Sustainable Critical Elements Supply Chains For Renewable Energy

Technologies

Kwame Awuah-OffeiAssist. Prof.

Outline

• Renewable energy critical elements

• Criticality factors

• Sustainability & critical elements

ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENTS

Energy Critical Elements

“Describe a class of chemical elements that currently appear critical to one or more new, energy-related technologies. A shortage of these elements would significantly inhibit large-scale deployment, which could otherwise be capable of transforming the way we produce, transmit, store, or conserve energy.” - American Physical Society (APS 2011)

Energy Critical Elements

• REEs• Platinum group

elements• Photovoltaic

elements• Others

REEs/Lanthanides

• 15 elements with atomic number (N) from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium)

• Yttrium (N = 39) is also included with the REE group

• Often, divided into heavy and light

REEs

1. Lanthanum (La)2. Cerium (Ce)3. Praseodymium

(Pr)4. Neodymium (Nd)5. Promethium (Pm)6. Samarium (Sm),7. Europium (Eu)8. Gadolinium (Gd)

9. Terbium (Tb)10.Dysprosium (Dy)11.Holmium (Ho)12.Erbium (Er)13.Thulium (Tm)14.Ytterbium (Tb)15.Lutetium (Lu)16.Scandium (Sc)17.Yttrium (Y)

REEs & Energy• Used in the production of clean

energy including:– Advanced automotive propulsion

batteries– Electric motors– High-efficiency light bulbs– Generators in wind turbines

• May be used for future energy economies:– Applications in high-temperature

superconductivity– Safe storage and transport of hydrogen

for a post-hydrocarbon economy

Platinum Group Elements (PGEs)

• PGEs include:– Ruthenium (Ru)– Rhodium (Rh)– Palladium (Pd)

– Osmium (Os)– Iridium (Ir)– Platinum (Pt)

PGEs & Energy

• Platinum, palladium, and other PGEs, used as catalysts in fuel cells that may find wide applications in transportation.

Photovoltaics

• Photovoltaics include:– Gallium (Ga)– Germanium (Ge)– Selenium (Se)

– Indium (In)– Tellurium (Te)

Photovoltaics

These are semiconductors used in photovoltaics

Others

• These include:– Cobalt (Co)– Helium (He)– lithium (Li)

– Rhenium (Re) – Silver (Ag)

Energy Uses

• Lithium and lanthanum are used in high performance batteries

• Helium is required in cryogenics, energy research, advanced nuclear reactor designs, and manufacturing in the energy sector

• Rhenium is used in high performance alloys for advanced turbines

CRITICALITY FACTORS

What makes ECEs critical?

1. Crustal abundance, concentration, & distribution

2. Geopolitical risks3. The risks of joint production4. Environmental and social concerns5. Response times in production and

utilization

1. Geologic Abundance• Abundance is affected by overall

concentration in the earth’s crust (e.g. concentration of Ge is 0.00015%)

• Most ECEs occur primarily as atomic substitutes in minerals composed of common elements

• Poor understanding of mechanisms of local enrichment means:– Poor models of mineralization– Poor extraction methods

2. Geopolitical Risks

• Geopolitical risks are affected by:– Number of producing mines,

companies or nations– Political and economic conditions

in producing countries• REEs (>95% from China), PGEs

(~80% from SA) & Lithium (Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina)

3. Risk of Joint Production

• Joint production results in lower costs for by- or co-products

• Production methods are controlled by the primary product– Almost all current production of Te

comes from electrolytic refining of Cu, which is being replaced with SX-EW

• Future replacement orebodies (primary production) will be more expensive

4. Environmental & Social Concerns

• Mining & processing of ECEs have environmental and social impacts

• Differences in regulations, geographically, can result in migration of production activities– E.g. REE production in China

5. Response Times

• It typically takes 5-15 years to bring a new mine to production

• Development of new technology, which will utilizes ECEs takes time and is uncertain

• It typically takes time to develop new extraction methods

• Seamless production requires free flow of information between the demand and supply side– Li is an example of such uncertainty in lead

times

SUSTAINABILITY

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability

Economic

Social Justice

Environmental

Sustainability/sustainable development is defined as, “the ability of current generations to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (World Commission on Environment and Development).

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Characteristics of ECE Supply Chains

• ECE supply chains are:– Global– Diverse economic, environmental

& social impacts over different geographic locations

– Consists of private & public, and small to multi-national actors

– Impacted by active public policy– Diverse stakeholders

Challenges for Achieving Sustainable Supply Chains

• Means of comprehensively assessing sustainability of the ECE supply chains to inform public policy– Balanced & standardized– Addresses all stakeholder concerns

• Developing technology with material needs and sustainability considerations

• Conflicting sustainability impacts of policy actions

• Diverse stakeholder interests

References• American Physical Society and the Materials Research Society (2011),

Energy Critical Elements: Securing Materials for Emerging Technologies, Available online at: http://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=236337. Accessed: 5/26/2012

• European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry. (2010), “Critical Raw Materials for the EU.” Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/rawmaterials/documents/index_en.htm. Accessed: 5/26/2012

• Long, K. R., Van Gosen, B. S., Foley, N. K. and Cordier, D. (2010), “The Principal Rare Earth Elements Deposits of the United States—A Summary of Domestic Deposits and a Global Perspective”, US Geological Survey, Report No. 2010–5220, 96 pp.

QUESTIONS?

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