Resource Efficiency and Future Resource Requirement in PV System; Case Study of South Korea

International audienceThe worldwide demand for fossil and minerals are growing continuously. Also the demand for a number of metals and rare materials are forecast to double over the next 50 years (Muilerman and Blonk 2001). This resource depletion is also related with technologies for harvesting adequate amounts of sustainable energy. Renewable energy technology and systems such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind system are consuming rare materials and using available land as well as providing direct benefits at national and local levels. In South Korea, intensive effort started in 1988 under Promotion Act for New and Renewable Energy Development. According to the 3rd National Plan for Energy Technology Development, the Government is aiming at the supply of 6% of total energy demand by new and renewable energy by 2020 and 11% by 2030. In case of the PV system, the production goal is targeted from 59,000 TOE production in 2008 to 1,364,000 TOE production in 2030 (about 2,311% increased). In this study, based on 1 m2 PV module production (Single-crystal silicon (SC-Si), Multi-crystal silicon (MC-Si), CI(G)S thin-film (CI(G)S), CdTe thin-film (CdTe)), the life cycle resources requirement (e.g., types and amount of input ferrous and nonferrous metals and rare materials), resource efficiency and land use are calculated by using material balance data and Eco-invent life cycle inventory data. Also by using the photovoltaic energy production target in South Korea by 2030, future requirement resources and land use amount calculated. As a result, the consumption of ferrous and nonferrous metals, rare earth and critical materials as well as land use were quantified. In the ferrous and nonferrous metal, aluminium (SC-Si; 23kg, MC-Si; 23kg, CI(G)S; 17kg, and CdTe; 16kg) was the most consumed metal and followed by iron and zinc. In the rare materials, cadmium, chromium, manganese, gallium and molybdenum were the most used metals. Also uranium was the most consumed metal in rare earth materials

Life cycle resource consumption and land use of photovoltaic (PV) system in South Korea

International audienceThe worldwide demand for fossil and minerals are growing continuously. Also the demand for a number of metals and rare materials are forecast to double over the next 50 years (Muilerman and Blonk 2001). This resource depletion is also related with technologies for harvesting adequate amounts of sustainable energy. Renewable energy technology and systems such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind system are consuming rare materials and using available land as well as providing direct benefits at national and local levels. In South Korea, intensive effort started in 1988 under Promotion Act for New and Renewable Energy Development. According to the 3rd National Plan for Energy Technology Development, the Government is aiming at the supply of 6% of total energy demand by new and renewable energy by 2020 and 11% by 2030. In case of the PV system, the goal is targeted from 59,000 TOE productions in 2008 to 1,364,000 TOE productions in 2030 (about 2,311% increased). In this study, based on the photovoltaic energy production target by 2030, the life cycle resources requirement (e.g., types and amount of input metals and rare materials) and land use for PV system are calculated and showed. Scenario analysis was conducted for the PV production system. By increasing the energy production efficiency of PV system, the future reduced resources and land use can be calculated. Also, having a product-lifespan of over 30 years, we explored that by increasing the recycling rate of significant volumes of end-of-life PV modules, we could see the recovered resource amount

Biological nitrogen removal from plating wastewater by submerged membrane bioreactor packed with granular sulfur

International audienc

Critical and precious materials consumption and requirement in wind energy system in the EU 27

International audienc

Hydrogen Fluoride Substance Flow Analysis: In Case of the Chemical Industry in South Korea

International audienceUp to date, many chemical accidents were occurred in the world. We know that recently there was a big chemical explosion accident and its expose of toxic chemicals in Tianjin, China. According to the Korean Ministry of Environment, the number of chemical accidents was increased 7 cases in 2006 to 104 cases in 2014. Therefore, it should be considered and conducted many studies on sustainable chemical substance’s safety management and prevention of the chemical accidents as well as establishment of related chemical management regulations. In this study, we selected and studied about hydrogen fluoride (the chemical formula HF, CAS NO: 7664-39-3). This colorless gas or liquid is the principal industrial source of fluorine, often in the aqueous form as hydrofluoric acid, and thus is the precursor to many important compounds including pharmaceuticals and polymers (e.g. Teflon). HF is widely used in the petrochemical industry and is a component of many superacids. In this study, we quantified, analysed and mapped the HF flows in the chemical industry of South Korea by applying substance flow analysis (SFA). Our result shows that the amount of consumption in each company (and industry), location of manufactures using HF as well as HF’s flow (import, export, stocks and flows) in Korean industrial system (between industries including companies). Finally the result of this study can support for chemical accident prevention system and sustainable chemical management in South Korea

A Study of Ammonia Substance Flow Analysis in South Korea

International audienc

Assessment and selection of best available technology (BAT) for wastewater facilities in the leather tanning and finishing industry

International audienc