-making on the sustainable and competitive supply of e.g. battery raw materials. This report focuses on the MSA studies of five selected materials used in batteries: cobalt, lithium, manganese, natural graphite, and nickel. It summarises the results related to material stocks and flows for each material. The MSA studies, were performed for five consecutive reference years, i.e. from 2012 to 2016. This report however presents only the MSA results for 2016. Priority has been given to official and publicly available data sources. Because of their importance for the future battery value chain in Europe, the five MSA have been harmonised considering the latest available datasets publicly available on batteries stocks and flows (update from the ProSum database). The five battery-related materials analysed show a very strong reliance on imports along the value chain. In particular the material systems are all highly dependent on imports of primary and/or semi-processed materials. The EU self-sufficiency was analysed separately for each stage. For the extraction stage, natural graphite had the lowest value of EU self-sufficiency in 2016 (less than 1% of the amount used in manufacturing was extracted in the EU), while nickel had the highest (37% of nickel in its primary forms was extracted in the EU). For the EU manufacturing stage, 75% of the products containing cobalt and lithium consumed in the use stage were produced in the EU, in 2016. On the other hand, the EU manufacturing of manganese, natural graphite and nickel products was self-sufficient to satisfy the EU consumption and supplying the external market. For all these materials the functional recycling of old scrap is still low and under development in the EU. Cobalt has the highest end-of-life recycling input rate (EOL-RIR) with 22%, while for lithium, this rate is close to 0%. This indicates that the EU is currently able to only slightly decrease its dependency on primary material using secondary materials recycled domestically. For the period covered by the MSA (2012-2016), results confirm that battery manufacturing has not been a dominant application. Based on the strong promotion of clean technologies, the demand for these raw materials is expected to multiply. As a consequence, imports of these materials will intensify, as domestic processing and manufacturing increases. The situation is however less clear for the net balance of the final products (containing these materials). In the coming years, the expansion in EU capacity to produce significant amounts of batteries and related final products will determine industry’s competitiveness on the world battery market

    Material system analysis : a novel multilayer system approach to correlate EU flows and stocks of Li-ion batteries and their raw materials

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    Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) will play a crucial role in achieving decarbonization and reducing greenhouse gases. If the EU wants to be competitive in the global market of LIBs, it has to ensure a sustainable and secure supply of the raw materials needed for the manufacturing of these batteries. Limited understanding of how the battery material cycles are linked with raw materials supply chains may hinder policy measures targeting the set-up of a domestic supply chain in the EU since no precise information on where to intervene will be available. The novelty of this work lies in a multilayer system approach developed to reveal interlinkages between the flows of five raw materials contained in LIBs (cobalt, lithium, manganese, natural graphite, and nickel) in the EU. This was achieved by aligning material system analysis datasets of raw materials contained in LIBs with datasets on stocks and flows of this type of batteries in the EU. The results demonstrate the EU's strong import dependency on LIBs and battery raw materials. The EU recycling of lithium and natural graphite is low/nonexistent hindering the sustainable supply of these materials. The results also show that the majority of battery materials are increasingly accumulated in use or hoarding stocks. The proposed approach is designed to help identify bottlenecks and possible solutions to increase the efficiency of the EU LIB system, which could go unnoticed if each material supply chain were examined individually. This study also highlights how the lessons learned can support EU resource-management policies

    NIR sensors based on photolithographically patterned PbS QD photodiodes for CMOS integration

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    The integration of infrared sensitive thin-film materials with solution processing capabilities on top of Si substrates is a significant step towards cost-efficient infrared imagers. Colloidal quantum dots based on lead sulfide are very attractive materials for the realization of novel image sensors combining low cost synthesis and processing with deposition over large area and on any substrate. The tunable band gap enables selective detection in wavelengths ranging from the visible up to the short-wave-infrared (SWIR). This work describes the first results of a roadmap that will enable the integration of quantum dot photodiodes (QDPD) on top of a Si based CMOS read-out circuit. Photodiodes using an n-p junction architecture are fabricated on Si substrates, showing low dark current of 30 nA/cm(2) at -1 V reverse bias, EQE above 20% and specific detectivity higher than 10(12) cm Hz(1/2) W-1 at the wavelength of 940 nm. Efficiency is improved by tuning the top contact transparency with optical modeling. Furthermore, photolithographic patterning of the thin-film stack is introduced for the first time, showing the feasibility of pixel pitches down to 40 mu m, opening the way towards high resolution monolithic infrared imagers and the incorporation of infrared sensitive pixels next to visible ones
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