Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of the production of separated mix of rare earth oxides based on Australian production route

Abstract

Purpose. Life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate environmental impact resulting from the production of separated mixture of rare earth oxides (REO) mined in Australia. Methods. Analytical study of the literature reviews data, measurements and manufacturers' reports, life cycle inventory databases and reasonable estimates of the processes involved in the production of a separated mixture of different REO was performed. To refine the data, was used an approach based on the basis of the matrix and Monte Carlo simulation. To estimate environmental impact from the production of each REO, the method of distributing the environmental impact between different REO was also used. Findings. The obtained results show that the production process of separated REO has a different environmental impact depending upon type of REO: for light REO global warming potential (GWP) is 1.7-3.9 t of CO 2 eq./t of produced REO; a substantially higher impact for medium and heavy REO (GWP is about 90 t of CO 2 eq. per tonne of REO). The major impact comes from production of praseodymium/neodymium (Pr/Nd) oxides (it's about 80% for GWP). The environmental impact from the radioactivity exposure (if waste from the production process is properly managed) shows a relatively low contribution to overall impact on human health (about 0.2%). Originality. The paper pioneered the method of environmental impact distribution, developed by the authors considering the economic value associated with the removal of several co-products from the production processes. The Monte Carlo simulation was used to determine uncertainty of the obtained results during the LCA study. Such approach was allowed more accurately assess different components of the environmental impact resulting from REO production in Australia for the technology described in this paper. Practical implications. The results obtained in the study on the basis of the proposed methodology allows to identify environmental "hot spots" in the production of separated REO and take practical steps to reduce the negative environmental impact of such production.

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

“…For SM, the use of organic solvents was also a cause of the high resource depletion potential. There was also a significant difference between the production of light and medium/heavy REEs, with a global warming and an energy consumption potential about 25 times higher (for both categories) in the production of the heavier REEs relative to the lighter elements [64].…”

A Methodology for the Systematic Identification of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (Norm)

“…However, as overall circumstances are very similar when both radiological and non-radiological hazards are present, use of the LCA methodology and tools already developed in the context of non-radiological hazards, with adaptation to NOR related effects, is an optimal choice. Some efforts have already been made on including radioactivity in on-going research based LCA (Meijer et al, 2005;Schreiber et al, 2021;Koltun and Klymenko, 2020). However, to achieve reliable results, it would be beneficial to develop a NOR oriented LCA method either as a separate, supporting tool or as an inherent part of an IT tool facilitating the use of the methodology we propose.…”

Towards sustainable extraction of technology materials through integrated approaches

“…LCA can be carried out during the operating phase and/or the development stages of a project 126 . One of the advantages of carrying out an LCA during the operating stage is that the foreground data quality will be improved, as there is the opportunity to directly measure data points such as reagent or energy consumption.…”