Resource Management

@gl7001

• “EU sectors such as construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery and equipment sectors, which provide a total value added of €1.324 billion and employment for some 30 million people, all depend on access to raw materials
• Raw materials are termed critical (CRM) when their high economic importance is combined with risk associated with supply - scarcity & geopolitical concerns.
• Criticality arises from a concentration of production.
• From the terrawatt paper a value of W/kg can be calculated to put into perspective the magnitude of material needed (not so much the exact amount).
• For example, lead acid and li ion batteries have an energy storage capacity of 140kJ/kg and 610kJ/kg respectively. For these batteries to provide 1TW of power for 24hrs (8.64 \times 10^{16}J) would require 141 million tonnes of li ion battery.
  • Convert TW to joules.
  • Get energy density of technology (J/kg).
  • Determine kg required and compare with annual production.
• The figures, according to chat gpt, haven’t changed much from that in the paper. Here, assumption is that 1TW needs to be provided.

Energy Critical Elements

It seems, that elements can be directly compared to fossil fuels, in terms of energy output. The power in clean technologies is not derived directly from some fuel. It’s derived from an ordering of particular elements.

If ~90% of the power consumed (30 TW estimated by 2050) is fossil fuels, how does this criticality of elements needed in the production of clean technologies change?

• ECEs are chemical elements that currently appear critical to one or more new energy related technologies.

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Asteroid mining or space mining could potentially improve the situation with rare earth elements (REEs) on Earth, as there is evidence that many asteroids contain high concentrations of these valuable elements. Some asteroids are believed to be made up of up to 20% REEs, which is significantly higher than the concentrations found on Earth.

However, the feasibility of asteroid mining or space mining for REEs is still uncertain and would depend on several factors. One key factor is the cost of the entire supply chain, from launching spacecraft to mining and transporting the materials back to Earth. This cost would need to be significantly reduced for asteroid mining to be economically viable.

Another factor is the regulatory framework for asteroid mining, as there are currently few international laws governing the mining of resources in space. This could create legal challenges and uncertainties for companies attempting to mine asteroids.

In terms of the abundance of REEs in our solar system, it is believed that there are enough resources to meet demand for the foreseeable future. However, extracting these resources and bringing them back to Earth would require significant technological advancements and investment.

Overall, while asteroid mining or space mining may offer potential benefits for securing the supply of REEs, it is still a relatively unproven and uncertain field. The feasibility and economic viability of such ventures would depend on many factors, including technological advancements, regulatory frameworks, and the cost of the entire supply chain.

30/03/23 13:11:30

• Ziz-zag pattern to rarity and atomic number.
• Can be normalised to produce a curve.
• If you were to take an example of leinster granite, you’d see moderate sample of rare earth metals just not in any sort of economic concentration. Not really a mineral deposit.
• Rare earth’s appear under alkaline conditions which isn’t common in the earths crust. There’s more acidic conditions, stripping metals in the earths crust.
• Carbonitite formations? Magmatic condition?
• Copper for instance, has been mined for millennia, rare earths on the other hand have only been explored in the last half century.
• Refininement requires a really large amount of electricity. For instance Aluminium refinement. One in Limerick would use a large portion of electricity consumption of Ireland. Bayer process?

03/04/23 12:07:56

Sustainable lecture slides, first one.

• rare earth metals group together in minerals so theres more work in separation. Processing of rare earths is more costly because of this.
• Terbium and Dysprosium used to hardened neodymium magnets. Because there;s a lot of conditions that the magnets in wind turbines must be resilient to.
• Deposits vs concetration in the crust. Key to the rarity vs abundance.
• Not all rare metals are rare earths.
• Terbium market in early 2001 used as an example of market speculation affecting metal market and values.
• REE involved in the miniaturization of magnetic fields in device.
  • Zirconium part of compact that when centered together create these smaller fields.
  • Neomax is the most widely used. Fridge magnets, wind turbines.
• Bolivian salt pan. You can see it on google earth. Lithium production.
• Found with salt because they’re close on the periodic table. Seems that elements are kind of found together (based on where they are in the periodic table).
• Lithium carbonate used to be put in 7up, because it used to be thought of as an ‘upper’. The atomic number of lithium is approximately 7.

06/04/23 13:06:15

• Zinc wasn’t really used until the 20th century for galvanizing (making rust resistant?) steel.
• Pb-Zn veins come later after rock formation (epigenetic).
• Map data tends to over estimate content. That’s why spot data is used.
• Counts are not concentrations.
• Glendalough wouldn’t necessarily be mined for Gallium just because of its high concentration. This is because gallium is a bi product of aluminium and bauxite production.
• Avoca, been mined back centuries, maybe even as far as Roman times! VMS deposit.
• Avalonian margin.

31/03/23 12:07:30

Juan

• Do labs before CA.

14/04/23 12:01:49

• Oklo in Gambon had a naturally occurring fission reactor. Ground water acted as moderator. Averaged about 100kW about 1.7billion years ago.