Integrated Modelling of the Global Cobalt Extraction, Supply, Price and Depletion of Extractable Resources Using the WORLD6 Model

Material flow analysis and regional greenhouse gas emissions associated to permanent magnets and batteries used in electric vehicles

Clean technologies are rapidly increasing in the last decade. In the transport sector, market share of global electric car sales has changed from 0.0 % in 2010 to 3.2 % (2.1million) in 2020, and predictions show that sales could reach near 30 % in 2030. This drastic change is mainly encouraged by environmental goals set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) expressed in CO2-eq, not emitted by electric vehicles (EVs) during the use phase. However, clean technologies might cause other impacts during manufacture and, while clearly reduce the dependency on oil, can increase the dependency on other materials. In this context, the objectives of our work are quantifying the critical raw materials needed by permanents magnets and batteries of EVs (neodymium, lithium, and cobalt); their supply risk, performing a material flow analysis; and studying their environmental impacts using the methodology "Environmentally-Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis". This methodology is used to quantify the produced impacts and the country where the impacts are being produced, in contrast to conventional methodologies that only calculate global impacts. Therefore, environmental impacts are estimated considering different scenarios, based on environmental objectives of the European Union and China. In most scenarios China shows a key role in mining and processing of metals, being the country where major impacts are produced. Obtained results are useful to assess which environmental proposals are more effective to reduce the environmental impact of EVs and set the ground to understand the geostrategic importance of key metals used for EVs manufacture.

Worldwide research on extraction and recovery of cobalt through bibliometric analysis: a review

Cobalt is a strategic and critical mineral whose demand is expected to grow rapidly. This study aims to provide a comprehensive summary of cobalt extraction and recovery research from 2012 to 2021 in the form of bibliometric analysis. The work was based on the Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science) and carried out using the InCites of Clarivate for bibliometric data analysis and the software VOSviewer for science mapping. By analyzing a dataset of 4967 publications, the most influential journals, countries, authors, institutions, and publications were identified, and the keyword co-occurrence networks were mapped. The China mainland produced the most publications, while the USA had the highest average number of citations per publication and the UK was the most collaborative with other countries. The keyword analysis shows that the research hotspots gradually shifted over time from early means and methods for determination of cobalt in solution to recovery of cobalt from spent lithium batteries, smelting slag, copper-cobalt ore, etc. The research will be focused on further improvement and optimization of the separation, extraction, and recovery processes of cobalt from spent batteries in recent and future years, and three approaches were promoted to facilitate economization and industrialization of the processes in this field.

Perspectives on Cobalt Supply through 2030 in the Face of Changing Demand

Lithium-ion battery demand, particularly for electric vehicles, is projected to increase by over 300% throughout the next decade. With these expected increases in demand, cobalt (Co)-dependent technologies face the risk of significant impact from supply concentration and mining limitations in the short term. Increased extraction and secondary recovery form the basis of modeling scenarios that examine implications on Co supply to 2030. Demand for Co is estimated to range from 235 to 430 ktonnes in 2030. This upper bound on Co demand in 2030 corresponds to 280% of world refinery capacity in 2016. Supply from scheduled and unscheduled production as well as secondary production is estimated to range from 320 to 460 ktonnes. Our analysis suggests the following: (1) Co price will remain relatively stable in the short term, given that this range suggests even a supply surplus, (2) future Co supply will become more diversified geographically and mined more as a byproduct of nickel (Ni) over this period, and (3) for this demand to be met, attention should be paid to sustained investments in refined supply of Co and secondary recovery.

A Review on Binderless Tungsten Carbide: Development and Application

WC-Co alloys have enjoyed great practical significance owing to their excellent properties during the past decades. Despite the advantages, however, recently there have been concerns about the challenges associated with the use of Co, i.e. price instability, toxicity and properties degeneration, which necessitates the fabrication of binderless tungsten carbide (BTC). On the other hand, BTC or BTC composites, none of them, to date has been commercialized and produced on an industrial scale, but only used to a limited extent for specialized applications, such as mechanical seals undergoing high burthen as well as high temperature electrical contacts. There are two challenges in developing BTC: fully densifying the sintered body together with achieving a high toughness. Thus, this review applies towards comprehensively summarize the current knowledge of sintering behavior, microstructure, and mechanical properties of BTC, highlighting the densification improving strategies as well as toughening methods, so as to provide reference for those who would like to enhance the performance of BTC with better reliability advancing them to further wide applications and prepare the material in a way that is environment friendly, harmless to human health and low in production cost. This paper shows that the fabrication of highly dense and high-performance BTC is economically and technically feasible. The properties of BTC can be tailored by judiciously selecting the chemical composition coupled with taking into careful account the effects of processing techniques and parameters.

Tracking and quantifying the cobalt flows in mainland China during 1994-2016: Insights into use, trade and prospective demand

In recent years, the demand for cobalt is increasing dramatically because of its critical role in clean energy technologies globally. China has been a leading consumer and refiner of cobalt, and meanwhile is a scarce country of cobalt resources. Its growing domestic demand may impose significant pressure on sustainable development of cobalt resources and make it potentially vulnerable to supply shortages. Aiming at identifying the potential opportunities for improving cobalt resource efficiency and supply security, dynamic stocks and flows analysis was applied to track and quantify the anthropogenic cobalt cycles in mainland China such as its production, use, and trade over the years 1994-2016. The analysis results showed that the production, trade and consumption of cobalt resources in mainland China grew significantly in the past two decades. China has been a net importer of cobalt raw materials but a net exporter of cobalt chemicals and final cobalt-containing products, indicating that China is bearing increasing environmental burden of processing cobalt product for other economies. The in-use stock of cobalt has reached over 140,000 t by 2016, of which the cobalt contained in in-use batteries accounted for approximately 77%. The recycling rate of end-of-life (Eol) products kept at a very low level, less than 20% in the past decades. The cumulative domestic demand of cobalt is projected to exceed China's reserve base by around 2022 based on scenario analysis. Furthermore, some recommendations were proposed for the sustainable development of China's cobalt resource, including the improvement of national cobalt reserve system, development of diversified resource supply channel and the establishment of a recycling system and associated regulations for cobalt-containing obsolete products.