Supply Of Critical Materials Research Articles

Modular Model and Simulation for Process Optimisation in Advanced Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs)

At a time when the supply of critical materials is threatened, waste recycling and reuse is an essential solution for human development. The role of Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to deliver efficiently high-purity material fractions as feedstock cannot be underestimated. However, MRF sorting processes need to remain adaptive with evolving smart technologies and systems that further enhance their effectiveness. For example, a re-designed MRF with AI-based robotics can improve the performance of waste recycling, leading to significant economic and environmental benefits. This study assesses the performance of potential optimisation methods for future proofing MRFs using modular simulation methods. The authors set out to review current robotics sorting technology and pointed out the challenge of efficiency analysis with multiple variables. The study develops a new conceptual model of efficiency analysis considering the identification and sorting limitations of robots, as well as the coordination requirements between robots and conveyor belts. A computational model is designed and developed by modularity program codes to help practitioners gain insight into the MRF performance by modifying the variables (composition of input waste, separation coefficients and configurations) and analysing the resulting assessment factors (purity and recovery). In the end, this study demonstrates the performance of the optimisation methods of MRF (two target materials for one robot and recirculation loops) through simulation.

Enhancing the sustainability and robustness of critical material supply in electrical vehicle market: an AI-powered supplier selection approach

Enhancing the sustainability and robustness of critical material supply in electrical vehicle market: an AI-powered supplier selection approach

A Thriving Bioeconomy Needs Better Tools for Measuring and Monitoring

SummaryLast year, the United States issued an Executive Order announcing the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, a 2 billion dollar initiative supporting biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovations in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture and supply chain resilience. Together with their 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, investment for the commercial deployment of the whole bioeconomy across the entire supply chain is financially supported. The US is not alone – other countries are also developing their own initiatives.If Europe wants to keep its competitive position in the bio‐based industries, it needs a better recognition in EU policy and more regulatory foresight to bring innovative products to the market. Bio‐based products and materials have to be recognised as an important Carbon Capture and Utilisation tool, lowering the use of fossil fuels, and contributing to climate mitigation. The European bioeconomy is well‐positioned for finding a greener way to build a more robust economic base, reduce strategic dependencies and reinforce the supply of critical materials. However, to realise this, access to finance should be made easier and there needs to be sufficient supply of renewable feedstock.Although Europe has made good progress in recent years, more can and should be done to make the bio‐based industries a stronger part of a new sustainable growth and investment model. This article describes some possible recommendations.

Circular Input Rate: novel indicator to assess circularity performances of materials in a sector – Application to rare earth elements in e-vehicles motors

A smarter and sustainable mobility is key for a carbon-neutral and circular Europe, although electrification will require a massive supply of critical materials. Circular strategies can support the transition by maximizing the materials’ value and through effective actions, which however require an adequate monitoring framework.To assess materials’ circularity in a given sector, the novel Circular Input Rate (CIR) indicator is proposed and applied to rare-earths in e-motors’ permanent magnets to monitor recent progresses of circular strategies and estimate their effects in future scenarios. Results prove that the CIR effectively captures the contribution of all circular strategies: in 2030, reuse and remanufacturing can keep in the loop about 90tons of Nd, to be added to 161tons of secondary Nd from functional recycling (captured by the EOL-RIR indicator).In future research, the CIR could be tested to assess materials’ circularity in other sectors, which also will allow to better understand its limitations and potentials.

