Як уникнути заборгованості: Уоррен Баффет - фінансове майбутнє американської молоді (1999)
A Rarity rare metals is impeding Green Technologies.
A shortage of rare earth metals, used in everything from electric car batteries to solar panels to wind turbines, hinders the growth of renewable energy technologies Researchers are working to find alternatives to these critical components or better ways to recycle .
With the global effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, it is ironic that many resources or energy-saving technologies aren t used to the maximum because we don t have enough raw materials to do them.
For example, said Alex King, director of the new Institute of critical materials, each wind farm a few turbines that were there because their fragile gearboxes collapsed They can be fixed, of course, but that takes time and during this time the wind is not being picked up now, you can make a more reliable wind turbine that need a gearbox doesn t at all, the king did, but you need a truck full of oneself called rare earth metals do.
These bits of critical elements are bound for recycling to a subsidiary of Mitsubishi in Japan.
And simply is not the same offer, we could all use of the new generation of fluorescent bulbs that are twice as effective as the current standard, but when the US Department of Energy DOE tried to make this switch 2009, companies such as General electric cried they wouldn t be able to get filthy enough hands on rare earths for the new bulbs.
The move to new and better technologies of smart phones to electric cars means a growing demand for exotic metals that are rare thanks both geology and politics thin panels, solar cheap need tellurium, making did some 0 0000001 percent of the earth crust, making it three times more rare than gold high performance batteries require lithium, which is only easily extract brackish pools in the Andes in 2011, the average price of rare earth metals rose almost 750 percent of platinum, necessary as a catalyst in fuel cells which convert hydrogen into energy, almost exclusively comes from South Africa.
Researchers and industry workers woke up with both a shock to the problems caused by these dubious supply chains in 2011, when the average price of rare earths including terbium and europium, used in fluorescent lamps; and neodymium, used in powerful magnets that help to power wind turbines and electric motors made by as much as 750 percent in one year, the problem was that China, which controlled 97 percent of production land World rare, had pressed against trade a solution was negotiated and the price shock faded, but the threat of future supply problems for rare earths and other so-called critical elements still looms.
This why the critical materials Institute, located at Ames Laboratory DOE was created the Institute opened in June, and the official opening ribbon was in September Its mission is to predict which materials will become the next problem , working to improve the supply chains and trying to invent alternative materials that don t need so many critical elements first the institute is one of a handful of organizations in trying the world to fight against the problem of the critical elements, organizations like the American Physical Society called attention to for years he Sá hot topic in Europe at the moment, says Olivier Vidal, coordinator of a project of the European Commission called ERA-MIN one of a handful of European initiatives that are now rise.
It is really urgent, said the king, we're facing real challenges today, we must find solutions tomorrow, not the next day.
Despite the high cost and the high demand for critical metals energy technology, very little of this metal is recycled In 2009, it was estimated that less than one percent of the rare earth metals was recovered Ruediger Kuehr, head of the resolution the problem of electronic waste StEP in Bonn, says that 49 million tons of electronic waste are produced each year, from cell phones to refrigerators to that, maybe 10 percent is recycled, it is ridiculous to throw just equipment so precious away, said Diran Apelian, founding director of the metal processing Institute in Worcester, Belgian company now recycles 350,000 tons of electronic waste per year, including photovoltaic cells Massachusetts There are something like 32 tons of gold in all cell phones s the world, says Apelian It's huge gold mine in our landfills u rbaines.
Get metals in modern technology is a pain because they are embedded in tiny quantities in increasingly complex devices A cell phone used around 2000 about two dozen items; a modern smartphone uses over 60 We make things more difficult for ourselves, said the king Despite the relatively high concentrations of rare earths in the technology, he says, it is actually chemically easier to separate the surrounding material in simple rocks in complicated phones.
But it's possible the company Brussels-based Umicore is at the forefront of critical metals recycling technologies, King said on his website Hoboken, Belgium, the company recycles annually about 350,000 tons of electronic waste, including photovoltaic cells and computer circuit boards, to recover metals including tellurium in 2011 the company launched a company to recycle rare earths batteries rechargeable metal hydride it s about a gram of rare earth in a battery AAA on its site in Antwerp, in partnership with the French company Solvay even the Japanese car company Honda announced in March that it has developed its own internal recycling program for metal hydride batteries that the company plans to test the use of cars damaged by the earthquake of 2011 and the tsunami in Japan Institute of critical materials develops mét hode which involves merging old liquid magnesium rare earth magnets tease when it comes to recycling, everything is possible, said Kuehr it is a question of whether it is economic.
