A framework for firm-level critical material supply management and mitigation

Griffin, Gillian; Gaustad, Gabrielle; Badami, Kedar

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.12.008

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…We assume that firms and consumers are most concerned with the overall technology costs, but don't have much control over the upstream mining and processing portion of the supply chain. Therefore, the methods best suited for firms would include dematerialization, substitution, recycling, and increasing product lifespan [89,90]. Increasing product lifespan may be the least intuitive method of supply risk reduction, but the concept is that if a product lasts longer, it will have to be replaced with a new criticalmaterial-containing product less often, thereby reducing the demand for that material.…”

Section: Reducing Supply Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of critical material prices on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies

Leader

Gaustad

Babbitt

2019

Mater Renew Sustain Energy

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Clean energy technologies are widely recognized as a part of the solution for a sustainable future. Unfortunately, these technologies often rely on materials that are considered critical because of their importance to the technology and their potential for supply disruptions, which often lead to drastic and unexpected price spikes. With many clean energy technologies still struggling to compete economically with incumbent technologies, it is uncertain if such material price changes could have a significant economic impact on overall clean energy technology costs. In this paper, we first estimate material intensity of critical materials for three case study clean energy technologies: proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets in direct drive wind turbines, and Li-ion batteries in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Using these data, as well as material price information, we analyze technologylevel costs under potential material price spike scenarios. By benchmarking against target costs at which each technology is expected to become economically competitive relative to incumbent energy systems, we evaluate the impact of price spikes on marketplace competitiveness. For the three case studies, technological costs could increase by between 13 and 41% if recent historical price events were to recur at current material intensities. By analyzing the economic impact of material price changes on technology-level costs, we demonstrate the need for stakeholders to push for various supply risk reduction measures, which are also summarized in this paper. Keywords Supply risk • Techno-economic analysis • Wind turbines • Li-ion batteries • Fuel cells • Rare earth elements Critical materials in clean energy technologies Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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Section: Reducing Supply Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of critical material prices on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies

Leader

Gaustad

Babbitt

2019

Mater Renew Sustain Energy

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“…Therefore, in the case of Ni-based superalloys, managing the supply risks of rhenium is more important than avoiding those supply risks. On the company level, these management options include hedging, stockpiling, alternative suppliers, material substitution, material and technology development, and ongoing assessment of material supply risks [17].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This includes management of rhenium supply risks throughout the supply chain from molybdenum mining to turbine producers. The industry is apparently aware of these Re supply risks [17], and mitigation strategies range from the development of low-Re superalloys, to recycling efforts, new separation technologies and long-term supply contracts. It should be noted that rhenium is traded mainly over-the-counter instead of on the free market [16].…”

Section: Supply Risk On the Alloy Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the measures taken by General Electric, for example, has been the development of a new low-Re superalloy René N515 [15] with considerably less rhenium (1.2%wt Re) and with similar mechanical properties to the second generation René N5 [2]. The response of GE to perceived shortages of rhenium by minimizing the amount of critical metals in superalloys was described by Griffin and colleagues [17] as an example of successful company-level management strategies for combating raw material criticality. General Electric's researchers have reported several times on the strategy of the corporation concerning critical raw materials, in particular rhenium, in reports and scientific articles [18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supply Risk Considerations for the Elements in Nickel-Based Superalloys

et al. 2020

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Nickel-based superalloys contain various elements which are added in order to make the alloys more resistant to thermal and mechanical stress and to the adverse operating environments in jet engines. In particular, higher combustion temperatures in the gas turbine are important, since they result in higher fuel efficiency and thus in lower CO2 emissions. In this paper, a semi-quantitative assessment scheme is used to evaluate the relative supply risks associated with elements contained in various Ni-based superalloys: aluminium, titanium, chromium, iron, cobalt, niobium, molybdenum, ruthenium, tantalum, tungsten, and rhenium. Twelve indicators on the elemental level and four aggregation methods are applied in order to obtain the supply risk at the alloy level. The supply risks for the elements rhenium, molybdenum and cobalt are found to be the highest. For three of the aggregation schemes, the spread in supply risk values for the different alloy types (as characterized by chemical composition and the endurance temperature) is generally narrow. The fourth, namely the cost-share’ aggregation scheme, gives rise to a broader distribution of supply risk values. This is mainly due to the introduction of rhenium as a component starting with second-generation single crystal alloys. The resulting higher supply risk appears, however, to be acceptable for jet engine applications due to the higher temperatures these alloys can endure.

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“…For instance, General Electric (GE) developed a low-Re superalloy René N515 with considerably reduced rhenium content (1.2 wt.% Re) and with comparable mechanical properties to the second generation René N5 (3 wt.% Re). In fact, GE recently assessed the critical materials used in its manufacturing and commercial operations, and responded to shortages of rhenium by minimizing the amount of critical metals in superalloys, giving an example of successful strategies for combating raw material criticality [ 5 , 26 , 55 ].…”

Section: Aircraft Engines and Crmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Raw Materials Saving by Protective Coatings under Extreme Conditions: A Review of Last Trends in Alloys and Coatings for Aerospace Engine Applications

et al. 2021

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Several applications where extreme conditions occur require the use of alloys often containing many critical elements. Due to the ever increasing prices of critical raw materials (CRMs) linked to their high supply risk, and because of their fundamental and large utilization in high tech products and applications, it is extremely important to find viable solutions to save CRMs usage. Apart from increasing processes’ efficiency, substitution, and recycling, one of the alternatives to preserve an alloy and increase its operating lifetime, thus saving the CRMs needed for its manufacturing, is to protect it by a suitable coating or a surface treatment. This review presents the most recent trends in coatings for application in high temperature alloys for aerospace engines. CRMs’ current and future saving scenarios in the alloys and coatings for the aerospace engine are also discussed. The overarching aim of this paper is to raise awareness on the CRMs issue related to the alloys and coating for aerospace, suggesting some mitigation measures without having the ambition nor to give a complete overview of the topic nor a turnkey solution.

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A framework for firm-level critical material supply management and mitigation

Cited by 16 publications

References 41 publications

The effect of critical material prices on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies

The effect of critical material prices on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies

Supply Risk Considerations for the Elements in Nickel-Based Superalloys

Critical Raw Materials Saving by Protective Coatings under Extreme Conditions: A Review of Last Trends in Alloys and Coatings for Aerospace Engine Applications

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