Materials impact on the EU’s competitiveness of the renewable energy, storage and e-mobility sectors: Wind power, solar photovoltaic and battery technologies

In the context of the decarbonisation of the European energy system and achieving the long-term climate change mitigation objectives, this study assesses the impact of materials on the competitiveness of the EU’s clean energy technology industry, taking into account several factors such as security and concentration of materials supply, price volatility, cost intensity in the technology, etc. These factors, together with the EU’s resilience to potential materials supply disruptions and mitigation possibilities, have been analysed for three technologies, namely wind turbines, solar PV panels and batteries. Wind power was found to be the most vulnerable technology in relation to materials supply, followed by solar PV and batteries. From the materials perspective, several opportunities have been identified to improve the EU’s industrial competitiveness with regard to the deployment of these technologies, such as boosting recycling businesses in the EU, promoting research and innovation, diversifying the supply and strengthening and increasing downstream manufacturing in the EU.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Development of a Residual Lifetime Prediction Methodology for Creep and Fracture Behaviour of Ferritic-Martensitic Steels using Small Punch Testing Technique

Lo scopo principale della tesi consiste nel dimostrare l'applicabilità delle prove di “Small-Punch” (SP) per la stima della vita residua di materiali metallici operanti ad alta temperatura. La mancanza di normalizzazione di questa tecnica e dubbi sulla correlazione dei dati con quelli ottenuti da test di scorrimento viscoso convenzionali, giustifica l’utilizzazione del “Code of Practice for SP Testing” (CEN/WS 21). Il lavoro presente e' in particolare dedicato ad investigare le proprieta' di scorrimento viscoso delle saldature di acciao P91 alla temperatura di 600oC assieme con proprieta' di frattura a basse temperature. Dischi sottili, di 8mm di diametro e 0.5mm di spessore, sono stati fabbricati estratti da diverse zone di un componente in P91 contenente una saldatura: metallo base (BM), materiale esposto all’ambiente (SE), saldatura (WM), zone termicamente alterate sia a grana fine che a grana grossa (FG-HAZ & CG-HAZ). I risultati delle misure di scorrimento viscoso sui dischi, ottenuti a 600oC sotto differenti carichi consistentemente secondo il “Code of Practice”, si possono correlare con i dati ottenuti attraverso prove standard di scorrimento viscoso. Le misure di SP dimostrano di fornire un metodo solido per descrivere il comportamento di queste leghe e saldature e il modello di scorrimento viscoso derivato, utile per predizione di vita residua, che potrebbe essere anche dimostrato attraverso FEA per la stima delle deformazioni da scorrimento viscoso dei dischi. Addizionalmente, il metodo SP dimostra alto potenziale per la valutazione delle proprieta’ di frattura per saldature P91, in particolare per stimare la temperatura di transizione fragile-duttile e la resistenza alla frattura

Assessment of potential bottlenecks along the materials supply chain for the future deployment of low-carbon energy and transport technologies in the EU: Wind power, photovoltaic and electric vehicles technologies, time frame: 2015-2030

The ambitious EU policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in combination with a significant adoption of low-carbon energy and transport technologies will lead to strong growth in the demand for certain raw materials. This report addresses the EU resilience in view of supply of the key materials required for the large deployment of selected low-carbon technologies, namely wind, photovoltaic and electric vehicles. A comprehensive methodology based on various indicators is used to determine the EU’s resilience to supply bottlenecks along the complete supply chain – from raw materials to final components manufacturing. The results revealed that, in 2015, the EU had low resilience to supply bottlenecks for dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium and graphite, medium resilience to supply of indium, silver, silicon, cobalt and lithium and high resilience to supply of carbon fibre composites. In the worst case scenario where no mitigation measures are adopted, the materials list with supply issues will grow until 2030. Indium, silver, cobalt and lithium will add up to the 2015 list. However, the probability of material supply shortages for these three low-carbon technologies might diminish by 2030 as a result of mitigation measures considered in the present analysis, i.e. increasing the EU raw materials production, adoption of recycling and substitution. In such optimistic conditions, most of the materials investigated are rated as medium or high resilience. The exceptions are neodymium and praseodymium in electric vehicles, for which the EU resilience will remain low.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Cobalt: demand-supply balances in the transition to electric mobility

The expansion of the electric vehicle market globally and in the EU will increase exponentially the demand for cobalt in the next decade. Cobalt supply has issues of concentration and risk of disruption, as it is mainly produced in Democratic Republic of Congo and China. According to our assessment these risks will persist in the future, likely increasing in the near term until 2020. Minerals exploration and EV batteries recycling can make for an improvement in the stability of cobalt supply from 2020 on, which together with the expected reduction in the use of cobalt, driven by substitution efforts, should help bridge the gap between supply and demand. Despite this, worldwide, demand is already perceived to exceed supply in 2020 and such a loss making trend is expected to become more consistent from 2025 on. In the EU, although the capacity to meet rising demand is projected to increase through mining and recycling activities, there is an increasing gap between endogenous supply and demand. The EU's supplies of cobalt will increasingly depend on imports from third countries, which underscores the need for deploying the Raw Materials Initiative and the Battery Alliance frameworks.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Materials dependencies for dual-use technologies relevant to Europe's defence sector

In order to support the European Commission in the preparation of future initiatives fostering the sustainability of strategic supply chains, this study was commissioned to assess bottlenecks in the supply of materials needed for the development of technologies important to Europe's defence and civil industries. The study focuses on five dual-use technology areas, namely advanced batteries, fuel cells, robotics, unmanned vehicles and additive manufacturing (3D printing). The technologies are preselected on the basis of a previous study (EASME, 2017) that explored the dual-use potential of key enabling technologies in which Europe should strategically invest. In addition, this report examines how these technologies could address specific military needs and their differences in relation to civil needs and identified opportunities for future defence research areas that could potentially serve as a basis for the design of research initiatives to be funded under the future European Defence Fund. Moreover, potential opportunities for common policy actions are also identified, notably: to strengthen Europe's position in the selected technologies’ supply chains; to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders; to increase industry involvement with special emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises; to improve existent legislation; and increase synergies between civil and defence sectors in order to speed up progress in promising research areas.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Materials dependencies for dual-use technologies relevant to Europe's defence sector

