Rare Earth Elements: A New Approach to the Nexus of Supply, Demand and Use: Exemplified along the Use of Neodymium in Permanent Magnets

161 Pages·2013·4.64 MB·English

by  Volker Zepf (auth.)

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Volker Zepf
Rare Earth Elements
A New Approach to the Nexus of Supply,
Demand and Use: Exemplified along
the Use of Neodymium in Permanent
Magnets
Doctoral Thesis accepted by
the University of Augsburg, Germany
123
Author Supervisors
Dr. VolkerZepf Prof.Dr. ArminReller
Coordinator Graduate Programme Chairof ResourceStrategy
AugsburgUniversity Department of Physics
Augsburg AugsburgUniversity
Germany Augsburg
Germany
Prof.Dr. Gerd Peyke
Chairof Human Geography and
Geoinformatics
AugsburgUniversity
Augsburg
Germany
ISSN 2190-5053 ISSN 2190-5061 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-642-35457-1 ISBN 978-3-642-35458-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35458-8
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012955237
(cid:2)Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2013
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Supervisor’s Foreword
Some of the globally implemented technologies which were developed and
invented in the last two and three decades often rely on the properties of appro-
priately selected functionalmaterials.Inmostcasesthesematerialscontainorare
metals themselves, alloys or metallic compounds. This trend of increasing diver-
sity of metals is becoming obvious above all in IT, mobility, and energy tech-
nologies. Concomitantly to this increasing qualitative material diversity the
specific material quantities in products like computers, digital cameras, mobile
phones, wind turbines or electric motors differ extremely. Very often, the quan-
tities of the functional materials are very small but indispensable for the main
functionality.
The geologic availability of the mineral resources which are necessary for
providing metallic components is partly critical, especially in the case of trace or
spicemetals.Partiallyextremedynamics,underwhichnewtechnologiesandnovel
product generations are implemented, make it understandable that supply bottle-
necks arise. Resource shortage, i.e. scarcity becomes imminent.
Such undesired and threatening situations particularly occur when multifunc-
tionalmetalsarefunctionalizedindifferenttechnicalbranchesorproducts.The17
elements of the so-called rare earth metals unmistakably belong to this type of
critical materials. They show a huge bandwidth of application areas and serve as
essential functional materials, alloys, and ceramics. The economic trade restric-
tionsimposedbyChinaexemplaryshowthepotentialofandforsupplyshortages.
Thus the rare earth metals can act as a paradigm for the present global resource
situationandtheimpactontheindustrialdevelopmentworldwide.Thisprevailing
situation is the basis for the doctoral thesis of Mr. Volker Zepf.
The first introductory part of the thesis presents a detailed analysis of the
history,geology,chemical,andphysicalcharacteristicsoftherareearthmetals.As
well socio-economic, cultural and political facets are addressed which show the
partial indispensable technical functionality of these metals. The thorough and
embracing research on technical-historical functionalities of the rare earth metals
andtheirpracticalrelevanceleadMr.Zepftoacriticalsummary:validandreliable
primary data about supply and use of rare earth metals is extremely difficult to
v
vi Supervisor’sForeword
attain despite the many publications in recent years. The data used therein can
mostly be traced back to one literature source—and the data used often is
unreliable.
The main investigation now aims on providing reliable data. The focus is
narrowed on the use of neodymium functionalized in permanent magnets in
computer hard drives, mobile phones, wind turbines, and electric motors in
e-mobility.Withrespecttoseveralheadlinesthehypothesisisraisedthatthesefour
application areas account for about 80 % of the global neodymium demand. The
analysis then provides reproducible primary data for selected application areas.
Here astonishing and surprising results are provided which refute the original
hypothesis by large; only about 20 % could be attributed. This result now is
interestinginseveralaspects:itshowsthatawrongperceptionprevailsontheuseof
neodymium.Italsoraisesthedemandingquestionontheotherusesofneodymium
nowadays.Thisknowledgeisindispensablewhenprojectingpotentialsupplyrisks
and the potential for re-phasing rare earth elements, i.e. re-cycling.
Finally a resource-geographical consideration combines the results in an
impressive and comprehensive global materials chart. This chart can build the
basis for further work and especially in the evaluation of potential secondary or
urban rare earth mining. In how far the newest economic but also economic
developments could shape our technically oriented civilization is subject of the
closing multifaceted discussion.
Mr. Zepf has demonstrated an extremely high motivation, initiative, and
competencewithhisthesisaboutahighlytopicalarea.ForthisMr.Zepfprovides
a multidisciplinary view and methodological approach. He develops a multi-
structured and complex linked but still clearly structured, consistent, and relevant
study. This thesis is of essential scientific relevance as it reveals unknown facts
around the supply, demand and use of rare earth metals which is of great
importance for further research and economic considerations especially for
recycling options.
Augsburg, Germany, January 2013 Prof. Dr. Armin Reller
Acknowledgments
Suchawork,eventhoughitisonlyaround150pageslong,isalotofworkwhich
is not manageable without the help of a lot of people, involved directly or
indirectly.
First of all I thank Silvia for her extremely good, enduring, and motivating
supportduringallthetimeofthiswork.WithoutyouandyourstrengthIwouldnot
have been able to do this work!
Next, my gratitude is to Prof. Dr. Armin Reller, Chair of Resource Strategy,
Augsburg University, who gave me this interesting and challenging topic. For his
visionary ideas and his quest for revealing links, relations, interrelations in an
inter- and transdisciplinary approach. He gave me much freedom for my research
and provided the decisive support when necessary; especially for getting the
possibility to have the samples analyzed by the Fraunhofer Institute ISC.
I like to thank Prof. Dr. Gerd Peyke, Chair of Geography and Geoinformatics,
Augsburg University, who always believed in me and for his interest in all the
variousaspectsaswellintheoverallpictureandforthediscussionsovertheyears.
BenjaminAchzethelpedmewithhisexpertiseinmaterialsscienceandhowto
start analyzing materials.
A special thank you goes to the Fraunhofer Institute ISC in Würzburg, and
especially to Dr. Römer who did and observed the analytic measurements of the
