Recycling and circular economy—towards a closed loop for metals in emerging clean technologies

Abstract

Resource efficiency, energy, and mobility transition are crucial strategies to mitigate climate change. The focus is on reducing the consumption of resources, especially energy and raw materials. While raw materials are the basis of our material world, their excessive consumption over the last decades has also contributed significantly to climate change. However, raw materials, and here especially metals, play a key enabling role as well for climate protection technologies, such as electro mobility, the hydrogen economy, and solar and wind power plants, and also for digitalization. Accordingly, it is necessary to make the use of raw materials much more resource-efficient than before and to use them as purposefully as possible instead of consuming them. Advanced circular economy systems and sophisticated recycling technologies build the backbone for the development of a resource efficient and sustainable society. Closed metal cycles contribute for a paramount share to this by securing relevant parts of the raw material supply for high-tech products and by reducing CO 2 emissions in their production at the same time. Interacting steps in multistage treatment processes by mechanical, chemical, and thermal unit operations are challenging but will give a competitive advantage for networks of industry and science that are able to handle that.

The State of Critical and Strategic Metals Recovery and the Role of Nuclear Techniques in the Separation Technologies Development: Review

“…Such a level of demand cannot be sustained in the long run if it is exclusively based on resource recovery from rocks. Therefore, other sources need to be considered as part of the circular economy, and their recovery can be optimized using modern techniques such as radiotracers [51,135].…”

Assessment of some enzymes in top soils from metallic material dumpsites in Benin City, Nigeria

“…The utilization of materials composed primarily of pure metals or metal alloys is commonplace in modern societies and has historically been linked with industrial development and improved living standards (Hagelüken and Goldmann, 2022). Inefficient management and disposal of waste metallic materials can invariably increase the reliance on primary resources and can impact the environment through an increase in the dispersion of metals in different ecosystems (Romeiro et al, 2006).…”

Solvent Extraction Process for Refining Cobalt and Nickel from a “Bulk Hydroxide Precipitate” Obtained by Bioleaching of Sulfidic Mine Tailings

“…2,3 Although metal recycling rates might improve in the coming years, in the case of fast-growing markets, e.g., Liion battery metals, not even 100% of metal recycling might be a timely solution for these high-risk supply materials (e.g., cobalt, nickel, etc.). 4 Therefore, underexploited resources such as sulfidic tailings might be a valuable, responsible source of energy-transition metals. 5 Sulfidic tailings may cause environmental issues such as acid mine drainage.…”

“…The current mining and refining activities are not able to cope with the huge demand for metals for the energy transition. , Although metal recycling rates might improve in the coming years, in the case of fast-growing markets, e.g., Li-ion battery metals, not even 100% of metal recycling might be a timely solution for these high-risk supply materials (e.g., cobalt, nickel, etc.) …”