The growing role of intellectual property in Japan's national economic security: legislative provision

Keywords: intellectual property, innovation, national security, economic security,critical technology, critical infrastructure, inventor, non-disclosure guidelines, securityexpertise, secret patent
 The article examines the role ofintellectual property, in particular, the Institute of Secret Inventions in the developmentof the Japanese economy, ensuring the national economic security of the state.An analysis of the new Law on Strengthening National Security through ComprehensiveEconomic Measures, adopted on May 11, 2022, is given. The organizational andeconomic mechanism for ensuring measures aimed at strengthening Japan's national economic security is considered: a system that ensures a stable supply of critical materials,a system for supporting the development of critical technologies, and a secretpatent system. Japan's Economic Security Act gives the Japanese government theright to determine economic threats and risks associated with foreign economic activity.Focusing on four areas of economic security — supply chains, basic infrastructure,advanced technology and the publication of patents on sensitive technologies — thelaw allows the national government to intervene in Japanese companies' deals withforeign companies. It is concluded that the economic and legal institution of secret inventions,which directly affects national security, will gain more and more importance.And certain provisions of the Law can be used in law-making and law-enforcementactivities in Ukraine: a system for supporting the development of critical technologies,designated patent classifications (Designated Patent Classifications) in thefields of technology that can affect national security, guidelines for non-disclosure, securityexpertise, a system of preliminary determination secrecy, government compensationfor restrictions in the form of payment of «ordinary damages», sanctions forleaking undisclosed patent information.

The electric vehicle revolution: Critical material supply chains, trade and development

AbstractThe emergence of a mass market for electric vehicles (EVs) offers development opportunities for countries that have abundant resources of cobalt, nickel, lithium, copper, aluminium and manganese. Not surprisingly, developing countries have proposed ambitious plans to expand production of these raw materials. However, an observation from the resource curse literature is that strong institutions are required if they are to mitigate the risk of poorly directed, often excessively procyclical, investment, not least because of the complexity, opacity and price volatility of many raw materials utilised by global EV value chains. This paper examines the outlook for EV demand and associated raw material usage paying attention to the drivers and sensitivities required to assess and track future market transformations. These end use shifts are then placed in the context of the broader supply chain adjustments and trends shaping the demand. For resource exporters, adapting to structural change will require fiscal, regulatory, environmental and institution reforms designed to capture shifting patterns of resource wealth in a way which takes appropriate account of comparative advantages in specific value chains and mitigates adverse environmental and social consequences from their extraction and processing.

Critical Materials Determination as a Complement to the Product Recycling Desirability Model for Sustainability in Malaysia

End-of-life waste disposal is a major issue in Malaysia, where the country’s economy has suffered due to waste recovery issues. Many countries have successfully identified critical materials and products for increasing recycling rates, but not in Malaysia. Thus, the Malaysian government and businesses have had difficulty prioritising products for recycling. The absence of critical materials data has meant that a recovery strategy could not be planned wisely. In addition, the Product Recycling Desirability Model that was utilised by many countries to improve their recycling strategy could not be applied to Malaysia, as it requires critical materials data as input. To start with, Malaysia’s important materials have been identified. Next, two risk dimensions are defined: supply risk and material risk. The indicators are then weighted according to Malaysia’s scenarios. The scores are analyzed and applied to the Product Desirability Model to find desirable products for recycling. As a result, 89 materials were classified as critical to Malaysia’s economy, with palladium, rhodium, gold, platinum, and tellurium ranking first through to fifth. Critical materials scoring was used for the first time in Malaysia to comprehend the Product Recycling Desirability Model, a tool for prioritizing products for recycling. Additional analysis reveals that car batteries, tyres, PET bottles, mobile phones, and DVD-R are the top five most important recyclable products in Malaysia. With the material security database readily available and the novel evaluation system being employed to prioritize critical material supply, using risk supply and material security for Malaysia, the government, or private sector, can strategically start to implement recycling policies and initiatives to strengthen recycling efforts, which help to increase recycling rates.

