Stocks, Flows, and Distribution of Critical Metals in Embedded Electronics in Passenger Vehicles

Restrepo, Eliette; Løvik, Amund N.; Wäger, Patrick; Widmer, Rolf; Lonka, Radek; Müller, Daniel B.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b05743

Cited by 63 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another major change to vehicles has been the increase in electronic components units (ECU) and the corresponding presence of high value resources such as gold and rare earth metals (Restrepo et al, 2017). This will influence the recycling industry by changing the economics of processing ELVs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges around automotive shredder residue production and disposal

Khodier

Williams

Dallison³

2018

Waste Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tThe challenge for the automotive industry is how to ensure they adopt the circular economy when it comes to the disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELV). According to the European Commission the UK achieved a total reuse and recovery rate of 88%. This is short of the revised ELV directive target of 95% materials recovery, which requires a minimum of 85% of materials to be recycled or reused. A significant component of the recycling process is the production of automotive shredder residue (ASR). This is currently landfilled across Europe. The additional 10% could be met by processing ASR through either waste-to-energy facilities or Post shredder technology (PST) to recover materials. The UK auto and recycling sectors claimed there would need to be a massive investment by their members in both new capacity and new technology for PST to recover additional recycle materials. It has been shown that 50% of the ASR contains valuable recoverable materials which could be used to meet the Directive target. It is expected in the next 5 years that technological innovation in car design will change the composition from easily recoverable metal to difficult polymers. This change in composition will impact on the current drive to integrate the European Circular Economy Package. A positive factor is that main driver for using ASR is coming from the metals recycling industry itself. They are looking to develop the infrastructure for energy generation from ASR and subsequent material recovery. This is driven by the economics of the process rather than meeting the Directive targets. The study undertaken has identified potential pathways and barriers for commercial thermal treatment of ASR. The results of ASR characterisation were used to assess commercial plants from around the world. Whilst there were many claiming that processing of ASR was possible none have so far shown both the technological capability and economic justification.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges around automotive shredder residue production and disposal

Khodier

Williams

Dallison³

2018

Waste Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is anticipated that in the future, as the composition of vehicles changes due to light weighting and new material usage (polymer substitution), the amount of ASR will rise [3], [4]. An additional change to vehicles composition is the increase in electronic components units and the resultant presence of high value resources such as gold and rare earth metals [5], [6]. The characteristics of ASR's calorific value, proximate and ultimate compositions varies depending on the techniques employed in the post shredder treatment at different sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot-Scale Thermal Treatment of Automotive Shredder Residue: Pyrolysis Char Is a Resource or Waste

Khodier¹,

Williams²,

Dallison³

2017

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the major challenges facing the automotive industry is meeting the recycling and recovery targets set by the revised European End-of-life Vehicles directive (which has set a target of 95wt% for recovery from vehicles by 2015). End-of-life vehicles are shredded and the metal content is recovered (typically 75-80wt%). The remaining non-recovered material is 20-25wt% (shredder residue). It is this material which must be processed to meet the higher targets. Currently, the residue is disposed of cheaply, which in many cases is landfill. The option to recover material to meet the target is currently limited to mechanical sorting via post-shredder technologies. This is making it difficult to fully implement the requirements of the directive and the future application of the circular economy package. This paper considers the role of advanced thermal processing of shredder residue, which produces gas and oil products that contribute to the EU target. However, to fully meet the targets the authors believe that the char residue is a crucial element. This study presents the results of investigations into the char characteristics from thermal treatment at a pilot-scale rotary kiln at 800-1000°C. The composition of the char and its calorific value were determined and the critical factors on processing char and its subsequent use are presented. The results of these analyses suggest that thermal treatment may represent a viable process for shredder residue and with the char contribute to meeting the EU targets. The char comprises carbon and hydrocarbons and therefore, any secondary use must be benign within the environment and/or beneficial in secondary waste to energy technology. The paper has demonstrated that subsequent screening of the char and secondary processing will fulfill the EU target.

show abstract

“…Only a fraction of the increasing amount of electronics is recycled as electronic parts are distributed throughout the car, as these parts are not easily collected [121,174]. Plastic, fabrics and other materials usually end up in automotive shredder fluff which is landfilled or combusted.…”

Section: Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review

Hertwich

Ali

Ciacci

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

282

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As one quarter of global energy use serves the production of materials, the more efficient use of these materials presents a significant opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the renewed interest of policy makers in the circular economy, material efficiency (ME) strategies such as light-weighting and downsizing of and lifetime extension for products, reuse and recycling of materials, and appropriate material choice are being promoted. Yet, the emissions savings from ME remain poorly understood, owing in part to the multitude of material uses and diversity of circumstances and in part to a lack of analytical effort. We have reviewed emissions reductions from ME strategies applied to buildings, cars, and electronics. We find that there can be a systematic trade-off between material use in the production of buildings, vehicles, and appliances and energy use in their operation, requiring a careful life cycle assessment of ME strategies. We find that the largest potential emission reductions quantified in the literature result from more intensive use of and lifetime extension for buildings and the light-weighting and reduced size of vehicles. Replacing metals and concrete with timber in construction can result in significant GHG benefits, but trade-offs and limitations to the potential supply of timber need to be recognized. Repair and remanufacturing of products can also result in emission reductions, which have been quantified only on a case-by-case basis and are difficult to generalize. The recovery of steel, aluminum, and copper from building demolition waste and the end-of-life vehicles and appliances already results in the recycling of base metals, which achieves significant emission reductions. Higher collection rates, sorting efficiencies, and the alloy-specific sorting of metals to preserve the function of alloying elements while avoiding the contamination of base metals are important steps to further reduce emissions.

show abstract

Stocks, Flows, and Distribution of Critical Metals in Embedded Electronics in Passenger Vehicles

Cited by 63 publications

References 24 publications

Challenges around automotive shredder residue production and disposal

Challenges around automotive shredder residue production and disposal

Pilot-Scale Thermal Treatment of Automotive Shredder Residue: Pyrolysis Char Is a Resource or Waste

Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About