Metals for the green transition

For future generations unequal distribution of rare metals deprives developing countries the necessary resources needed to industrialize.

We need to close the recycling loop for rare metals. Meeting the amounts of Lithium and other metals needed for the  energy transition, is not feasible only by recycling .

To realize the green industrial revolution and energy transition, we have collectively committed to the need for rare metals, a lot of them. To produce our wind-turbines, electrolysis , batteries , electric vehicles, solar panels , data centers etc etc . Design to recycle is currently not meeting the demand. 

The demand for rare metals  in Europe is projected to increase tenfold by 2050. For Lithium even sixtyfold. For Cobalt fifteen fold.

The clean-tech and digital sector are competing for the same supply of rare metals: Indium, Cobalt, Copper, Lithium, Nickel and other platinum-group metals (Palladium, Iridium etc)

Most metals for the EU have to be imported. How do we combine the need for metals with the support for local communities and ecosystems?

To  mine for new resources, men enter deep into the habitats of endangered wildlife . The corona crisis has demonstrated that the health of humankind is intertwined  with that of  ecosystems and animals.

The EU ‘s hydrogen strategy sets a  production target of 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. This would require an additional renewable electricity input almost equal to the total wind and solar power produced in the EU in 2020.

The main reasons for the high energy demand of green hydrogen production is the need to match the vast  energy from fossil fuels that green hydrogen is planned to replace, and the low conversion rate of electrolysers, currently at around 30 percent of e total energy is lost in the conversion of electrons into molecules. 

Scaling up both green hydrogen production and renewable electricity poses considerable challenges in various areas including land use, materials, infrastructure, safety, and costs.

The energy transition implies a shift from a fossil-based to a metals-based energy system. The growth of renewables is pushing up demand for iron, aluminium, copper, zinc, chromium, manganese, and rare minerals.

Metals mining is already responsible for significant biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, especially in the Global South, including human rights violations. 

For the use of green hydrogen comes an additional demand for metals for use in applications including electrolysers, fuel cells and hydrogen pipelines. For electrolysers nickel, zirconium, and platinum group metals (e.g. iridium) are needed. Iridium is one of the rarest metals, with only around 7 tonnes mined each year, it is indispensable for the catalytic reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The EU might need more iridium for its 2030 hydrogen target than is currently being extracted globally. Iridium scarcity may well become a bottleneck for green hydrogen production.

The production of green hydrogen via electrolysis requires demineralised fresh water. Nine litres of water are needed to produce 1 kilogramme of hydrogen. In solar-rich regions that are well suited to hydrogen production, fresh water is often scarce. It will become even scarcer due to the effects of climate change. Under these conditions, green hydrogen producers would do well to establish themselves in places where they can use seawater by desalination processes (increasing the electricity demand of green hydrogen, by only about 0.1 per cent).The waste product of desalination, brine, needs to be treated responsibly – preferably by converting it into useful chemicals.