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Investigation of the impacts of selected

nanotechnology products with view

to their demand for raw materials and energy

Martin Möller

NANOSTRUC 2014

Madrid, 21 May 2014

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Outline

Kapitelüberschrift

Introduction and background 1

Objectives and methodological approach 2

Case study “Electronically dimmable windows” 3

Conclusions and outlook 5

Case study “Neodymium magnets” 4

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Climate change as major challenge

for the 21st century

● Effective goals for climate protection

‒ Limit global warming to 2° C compared to pre-industrialised level

‒ Europe and industrialised world:

cut off greenhouse gas emissions

by approx. 95% until 2050

(compared to 1990;

residual emissions of

1 tonne / person)

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Relevance of technological solutions

to mitigate climate change

● Study „Blueprint Germany“: 60 percent of the necessary savings must

be achieved through technological innovations, especially in the fields:

‒ renewable energies,

‒ power storage,

‒ thermal insulation,

‒ new (building) materials,

‒ industrial production processes

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How sustainable are nanotechnologies?

● In all high-priority technology areas nano-enabled applications

already exist or are about to enter the market

● Hypothesis: nano-enabled applications require less resources and

can be operated with an increased energy efficiency

‒ large specific surface area of nanostructured

materials, which enables increased

material efficiency

‒ entirely new or improved mechanical,

electrical, optical or magnetic properties

‒ targeted exploitation of quantum effects

● But: is there enough proof for this hypothesis?

● Are there relevant rebound effects, e.g.

additional consumption or eol dissipation?

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Objectives of the study

● Describe the anticipated future resource and energy requirements

of particularly promising nanotechnological applications and products

‒ in qualitative terms and

‒ in quantitative terms (as far as possible)

● Identify the specific drivers for a nanotechnological functionalization

or for the substitution of well-established materials

● Investigate whether an increased use of nanotechnology in consumer

products may result in rebound effects, which would counteract the

goal of sustainability enhancement associated with these

nanoproducts

● Commissioned by German Federal Environment Agency

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Methodological approach

● A total of ten examples of promising nanotechnology applications

were analysed in terms of the applications’ raw materials and energy

demand

● Selection from the high-priority technology areas identified in the

study "Blueprint Germany“

● Eight out of the ten examples were evaluated in qualitative terms

● Two examples were evaluated via selected key indicators outlined in

the Öko-Institut’s “Nano-Sustainability Check”

‒ Energy efficiency

‒ Product carbon footprint (PCF)

‒ Resource consumption (especially evaluation of critical metals and rare

earths)

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Selected application fields

Power engineering

• Neodymium magnets

• NSTF membranes for fuel cells

• Organic photovoltaics

Industrial production processes

• Solvent resistant polymer membranes

• Bio-nano coatings for catalysts

Thermal insulation and climatisation

• Aerogels

Further applications

• OLEDs

Energy storage

• Separator membranes for Lithium ion batteries

Materials

• Thermoplastic composite materials

• Electronically dimmable windows

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Selected application fields

Power engineering

• Neodymium magnets

• NSTF membranes for fuel cells

• Organic photovoltaics

Industrial production processes

• Solvent resistant polymer membranes

• Bio-nano coatings for catalysts

Thermal insulation and climatisation

• Aerogels

Further applications

• OLEDs

Energy storage

• Separator membranes for Lithium ion batteries

Materials

• Thermoplastic composite materials

• Electronically dimmable windows

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Electronically dimmable windows

based on nanostructured tungsten oxide

● Made of electrochromic laminated glass that can be automatically or

manually adjusted to conform to the ambient light conditions

‒ electrochromic effect generated by nanostructured tungsten oxide

‒ voltage turns tungsten oxide bluish as a result of a reaction with lithium ions

● Substitution of a systems combining multiple glazing and external

shading provided by aluminium blinds (reference product)

● Currently only

two suppliers world-wide

● EControl-Glas provided

necessary data

● Functional unit:

1 m² of window surface

Source: EControl

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Edge sealing

Float glass

TCO*

WOX

Ion conductive polymer

Counter electrode

TCO*

Float glass

Lithium ions

Li-WO3 colour centres

* Conductive transparent coating

Nanostructured materials as enabler

of the electrochromic effect

Source: EControl

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2 x 4 mm float glass

0,9 mm polymer

4 mm float glass +

aluminium blinds

Electronically dimmable

windows (EControl) Reference product

Functional unit:

1 m²

Modelling assumptions for the comparison

Source: EControl

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-500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

EControl-Glas[MJ/m²]

Referenzprodukt[MJ/m²]

2011

End-of-Life

Nutzenphase

Transportphase

Produktion (Rohstoff + Energieaufwand)

EControl-Glas [MJ/m²] Referenzprodukt[MJ/m²]

2020

EControl glass

[MJ/m²]

Reference product

∆≈265 MJ/m2 ∆≈1015 MJ/m2

Energy savings potential 2020:~152,000 GJ

(@ assumed production volume 150,000 m2)

Energy efficiency results: scenarios 2011 vs. 2020

Source: EControl

End-of-life stage

Use phase

Transportation

Production

EControl glass Reference product

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PCF results: scenarios 2011 vs. 2020