Mechanically strengthened heterogeneous Sm-Co sintered magnets

Samarium-cobalt sintered magnets offer excellent magnetic properties, thermal stability, and corrosion resistance. They are used in a variety of defense and civilian applications, especially when elevated operation temperatures (e.g., 200 ºC to 550 ºC) are required. However, the utilization of these materials is restricted by their brittleness. Improving their mechanical resilience would make them more cost-effective, efficient, and robust in decarbonization and other function-related applications while reducing the pressure on critical material supply chains. In this paper, we engineer a series of novel heterogeneous microstructures, such as laminated coarse grain (CG)/fine grain (FG) and core/shell CG/FG microstructures, to produce unprecedented combinations of superior mechanical and magnetic properties without altering the chemical compositions of the magnets or common heat treatment procedures. A 60% flexural strength enhancement is obtained using heterogeneous Sm2(CoFeCuZr)17 sintered magnets with little impact on their magnetic properties. The mechanically robust heterogeneous Sm-Co sintered magnets have a minor (e.g., less than 4.6%) reduction in the energy product (BH)max due to a slightly reduced squareness of the demagnetization curve, with no decrease in either the remanence (Br) or the intrinsic coercivity (Hci). The flexural strengths of these heterogeneous Sm-Co magnets depend on the volume ratios and mean grain sizes of the FG/CG regions, as well as their microstructural architectures. The fine-grained regions act as mechanical strengthening sites, which can be strategically used when designing the magnet for different applications. This technology is highly compatible with existing magnet manufacturing processes and thus can be adopted readily by the magnet industry.

China Factor: Exploring the Byproduct and Host Metal Dynamics for Gallium-Aluminum in a Global Green Transition.

The potential constraints of critical material supply for the global green transition have raised increasing concerns in recent years. As an important "green minor metal", gallium faces such a potential supply risk for two reasons: it is a byproduct of aluminum production, and the forthcoming end of primary aluminum production boom in China, currently the main global aluminum producer, may bring substantial impacts on the global gallium supply. Here, we investigated this byproduct and host metal linkage using a system dynamics based integrated model and characterized the gallium-aluminum dynamics in a green transition up to 2050 across five world regions (i.e., China, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and the rest of the world). Our results reveal varying patterns of gallium demand and supply in different world regions and the significant role of "the China factor" in ensuring a sustainable gallium supply globally. However, the concerns on the gallium supply risk in China for a common green future could be relieved from the coordination of mitigation strategies from both supply (primary and secondary) and demand (e.g., process efficiency improvement and material intensity reduction) sides among all world regions. Our methodological integration of system dynamics, industrial ecology, and economic geology can be extended to other materials.

Enabling Intelligent Recovery of Critical Materials from Li-Ion Battery through Direct Recycling Process with Internet-of-Things.

The rapid market expansion of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) leads to concerns over the appropriate disposal of hazardous battery waste and the sustainability in the supply of critical materials for LIB production. Technologies and strategies to extend the life of LIBs and reuse the materials have long been sought. Direct recycling is a more effective recycling approach than existing ones with respect to cost, energy consumption, and emissions. This approach has become increasingly more feasible due to digitalization and the adoption of the Internet-of-Things (IoT). To address the question of how IoT could enhance direct recycling of LIBs, we first highlight the importance of direct recycling in tackling the challenges in the supply chain of LIB and discuss the characteristics and application of IoT technologies, which could enhance direct recycling. Finally, we share our perspective on a paradigm where IoT could be integrated into the direct recycling process of LIBs to enhance the efficiency, intelligence, and effectiveness of the recycling process.

Tackling xEV Battery Chemistry in View of Raw Material Supply Shortfalls

The growing number of Electric Vehicles poses a serious challenge at the end-of-life for battery manufacturers and recyclers. Manufacturers need access to strategic or critical materials for the production of a battery system. Recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries may ensure a constant supply of critical materials, thereby closing the material cycle in the context of a circular economy. However, the resource-use per cell and thus its chemistry is constantly changing, due to supply disruption or sharply rising costs of certain raw materials along with higher performance expectations from electric vehicle-batteries. It is vital to further explore the nickel-rich cathodes, as they promise to overcome the resource and cost problems. With this study, we aim to analyze the expected development of dominant cell chemistries of Lithium-Ion Batteries until 2030, followed by an analysis of the raw materials availability. This is accomplished with the help of research studies and additional experts’ survey which defines the scenarios to estimate the battery chemistry evolution and the effect it has on a circular economy. In our results, we will discuss the annual demand for global e-mobility by 2030 and the impact of Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt based cathode chemistries on a sustainable economy. Estimations beyond 2030 are subject to high uncertainty due to the potential market penetration of innovative technologies that are currently under research (e.g. solid-state Lithium-Ion and/or sodium-based batteries).