To support the European Commission in the preparation of future initiatives fostering the sustainability of strategic supply chains, this study was commissioned to assess bottlenecks in the supply of materials needed for the development of technologies important to Europe's defence and civil industries. The study focuses on five dual-use technology areas, namely advanced batteries, fuel cells, robotics, unmanned vehicles and additive manufacturing (3D printing). This report examines how these technologies could address specific military needs and their differences in relation to civil needs and identified opportunities for future defence research areas that could potentially serve as a basis for the design of research initiatives to be funded under the future European Defence Fund. Moreover, potential opportunities for common policy actions are also identified, notably: to strengthen Europe's position along the selected technologies’ supply chains, to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders, to increase industry involvement with special emphasis on SMEs, to improve existent legislation and increase synergies between civil and defence sectors to speed up progress in promising research areas.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

EU methodology for critical raw materials assessment : policy needs and proposed solutions for incremental improvements

Raw materials form the basis of Europe's economy to ensure jobs and competitiveness, and they are essential for maintaining and improving quality of life. Although all raw materials are important, some of them are of more concern than others, thus the list of critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, and the underlying European Commission (EC) criticality assessment methodology, are key instruments in the context of the EU raw materials policy. For the next update of the CRMs list in 2017, the EC is considering to apply the overall methodology already used in 2011 and 2014, but with some modifications. Keeping the same methodological approach is a deliberate choice in order to prioritise the comparability with the previous two exercises, effectively monitor trends, and maintain the highest possible policy relevance. As the EC's in-house science service, the Directorate General Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) identified aspects of the EU criticality methodology that could be adapted to better address the needs and expectations of the resulting CRMs list to identify and monitor critical raw materials in the EU. The goal of this paper is to discuss the specific elements of the EC criticality methodology that were adapted by DG JRC, highlight their novelty and/or potential outcomes, and discuss them in the context of criticality assessment methodologies available internationally

Information gap analysis for decision makers to move EU towards a Circular Economy for the lithium-ion battery value chain

This report aims at identifying and discussing how circular economy strategies may support the development of a sustainable battery value chain in Europe and what challenges, including data and information gaps, could hinder it. The aim is to keep product and materials value in the production loop as long as possible and avoid the use of mined Primary Raw Materials in the manufacturing phase. In order to achieve this, this report aims to assess the contribution of reuse, repurposing, remanufacturing, material substitution and recycling of Li-ion batteries to move the EU towards a Circular Economy for the Li-ion battery value chain. Myriad of raw and processed materials are used in the production of the Li-ion battery and this report will focus on the four most emblematic of them: Co, Li, Ni and natural graphite. The timeframe of the analysis starts from the past, goes through the present and looks at the future of the Li-ion battery value-chain. Preliminary conclusion of the analysis is that using the recycling of Li-ion batteries as Secondary Raw Material source and efforts to substitute specific materials are necessary and very important steps that will certainly mitigate supply issues of the incipient European Li-ion manufacturing industry. However, the availability of recycled Secondary Raw Materials is first conditioned by the access to the waste li-ion battery, which is obviously linked to the amount of li-ion battery put on the market and on how much of it is collected. Several obstacles are of political and regulatory nature, and a strong effort is required to European policy makers for removing them. The EU recycling industry should keep pursuing technological innovation to develop sustainable, scalable and flexible recycling processes able to deal with the incoming growing volumes of Li-ion battery waste and its expected uncertain chemical mix. For Electric Vehicle batteries, before recycling, the options for remanufacturing for reuse and repurposing in a second use applications are also interesting circular economy approaches capable of keeping materials and products value in the loop. However, the efficiency related to environmental, economic and safety aspects of reuse and repurposing practices is not yet properly assessed. It is of paramount importance to be able to estimate the stocks and flows of materials embedded in Li-ion batteries and quantify the present and future availability of secondary raw materials in different scenarios. A robust Material Flow Analysis model is necessary. In this report we propose a simplified Material Flow Analysis model that allows us to perform a qualitative analysis of stocks and flows of cobalt embedded in traction Li-ion batteries.JRC.C.1-Energy Storag

Raw materials scoreboard

The raw materials scoreboard is an initiative of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials. Its purpose is to provide quantitative data on the EIP's general objectives and on the raw materials policy context. It presents relevant and reliable information that can be used in policymaking in a variety of areas. The scoreboard will, for example, contribute to monitoring progress towards a circular economy, a crucial issue on which the European Commission recently adopted an ambitious action plan. The scoreboard will be published every two years

Critical Raw Materials and the Circular Economy – Background report

This report is a background document used by several European Commission services to prepare the EC report on critical raw materials and the circular economy, a commitment of the European Commission made in its Communication ‘EU action plan for the Circular Economy’. It represents a JRC contribution to the Raw Material Initiative and to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. It combines the results of several research programmes and activities of the JRC on critical raw materials in a context of circular economy, for which a large team has contributed in terms of data and knowledge developments. Circular use of critical raw materials in the EU is analysed, also taking a sectorial perspective. The following sectors are analysed in more detail: mining waste, landfills, electric and electronic equipment, batteries, automotive, renewable energy, defence and chemicals and fertilisers. Conclusions and opportunities for further work are also presented.JRC.D.3-Land Resource