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Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning
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Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 33975

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Theo (M. L.C.M.) Henckens

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Senior Research Fellow of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
Interests: depletion of mineral resources; technologies and policies to reduce the use of geologically scarce mineral resources

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue focuses on critical raw materials on the one hand and geologically scarce mineral resources on the other. Criticality concerns the vulnerability of the current generation with regard to temporary supply disruptions. The time horizon is short-term (0–10 years). The scale of mitigation strategies is on the level of companies, sectors, countries, regions. Geological scarcity regards the vulnerability of future generations with regard to depletion of (certain) mineral resources. The time horizon is long-term (>50 years). The scale of mitigation strategies is global (similar to climate strategies)

The Special Issue envisages to present an overview of the most recent knowledge on both criticality and geological scarcity, to analyze the impact of the energy and mobility transitions on the availability of critical raw materials and geologically scarce mineral resources, and to explore the respective approaches and policies to mitigate the impact of criticality and geological scarcity. Finally, the goal is to discuss how risk management strategies regarding critical raw materials can be tuned with long-term policies with respect to geologically scarce mineral resources.

Dr. Theo (M. L.C.M.) Henckens
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • critical raw materials
  • geologically scarce mineral resources
  • supply risk
  • depletion
  • impact of energy and mobility transitions on the availability of resources
  • resource intensity of the mining sector
  • substitutability
  • recyclability
  • resource policies

