Selected data and indicators Collected by George Wurpel:

Transcription

1 ALUMINIUM Selected data and indicators Collected by George Wurpel: IMSA-RAGR 2012

2 ALUMINIUM BASICS Plentiful Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon) and the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Wikipedia The static Reserve-to-Production ratio for bauxite is 132 years. USGS Relatively new The Hall-Héroult process was developed in the late 1880s. Before that, aluminium was so difficult to extract from its various ores that it was more valuable than gold. Wikepedia In high demand Global demand for aluminium has doubled in the past two decades. UNEP (2010) Recycling of metals presentation By 2025, aluminium consumption is likely to increase by more that 2.5 times to 120 Mt compared with 45.3 Mt in This represents a growth rate of 4.1 percent per year. USGS (2010) Global flows When the Washington Monument was dedicated in 1885, it was topped with an aluminium cap. 2

3 ALUMINIUM BASICS In continuous use Approx. 75% of all aluminium produced since 1888 is still in use today: an estimated amount of million tonnes. Hydro (2011) presentation The global per capita stock of aluminium in use in society (i.e. in cars, buildings, electronics etc.) is 80 kg. Much of this is in more-developed countries ( kg per capita) rather than less-developed countries (35 kg per capita). UNEP (2010) This implies that in the Netherlands approximately 7 million tonnes of aluminium stock is present in society. Energy intensive Aluminium production is energy intensive: the worldwide average specific energy consumption is approximately 15±0.5 kilowatt-hours per kilogram of aluminium produced (52 to 56 MJ/kg). Smelters are therefore located where electric power is plentiful and inexpensive. Wikipedia Rusal aluminium smelter in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin /Reuters 3

4 ALUMINIUM BASICS Large footprint for primary aluminium Aluminium production is responsible for emission of 0.41 billion metric tonnes of CO 2 -eq; a contribution of 0.8% to global greenhouse gas emissions. USGS (2010) Global Flows Specific emissions: 12.2 ton CO 2-eq /ton for primary and 1.4 ton CO 2-eq /ton for secundary aluminium. The Ecoinvent database The water footprint of aluminium production is relatively high for a base metal: 35.9 m 3 per ton aluminium. Norgate (2004) There is no sustainable solution for the toxic red mud that is a byproduct in bauxite processing. Red mud spill in Hungary, 2010 Recycling aluminium significantly improves environmental impact, but is not enough for reduction of footprint Recycling aluminium can save up to 95% of the energy compared to primary aluminium. EC 2010 Reduction of the carbon footprint, however, must come from primary aluminium production: increases in the efficiency of smelters or from reduced use of fossil fuels to generate the electricity. The reason being that absolute global growth in recycling rates are not expected. USGS (2010) Global flows

5 GLOBAL FLOW (LIFE CYCLE) OF ALUMINIUM IN 2006 Data in million metric tons Emissions in italics USGS (2010) Global flows 5

6 ALUMINIUM RECYCLING Global UNEP (2011), numbers give estimates from different sources Old scrap ratios 40%, 50% Recycled content 34%, 36% EOL recycling 42%, 60%, 70% Europe: EU-27 EC (2010) Recycling rate 62% for beverage cans 95% in buildings and transport Future developments USGS (2010) Global flows The data on changing patterns of end use that come with increased income suggest that, at least initially, the proportion of aluminium that is generated from old scrap may decrease as countries undergoing economic growth initially use aluminium to develop new infrastructure, which has a long term of in-service use. Later, recycling of post-consumer scrap could increase.

7 GLOBAL PRODUCTION 2010 production in million tonnes USGS Bauxite Alumina 85.3 Primary aluminium 40.8 Bauxite production 7

8 PRICE DEVELOPMENT (CORRECTED FOR INFLATION) Price developments for Cu and 5 other minerals from in US dollars per metric ton Corrected for inflation (real 2009 values). Data from USGS Source: RHEM Koppelaar 2011, Modeling mineral cost developments, MSc thesis

9 MINING WASTE FROM ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION UNEP/GRID

10 ALUMINIUM USE IN EUROPE End use markets for aluminium for Europe (2004) EC 2010

11 EUROPE AND CENTRAL EURASIA ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION IN 2010 (USGS) Aluminium import dependency for EU-27: 47%, for bauxite it is 95%

12 PRIMARY SMELTERS IN THE NETHERLANDS Aldel Primary production ton per annum Secundary production ton per annum Zalco (bankrupt) Primaire production used to be ton per annum Partly restarted (11 juni 2012); the smelter is to be dismantled.

13 REFERENCES EC (2010) Critical raw materials group Appendix V Hydro (2011) presentation. Presented by Roland Scharf-Bergmann, Head of Recycling, 14 February 2011, Brussels Norgate (2004) Water use in metal production: a life cycle perspective. CSIRO Minerals The Ecoinvent database UNEP/GRID (2006) UNEP (2010) Metal stocks in society UNEP (2010) Recycling of metals presentation UNEP (2011) Recycling rates of metals USGS (2010) Mineral yearbooks: USGS (2010) Global flows Menzie et al, The global flow of aluminum from 2006 through Wikipedia Aluminium. (2012, October 5). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:26, October 7, 2012, from www. aldel.nl