A framework for firm-level critical material supply management and mitigation

Organizations of all sizes are vulnerable to critical material supply disruptions. Although there is a significant body of literature that examines how large entities such as nations and governments can assess and mitigate criticality, there is very little work that addresses firm-level criticality in a way that is actionable for businesses. This work uses literature review and case study analysis to understand the impact of critical material supply risk at the firm level, and to determine salient internal indicators. A total of 42 criticality studies were reviewed and the findings were used to develop a matrix to assess and monitor criticality risk using internal firm-specific data. The matrix incorporates three categories of risk including product concept viability, production, and profitability. It also contains four key business functions including finance, procurement, marketing, and production. These aspects were chosen because they are relevant to all businesses that produce and sell manufactured goods, and because they represent dynamics that are within the control of an individual firm. Unlike the global and national level indicators emphasized in most current research, the indicators proposed in this research are derived from data that firms can compile with reasonable ease. Finally, this work considers the role of the organization in criticality risk assessment and mitigation through an examination of the data needed to complete the aforementioned matrix and the likely sources of that information. The findings of this analysis elucidate the gap between internal and external and micro- and macro- criticality assessment, as well as provide a framework for firm-level criticality mitigation.

Material Pinch Location and Critical Materials Recycling

Supply of some materials and metals in the World is getting increasingly challenging. To deal with this issue, several organizations (e.g. European Commission) have composed a list of materials critical for the economy, in the list, 27 critical materials (CMs) are included. Furthermore, several actions have been proposed to tackle the problem, including recycling of CM from secondary sources. Global supply chains of raw CMs often rely on limited number of suppliers (e.g., China, Russia, Brazil, US). Since some countries have monopoly and regulate the supply of CMs, they can have big impact on the prices of CM. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explore the possibility of scrap recycling, which can be used to meet some of the demand. To evaluate the amount of scarp that can be used for recycling, we propose a graphical optimization technique (pinch analysis). To show the applicability of pinch analysis and the amount of scrap that can be recycled, two examples are presented.

Evaluation on end-of-life LEDs by understanding the criticality and recyclability for metals recycling

Abstract End-of-life light emitting diode (LED) associated with its electronic product is a new type of electronic waste (E-waste) and contains considerable amounts of valuable and hazardous metals. Although the quantity of a single LED is small, the total number of end-of-life LEDs is extremely significant that requires proper management and recycling from both resource and environmental points of view. Particularly, metals recycling from electronic waste has been considered as a preferred option to ensure sustainable supply of critical materials. In this research, it demonstrates a methodology to evaluate the criticality and recyclability of various types of end-of-life LEDs. Two factors, i.e. the resource index and technology index, were introduced into identifying the criticality of different types of waste LEDs, which indicates the potentials for effective metals recycling. Furthermore, combined statistical entropy and grading, the recyclability is assessed to identify the viability for metals recycling from different types of end-of-life LEDs. The results of the proposed evaluation methodology suggest that green/high luminous intensity LED exhibits significant potential for metal recycling and blue/high luminous intensity LED exhibits the lowest recycling difficulty. The aims of the research are expected to assist manufacturers and policy-makers improving the recycling effectiveness of waste LEDs especially in the metals recycling stage and developing effective waste management systems and strategies in the end-of-life stage.