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3311 KiB  
Article
A Digital Product Passport for Critical Raw Materials Reuse and Recycling
by Rembrandt H. E. M. Koppelaar, Sreenivaasa Pamidi, Enikő Hajósi, Lucia Herreras, Pascal Leroy, Ha-Young Jung, Amba Concheso, Radha Daniel, Fernando B. Francisco, Cristina Parrado, Siro Dell’Ambrogio, Fabiana Guggiari, Deborah Leone and Alessandro Fontana
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1405; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021405 - 11 Jan 2023
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 8818
Abstract
The reuse and recycling of critical raw materials is limited, as waste electrical and electronic recycling focuses on base and precious metals, and device component reuse is in its infancy. To help to address this issue this paper provides the conceptual design of [...] Read more.
The reuse and recycling of critical raw materials is limited, as waste electrical and electronic recycling focuses on base and precious metals, and device component reuse is in its infancy. To help to address this issue this paper provides the conceptual design of a Digital Product Passport based circular supply management system. To enable the recovery of critical raw materials at component and material levels for reuse and recycling. The works include an assessment of existing critical raw materials information management and an information needs identification survey, with 10 manufacturers, producer responsibility organisations, collectors and recyclers. The needs were used to generate 14 key product information management processes and exchanges that when implemented form a Digital Product Passport based circular supply management system. Information managed via a physical-digital linkage through individual product tags includes product registrations, materials declarations, life cycle status updates, the sorting of products at collection points based on critical raw material contents, and flagging of products for critical raw materials component extraction. A dataspace-based IT systems architecture is proposed for the implementation of the supply management system taking into account global and European information standards. Finally, key challenges to implement such an IT architecture are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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18 pages, 3212 KiB  
Article
Challenges and Opportunities for the Recovery of Critical Raw Materials from Electronic Waste: The Spanish Perspective
by Jorge Torrubia, Alicia Valero, Antonio Valero and Anthony Lejuez
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1393; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021393 - 11 Jan 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3919
Abstract
The path toward energy transition requires many metals, some of which are scarce in nature or their supply is controlled by a few countries. The European and Spanish situations are particularly vulnerable because of the scarcity of crucial geological mineral resources, especially those [...] Read more.
The path toward energy transition requires many metals, some of which are scarce in nature or their supply is controlled by a few countries. The European and Spanish situations are particularly vulnerable because of the scarcity of crucial geological mineral resources, especially those known as critical. In this context, the recovery of metals from waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) presents an important opportunity to partly alleviate this situation because this region produces most of the WEEE per capita. In this study, 43 different categories of EEE placed in the Spanish market between 2016 and 2021 were assessed, considering the composition of up to 57 elements, with 34 being critical. The results show the great opportunities for urban mining: 1.4 million tons of metals valued at USD 2.43 billion, representing 80% of the mass and 25% of the price of the primary extraction in Spain during that period. In addition, 20,000 tons corresponded to critical metals. However, the short life of EEE and the low traceability and low recovery of metals, especially critical and precious (94% and 87% of their values are lost, respectively), make it necessary to overcome major challenges to develop a new industry capable of moving toward a deeper circular economy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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12 pages, 1078 KiB  
Article
Alloy Profusion, Spice Metals, and Resource Loss by Design
by Thomas E. Graedel and Alessio Miatto
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7535; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137535 - 21 Jun 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3677
Abstract
One of the most unfortunate attributes of technology’s routine and widespread use of most of the elements in the periodic table is the abysmal functional recycling rates that result from the complexity of modern technology and the rudimentary technological state of the recycling [...] Read more.
One of the most unfortunate attributes of technology’s routine and widespread use of most of the elements in the periodic table is the abysmal functional recycling rates that result from the complexity of modern technology and the rudimentary technological state of the recycling industry. In this work, we demonstrate that the vast profusion of alloys, and the complexities and miniaturization of modern electronics, render functional recycling almost impossible. This situation is particularly true of “spice metals”: metals employed at very low concentrations to realize modest performance improvements in advanced alloys or complex electronics such as smartphones or laptops. Here, we present a formal definition of spice metals and explore the significant challenges that product design decisions impose on the recycling industry. We thereby identify nine spice metals: scandium (Sc), vanadium (V), gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), niobium (Nb), antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te), erbium (Er), and hafnium (Hf). These metals are considered fundamental for the properties they provide, yet they are rarely recycled. Their routine use poses severe problems for the implementation of closed material loops and the circular economy. Based on the data and discussions in this paper, we recommend that spice metals be employed only where their use will result in a highly significant improvement, and that product designers place a strong emphasis on enabling the functional recycling of these metals after their first use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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22 pages, 1319 KiB  
Article
The Energy Transition and Energy Equity: A Compatible Combination?
by Matheus L. C. M. Henckens
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4781; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084781 - 15 Apr 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3122
Abstract
Much attention is being paid to the short-term supply security of raw materials for the energy transition. However, little attention is being paid to the impact of the energy transition on the long-term availability of a number of specific mineral resources that are [...] Read more.
Much attention is being paid to the short-term supply security of raw materials for the energy transition. However, little attention is being paid to the impact of the energy transition on the long-term availability of a number of specific mineral resources that are needed for the realization of a fossil-free energy infrastructure. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the quantity of raw materials required for the energy transition could encounter limits of geological availability of mineral resources, especially in the case that energy supply and consumption are equitably distributed over all countries of the world in the long term. This study is an ex ante evaluation. The result of the evaluation is that four metals are relatively problematic: cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel. The in-use stocks of these four metals in energy transition-related technologies may take up between 20% and 30% of the ultimately available resources of these metals in the continental Earth’s crust. Even with an 80% end-of-life recycling rate, the increase in the annual use of primary resources is estimated to be 9% for copper, 29% for nickel, 52% for cobalt, and 86% for lithium, compared to the estimated annual use of these metals without an energy transition. The conclusion of the study is that the question of whether energy equity and the energy transition are a compatible combination cannot be answered unambiguously. After all, it will depend on the extent and the speed with which cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel can be substituted with other, geologically less scarce metals, and on the achieved end-of-life recycling rates of these metals, not only from energy transition-related products, but also from all other products in which these metals are applied. The novelty of the study is that the availability of raw materials for the energy transition is analyzed from a perspective of global equity at the expected level of the European Union in 2050. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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16 pages, 3170 KiB  
Article
Modelling the Demand and Access of Mineral Resources in a Changing World
by Olivier Vidal, Hugo Le Boulzec, Baptiste Andrieu and François Verzier
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010011 - 21 Dec 2021
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 6608
Abstract
Humanity is using mineral resources at an unprecedented level and demand will continue to grow over the next few decades before stabilizing by the end of the century, due to the economic development of populated countries and the energy and digital transitions. The [...] Read more.
Humanity is using mineral resources at an unprecedented level and demand will continue to grow over the next few decades before stabilizing by the end of the century, due to the economic development of populated countries and the energy and digital transitions. The demand for raw materials must be estimated with a bottom-up and regionalised approach and the supply capacity with approaches coupling long-term prices with energy and production costs controlled by the quality of the resource and the rate of technological improvement that depends on thermodynamic limits. Such modelling provides arguments in favour of two classically opposed visions of the future of mineral resources: an unaffordable increase in costs and prices following the depletion of high quality deposits or, on the contrary, a favourable compensation by technological improvements. Both views are true, but not at the same time. After a period of energy and production cost gains, we now appear to be entering a pivotal period of long-term production cost increases as we approach the minimum practical energy and thermodynamic limits for many metals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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20 pages, 1786 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Availability of Global Metals and Minerals for the Sustainable Century: From Aluminium to Zirconium
by Gavin M. Mudd
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10855; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910855 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6519
Abstract
Mining supplies metals and minerals to meet the material and energy needs of the modern world. Typically, mineral resources are widely considered to be ‘finite’ in nature, yet, paradoxically, global production and reported reserves and resources continue to grow. This paper synthesizes an [...] Read more.
Mining supplies metals and minerals to meet the material and energy needs of the modern world. Typically, mineral resources are widely considered to be ‘finite’ in nature, yet, paradoxically, global production and reported reserves and resources continue to grow. This paper synthesizes an extensive array of data on the long-term trends in cumulative mine production, reserves and resources at a global level as well detailed case studies of Australia, a global leader in many sectors of mining, and lithium, a new metal with rapidly growing demand. Overall, the paper shows that growing mine production has been clearly matched by growing reserves and resources, although there are numerous complex social, environmental and governance factors which are already affecting mines and are expected to increasingly affect mining into the future. Thus it is not possible at present to determine the ‘ultimately recoverable resource’, especially as this is a dynamic quantity dependent on a variety of inter-related factors (e.g., exploration, social issues, technology, market dynamics, environmental risks, governance aspects, etc.). This finding reinforces the need for continuing detailed studies of all metals and minerals to understand their individual supply and use dynamics to help modern society meet its needs and sustainable development goals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Criticality Versus Geological Scarcity: Different Concepts, Which May Need Tuning)
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