IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v5y2016i4p34-d81953.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drivers and Constraints of Critical Materials Recycling: The Case of Indium

Author

Listed:
  • Jenni Ylä-Mella

    (Energy and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland)

  • Eva Pongrácz

    (Energy and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland)

Abstract

Raw material criticality studies are receiving increasing attention because an increasing number of elements of great economic importance, performing essential functions face high supply risks. Scarcity of key materials is a potential barrier to large-scale deployment of sustainable energy and clean-tech technologies as resorting to several critical materials. As physical scarcity and geopolitical issues may present a barrier to the supply of critical metals, recycling is regarded as a possible solution to substitute primary resources for securing the long-term supply of critical metals. In this paper, the main drivers and constraints for critical materials recycling are analyzed from literature, considering indium as a case study of critical materials. This literature review shows that waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) could be a future source of critical metals; however, the reduction of dissipation of critical materials should have much higher priority. It is put forward that more attention should be paid to sustainable management of critical materials, especially improved practices at the waste management stage. This calls for not only more efficient WEEE recycling technologies, but also revising priorities in recycling strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenni Ylä-Mella & Eva Pongrácz, 2016. "Drivers and Constraints of Critical Materials Recycling: The Case of Indium," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:34-:d:81953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/4/34/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/4/34/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2009. "Sustainability of photovoltaics: The case for thin-film solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2746-2750, December.
    2. Choi, Chul Hun & Cao, Jinjian & Zhao, Fu, 2016. "System Dynamics Modeling of Indium Material Flows under Wide Deployment of Clean Energy Technologies," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 59-71.
    3. Till Zimmermann & Stefan Gößling-Reisemann, 2014. "Recycling Potentials of Critical Metals-Analyzing Secondary Flows from Selected Applications," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-28, March.
    4. Luca Ciacci & Philip Nuss & Barbara K. Reck & T. T. Werner & T. E. Graedel, 2016. "Metal Criticality Determination for Australia, the US, and the Planet—Comparing 2008 and 2012 Results," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-8, September.
    5. Benjamin C. McLellan & Eiji Yamasue & Tetsuo Tezuka & Glen Corder & Artem Golev & Damien Giurco, 2016. "Critical Minerals and Energy–Impacts and Limitations of Moving to Unconventional Resources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-40, May.
    6. Ayres, Robert U., 2007. "On the practical limits to substitution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 115-128, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hu, Xueyue & Wang, Chunying & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2024. "Material-energy Nexus: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Etienne Lorang & Antonello Lobianco & Philippe Delacote, 2023. "Increasing Paper and Cardboard Recycling: Impacts on the Forest Sector and Carbon Emissions," Post-Print hal-03832461, HAL.
    3. 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.
    4. Sener, Can & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2014. "Energy policy and financing options to achieve solar energy grid penetration targets: Accounting for external costs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 854-868.
    5. Florian Fizaine, 2021. "La croissance verte est-elle durable et compatible avec l’économie circulaire ? Une approche par l’identité IPAT," Post-Print hal-03884377, HAL.
    6. 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.
    7. Raugei, Marco & Fthenakis, Vasilis, 2010. "Cadmium flows and emissions from CdTe PV: future expectations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5223-5228, September.
    8. Song, Huiling & Wang, Chang & Lei, Xiaojie & Zhang, Hongwei, 2022. "Dynamic dependence between main-byproduct metals and the role of clean energy market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Kleijn, René & van der Voet, Ester & Kramer, Gert Jan & van Oers, Lauran & van der Giesen, Coen, 2011. "Metal requirements of low-carbon power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5640-5648.
    10. Liang, Yanan & Kleijn, René & Tukker, Arnold & van der Voet, Ester, 2022. "Material requirements for low-carbon energy technologies: A quantitative review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Jan H. Kwakkel & Erik Pruyt, 2015. "Using System Dynamics for Grand Challenges: The ESDMA Approach," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 358-375, May.
    12. Fridolin Krausmann & Marina Fischer-Kowalski & Heinz Schandl & Nina Eisenmenger, 2008. "The Global Sociometabolic Transition," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 637-656, October.
    13. Zhou, Na & Su, Hui & Wu, Qiaosheng & Hu, Shougeng & Xu, Deyi & Yang, Danhui & Cheng, Jinhua, 2022. "China's lithium supply chain: Security dynamics and policy countermeasures," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Gerbinet, Saïcha & Belboom, Sandra & Léonard, Angélique, 2014. "Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of photovoltaic panels: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 747-753.
    15. Zhou, Long & Alharthi, Majed & Aziz, Babar & Kok, Shiau Hui & Wasim, Sarah & Dong, Xiaohong, 2024. "Illuminating the contributions of fintech, mineral resources, and foreign direct investment in alleviating environmental issues: An empirical analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    16. Mr. Michael Kumhof & Mr. Dirk V Muir, 2012. "Oil and the World Economy: Some Possible Futures," IMF Working Papers 2012/256, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Quentin Couix, 2019. "Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 1341-1378, November.
    18. Gordon, R.B. & Bertram, M. & Graedel, T.E., 2007. "On the sustainability of metal supplies: A response to Tilton and Lagos," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 24-28.
    19. Bouchery, Yann & Ghaffari, Asma & Jemai, Zied & Tan, Tarkan, 2017. "Impact of coordination on costs and carbon emissions for a two-echelon serial economic order quantity problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 260(2), pages 520-533.
    20. Krausmann, Fridolin & Schandl, Heinz & Sieferle, Rolf Peter, 2008. "Socio-ecological regime transitions in Austria and the United Kingdom," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 187-201, March.

    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:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:34-:d:81953. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.