A framework and decision support tool for improving value chain resilience to critical materials in manufacturing

Certain non-energy materials have been identified as being critical to the manufacturing sector and wider economy due to having a high risk of supply disruption combined with high economic importance. The criticality of specific raw materials is becoming increasingly acute as the escalating use of resources is driven by an increasing global population. Critical materials are vital elements in the value chain yet their supply risk may often be ineffectively addressed by traditional supply chain management strategies. Most research to date has been focused at a national or industrial policy level thus many manufacturers are unaware if their operations are at risk from critical materials at a product level. This paper presents a framework that takes a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and mitigating risk associated with critical materials bilaterally along the value chain to facilitate manufacturers in the identification, assessment and mitigation of critical material supply risk. This paper also describes how the framework can be facilitated for application in industry through preliminary design specifications towards a development of a decision support tool.

Circular economy strategies for mitigating critical material supply issues

Raw materials deemed critical are defined as having potential issues in their supply, limited substitutes, and applications of importance, namely in clean energy, defense, healthcare, and electronics. Disruptions in supply of critical materials can have serious negative repercussions for firms, consumers, and economies. One potential set of mitigation strategies for firms dealing with criticality issues is the implementation of circular economy principles in their supply chain, operations, and end-of-life management. This work conducts a literature review combined with case study analysis to examine how certain firms assess and monitor their vulnerability to critical material supply chain issues and provides specific business examples for integrating circularity strategies. Results indicate the potential for risk reduction that could be gained from implementation of these strategies; specifically recycling, for example, can provide an in-house source (for prompt or fabrication scrap) or at least domestic source (for post-consumer scrap) for critical materials; up to 24% for the case of indium usage in China. Just in time manufacturing techniques have the potential to both exacerbate supply issues (by encouraging low inventory or needed resources for manufacturing) and improve supply issues by introducing resiliency in the supply chain indicating that approach of firms in undertaking these strategies is important. Many cases reviewed show other quantifiable secondary benefits beyond risk reduction, such as economic savings, reduction in energy consumption, and improved corporate social responsibility via enhanced supply chain oversight.

Novel Indicators for the Quantification of Resilience in Critical Material Supply Chains, with a 2010 Rare Earth Crisis Case Study.

We introduce several new resilience metrics for quantifying the resilience of critical material supply chains to disruptions and validate these metrics using the 2010 rare earth element (REE) crisis as a case study. Our method is a novel application of Event Sequence Analysis, supplemented with interviews of actors across the entire supply chain. We discuss resilience mechanisms in quantitative terms–time lags, response speeds, and maximum magnitudes–and in light of cultural differences between Japanese and European corporate practice. This quantification is crucial if resilience is ever to be taken into account in criticality assessments and a step toward determining supply and demand elasticities in the REE supply chain. We find that the REE system showed resilience mainly through substitution and increased non-Chinese primary production, with a distinct role for stockpiling. Overall, annual substitution rates reached 10% of total demand. Non-Chinese primary production ramped up at a speed of 4% of total market volume per year. The compound effect of these mechanisms was that recovery from the 2010 disruption took two years. The supply disruption did not nudge a system toward an appreciable degree of recycling. This finding has important implications for the circular economy concept, indicating that quite a long period of sustained material constraints will be necessary for a production-consumption system to naturally evolve toward a circular configuration.

Big Area Additive Manufacturing of High Performance Bonded NdFeB Magnets.

Additive manufacturing allows for the production of complex parts with minimum material waste, offering an effective technique for fabricating permanent magnets which frequently involve critical rare earth elements. In this report, we demonstrate a novel method - Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) - to fabricate isotropic near-net-shape NdFeB bonded magnets with magnetic and mechanical properties comparable or better than those of traditional injection molded magnets. The starting polymer magnet composite pellets consist of 65 vol% isotropic NdFeB powder and 35 vol% polyamide (Nylon-12). The density of the final BAAM magnet product reached 4.8 g/cm3, and the room temperature magnetic properties are: intrinsic coercivity Hci = 688.4 kA/m, remanence Br = 0.51 T, and energy product (BH)max = 43.49 kJ/m3 (5.47 MGOe). In addition, tensile tests performed on four dog-bone shaped specimens yielded an average ultimate tensile strength of 6.60 MPa and an average failure strain of 4.18%. Scanning electron microscopy images of the fracture surfaces indicate that the failure is primarily related to the debonding of the magnetic particles from the polymer binder. The present method significantly simplifies manufacturing of near-net-shape bonded magnets, enables efficient use of rare earth elements thus contributing towards enriching the supply of critical materials.

