IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v73y2013icp17-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global anthropogenic selenium cycles for 1940–2010

Author

Listed:
  • Kavlak, Goksin
  • Graedel, T.E.

Abstract

Selenium plays an important role in emerging thin film solar energy technologies. As solar energy is expected to have a larger share in the world's future energy portfolio, the long-term availability of selenium becomes a potential concern, yet no global cycles have ever been generated. In this work, the global cycles, stocks, and flows of selenium are characterized for the entire time period 1940–2010 by using principles of material flow analysis (MFA). The cycles present information on the production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and resource management stages during that period. The results of the analysis show that during 1940–2010 approximately 90Gg of refined selenium was produced and entered into fabrication and manufacturing worldwide. 60Gg of this amount (two-thirds!) was dissipated into the environment through end-uses such as chemicals, pigments, glass manufacturing, metallurgical additives, and fertilizer and feed additives. The in-use stock of selenium is estimated at 2.7Gg as of 2010. Because of data limitations such as proprietary and withheld information, these figures represent informed estimates rather than exact values. Selenium can be recovered from end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment, while for other end-uses recycling is difficult or impossible. One of the ways to buttress supplies of selenium for future technologies would be to deploy recycling schemes for photovoltaics as well as other electronics applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Kavlak, Goksin & Graedel, T.E., 2013. "Global anthropogenic selenium cycles for 1940–2010," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 17-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:73:y:2013:i:c:p:17-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.01.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344913000220
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.01.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feltrin, Andrea & Freundlich, Alex, 2008. "Material considerations for terawatt level deployment of photovoltaics," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 180-185.
    2. T. E. Graedel & Dick van Beers & Marlen Bertram & Kensuke Fuse & Robert B. Gordon & Alexander Gritsinin & Ermelinda M. Harper & Amit Kapur & Robert J. Klee & Reid Lifset & Laiq Memon & Sabrina Spatari, 2005. "The Multilevel Cycle of Anthropogenic Zinc," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(3), pages 67-90, July.
    3. Izard, Catherine F. & Müller, Daniel B., 2010. "Tracking the devil's metal: Historical global and contemporary U.S. tin cycles," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1436-1441.
    4. Berger, Wolfgang & Simon, Franz-Georg & Weimann, Karin & Alsema, Erik A., 2010. "A novel approach for the recycling of thin film photovoltaic modules," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(10), pages 711-718.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hu, Xueyue & Wang, Chunying & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2024. "Material-energy Nexus: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Kavlak, Goksin & Graedel, T.E., 2013. "Global anthropogenic tellurium cycles for 1940–2010," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 21-26.
    3. Nadine Rötzer & Mario Schmidt, 2020. "Historical, Current, and Future Energy Demand from Global Copper Production and Its Impact on Climate Change," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-31, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kavlak, Goksin & Graedel, T.E., 2013. "Global anthropogenic tellurium cycles for 1940–2010," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 21-26.
    2. Marwede, Max & Reller, Armin, 2012. "Future recycling flows of tellurium from cadmium telluride photovoltaic waste," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 35-49.
    3. Abolhosseini, Shahrouz & Heshmati, Almas & Altmann, Jörn, 2014. "A Review of Renewable Energy Supply and Energy Efficiency Technologies," IZA Discussion Papers 8145, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Guo, Tianjiao & Geng, Yong & Song, Xiaoqian & Rui, Xue & Ge, Zewen, 2023. "Tracing magnesium flows in China: A dynamic material flow analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Kannan, Nadarajah & Vakeesan, Divagar, 2016. "Solar energy for future world: - A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1092-1105.
    6. Ravikumar, Dwarakanath & Malghan, Deepak, 2013. "Material constraints for indigenous production of CdTe PV: Evidence from a Monte Carlo experiment using India's National Solar Mission Benchmarks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 393-403.
    7. Marwede, Max & Berger, Wolfgang & Schlummer, Martin & Mäurer, Andreas & Reller, Armin, 2013. "Recycling paths for thin-film chalcogenide photovoltaic waste – Current feasible processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 220-229.
    8. Matsuno, Yasunari & Hur, Tak & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2012. "Dynamic modeling of cadmium substance flow with zinc and steel demand in Japan," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 83-90.
    9. Hussain H. Al-Kayiem & Sanan T. Mohammad, 2019. "Potential of Renewable Energy Resources with an Emphasis on Solar Power in Iraq: An Outlook," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, February.
    10. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2017. "Measurement of returns to scale on large photovoltaic power stations in the United States and Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 306-320.
    11. Catton, Will, 2009. "Dynamic carbon caps. Splitting the bill: A fairer solution post-Kyoto?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5636-5649, December.
    12. Chen, Wu & Wang, Minxi & Li, Xin, 2016. "Analysis of copper flows in the United States: 1975–2012," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 67-76.
    13. Daigo, Ichiro & Osako, Shun & Adachi, Yoshihiro & Matsuno, Yasunari, 2014. "Time-series analysis of global zinc demand associated with steel," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 35-40.
    14. Leena Grandell & Mikael Höök, 2015. "Assessing Rare Metal Availability Challenges for Solar Energy Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-20, August.
    15. Walsh, E. & Babakina, O. & Pennock, A. & Shi, H. & Chi, Y. & Wang, T. & Graedel, T.E., 2006. "Quantitative guidelines for urban sustainability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 45-61.
    16. Elshkaki, Ayman & Graedel, T.E., 2015. "Solar cell metals and their hosts: A tale of oversupply and undersupply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 167-177.
    17. Lloyd, Bob & Forest, Andrew S., 2010. "The transition to renewables: Can PV provide an answer to the peak oil and climate change challenges?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7378-7394, November.
    18. Klinglmair, Manfred & Fellner, Johann, 2011. "Historical iron and steel recovery in times of raw material shortage: The case of Austria during World War I," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 179-187.
    19. Atsu, Divine & Agyemang, Emmanuel Okoh & Tsike, Stephen A.K., 2016. "Solar electricity development and policy support in Ghana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 792-800.
    20. Shaoli Liu & Xin Li & Minxi Wang, 2016. "Analysis of Aluminum Resource Supply Structure and Guarantee Degree in China Based on Sustainable Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:73:y:2013:i:c:p:17-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.