scholarly journals Critical raw materials for the energy transition

2021 ◽  
pp. 103991
Author(s):  
Aude Pommeret ◽  
Francesco Ricci ◽  
Katheline Schubert
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. Goodenough ◽  
Eimear A. Deady ◽  
Charles D. Beard ◽  
Sam Broom-Fendley ◽  
Holly A. L. Elliott ◽  
...  

AbstractThe rare earth elements (REE) are critical raw materials for much of modern technology, particularly renewable energy infrastructure and electric vehicles that are vital for the energy transition. Many of the world’s largest REE deposits occur in alkaline rocks and carbonatites, which are found in intracontinental, rift-related settings, and also in syn- to post-collisional settings. Post-collisional settings host significant REE deposits, such as those of the Mianning-Dechang belt in China. This paper reviews REE mineralisation in syn- to post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes worldwide, in order to demonstrate some of the key physical and chemical features of these deposits. We use three examples, in Scotland, Namibia, and Turkey, to illustrate the structure of these systems. We review published geochemical data and use these to build up a broad model for the REE mineral system in post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes. It is evident that immiscibility of carbonate-rich magmas and fluids plays an important part in generating mineralisation in these settings, with REE, Ba and F partitioning into the carbonate-rich phase. The most significant REE mineralisation in post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes occurs in shallow-level, carbothermal or carbonatite intrusions, but deeper carbonatite bodies and associated alteration zones may also have REE enrichment.


Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Guzik ◽  
Krzysztof Galos ◽  
Alicja Kot-Niewiadomska ◽  
Toni Eerola ◽  
Pasi Eilu ◽  
...  

Major benefits and constraints related to mineral extraction within the EU have been identified on the examples of selected critical raw materials’ deposits. Analyzed case studies include the following ore deposits: Myszków Mo-W-Cu (Poland), Juomasuo Au-Co (Finland), S. Pedro das Águias W-Sn (Portugal), Penouta Nb-Ta-Sn (Spain), Norra Kärr REEs (Sweden) and Trælen graphite (Norway). They represent different stages of development, from the early/grassroot exploration stage, through advanced exploration and active mining, up to reopening of abandoned mines, and refer to different problems and constraints related to the possibility of exploitation commencement. The multi-criteria analysis of the cases has included geological and economic factors as well as environmental, land use, social acceptance and infrastructure factors. These factors, in terms of cost and benefit analysis, have been considered at three levels: local, country and EU levels. The analyzed cases indicated the major obstacles that occur in different stages of deposit development and need to be overcome in order to enable a new deposit exploitation commencement. These are environmental (Juomasuo and Myszków), spatial (Juomasuo) as well as social constraints (Norra Kärr, Juomasuo). In the analyzed cases, the most important constraints related to future deposit extraction occur primarily at a local level, while some important benefits are identified mainly at the country and the EU levels. These major benefits are related to securing long-term supplies for the national industries and strategically important EU industry sectors.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1826
Author(s):  
Mihaela Girtan ◽  
Antje Wittenberg ◽  
Maria Luisa Grilli ◽  
Daniel P. S. de Oliveira ◽  
Chiara Giosuè ◽  
...  

This editorial reports on a thorough analysis of the abundance and scarcity distribution of chemical elements and the minerals they form in the Earth, Sun, and Universe in connection with their number of neutrons and binding energy per nucleon. On one hand, understanding the elements’ formation and their specific properties related to their electronic and nucleonic structure may lead to understanding whether future solutions to replace certain elements or materials for specific technical applications are realistic. On the other hand, finding solutions to the critical availability of some of these elements is an urgent need. Even the analysis of the availability of scarce minerals from European Union sources leads to the suggestion that a wide-ranging approach is essential. These two fundamental assumptions represent also the logical approach that led the European Commission to ask for a multi-disciplinary effort from the scientific community to tackle the challenge of Critical Raw Materials. This editorial is also the story of one of the first fulcrum around which a wide network of material scientists gathered thanks to the support of the funding organization for research and innovation networks, COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1197
Author(s):  
Dumitru Mitrica ◽  
Ioana Cristina Badea ◽  
Beatrice Adriana Serban ◽  
Mihai Tudor Olaru ◽  
Denisa Vonica ◽  
...  