EControl glass Reference product

PCF [kg CO2e/m2] for the

scenario 2011

256 304

thereof Production 153 42

Transportation 7 1

Use phase 96 262

End-of-life stage 0 -1

PCF [kg CO2e/m2] for the

scenario 2020

201 304

thereof Production 99 42

Transportation 7 1

Use phase 95 262

End-of-life stage 0 -1

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EControl glass Reference product

Float glass 20 kg / m2 10 kg / m2

Metals Share of the

functional unit in

relation to world

primary production

Metals Share of the

functional unit in

relation to world

primary production

Tungsten 5-50 ppt/m2 Aluminium 50-100 ppt/m2

Tin 5-50 ppt/m2

Copper 0.05-0.5 ppt/m2

Lithium 5-50 ppt/m2

Vanadium 0.5-5 ppt/m2

Titanium Insufficient data

Resource consumption (scenario 2011)

Source: EControl

● Current tungsten consumption by EControl: 10 kg/a (equals 65 sets of metal drillers)

● Even if production would increase by factor 100 (500,000 m²), no significant additional demand for tungsten would be created (current world production: 72,000 tonnes)

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● Reduction of the energy demand during manufacturing

(sputter process): 185 kWh/m² => 50 kWh/m²

● Reduction of the float glass demand for electrically

dimmable windows: 2 x 4mm => 4 + 2mm

● Reduction of the heat energy

demand during winter period:

increase transmission

in „bright mode“

● Evaluate energy saving potentials

during use phase for southern

countries (currently data refers to

north / central European conditions)

Optimisation potentials

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Neodymium magnets as key components

in innovative energy-efficient products

● Extremely powerful magnets primarily

made of nanoscale neodymium and

iron powder (Nd3Fe14B)

● Key component in many

electrotechnical applications

for the conversion of electrical energy

into kinetic energy (electric motor)

and vice versa (generator), e.g.

‒ Modern wind turbines

‒ Loudspeakers

‒ Hard drives

‒ Electric vehicles

‒ Toys

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Benefits and risks of Neodymium magnets

● Nanoscale metal powders increase

magnetic performance by 10-30 %.

● Increase of up to 30% in resource

efficiency is possible vs. the

reference product containing

a conventional grain-size

● Currently, approximately 70 % of the

worldwide Nd production is used

for Nd magnets.

● The complex production of rare earths is characterized by

‒ the release of toxic and radioactive substances (thorium, uranium,

heavy metals, acids, etc.) as

‒ particularly hazardous working conditions

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Drivers for the innovation process

● Key drivers for switching to nano-scale Nd magnets are

‒ raw material savings in the field of rare earths as well as

‒ enhancement of energy efficiency and

‒ weight / volume reduction

● Since most of the world’s neodymium is mined in China, raw material

savings of up to 30 % are of particular relevance to industrial policy

Without Nd magnets With Nd magnets

Mechanical power 1.5 kW 1.5 kW

Required electric power 2.0 kW 1.7 kW

Efficiency 75 % 88 %

Weight 45 kg 18 kg

Volume 15,953 cm3 4,598 cm3 Source: Gutfleisch et al. 2011

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Rebound effects of Neodymium magnets

● Relevant rebound effects may arise from the wide dispersal of the

magnets used throughout the markets

‒ Smaller and/or more efficient magnets enable small magnets into

cheaper products of equal efficiency, as well as previously unattractive

products

‒ Consumer demand for products with neodymium magnets might expand

considerably, thereby favouring material dissipation

‒ Recycling of neodymium magnets – which is a complex matter anyway –

is becoming less attractive because of the continuing size reduction

● The savings potential identified on the rare earths elements market

could be negated; even the opposite of the desired effect might result

from this development.

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Conclusions

● The study could identify various nano-enabled applications that can

save significant amounts of resources and energy

● Drivers for innovation are often traditional aspects;

energy and resource efficiency are getting more and more important

as a main driver (e.g. Neodymium magnets)

● Nano-enabled application currently often do not manage to

realise existing sustainability potentials

‒ Main reason: production processes are not yet optimised /

large scale (e.g. EControl glass)

‒ Hypothesis: several nano-enabled are likely to exist on the market

that are currently outperformed by their reference product

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Conclusions (tbc)

● Rebound effects need to be investigated at an early stage; however,

they are difficult to identify prior to market entry

‒ Use of scenarios with estimated market volumes and use purposes

as a starting point

‒ Dissipation of critical metals, additional energy demand in the use

phase and toxicological aspects during use and eol stage need to

be investigated closely

‒ Dissipation needs to be assessed against the context of other

applications on the market

‒ Rebound effects are application-specific

● Analysis of the entire life cycle of nano-enabled applications

is an absolute prerequisite for obtaining reliable results

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Thank you for your attention!

Contact: Martin Möller

m.moeller@oeko.de

www.oeko.de

Project team:

Mark-Oliver Diesner

Thomas Hassel

Peter Küppers

Andreas Manhart

Martin Möller

Christoph Pistner

Angelika Spieth-Achtnich

This project was

commissioned by the

German Federal

Environment Agency (UBA);

it was financed with federal

funds under the

Environmental Research

Plan - project number

3711 93 428