Global critical materials markets: An agent-based modeling approach

As part of efforts to position the United States as a leader in clean energy technology production, the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued two Critical Materials Strategy reports, which assessed 16 materials on the basis of their importance to clean energy development and their supply risk (DOE, 2010, 2011). To understand the implications for clean energy of disruptions in supplies of critical materials, it is important to understand supply chain dynamics from mining to final product production. As a case study of critical material supply chains, we focus on the supply of two rare earth metals, neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy), for permanent magnets used in wind turbines, electric vehicles and other applications. We introduce GCMat, a dynamic agent-based model that includes interacting agents at five supply chain stages consisting of mining, metal refining, magnet production, final product production and demand. Agents throughout the supply chain make pricing, production and inventory management decisions. Deposit developers choose which deposits to develop based on market conditions and detailed data on 57 rare earth deposits. Wind turbine and electric vehicle producers choose from a set of possible production technologies that require different amounts of rare earths. We ran the model under a baseline scenario and four alternative scenarios with different demand and production technology inputs. Model results from 2010 to 2013 fit well with historical data. Projections through 2025 show a number of possible future price, demand, and supply trajectories. For each scenario, we highlight reasons for turning points under market conditions, for differences between Nd and Dy markets, and for differences between scenarios. Because GCMat can model causal dynamics and provide fine-grain representation of agents and their decisions, it provides explanations for turning points under market conditions that are not otherwise available from other modeling approaches. Our baseline projections show very different behaviors for Nd and Dy prices. Nd prices continue to drop and remain low even at the end of our simulation period as new capacity comes online and leads to a market in which production capacity outpaces demand. Dy price movements, on the other hand, change directions several times with several key turning points related to inventory behaviors of particular agents in the supply chain and asymmetric supply and demand trends. Scenario analyses show the impact of stronger demand growth for rare earths, and in particular finds that Nd price impacts are significantly delayed as compared to Dy. This is explained by the substantial excess production capacity for Nd in the early simulation years that keeps prices down. Scenarios that explore the impact of reducing the Dy content of magnets show the intricate interdependencies of these two markets as price trends for both rare earths reverse directions – reducing the Dy content of magnets reduces Dy demand, which drives down Dy prices and translates into lower magnet prices. This in turn raises the demand for magnets and therefore the demand for Nd and eventually drives up the Nd price.

Low carbon technology performance vs infrastructure vulnerability: analysis through the local and global properties space.

Renewable energy technologies, necessary for low-carbon infrastructure networks, are being adopted to help reduce fossil fuel dependence and meet carbon mitigation targets. The evolution of these technologies has progressed based on the enhancement of technology-specific performance criteria, without explicitly considering the wider system (global) impacts. This paper presents a methodology for simultaneously assessing local (technology) and global (infrastructure) performance, allowing key technological interventions to be evaluated with respect to their effect on the vulnerability of wider infrastructure systems. We use exposure of low carbon infrastructure to critical material supply disruption (criticality) to demonstrate the methodology. A series of local performance changes are analyzed; and by extension of this approach, a method for assessing the combined criticality of multiple materials for one specific technology is proposed. Via a case study of wind turbines at both the material (magnets) and technology (turbine generators) levels, we demonstrate that analysis of a given intervention at different levels can lead to differing conclusions regarding the effect on vulnerability. Infrastructure design decisions should take a systemic approach; without these multilevel considerations, strategic goals aimed to help meet low-carbon targets, that is, through long-term infrastructure transitions, could be significantly jeopardized.