Near-zero-waste processing of low-grade, complex primary ores and secondary raw materials in Europe: technology development trends

Spooren, Jeroen; Binnemans, Koen; Björkmalm, Johanna; Breemersch, Koen; Dams, Yoko; Folens, Karel; González-Moya, María; Horckmans, Liesbeth; Komnitsas, Kostas; Kurylak, Witold; López, María Ángeles Fernández; Mäkinen, Jarno; Onisei, Silviana; Oorts, Koen; Peys, Arne; Pietek, Grzegorz; Pontikes, Yiannis; Snellings, Ruben; Tripiana, María; Varia, Jeet; Willquist, Karin; Yurramendi, Lourdes; Kinnunen, Päivi

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104919

Cited by 141 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 168 publications

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“…Exhaustion of metal ore deposits leads to the situation that large amounts of tailings, sludges, slags, dust, and ashes from metallurgical processes and mining industries could be categorized as secondary raw material, containing not only base metals, but also critical raw materials [30]. Consequently, the interest in this topic has been raising globally [31] and researchers and practitioners in Finland have also shown interest in sustainable metal and mining processes and move toward zero-waste and closed-loop thinking in mining and metallurgy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland

2021

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Circular economy has emerged as a sustainable alternative to the traditional, linear, extract-produce-use-dump economy. The scientific society, practitioners, policymakers, and business sectors are all actively taking part in driving the transition toward circular economy in their own sectors. Every sector is striving to address the environmental issues of their own area, and to find solutions to the problem of resource scarcity. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies on the general status of circular economy research and applied projects. Finland aims to be a global pioneer in this field, which is why there is a tremendous boost in research in various fields of sustainable materials management. Therefore, there is a need to have a better perspective of the research society’s efforts to accelerate the transition to circular economy. The objective of this paper is to review scientific research and practices of circular economy transition in Finland, in order to categorize and analyze them. The paper aims to give an insight into the current status and provide a comprehensive understanding of the trend changes during the past 20 years. The analysis shows that there is growing attention to circular economy in many research fields, researchers and practitioners in all fields have responded to the need of the society. However, the recycling-based ‘end-of-pipe’ interpretation of circular economy is still more dominant than developing and implementing strategies for circular product design, dematerializing society, and developing service-based business models. It is important to bear in mind that circular economy is about much more than improved resource flows and waste management practices. Achieving a circular economy needs the engagement of the society, it needs invention and innovation and it also requires the creation of new technologies, products, services, and business models. This study gives a comprehensive perspective at the national level and addresses the key actions and sectors which require more investment and attention from the scientific community to boost the transition toward circular economy. There are some limitation in this study derived from the method of data collection and selection of databases. Due to this, there may be valuable works that were not published, or only in the Finnish language and were, therefore, not identified in this study.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland

2021

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“…The ADP refers to the exhaustion of nonrenewable resources and the resultant environmental impacts, being mainly affected by the rate of resources extraction [47]. In fact, the exploration of mine ores involves extremely high quantities of mining residues generation, due the low ore grades in comparison to the past [48]. Comparing to REF (1.58 × 10 −4 kg Sb eq.…”

Section: Impacts Of Raw Materials In Mortar Manufacturementioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment of Mortars Produced Partially Replacing Cement by Treated Mining Residues

et al. 2021

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The use of secondary mining resources to replace conventional constituents in mortars production has proved the effectiveness to preserve the quality of mechanical, physical, and chemical properties. However, minimal research has been performed to quantify the environmental impacts of mortars with mining residues. In the present work, a life cycle assessment of 10 mortars was carried out. A reference mortar (100% of cement binder) and mortars with cement substitutions in 10, 25, and 50% by raw, electrodialytic treated, and electrodialytic plus thermal treated mining residues were analysed. The impacts were studied in six environmental categories: (1) abiotic depletion; (2) global warming; (3) ozone depletion; (4) photochemical ozone creation; (5) acidification; and (6) eutrophication potentials. The results demonstrated that mortars formulated with raw mining residues may decrease the environmental impacts, namely in global warming potential (55.1 kg CO2 eq./t modified mortar). Considering the treatments applied to mining residues, the major mitigations were reported in photochemical ozone creation (−99%), ozone depletion (−76 to −98%), and acidification potential (−90 to −94%), mainly due to the disposal impacts avoided in comparison to the reference mortar. Analysing all mortars’ constituents and their management options, products with electrodialytic treated mining residues showed higher influence in ozone depletion (18 to 52%). Coupling a thermal procedure, mining residues contributed for 99% of the abiotic depletion potential of mortars.

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“…Circular economy contributes to sustainability by minimising natural resource extraction and waste while optimising environmental, social, technical and economic values throughout the lifecycles of materials, components and products [10]. Circular economy brings together an eclectic mix of ideas, such as cleaner production [11][12][13], industrial ecology [14][15][16][17][18], resource efficiency [19][20][21], cradle-to-cradle [22,23], regenerative design [24], products-as-service [25][26][27][28], natural capital [29][30][31][32], zero waste [33][34][35][36] and more (further insights in, e.g., [37][38][39]). Generally speaking, circular economy strategies encompass (1) a narrowing of resource flows in the economy, e.g., by optimising designs using less materials; (2) a slowing of resource flows, e.g., by repairing and reusing products to keep them in use for longer; (3) a closing of resource flows by recycling materials; and (4) integrating resource flows back into natural biogeochemical cycles at the end of their consecutive uses [40,41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

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Near-zero-waste processing of low-grade, complex primary ores and secondary raw materials in Europe: technology development trends

Cited by 141 publications

References 168 publications

Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland

Current Status of Circular Economy Research in Finland

Life Cycle Assessment of Mortars Produced Partially Replacing Cement by Treated Mining Residues

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

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