Material flow analysis applied to rare earth elements in Europe

Abstract

This paper explores flows and stocks, at the scale of the European Union, of certain rare earth elements (REEs; Pr, Nd, Eu, Tb, Dy and Y) which are associated with products that are important for the decarbonisation of the energy sector and that also have strong recycling potential. Material flow analyses were performed considering the various steps along the value chain (separation of rare earth oxides, manufacture of products, etc.) and including the lithosphere as a potential stock (potential geological resources). Results provide estimates of flows of rare earths into use, in-use stocks and waste streams. Flows into use of, e.g., Tb in fluorescent lamp phosphors, Nd and Dy in permanent magnets and Nd in battery applications were estimated, for selected reference year 2010, as 35, 1230, 230 and 120 tons respectively. The proposed Sankey diagrams illustrate the strong imbalance of flows of permanent magnet REEs along the value chain, with Europe relying largely on the import of finished products (magnets and applications). It is estimated that around 2020, the amounts of Tb in fluorescent lamps and Nd in permanent magnets recycled each year in Europe, could be on the order of 10 tons for Tb and between 170 and 230 tons for Nd.

Europe's rare earth element resource potential: An overview of REE metallogenetic provinces and their geodynamic setting

“…LREE and HREE are variably defined: we follow the EU definition of the LREE (EC, 2014) as lanthanum to samarium, and the HREE as europium to lutetium plus yttrium. Some members of this group are vital components in much modern technology, from neodymium (Nd), dysprosium (Dy), and praseodymium (Pr) for high-strength magnets used in wind turbines, hard disk drives and engines in electric cars, to europium (Eu), yttrium (Y), terbium (Tb), lanthanum (La), and cerium (Ce) for phosphor-based fluorescent lighting, smartphone screens and batteries (Guyonnet et al, 2015). Demand for these elements is thought to be growing at a rate of approximately 5-10% per year (Hatch, 2012;Massari and Ruberti, 2013) although rapid technological development means that accurate prediction is difficult.…”

“…Recycling of scrap consumer electronics and technical industrial components will increasingly contribute to REE supply in the future (Binnemans et al, 2013), but is unlikely to be able to meet increasing demand (Du and Graedel, 2011), and thus mining of natural deposits is expected to continue as the major source for REE. At the time of writing, almost 90% of all REE entering the global market are produced in China (Wübbeke, 2013), and the EU has to import virtually all its REE, either as raw materials or as products such as batteries and magnets (Wall, 2014;Guyonnet et al, 2015). For this reason, the European Commission has recently identified the REE, particularly the HREE, as critical materials with a significant risk to supply (EC, 2014).…”

Critical metals in end-of-life products

“…Federation (2003) and Guyonnet et al (2015), a lifespan estimate of six years was used for the both lamp types.…”

Deriving European Tantalum Flows Using Trade and Production Statistics

“…Though there have been numerous studies describing the flows of critical materials (Busch et al 2014; BIO by Delloite 2015; Guyonnet et al 2015), existing literature on the supply chain of tantalum is limited. Previous studies discussing the use of tantalum in various products have been able to describe the tantalum supply chain at a high level of detail, but only in a qualitative sense (Jeangrand 2005;Espinoza 2012;EU 2014).…”