Presentation by Dr. Kwame Awuah-Offei at workshop on energy critical materials. Workshop was held at the Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch. It was attended by researchers from Stellenbosch University, University of Western Cape, and Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

1. Sustainable Critical Elements
Supply Chains For Renewable
Energy Technologies
Kwame Awuah-Offei
Assist. Prof.

2. Outline
• Renewable energy
critical elements
• Criticality factors
• Sustainability &
critical elements

3. ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENTS

4. Energy Critical Elements
“Describe a class of chemical elements that currently
appear critical to one or more new, energy-related
technologies. A shortage of these elements would
significantly inhibit large-scale deployment, which
could otherwise be capable of transforming the way
we produce, transmit, store, or conserve energy.” -
American Physical Society (APS 2011)

5. Energy Critical Elements
• REEs
• Platinum group
elements
• Photovoltaic
elements
• Others

6. REEs/Lanthanides
• 15 elements with atomic number (N) from 57
(lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium)
• Yttrium (N = 39) is also included with the REE group
• Often, divided into heavy and light

7. REEs
1. Lanthanum (La) 9. Terbium (Tb)
2. Cerium (Ce) 10. Dysprosium (Dy)
3. Praseodymium (Pr) 11. Holmium (Ho)
4. Neodymium (Nd) 12. Erbium (Er)
5. Promethium (Pm) 13. Thulium (Tm)
6. Samarium (Sm), 14. Ytterbium (Tb)
7. Europium (Eu) 15. Lutetium (Lu)
8. Gadolinium (Gd) 16. Scandium (Sc)
17. Yttrium (Y)

8. REEs & Energy
• Used in the production of clean energy
including:
– Advanced automotive propulsion batteries
– Electric motors
– High-efficiency light bulbs
– Generators in wind turbines
• May be used for future energy economies:
– Applications in high-temperature
superconductivity
– Safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a
post-hydrocarbon economy

9. Platinum Group Elements (PGEs)
• PGEs include:
– Ruthenium (Ru) – Osmium (Os)
– Rhodium (Rh) – Iridium (Ir)
– Palladium (Pd) – Platinum (Pt)

10. PGEs & Energy
• Platinum, palladium,
and other PGEs, used
as catalysts in fuel cells
that may find wide
applications in
transportation.

11. Photovoltaics
• Photovoltaics include:
– Gallium (Ga) – Indium (In)
– Germanium (Ge) – Tellurium (Te)
– Selenium (Se)

12. Photovoltaics
These are semiconductors
used in photovoltaics

13. Others
• These include:
– Cobalt (Co) – Rhenium (Re)
– Helium (He) – Silver (Ag)
– lithium (Li)

14. Energy Uses
• Lithium and lanthanum are
used in high performance
batteries
• Helium is required in
cryogenics, energy research,
advanced nuclear reactor
designs, and manufacturing
in the energy sector
• Rhenium is used in high
performance alloys for
advanced turbines

15. CRITICALITY FACTORS

16. What makes ECEs critical?
1. Crustal abundance, concentration, &
distribution
2. Geopolitical risks
3. The risks of joint production
4. Environmental and social concerns
5. Response times in production and
utilization

17. 1. Geologic Abundance
• Abundance is affected by overall concentration in
the earth’s crust (e.g. concentration of Ge is
0.00015%)
• Most ECEs occur primarily as atomic substitutes in
minerals composed of common elements
• Poor understanding of mechanisms of local
enrichment means:
– Poor models of mineralization
– Poor extraction methods

18. 2. Geopolitical Risks
• Geopolitical risks are affected by:
– Number of producing mines, companies
or nations
– Political and economic conditions in
producing countries
• REEs (>95% from China), PGEs (~80%
from SA) & Lithium (Chile, Bolivia,
and Argentina)

19. 3. Risk of Joint Production
• Joint production results in lower costs for
by- or co-products
• Production methods are controlled by the
primary product
– Almost all current production of Te comes from
electrolytic refining of Cu, which is being
replaced with SX-EW
• Future replacement orebodies (primary
production) will be more expensive

20. 4. Environmental & Social
Concerns
• Mining & processing of ECEs have
environmental and social impacts
• Differences in regulations,
geographically, can result in migration
of production activities
– E.g. REE production in China

21. 5. Response Times
• It typically takes 5-15 years to bring a new mine to
production
• Development of new technology, which will
utilizes ECEs takes time and is uncertain
• It typically takes time to develop new extraction
methods
• Seamless production requires free flow of
information between the demand and supply side
– Li is an example of such uncertainty in lead times

22. SUSTAINABILITY

23. What is Sustainability?
Sustainability/sustainable development is defined as,
“the ability of current generations to meet their needs
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.” (World Commission on
Environment and Development).
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24. Characteristics of ECE
Supply Chains
• ECE supply chains are:
– Global
– Diverse economic, environmental &
social impacts over different geographic
locations
– Consists of private & public, and small to
multi-national actors
– Impacted by active public policy
– Diverse stakeholders

25. Challenges for Achieving
Sustainable Supply Chains
• Means of comprehensively assessing sustainability
of the ECE supply chains to inform public policy
– Balanced & standardized
– Addresses all stakeholder concerns
• Developing technology with material needs and
sustainability considerations
• Conflicting sustainability impacts of policy actions
• Diverse stakeholder interests

26. References
• American Physical Society and the Materials Research Society (2011), Energy Critical
Elements: Securing Materials for Emerging Technologies, Available online at:
http://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-
reports/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=236337. Accessed: 5/26/2012
• European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry. (2010), “Critical Raw Materials for
the EU.” Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/rawmaterials/documents/index_en.htm. Accessed:
5/26/2012
• Long, K. R., Van Gosen, B. S., Foley, N. K. and Cordier, D. (2010), “The Principal Rare
Earth Elements Deposits of the United States—A Summary of Domestic Deposits and a
Global Perspective”, US Geological Survey, Report No. 2010–5220, 96 pp.

27. QUESTIONS?
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