Tackling material constraints on the exponential growth of the energy transition

Industrial Ecolog

Europa gaat op jacht naar zijn eigen metalen: om de omslag naar duurzame energie te maken, zijn allerlei metalen nodig, zoals lithium. Kan Europa op dat vlak zelfvoorzienend worden?

Industrial Ecolog

Unlocking the resources of end-of-life ICEVs: contributing platinum for green hydrogen production under the IEA-NZE scenario

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers are a promising technology for high-purity, efficient green hydrogen production, with expanding installations. This has increased demand for materials like platinum (Pt) used in PEM manufacturing. Conversely, Pt, which currently serves primarily as catalysts for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), would become available as ICEVs are phased out. Here, we simulate the Pt requirements for rapid scale-up PEM electrolyzers and quantitatively compare these requirements with the availability of Pt from scraped autocatalysts under the IEA-NZE scenario. Our results show that demand for Pt in PEM electrolyzers is expected to increase by an order of magnitude by 2050, while ICEVs are expected to cumulatively scrap ∼2500 tons of Pt. The Pt surplus from ICEVs would meet the increasing Pt demand for PEM eletrolyzers from 2030 onwards. These findings offer fresh insights into using the potential of urban mines to meet the energy transition challenges.Industrial Ecolog

Energy transition will require substantially less mining than the current fossil system

Industrial Ecolog

Critical material management for sustainable transition

Industrial Ecolog

Ex-ante LCA of magnet recycling: progressing towards sustainable industrial-scale technology

To alleviate the pressure on the rare earth supply chain, new technologies are under development for recovering, recycling and remanufacturing NdFeB magnets. In this study, the anticipated environmental performance of large-scale recycling is investigated and compared to the production of primary magnets. To do so, this ex-ante life cycle assessment combines input from measurements of pilot processes, expert technology forecasts, thermodynamic modeling, and equipment data from manufacturers. We examined the effect of four technology developments: process changes, size scaling, internal recycling, and optimization. The results show that at pilot scale, recovered NdFeB powders have lower impacts than primary powders for almost all impact categories. This demonstrates that the recovery of NdFeB alloys is environmentally beneficial. Magnets from anticipated large-scale recycling have over 80% lower impacts than primary magnets in most of the impact categories analyzed. All four investigated types of technology development contributed to this improved performance. The final configuration was validated by comparison with an industrial reference and theoretical optimum configuration. Four magnet manufacturing routes (sintering, extrusion, metal injection molding, bonding) have distinct environmental profiles, but all can progress to similarly low levels of impact. The choice among routes should be primarily based on the functional requirements.Horizon 2020(H2020)821114Industrial Ecolog

Risk-based due diligence in supply chains: the case of silver for photovoltaics

Supply concentration and environmental, social, governance (ESG) issues constitute important supply risks. With strategic autonomy and responsible sourcing high on the political agenda these risks are especially relevant for the EU. This paper proposes an approach to conduct risk-based due diligence. Using a trade-linked material flow analysis, ESG and dependency hotspots along supply chains can be identified. Silver supply chains for photovoltaics (PV) are taken as case-study. The model traces silver from mining to PV module manufacturing, from 1995 to 2021. The supply of silver powder, paste, PV cells, and modules is found to be highly concentrated. These supply chains are linked to substantial ESG risks, mostly nested in fabrication and manufacturing, some of which have worsened over time. Over 87% of the silver used in PV transits through at least one country with a very high risk factor. Reshoring the PV industry to the EU can partially de-risk supply.Industrial Ecolog

Material requirements for low-carbon energy technologies: a quantitative review

Deployment of clean energy technologies will require a considerable amount of materials. The surge in demand for metals related to emerging energy technologies may hinder the energy transition. In this study we provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of existing work in this field, a solid quantitative baseline for material requirements of different energy technologies and quantitative information that can be used to generate learning curves for the material requirements of different energy technologies. We conducted a quantitative review of the material requirements of low-carbon energy technologies in 132 scientific publications, and provided a comparative analysis of detailed data including material intensity and lifetime data. Besides providing a large amount of structured quantitative data, the results of our work indicate that: (1) research on the demand for low carbon technology related metals has received much attention since the 2010s; (2) around 80% of the publications focus on the global level while national level studies are underrepresented; (3) science-based future scenarios are the main means of estimating total future material requirements; (4) most studies foresee material constraints of large-scale implementation of low-carbon technologies and the secure and responsible supply of these materials is still the subject of discussion; (5) changes in metal intensity caused by technological development and material requirements for non-critical components are important though often overlooked.Industrial Ecolog

Early-stage assessment of minor metal recyclability

Horizon 2020(H2020)821114Industrial Ecolog

Strategic design of long-term climate policy instrumentations, with exemplary EU focus

Industrial Ecolog