UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (Met4Tech)

UKRI 跨学科金属技术循环经济中心 (Met4Tech)

• 批准号: EP/V011855/1
• 负责人: Frances Wall
• 金额: $ 565.26万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV011855%2F1
• 关键词: UKRI; Interdisciplinary; Circular; Economy; Centre

The Circular Economy (CE) is a revolutionary alternative to a traditional linear, make-use-dispose economy. It is based on the central principle of maintaining continuous flows of resources at their highest value for the longest period and then recovering, cascading and regenerating products and materials at the end of each life cycle. Metals are ideal flows for a circular economy. With careful stewardship and good technology, metals mined from the Earth can be reused indefinitely.Technology metals (techmetals) are an essential, distinct, subset of specialist metals. Although they are used in much smaller quantities than industrial metals such as iron and aluminium, each techmetal has its own specific and special properties that give it essential functions in devices ranging from smart phones, batteries, wind turbines and solar cells to electric vehicles. Techmetals are thus essential enablers of a future circular, low carbon economy and demand for many is increasing rapidly. E.g., to meet the UK's 2050 ambition for offshore wind turbines will require 10 years' worth of global neodymium production. To replace all UK-based vehicles with electric vehicles would require 200% of cobalt and 75% of lithium currently produced globally each year. The UK is 100% reliant on imports of techmetals including from countries that represent geopolitical risks. Some techmetals are therefore called Critical Raw Materials (high economic importance and high risk of supply disruption). Only four of the 27 raw materials considered critical by the EU have an end-of-life recycling input rate higher than 10%.Our UKRI TechMet CE Centre brings together for the first time world-leading researchers to maximise opportunities around the provision of techmetals from primary and secondary sources, and lead materials stewardship, creating a National Techmetals Circular Economy Roadmap to accelerate us towards a circular economy. This will help the UK meet its Industrial Strategy Clean Growth agenda and its ambitious UK 2050 climate change targets with secure and environmentally-acceptable supplies of techmetals.There are many challenges to a future techmetal circular economy. With growing demand, new mining is needed and we must keep the environmental footprint of this primary production as low as possible. Materials stewardship of techmetals is difficult because their fate is often difficult to track. Most arrive in the UK 'hidden' in complex products from which they are difficult to recover. Collection is inefficient, consumers may not feel incentivised to recycle, and policy and legislative initiatives such as Extended Producer Responsibility focus on large volume metals rather than small quantity techmetals. There is a lack of end-to-end visibility and connection between different parts of techmetal value chains.The TechMet consortium brings together the Universities of Exeter, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and the British Geological Survey who are already working on how to improve the raw materials cycle, manufacture goods to be re-used and recycled, recycle complex goods such as batteries and use and re-use equipment for as long as possible before it needs recycling. One of our first tasks is to track the current flows of techmetals through the UK economy, which although fundamental, is poorly known. The Centre will conduct new interdisciplinary research on interventions to improve each stage in the cycle and join up the value chain - raw materials can be newly mined and recycled, and manufacturing technology can be linked directly to re-use and recycling. The environmental footprint of our techmetals will be evaluated. Business, regulatory and social experts will recommend how the UK can best put all these stages together to make a new techmetals circular economy and produce a strategy for its implementation.

循环经济(CE)是传统线性、即用即用经济的革命性选择。它的核心原则是在最长的时间内保持资源的持续流动，然后在每个生命周期结束时回收、层叠和再生产品和材料。金属是循环经济的理想流动。通过仔细的管理和良好的技术，从地球上开采的金属可以无限期地重复使用。技术金属(技术金属)是专业金属中必不可少的、独特的子集。尽管它们的使用量比铁和铝等工业金属少得多，但每种技术金属都有自己特定和特殊的特性，这些特性使其在从智能手机、电池、风力涡轮机、太阳能电池到电动汽车等各种设备中具有基本功能。因此，科技金属是未来循环低碳经济的重要推动者，许多金属的需求正在迅速增长。例如，要实现英国2050年海上风力涡轮机的雄心，将需要相当于全球10年产量的钕。用电动汽车取代所有英国汽车将需要目前全球每年生产的200%的钴和75%的锂。英国100%依赖进口技术金属，包括从具有地缘政治风险的国家进口。因此，一些技术金属被称为关键原材料(高经济重要性和高供应中断风险)。在欧盟认定的27种关键原材料中，只有4种的报废回收投入率高于10%。我们的UKRI TechMet CE中心首次汇集了世界领先的研究人员，围绕从一次和二次来源提供技术金属最大化机会，并领导材料管理，创建了国家技术金属循环经济路线图，以加速我们走向循环经济。这将有助于英国实现其工业战略清洁增长议程和雄心勃勃的英国2050年气候变化目标，提供安全和环境可接受的技术金属供应。未来的技术金属循环经济面临许多挑战。随着需求的增长，需要新的采矿，我们必须将这种主要生产的环境足迹保持在尽可能低的水平。技术金属的材料管理很困难，因为它们的命运往往很难追踪。大多数人进入英国时，隐藏在复杂的产品中，很难从中恢复过来。回收效率低下，消费者可能感觉不到回收的动力，扩大生产者责任等政策和立法举措侧重于大批量金属，而不是小数量的技术金属。技术金属价值链的不同部分之间缺乏端到端的可见性和联系。TechMet联盟将埃克塞特大学、伯明翰大学、莱斯特大学、曼彻斯特大学和英国地质调查局聚集在一起，他们已经在研究如何改善原材料周期，制造可重复使用和回收的商品，回收电池等复杂商品，并在设备需要回收之前尽可能长时间地使用和再使用设备。我们的首要任务之一是跟踪当前科技金属在英国经济中的流动情况，尽管这一点很重要，但人们对此知之甚少。该中心将对干预措施进行新的跨学科研究，以改进周期中的每个阶段，并连接价值链--原材料可以新开采和回收，制造技术可以直接与再利用和回收联系起来。我们将评估我们的技术金属的环境足迹。商业、监管和社会专家将建议英国如何最好地将所有这些阶段结合起来，以形成新的科技金属循环经济，并为其实施制定战略。

项目成果

Deep eutectic solvents and their application in electrochemistry

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100649
• 发表时间: 2022-07-16
• 期刊: CURRENT OPINION IN GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY
• 影响因子: 9.3
• 作者: Abbott, Andrew P.

Economic By-Products in copper Porphyries: Silver in the Ascutita Cu-Porphyry, Romania

铜斑岩的经济副产品：罗马尼亚 Ascutita 铜斑岩中的银

• DOI: 10.1016/j.oregeorev.2022.105135
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Ore Geology Reviews
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Eskdale A

Risk management over the life cycle of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles

• DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111240
• 发表时间: 2021-06-11
• 期刊: RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
• 影响因子: 15.9
• 作者: Christensen, Paul A.;Anderson, Paul A.;Heidrich, Oliver
• 通讯作者: Heidrich, Oliver

"Regulatory Study Findings: main themes from qualitative analysis of interview data "

“监管研究结果：访谈数据定性分析的主题”

• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Cavoski, A

Anion effect on the redox properties of copper ions in ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents.

阴离子对离子液体和低共熔溶剂中铜离子氧化还原性质的影响。

• DOI: 10.1039/d2cp04389k
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: PCCP
• 作者: Daskalopoulou E