Win-Win: Anthropogenic circularity for metal criticality and carbon neutrality

Abstract

Resource depletion and environmental degradation have fueled a burgeoning discipline of anthropogenic circularity since the 2010s. It generally consists of waste reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and recovery. Circular economy and “zero-waste” cities are sweeping the globe in their current practices to address the world’s grand concerns linked to resources, the environment, and industry. Meanwhile, metal criticality and carbon neutrality, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, denote the material’s feature and state, respectively. The goal of this article is to determine how circularity, criticality, and neutrality are related. Upscale anthropogenic circularity has the potential to expand the metal supply and, as a result, reduce metal criticality. China barely accomplished 15 % of its potential emission reduction by recycling iron, copper, and aluminum. Anthropogenic circularity has a lot of room to achieve a win-win objective, which is to reduce metal criticality while also achieving carbon neutrality in a near closed-loop cycle. Major barriers or challenges for conducting anthropogenic circularity are deriving from the inadequacy of life-cycle insight governance and the emergence of anthropogenic circularity discipline. Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment are the central methodologies to identify the hidden problems. Mineral processing and smelting, as well as end-of-life management, are indicated as critical priority areas for enhancing anthropogenic circularity.

Mass-Balance-Consistent Geological Stock Accounting: A New Approach toward Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources

“…However, Zimmermann pointedly stated in 1951: “resources are not, they become; they are not static, but expand and contract in response to human wants and human actions”. Indeed, reported global resources and reserves of many commodities continue to grow, despite accelerating extraction rates. ,, That reserves are inherently dynamic is illustrated by two examples: first, mine life cycle disruptions such as bankruptcy can unexpectedly and instantaneously “erase” a company’s reserves, reducing national (and global) reserve totals; and second, more efficient technology can turn previously subeconomic parts of a deposit into economic reserves, thus increasing reserve totals. Notably, long-term commodity prices have remained relatively stable ,, despite declining ore grades in production. , This was predominantly driven by exploration successes, technological innovation, and economies of scale, which lowered the threshold for economic mining and increased global reserves. ,, On a project level, reserve calculations commonly use a cutoff grade to estimate recoverable in-ground quantities, defined by a set of assumed operating conditions with variable uncertainty, including technical feasibility, labor and fuel costs, taxes, and projected commodity prices.…”

“…Indeed, reported global resources and reserves of many commodities continue to grow, despite accelerating extraction rates. 107 , 123 , 124 That reserves are inherently dynamic 125 is illustrated by two examples: first, mine life cycle disruptions such as bankruptcy can unexpectedly and instantaneously “erase” a company’s reserves, reducing national (and global) reserve totals; and second, more efficient technology can turn previously subeconomic parts of a deposit into economic reserves, thus increasing reserve totals. Notably, long-term commodity prices have remained relatively stable 4 , 9 , 11 despite declining ore grades in production.…”

Escasez de recursos minerales: consecuencias en la explotación, la sostenibilidad y el desarrollo tecnológico

“…y Japón, esbozando estrategias como: el diseño de técnicas para la recuperación de materias primas críticas, el desarrollo de métodos para reciclar materiales críticos de productos de desecho o el reemplazo de estos por unos funcionalmente similares. En la misma línea, se propone el concepto de circularidad antropogénica, que refiere al reciclaje de metales que ya han sido extraídos de minerales provenientes del subsuelo y se encuentran en uso o en stock en la antropósfera (Zeng, 2023).…”

Simultaneous Removal of NOx and SO2 from Smelting Flue Gas Using Thermally Modified Copper Slag: Factor Optimization via Response Surface Methodology

“…This approach expands the scope of solid waste utilization, forming a new method for the extended utilization of industrial solid waste. Simultaneously, it establishes control over the recycling of bulk industrial solid waste resources and synergistic treatment of significant pollutants from non‐ferrous smelting, achieving the goal of “using waste to treat waste” [20] . Table 1 presents the performance of simultaneous desulfurization and denitrification using solid waste.…”