The paper is proposing a mini-review on the capability of the new complex concentrated alloys (CCAs) to substitute or reduce the use of critical raw materials in applications for extreme conditions. Aspects regarding the regulations and expectations formulated by the European Union in the most recent reports on the critical raw materials were presented concisely. A general evaluation was performed on the CCAs concept and the research directions. The advantages of using critical metals for particular applications were presented to acknowledge the difficulty in the substitution of such elements with other materials. In order to establish the level of involvement of CCAs in the reduction of critical metal in extreme environment applications, a presentation was made of the previous achievements in the field and the potential for the reduction of critical metal content through the use of multi-component compositions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 333-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Senk ◽  
F.M. Meyer ◽  
T. Pretz ◽  
G. Abrasheva

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 712-718

<p>Re-Tek UK and its partners, Enscape Consulting and the University of West of Scotland commenced trials for the collection and recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic (WEEE) products in July 2016. Sponsored by the EU LIFE funded project ‘Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery’ coordinated by WRAP with EARN, ERP UK Ltd, KTN Ltd and Wuppertal Institute as beneficiaries. The trials are aimed at boosting the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE) and Information Communications Technology (ICT) in particular, after functioning equipment is separated out for re-use. The new collection models provided residents with the opportunity to drop-off unwanted electrical and electronic appliances at a time and place that suits them, through a collaborative approach which encourages local authorities, educational establishments, businesses, and Social Enterprises, etc to act as hub sites. Hubs were designed to minimize product damage and encourage drop-off, rather than hoarding. Extraction methods developed after the collection phase of the trial looked at the opportunity to recover cobalt, gold and silver from ICT products, with the potential to inform how a more sustainable supply chain could be developed in Scotland. The elements studied were selected to demonstrate financial opportunity (gold/silver) and a strategic priority material (cobalt) for long term supply. These are based on bioleaching and electrochemical recovery using novel carbon based electrode systems, and chemical processing methods using extraction techniques with an assessment of pilot performance and scale up challenges. Our report is on the state of progress towards practical solutions to WEEE and CRM recovery.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Precious Okoroafor ◽  
Lotte Mann ◽  
Oliver Wiche

&lt;p&gt;There are several regions of the world where soils are contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTE) and/or have critical raw materials (CRM) that cannot be extracted through conventional raw material extraction techniques because of their low amounts. Phytoextraction- a kind of phytoremediation- offers good option or method to sustainably remediate these contaminated soils and extract these CRM from soils. The successful phytoextraction of these elements of interest from soil is dependent on their bioavailability for plant uptake and biomass production which could be increased by inoculating soil with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and the element acquisition characteristics of the plant species used for phytoextraction. This study investigated the effect of the PGPR Bacillus amyloliquefaciens - FZB42 also called Rhizovital produced as spore&amp;#8217;s formulation by ABiTEP on the phytoextraction efficiency of two selected species, Zea mays and Fagopyrum esculentum grown in potted soils under artificial lighting conditions for about 8 weeks in a laboratory. Results showed that for Fagopyrum esculentum, the inoculation of soil with Rhizovital increased the uptake of As, Cu, Pb and Co, Ni, Mg, K, P, La, Ce, Y, sum of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE), sum of Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE) but significantly only for Cu and Co at alpha level 0.05 and insignificantly decreased the uptake for Ge. For Zea mays, results showed that inoculating soil with Rhizovital decreased uptake for all elements investigated and significantly so for only Co but showed an insignificant increasing effect on the uptake of Cu. For the two test species, similarity in effects of inoculation of soil with Rhizovital on uptake of elements only existed for Cu (increasing effect) and Ge (decreasing effect) suggesting that the addition of Rhizovital to soil could increase the Cu phytoextraction efficiency of Zea mays and Fagopyrum esculentum and decrease the phytoextraction efficiency of Germanium in both plants. Results from this research suggest that inoculation of soil with the PGPR Bacillus amyloliquefaciens - FZB42 could increase the phytoextraction of Copper by Zea mays and Fagopyrum esculentum respectively, thus enhancing the phytoextraction efficiency of both plants in soils contaminated by copper. Also, results suggest that inoculation of soil with Rhizovital could increase the phytoextraction efficiency of Fagopyrum esculentum for most of the PTEs and CRM investigated in this experiment and that Fagopyrum esculentum is a good candidate for PGPR assisted phytoextraction of PTE and CRM&lt;/p&gt;


Author(s):  
Manuel Salado ◽  
Erlantz Lizundia ◽  
Itziar Oyarzabal ◽  
Daniel Salazar

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