One of the most difficult electronic waste recycling step is simply to get the batteries or other metal rich critical components of the apparatus more or machine It is a servile but complex task, which is often given to low-paid workers in places like China or Nigeria in Guiyu southern area of China, for example, more than 100,000 people work to dismantle e-waste, boil circuit boards to remove the plastic and metal leaching with acid, at great risk to the environment and uncontrolled burning will lead to contaminated groundwater, and one study found high levels of lead in children living in Guiyu Japan is the onus should be placed manufacturers to recover and recycle their own products, there researcher forefront of efforts to automate these processes to can be economically and safely by machines, said the king.
More important than technology, says Apelian is politics and education In a study of recycling rates in the United States about 20 products, plastic to metal, the one with the highest rate of recovery is lead batteries, mainly used in cars Their recovery rate is 98 percent, compared to about 50 percent for aluminum cans reason, said Apelian, because the government, worried about the lead, gives the car companies a financial incentive to recycle batteries themselves.
The onus, Apelian said, should be on manufacturers to recover and recycle their own products, so they make them easier to reuse or break first, we must make to recover This is almost nonexistent.
Recycling is perhaps the best way to go for items where demand is expected to stabilize in the long term demand for terbium and europium, for example, will likely disappear as fluorescent bulbs are eventually replaced by LED lot smaller but for other elements, such as neodymium, it can t be the only solution at this moment, we need small amounts of neodymium ear buttons on your smartphone, said the king, but for a wind turbine high performance you need about two tons.
For items where demand is expected to increase, one option is to open new mines China currently dominates the mining of rare earth in part, notes a report of the American Society of 2011 physics, because the more flexible environmental standards development of land are cheaper, but resources exist elsewhere There are about 450 potential rare earth mines being watched around the world, according to the King some are quite advanced the rare earth division of the mine Mountain Pass in California reopened this year after being driven out of business by China in 2002 Despite some initial disappointment production capacity, King thinks that business will succeed even, the Mount Weld mine for rare earths in an approach is to find alternative materials that don t need so many critical elements in Australia is ramping up these efforts, among other s, reduced production in China share of 97 percent to about 90 percent in the last year or two, said the king.
It can be difficult to develop economies of scale when dealing with only materials in small quantities Global tellurium demand in 2009, for example, was only 200 tons All this came as a byproduct of copper or the extraction of gold Although tellurium is invaluable to 145 per kilogram, tiny amounts are barely a blip in sheets advantage of these mining companies they must be dragged in kicking and screaming said production, the king .
Another option is to make more effective business processes for rare earths, said the king, mining companies essentially grind the rock, throw it in the water and blow bubbles through it the REE bearing minerals tend to float and can be skimmed up But this represents only about 65 percent of rare earth ore, said the king his institute now uses supercomputers DOE to search for molecules that could bind the elements and help them float If we can invent a fairy dust to sprinkle water to which range from 65 to 75 percent, you boost instantly unusual production land.
Boom in mining rare earth mounting Poses Risks toxic.
The extraction of rare earth metals, used in everything from smart phones to wind turbines, has long been dominated by China, but spreads mining in countries such as Malaysia and Brazil, scientists warn of the dangers of toxic and radioactive waste their mining and processing generates READ MORE.
Without opening a new mine, said the king, he hopes that this strategy will succeed in a year or two.
A final approach is to find replacement materials that t need so donate critical elements first It is a demanding task Rare earths are a little magic, said the king, according to their properties, they are a essential ingredient in the magnets, for example, because of the way they fight strong but undisciplined magnetic properties of iron a task that no other element seems able to do research efforts that try to make more magnets without strong REE are considered a long shot, but said the king, we could not get them all, but we can get the most expensive and rarest of rare earths.
King remains optimistic struggles with limited resources to go back, he noted the Bronze Age, there are some 2,000 years, caused the copper supply to run dry In response, the king said, old recycled bronze sought new mines, and spent 200 years optimize the most-available, but less ideal alternative iron to do the same job solutions today are the same, but we hope to find adequate replacements won t take so long it didnt take us 200 years, said the king, we're shooting for two.
Nicola Jones is a freelance journalist based in Pemberton, British Columbia, just outside of Vancouver with a background in chemistry and oceanography, she writes about the physical, most often to the journal Nature She also helped the US science Globe and Mail and New scientific and serves as science journalist in residence at the University of British Columbia to learn more about Nicola Jones.
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