Challenges towards a circular economy in the non-ferrous metal sector exemplified

• Autorzy: Piret Norbert
• Konferencja: Gospodarka obiegu zamkniętego w przemyśle metali nieżelaznych
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

The prime intention of this presentation is to evaluate the position of the Non-Ferrous Metal Sector in the frame of the Circular Economy concept, introduced some years ago and intensively propagated by the EU. This concept widens the scope of management of materials beyond the since long existing industrial practice of recycling and encompasses the objectives of minimization of utilization of new resources, maximizing the reuse of postconsumer goods and recycling of production intermediates and non-reusable postconsumer goods, thereby minimizing waste generation, leading towards zero discharge. Obviously recycling has been performed for ages, in case it was economically favourable, such as for scrap metals. If recycling was uneconomic, end-of-life products and production intermediates were wasted and disposed of by dumping/ landfilling or incineration. The negative environmental impact of this practice has lead to legislation prohibiting the generation of waste or forcing to reprocess the generated waste against a treatment charge. In the Circular Economy concept an additional objective is the recovery of valorisable metals with the goal to decrease the need of utilisation of new resources. It is clear that thereby a reasonable balance between the savings of resources and the economics expense to achieve these savings must be maintained, in order not to jeopardize the objectives of Circular Economy. Circular Economy consists of two terms: Circulating is prioritized but Economics may not be ignored. This important limitation of Circular Economy is obviously less stringent for high value metals, including as well the so-called critical metals, which can support higher recycling costs than low priced metals. The performance of materials in Circular Economy is effected by a number of factors, which are: the length of life usage, the number of recycling cycles before quality deterioration and the price level. Organic materials (plastics, paper, wood) are characterized by a short life of usage, low number of recycling cycles and a low price, the latter reducing the incentive for recycling. On the contrary inorganic materials, such as metals and glass, can be recycled unendlessly, have a long life-time in use and are generally highly priced, resulting in an achievable low rate of new resources input, as compared to organic materials, for which a high rate of new resources input is unavoidable. Along the above lines, the performance of the Circulatory Economy for a selected number of materials, in particular of non-ferrous metals, is evaluated. Non-ferrous metal resources are generally accompanied by iron, which poses the problem of the best destination of iron, either as a by-product or as a waste. In many cases, the attempt to make iron a by-product of non-ferrous metal production, has failed. In primary zinc production the iron problem has not yet been solved. As quality of the primary zinc feed material is continuously deteriorating, and the long term sustainability of existing zinc processes is questionable in a Circular Economy, rethinking the processing line should be given due consideration. Titanium has the particular and unique feature that 95% of its production has a dissipating use in the form of titanium dioxide pigment, whereas only the 5% used as Ti-metal and Ti-alloys scrap is recycled. However, processing technology to comply to Circular Economy is available and applied. The most important plastic industry, frequently associated with non-ferrous metals, is still with only 20% recycled globally performing extremely poorly. Efforts to enhance Circular Economy of this sector are an absolutely necessity, primarily to decrease the negative environmental impact. Finally, copper may be considered the metal, which is performing the best in the Circular Economy and, therefore, rightly deserves the denomination of Enabler of the Circular Economy, as rightly stated in an earlier presentation by Prof. M. Reuter. Copper is also an important constituent of EEE. Nevertheless, the performance of Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is, with globally only reaching a recycling rate of 20%, still very unsatisfactory. This is considered to a large extent to be attributed to the ability of selective recycling of the high priced components of the WEEE, resulting in the generation of low priced fractions, of which the processing is economically unattractive. After retrieval of the high value fraction, other destination options are practised, negatively impacting the objectives of Circular Economy. Postconsumer plastics and WEEE are among the group of the worst performers, regarding the Circular Economy.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

non-ferrous metal; circular economy

PL

metale nieżelazne; gospodarka o obiegu zamkniętym

• Wydawca: Wydawnictwo SIGMA-NOT
• Czasopismo: Rudy i Metale Nieżelazne Recykling
• Rocznik: 2020
• Tom: R. 65, nr 3-4
• Strony: 4

Twórcy

autor

Piret Norbert

• P&SP

Uwagi

Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa Nr 461252 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2020).