scholarly journals Challenges to the European automotive industry in securing critical raw materials for electric mobility: the case of rare earths

2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Schmid

AbstractCritical raw materials (CRMs) are crucial for the transformation towards low carbon mobility. However, their production is often highly concentrated in a few countries, which leads to supply risks. Exemplified by the case of rare earth elements (REEs) and based on in-depth interviews with corporate executives from companies along the automotive supply chain, this contribution provides insights into the strategies of the European automotive industry to cope with these supply risks. Results show a lack of awareness of REE criticality studies and their outcomes in the past, the decisive role of price competitiveness when pursuing mitigation strategies and a lack of willingness or ability to engage in rare earth (RE) projects to get access to production output and secure supply. Overall, affected companies struggle to pursue long-term oriented strategies to secure their need for REEs. These findings are discussed with regard to the new demand for CRMs due to the shift to electric mobility and the specific challenges that the automotive industry faces.

2019 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 02011
Author(s):  
Karolina Kossakowska ◽  
Katarzyna Grzesik

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are identified as critical raw materials for the European Union economy. REEs are not currently produced in the EU, while there are several sources not properly addressed. Within the ENVIREE project tailings from New Kankberg (Sweden) and Covas (Portugal) were identified as rich in REEs and chosen for recovery processing. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to evaluate the environmental impact of REEs recovery. The aim of this study is the detailed analysis of several scenarios with different electricity production schemes of REE recovery. The study discusses the share of energy use in the overall impact on the environment, taking into account diversification in the electricity production structure among EU countries. The energy use is a significant contributor to the overall environmental impact of studied cases. Its share in the total environmental burden is reaching up to 47%. The results show that applying the average electricity scheme production for Europe may lead to biased LCA results. For the accurate LCA results the local production schemes of energy for certain countries should be chosen.


Author(s):  
A. A. Pivovarchyk ◽  
D. V. Povidajko

The article presents the results of practical testing of the developed compositions of protectors for proofing of low-carbon alloys used in the automotive industry and made from melting stocks of secondary aluminum raw materials. The results of the study of the effectiveness of the proofing of the developed protectors are presented.


Recycling ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Ferro ◽  
Franco Bonollo

The European Union (EU) identified a number of raw materials that are strategic for its economy but suffer at the same time from a high supply risk. Such critical raw materials (CRMs) are used in a wide range of commercial and governmental applications: green technology, telecommunications, space exploration, aerial imaging, aviation, medical devices, micro-electronics, transportation, defense, and other high-technology products and services. As a result, the industry, the environment, and our quality and modern way of life are reliant on the access and use of them. In this scenario, recycling may be a strategic mitigating action aimed at reducing the critical raw materials supply risks. In this work, a design strategy is proposed for alloys selection that minimizes the number of CRMs with the lowest end-of-life recycling input rate. The method is illustrated with an example.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Góralczyk ◽  
Elżbieta Uzunow

Abstract Rare earth metals including yttrium and europium are one of several critical raw materials, the use of which ensures the development of the so-called high technology. The possibility of their recovery in Europe is limited practically only to secondary materials such as phosphogypsum and electronic waste. The article presents the results of our research concerning the development of recovery technology of yttrium and europium from luminophore CRT used lamps. It describes the principle of separation of elements and the test results of cleaning the concentrate. It was shown that the costs of preparing the concentrate according to the proposed technology are lower than the phosphogypsum processing technology and the composition of the resulting product does not contain hazardous substances.


2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
pp. 2683-2690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éva Ujaczki ◽  
Yannick Zimmermann ◽  
Christoph Gasser ◽  
Mónika Molnár ◽  
Viktória Feigl ◽  
...  

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