Critical Raw Materials Recovery through Bio/Hydrometallurgy from Secondary Resources

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.

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The Critical Raw Materials Issue between Scarcity, Supply Risk, and Unique Properties

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14081826 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 1826

Author(s):

Mihaela Girtan ◽

Antje Wittenberg ◽

Maria Luisa Grilli ◽

Daniel P. S. de Oliveira ◽

Chiara Giosuè ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Scientific Community ◽

Chemical Elements ◽

Raw Materials ◽

The Other ◽

Innovation Networks ◽

Supply Risk ◽

European Cooperation ◽

Research And Innovation ◽

The Earth ◽

Critical Raw Materials

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).

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Organizational, technical and economic fundamentals of waste management and monitoring

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202016408031 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 164 ◽

pp. 08031

Author(s):

Evgeniy Velichko ◽

Edward Tshovrebov ◽

Ural Niyazgulov

Keyword(s):

Legal Status ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Economic Regulation ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Renewable Raw Materials ◽

Secondary Resources ◽

Secondary Raw Materials ◽

Production And Consumption ◽

Level Of Use ◽

Goals And Objectives

The article deals with issues of monitoring, planning, organizational and technical support, economic regulation and improving the efficiency of the infrastructure for processing, recycling and disposal of waste, resource conservation and management of secondary resources, their use as secondary raw materials for production, services, work and power generation. The Russian Federation has significant potential for economic growth due to the efficient use of secondary resources from billions of tons of generated production and consumption waste annually. These ecologically unsafe anthropogenic objects can be characterized as a source of valuable renewable raw materials, material and fuel and energy resources. However, the scale and level of use of various types of secondary resources are characterized by considerable unevenness and depend on the demand for secondary raw materials, the resource value of the waste, the environmental situation arising from treating them as environmental polluters, on the real economic conditions that determine the profitability of each specific type. economic activities that use secondary resources for the manufacture of products, works, services, energy production. The methods of monitoring the industry for the treatment, disposal and disposal of waste are: information-analytical, information-statistical, sociological, geo-information. The legal status of the monitoring system of the industry for the treatment, disposal and disposal of waste is determined by the limitations of its functionality within the framework of the goals and objectives facing it.

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Complex Concentrated Alloys for Substitution of Critical Raw Materials in Applications for Extreme Conditions

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14051197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 1197

Author(s):

Dumitru Mitrica ◽

Ioana Cristina Badea ◽

Beatrice Adriana Serban ◽

Mihai Tudor Olaru ◽

Denisa Vonica ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Extreme Environment ◽

Extreme Conditions ◽

The European Union ◽

Critical Metals ◽

Research Directions ◽

Level Of Involvement ◽

General Evaluation ◽

Critical Metal ◽

Critical Raw Materials

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.

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Dynamic estimation of future obsolete laptop flows and embedded critical raw materials: The case study of Greece

Waste Management ◽

10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 132 ◽

pp. 74-85

Author(s):

Eleni Kastanaki ◽

Apostolos Giannis

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Dynamic Estimation ◽

Of Greece ◽

Critical Raw Materials

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Strategies for fulfilment of critical raw materials demand in Europe

Revue de Métallurgie ◽

10.1051/metal/2012035 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 109 (5) ◽

pp. 333-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

D. Senk ◽

F.M. Meyer ◽

T. Pretz ◽

G. Abrasheva

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Critical Raw Materials

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Technogenic Mineral Raw Materials for the Production of Refractories and Ceramics

KnE Materials Science ◽

10.18502/kms.v6i1.8056 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Vladimir Perepelitsyn ◽

Alexander Yagovtsev ◽

Vitaliy Merzlyakov ◽

Victor Kochetkov ◽

Alexander Ponomarenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Mineral Resources ◽

High Alumina ◽

Secondary Mineral ◽

The Urals ◽

Mineral Raw Materials ◽

Secondary Resources ◽

Additional Processing

Chemical–mineral and material–genetic classifications of technogenic mineral raw materials including up to 36 polyphase groups of materials that form the basis of secondary resources suitable for the production of refractories and ceramics after additional processing are proposed. It is shown that technogenic materials of the Urals are cheap multifunctional raw materials and can be used in the production of magnesia-silicate ceramics, carbon– and zirconium–containing high-alumina refractories and cements. Keywords: classification, secondary mineral resources, composition, recycling, refractories, ceramics

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Development of resource saving and resource efficiency as the most important factor in the industrial development in the Arctic

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20208403001 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 84 ◽

pp. 03001

Author(s):

Janna Mankulova ◽

Alexander Vorotnikov

Keyword(s):

Industrial Development ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Resource Efficiency ◽

The Arctic ◽

Resource Saving ◽

Policy System ◽

Secondary Resources ◽

Recycling Industry ◽

Industrial Enterprises ◽

Systemic Nature

Research in the sphere of the Arctic industrial development often leads to the identification of clear regulatory gaps of a systemic nature. A particular example is the issue of legislative regulation of the involvement of secondary raw materials, fuel and energy resources in economic use and property turnover in the context of resource conservation and resource efficiency. In this case, secondary resources are not subject to independent regulation in general, but only as one of the elements of activities related to environmental protection. Accordingly, the conditions for the development of a system of production and consumption wastes’ effective management, the creation of a recycling industry, including the reuse of such waste, have not been formed yet. The results of the analysis given in this research paper clearly indicate the lack of development of mechanisms for stimulating the use of non-target materials and substances. Industrial enterprises that use secondary resources in production do not currently receive special advantages within the framework of the implemented industrial policy. System benefits are universal and directly related to commodity production only. However, it is necessary to apply measures to encourage industrial activities to implement projects involving the reuse of secondary resources in production, including in the Russian Arctic.

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WEEE collection and CRM recovery trials: piloting a holistic approach for Scotland

Global NEST Journal ◽

10.30955/gnj.002643 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 712-718

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Scale Up ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Extraction Methods ◽

Social Enterprises ◽

Raw Material ◽

Household Waste ◽

Sustainable Supply Chain ◽

Gold Silver ◽

Critical Raw Materials

<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>

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