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

Principles of computer simulation design for the needs of improvement of the raw materials combined transport system

This article is focused on computer simulation design for raw materials transportation. The creation of a simulation model of the combined transport system for the raw materials transportation has its own problematic parts. In general, these are parts, which represent transport nodes, i.e. parts of the system in which raw materials are reloaded from one vehicle to another. The given operations are in practice dependent on the preparedness of all transportation means, which participate in it. To locate operations of reloading of the raw materials from one vehicle to another and the check of the preparedness of the vehicles of the reloading in the simulation system is more demanding because it is necessary to take into consideration several aspects, such as an existence of a vehicle with raw materials, an existence of a vehicle to which it is to be reloaded a suitable freeloader, and so on. The article focuses on defining a procedure and correct steps at the creation of the simulation computer model of the combined raw materials transport system in the EXTENDSIM simulation system based on specific data from a real transport system. As is clear from the proposed procedure of the creation of the combined raw material transport system, as a check element of the transport system preparedness, it is suitable to use the "Gate" block and its features in the EXTENDSIM simulation system. As transpires from the results of simulation of the combined raw material transport system, about 322,000 tons of raw materials at 90-96% with the use of all vehicles is transported during the year.Web of Science23217416

Newly verified occurrences of industrial minerals in Belize

Modern society is characterised by functional infrastructure and sufficient number and variety of materials in the form of various technical goods. All these achievements of civilisation are not only the result of human skills, but their material principles are based on industrial minerals. This group of materials includes a wide range of the natural raw materials which are used in many industries. This includes the raw materials for the manufacture of glass, ceramics or fillers. For other raw materials, new applications are just being developed. These materials are very desirable in the market. Not only are their supplies endless, but they occur very unevenly in the natural deposits and unlike most metals can't be recycled. Due to low production costs in the production of this type of the raw materials, the competition in the global market has significantly increased during recent years. With this growing trend has significantly increased the interest in these materials in developing countries, which is precisely the Central American country of Belize. In the context of the cooperation, project has been verified several economically interesting sources such as ceramic clay, bentonite, feldspar and carbonate materials.Web of Science22222421

Global trends in raw materials consumption

This paper reviews movements in raw materials consumption over the past 30 years. Included in this review are all base metals and steel, and important agricultural raw materials. These primary commodities share the common characteristic that they are used as inputs in manufacturing and construction. Some metals and minerals, energy commodities, and timber products are not included in this review for various reasons. The period reviewed is from 1961 to 1988. A prominent characteristic of the metals market during the past 15 years has been its very slow growth. In some years consumption of several raw materials has even declined. Explaining the causes of this slowdown, in the face of moderate economic growth, has become a topical issue. The slowdown has important implications for a number of developing countries that rely heavily on exports of these materials. The severity and persistence of post-1973 declines in metals intensity per unit of GNP, prompted the conjecture that it may have been structural. This paper reviews the debate on this issue, including results of statistical tests. It also summarizes the trends in raw materials consumption and reviews the technological developments relating to raw materials consumption.Mining&Extractive Industry (Non-Energy),Montreal Protocol,Sanitation and Sewerage,Primary Metals,Environmental Economics&Policies

Dynamic Product Assembly and Inventory Control for Maximum Profit

We consider a manufacturing plant that purchases raw materials for product assembly and then sells the final products to customers. There are M types of raw materials and K types of products, and each product uses a certain subset of raw materials for assembly. The plant operates in slotted time, and every slot it makes decisions about re-stocking materials and pricing the existing products in reaction to (possibly time-varying) material costs and consumer demands. We develop a dynamic purchasing and pricing policy that yields time average profit within epsilon of optimality, for any given epsilon>0, with a worst case storage buffer requirement that is O(1/epsilon). The policy can be implemented easily for large M, K, yields fast convergence times, and is robust to non-ergodic system dynamics.Comment: 32 page

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

RAW MATERIALS, PROCESSING INCENTIVES AND FOREIGN OWNERSHIP

The effect of foreign ownership on trade policy outcomes has long been a topic of interest, but only recently have the consequences of multiple levels of production been considered. We examine processing incentives in a simplified general equilibrium framework with foreign ownership of a primary factor. Second-best considerations mean non-intervention is sub-optimal, but multiple levels of production can lead to an investment terms-of-trade effect of indeterminate sign, depending critically on the production structure. We illustrate how this may change standard conclusions regarding the effect of trade restrictions where there is foreign ownership, and optimal intervention to achieve specific policy objectives.International Relations/Trade, Productivity Analysis,

Potential bioethanol and biogas production using lignocellulosic biomass from winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean

To meet the increasing need for bioenergy several raw materials have to be considered for the production of e.g. bioethanol and biogas.In this study, three lignocellulosic raw materials were studied, i.e. (1) winter rye straw (Secale cereale L), (2) oilseed rape straw (Brassica napus L.) and (3) faba bean straw (Viciafaba L.). Their composition with regard to cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives and ash was evaluated, as well as their potential as raw materials for ethanol and biogas production. The materials were pretreated by wet oxidation using parameters previously found to be optimal for pretreatment of corn stover (195 1C, 15 min, 2 g l_1 Na2CO3 and 12 bar oxygen). It was shown that pretreatment was necessary for ethanol production from all raw materials and gave increased biogas yield from winter rye straw. Neither biogas productivity nor yield from oilseed rape straw or faba bean straw was significantly affected by pretreatment. Ethanol was produced by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae during simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid material after wet oxidation with yields of 66%, 70% and 52% of theoretical for winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean straw, respectively. Methane was produced with yields of 0.36, 0.42 and 0.44 l g_1 volatile solids for winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean straw, respectively, without pretreatment of the materials. However, biogas productivity was low and it took over 50 days to reach the final yield. It could be concluded that all three materials are possible raw materials for either biogas or ethanol production; however, improvement of biogas productivity or ethanol yield is necessary before an economical process can be achieved. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

AMPHIPHILIC SIDEROPHORE MARINOBACTIN FOR FROTH FLOTATION PROCESS

The consumption of metallic raw materials increased in the last years. The coverage of demand is getting more difficult, because both primary and secondary raw materials become more and more complex. To find a solution, some new ways have to go, like the combination of biotechnology with classic processes of processing methods