magnets.
Andlastbutnotleastthankyouall:theonesIforgotandthediligentpeopleat
the Universityand from Infau, Augsburg,who helped and provided me with hard
disks, mobile phones, and other electric tools.
Thank you!
vii
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 An Information Dilemma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.1 Introductory Thoughts: Managing the Complexity. . . . . . 7
1.3.2 Methods and Data Used. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Rare Earth Elements: What and Where They Are . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.1 The Group of the REE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2 The Terms ‘Rare’ and ‘Earth’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.3 Light, Medium and Heavy REE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.4 Rare Earths, Rare Elements and Rare Metals. . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Chemical and Physical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 The Long History of the Discovery of the REE . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4 Geology and Geochemistry of the REE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5 Deposits, Current and Potential Future Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.1 China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.2 India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5.3 Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5.4 Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States
and Kazakhstan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5.5 Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5.6 USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5.7 South Africa/Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5.8 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6 Rare Earth Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ix
x Contents
2.7 Applications for REE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7.1 Applications of the Individual REE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7.2 Major REE Applications in a Historical Context. . . . . . . 33
2.7.3 Applications of REE According Functional Uses . . . . . . 33
2.7.4 Applications of REE According Present
Discussions About Climate Relevant Uses. . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 The Way to the Chinese Predominance: A Key for Understanding
the REE Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1 The Middle East has its Oil, China has Rare Earths. . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Chinese Plans and Regulations Around REE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3 The Five-Year Plan Guidelines, Past and Present . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.4 Chinese Export Issues Around REE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4 Numbers About Rare Earth Elements
in the (Scientific) Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1 A Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.2 Production Data of REE, Cumulative and Individual:
An Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.1 Global Annual REE Production: A Comparison
of Data Sets Given by the USGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.2 Global Annual Production of REE: A Comparison
of Different Authors’ Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.3 Annual Production of REE According
to Functional Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.2.4 Individual REE Production Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.2.5 The Quantitative Share of Nd Production. . . . . . . . . . . . 60
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5 Rare Earth Elements in the Magnets Application Field. . . . . . . . . 65
5.1 REE Based Permanent Magnets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.2 REE Based Permanent Magnet Application Overview . . . . . . . . 67
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6 Scales and Relations: Analysis of REPM Use with Emphasis
on the Years from 2000 to 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.1 Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.2 REPM in Hard Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.2.1 Data Issues HDDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2.2 Historical Development and Global
Shipment Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Contents xi
6.2.3 Measurement ofPermanent Magnets WeightinHDDs. . . 77
6.2.4 Recycling Potential for HDDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.2.5 Outlook HDD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.2.6 Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.3 REPM Use in Mobile Phones and Earphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.3.1 Data Issues Mobile Phones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.3.2 PM Use in Mobile Phone Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.3.3 Historical Development of Global Annual
Mobile Phone Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.3.4 Analysis of the Mobile Phone REPM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.3.5 Outlook Mobile Phones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.3.6 Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.4 REPM Use in Wind Turbine Generators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.4.1 Data Issues WTGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.4.2 Types of Wind Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.4.3 Wind Turbine Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
6.4.4 REPM Use in WTGs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.4.5 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.4.6 Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.5 REPM Use in Electro Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.5.1 Data Issues E-Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.5.2 E-Mobility: Status Quo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.5.3 Data Analysis E-Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.5.4 Outlook E-Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.5.5 Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.6 Synopsis of REPM Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7 The Geography of the REE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8 Conclusion: The REE and the Real Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
8.1 Outlook and Further Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Annex A: Details to the Literature Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Annex B: Mobile Phone Measurement Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Annex C: HDD Measurement Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Annex D: REE Uses and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157