ElementTracker: a digital framework to track elemental flows through the global economy

ElementTracker：追踪全球经济中元素流动的数字框架

• 批准号: 2606452
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 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=studentship-2606452
• 关键词: ElementTracker; digital; framework; track; elemental

A growing population, the strive for economic development and the need for decarbonization and a transition to zero pollution are going to intensify the demand for mineral resources by factors ranging from 2 to 20 by 2050, raising concerns about the availability and quality of metal resources as well as related environmental impacts (Azadi et al., 2020). Until recycling end-of-life products kicks in, this "resource binge" requires an increase in production rates: we need to mine more in the next 30 years than over the last 100 years. A shift of energy sources (wind, solar, nuclear) is also imposing a change in the mineral resource mix needed to fuel the economy. Out goes oil, coal. In comes more iron, aluminium, zinc, copper, nickel, cobalt or lithium for example. Depending on political choices, one could also expect more radioactive uranium and its degradation products. This shift will induce a massive reorganization of global mineral supply chains and a transformative restructuring of our collective waste management strategy.This project aims to develop a full digital environment capable of identifying mining activity from space imagery and to track the flow of elements through the economy, from mines to landfill, by constructing a georeferenced material flow analysis (MFA) modelling framework set in Bayesian methods.The long-term objective is to develop a set of quantitative tools to allow assessment of environmental and socio-political vulnerabilities around extraction, production or disposal sites. The assessment will consider the compounded influence of climate change and various demand scenarios, developing on the work on Ali et al. (2017), Lupton and Allwood (2017) and Sonter et al. (2020).Construction of the georeferenced MFA model will build on work of Nansai et al (2014) who studied the global flows of neodymium, cobalt and platinum. The work will initially focus on the following metals, chosen based on criteria of data availability and societal and environmental relevance by the UNEP Resource Panel (https://www.resourcepanel.org): aluminium (Al), arsenic (As), gold (Au), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), palladium (Pd), platinium (Pt), rhodium (Rh), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn).The ideal student will have a strong interest in industrial ecology, geology, and environmental sciences. A quantitative background with experience in computer programming or remote sensing would be an advantage.

到2050年，人口的增长、经济发展的努力以及脱碳和向零污染过渡的需要将使对矿产资源的需求增加2到20倍，引起人们对金属资源的可用性和质量以及相关环境影响的担忧(Azadi等人，2020年)。在回收使用寿命结束的产品之前，这种“资源狂欢”需要提高生产率：我们需要在未来30年开采比过去100年更多的资源。能源(风能、太阳能、核能)的转变也在改变推动经济发展所需的矿产资源组合。石油和煤炭都被淘汰了。例如，更多的铁、铝、锌、铜、镍、钴或锂。根据政治选择的不同，人们可能还会看到更多放射性铀及其降解产物。这一转变将导致全球矿产供应链的大规模重组和我们集体废物管理战略的变革性重组。该项目旨在通过构建以贝叶斯方法为基础的地理参考物质流分析(MFA)建模框架，开发一个能够从空间图像识别采矿活动的全数字环境，并跟踪从矿山到垃圾填埋场的要素流动。长期目标是开发一套量化工具，以便能够评估开采、生产或处置地点周围的环境和社会政治脆弱性。评估将考虑气候变化和各种需求情景的综合影响，这是在Ali等人的工作基础上发展起来的。(2017)，Lupton and Allwood(2017)和Sonter等人。(2020).地理参考MFA模型的构建将基于Nansai等人(2014)的工作，他们研究了钕、钴和铂的全球流动。这项工作最初将侧重于下列金属，这些金属是由环境署资源小组根据数据可获得性和社会和环境相关性的标准选择的(https://www.resourcepanel.org)：铝(Al)、砷(As)、金(Au)、镉(Cd)、钴(Co)、铬(Cr)、铜(Cu)、铁(Fe)、汞(Hg)、钼(Mo)、镍(Ni)、铅(Pb)、钯(Pd)、铂(PT)、铑(Rh)、锡(Sn)、理想的学生将对工业生态学、地质学和环境科学有浓厚的兴趣。有计算机编程或遥感经验的量化背景者优先。