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Winfried Bulach
Oeko-Institut e.V., Rheinstrasse 95, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany

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Review
Published: 22 April 2021 in Sustainability
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Bulk mineral waste materials are one of the largest waste streams worldwide and their management systems can differ greatly depending on regional conditions. Due to this variation, the decision-making context is of particular importance when studying environmental impacts of mineral waste management systems with life cycle assessment (LCA). We follow the premise that LCA results—if applied in practice—are always used in an improvement (i.e., decision-making) context. But how suitable are existing LCA studies on bulk mineral waste management for decision support? To answer this question, we quantitatively and qualitatively assess 57 peer-reviewed bulk mineral waste management LCA studies against 47 criteria. The results show inadequacies regarding decision support along all LCA phases. Common shortcomings are insufficient attention to the specific decision-making context, lack of a consequential perspective, liberal use of allocation and limited justification thereof, missing justifications for excluded impact categories, inadequately discussed limitations, and incomplete documentation. We identified the following significant issues for bulk mineral waste management systems: transportation, the potential leaching of heavy metals, second-order substitution effects, and the choice to include or exclude avoided landfilling and embodied impacts. When applicable, we provide recommendations for improvement and point to best practice examples.

ACS Style

Christian Dierks; Tabea Hagedorn; Alessio Campitelli; Winfried Bulach; Vanessa Zeller. Are LCA Studies on Bulk Mineral Waste Management Suitable for Decision Support? A Critical Review. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4686 .

AMA Style

Christian Dierks, Tabea Hagedorn, Alessio Campitelli, Winfried Bulach, Vanessa Zeller. Are LCA Studies on Bulk Mineral Waste Management Suitable for Decision Support? A Critical Review. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (9):4686.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christian Dierks; Tabea Hagedorn; Alessio Campitelli; Winfried Bulach; Vanessa Zeller. 2021. "Are LCA Studies on Bulk Mineral Waste Management Suitable for Decision Support? A Critical Review." Sustainability 13, no. 9: 4686.

Research article
Published: 07 November 2018 in Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy
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A new recycling process for the extraction of rare earths from neodymium–iron–boron (NdFeB) magnet scrap is being developed, based on the direct extraction of rare earths from end-of-life magnet material in a molten fluoride electrolysis bath. Rare earths are required in their metallic form for the production of new NdFeB magnets, and the suggested process achieves this through a single step. The process is being developed on a laboratory scale and has been proven to work in principle. It is expected to be environmentally beneficial when compared to longer processing routes. Conducting life cycle assessment at R&D stage can provide valuable information to help steer process development into an environmentally favorable direction. We conducted a life cycle assessment study to provide a quantitative estimate of the impacts associated with the process being developed and to compare the prospective impacts against those of the current state-of-the-art technology. The comparison of this recycling route with primary production shows that the recycling process has the potential for much lower process-specific impacts when compared against the current rare earth primary production route. The study also highlights that perfluorocarbon emissions, which occur during primary rare earth production, warrant further investigation.

ACS Style

Rita Schulze; Aida Abbasalizadeh; Winfried Bulach; Liselotte Schebek; Matthias Buchert. An Ex-ante LCA Study of Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Scrap Using Molten Salt Electrolysis. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy 2018, 4, 493 -505.

AMA Style

Rita Schulze, Aida Abbasalizadeh, Winfried Bulach, Liselotte Schebek, Matthias Buchert. An Ex-ante LCA Study of Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Scrap Using Molten Salt Electrolysis. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy. 2018; 4 (4):493-505.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rita Schulze; Aida Abbasalizadeh; Winfried Bulach; Liselotte Schebek; Matthias Buchert. 2018. "An Ex-ante LCA Study of Rare Earth Extraction from NdFeB Magnet Scrap Using Molten Salt Electrolysis." Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy 4, no. 4: 493-505.

Research article
Published: 04 March 2018 in Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy
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Electromobility will play a key role in order to reach the specified ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets in the German transport sector of 42% between 1990 and 2030. Subsequently, a significant rise in the sale of electric vehicles (EVs) is to be anticipated in future. The amount of EVs to be recycled will rise correspondingly after a delay. This includes the recyclable power electronics modules which are incorporated in every EV as an important component for energy management. Current recycling methods using car shredders and subsequent post shredder technologies show high recycling rates for the bulk metals but are still associated with high losses of precious and strategic metals such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium and tantalum. For this reason, the project ‘Electric vehicle recycling 2020 – key component power electronics’ developed an optimised recycling route for recycling power electronics modules from EVs which is also practicable in series production and can be implemented using standardised technology. This ‘WEEE recycling route’ involves the disassembly of the power electronics from the vehicle and a subsequent recycling in an electronic end-of-life equipment recycling plant. The developed recycling process is economical under the current conditions and raw material prices, even though it involves considerably higher costs than recycling using the car shredder. The life cycle assessment shows basically good results, both for the traditional car shredder route and the developed WEEE recycling route: the latter provides additional benefits from some higher recovery rates and corresponding credits.

ACS Style

Winfried Bulach; Doris Schüler; Guido Sellin; Tobias Elwert; Dieter Schmid; Daniel Goldmann; Matthias Buchert; Ulrich Kammer. Electric vehicle recycling 2020: Key component power electronics. Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy 2018, 36, 311 -320.

AMA Style

Winfried Bulach, Doris Schüler, Guido Sellin, Tobias Elwert, Dieter Schmid, Daniel Goldmann, Matthias Buchert, Ulrich Kammer. Electric vehicle recycling 2020: Key component power electronics. Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy. 2018; 36 (4):311-320.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Winfried Bulach; Doris Schüler; Guido Sellin; Tobias Elwert; Dieter Schmid; Daniel Goldmann; Matthias Buchert; Ulrich Kammer. 2018. "Electric vehicle recycling 2020: Key component power electronics." Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy 36, no. 4: 311-320.