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Why Recycling Your Gadgets Is Important

Sustainable TECHNOLOGY RARE EARTH ELEMENTS ARE KEY to maintaining our current economy and lifestyle, and crucial to developing a sustainable future. SUMMARY While more abundant than many other minerals, REES are not concentrated enough to make them easlly exploltable economically. There are 17 Rare Earth Elements (REES) THE UNITED STATES WAS 15 within the chemical group called LANTHANIDES plus YTTRIUM and SCANDIUM ONCE SELF-RELIANT in domestically produced REES, but over the past 15 years has become 100% rellant on Imports, primarily from China, because of lower-cost operations. The LANTHANIDES consist of the following: LA CE PR NO PM SM Eu Go Te DY Ho ER TM YBLU LANTHANUM CERIUM PRASEODYMIUM NEODYMIUM PROMETHIUM SAMARIUN EUROPIUM GADOLINIUM TERBIUM DYSPROSIUM HOLMIUM ERBIUM THULIUM YTTERBIUM LUTETIUM THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT has put out a white paper detailing the current status of its rare earth metals industry, and the prognosis is not promising. Have you heard the news? For two decades the nation has been the world's main supplier of rare earth minerals. The white paper outlines a series of challenges currently facing China's extraction of rare earth minerals. China holds 23% of the world's total quantity of minerals and mining more than 95% of the world's production, mostly sourced from three main sites in the south of the country. CHINA IS RUNNING OUT OF RARE EARTH MINERALS Those sites are now heavily depleted to the extent that China believes two-thirds of their total supplies have now been mined, and the remaining seams are of a much poorer quality which will increase the 1/3 LEFT! cost of extraction. -Wired.co.uk HOW DO WE USE RARE EARTH METALS FROM LAPTOPS TO SMARTPHONES, the key to mobility is reducing the size and weight of mobile devices while maintaining the highest level of functionality and computing performance. Advanced technology designers, engineers, and manufacturers could not achieve these goals without rare earth elements. rοoUR RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES MINIATURISATION VIBRATION AUDIO GPS AMPLIAICATION DISPLAY & IMPROVED PERFORMANCE COMPUTING, MOBILE & ENTERTAINMENT NFC HARD CAMERA SPINDLE MAGNETO-OPTIC CINEMA PROJECTION DRIVES LENS MOTORS RECORDING TECHNOLOGIES 2011 TABLET 2015 8.600 000 GLOBAL SALES 2010 SMARTPHONE 2015 .... RARE EARTH ELEMENTS PLAY A KEY ROLE in the expected growth of many emerging clean energy technologies. The next generation of wind and hydro power turbines, batteries, motors to power electric vehicles, motors for electric power steering, magnetic refrigeration, energy efficient appliance motors, and fuel cells are examples of applications that are expected to contribute significantly to the quest for energy independence. ELECTRIC / HYBRID CARS HYDRO WATER BATTERIES COMPACT FLUORESCENT ENERGY TREATMENT LAMPS CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES CATALYTIC CONVERTERS SOLAR WIND FUEL CELLS POTENTIAL FUTURISTIC ENERGY TURBINES TECHNOLOGIES *E.G. SAFE STORAGE AND TRANSPORT OF HYDROGEN FOR A POST-HYDROCARBON ECONOMY on EVERY HOUSE IN AMERICA * ENOUGH ENERGY TO LIGHT O-1x INCANDESCENT BULB = ENERGYSTAR REPORTED +1x QUALIFIED CFL On x 3,000,000 P....... ........... ..... MILITARY OFFICIALS have stressed how rare earth elements form a currently irreplaceable part of devices such as lasers, radar, missile-guidance systems, satellites and aircraft electronics. And many military systems also rely upon commercial computer hard drives that use rare earth magnets. VISORS & PROTECTION AIRCRAFT PARTS & JET ENGINES ANTI-MISSILE UNDERWATER MINE DEFENCE DETECTIONS DEFENCE GPS MISSILE GUIDANCE COMMUNICATION ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS SYSTEMS COUNTERMEASURES RARE EARTH ELEMENTS are vital for top-of-the-line weapons, including missile guidance systems, drones and the new F-35 joint strike fighter. 175 TONS NEODYMIUM IRON-BORON MAGNETS 1 YEAR U.S WEAPONS FROM THE SATELLITES IN THE SKY to the fibre optic cables below, rare earth elements play a key role in a host of advanced communications technologies for both civilian and military use. ((o) ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS SPACE BASED SATELLITES & COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS FIRRE OPTIC CABLES SIGNAL AMPLIFICATION GPS AMPLIFY SIGNAL & ENHANCE SPEED TWO SEPARATE RESEARCH TEAMS have independently topped the 100 terabits per second mark through a single optical fibre. HD x I SECOND 00 ONE OPTICAL TERARITS X I SECOND = FIBRE MONTHS VIDEO ShaanHaider.com ....... RARE EARTH ELEMENTS play a key role in a wide range of health and medical applications, including drug treatments, diagnostic techniques and equipment. They act as catalysts in biomedical and chemical research, are used as tracing agents during imaging, and in laser and radioisotopic treatment for cancer. X-RAY LASERS NEUTRON VARIOUS DRUG HEALTH RADIOTHERAPY TREATMENTS A SAME WEIGHT AS MRI MACHINE 1,500 POUNDS OF MAGNETS AVERAGES 1 x FI CAR DRIVER MANY APPLICATIONS OF RARE EARTH METALS RESULT IN VERY LOW CONCENTRATIONS IN SCRAP, MAKING RECYCLING DIFFICULT AND EXPENSIVE. The recycling potential is greater in devices that use more material (es those containing magnets). Despite the potential that recycling offers, many products are not designed to allow recovery of high value components easily at end-of-lite. Some suggest that manuftacturers have limited incentives to work towards this with existing design and assembly processes. However, government policy is based upon raising awareness of the need for this. RECYCLE & RE-USE JAPAN LEADS THE WAY in research into rare earth recycling, with HITACHI aiming to recycle electric motor magnets by 2013. There is relatively little activity elsewhere. Defra say that re-use (for example reusing magnets from speakers) is also important. HONDA RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that it will start recycling rare earth metals and other key materials in hybrid auto batteries this year - a key innovation in the Japanese carmaker's effort to be green. WORLD DEMAND & RESOURCES By 2015, global REES global production is around 133,600 tons World demand for REES The difference was estimated at (2,500 tons) is covered by above-ground stocks or inventories demand for rare earth annually 136,100 tons in 2010 elements may reach 210,000 tons per year ADDITIONAL MINE CAPACITY AT MT. WELD AUSTRALIA is expected to come on stream in 2012, to help close the raw materials gap in the short term. Other new mining projects could easily take 10 years to reach production. In the long run, however, the USGS expects that global reserves and undiscovered resources are large enough to meet demand. "It is not possible to obtain an accurate figure for global rare earth resources due to the quality and availability of data. USGS estimates total world reserves of rare earth oxides to be about 114 million tonnes." China dominates world reserves with 48%, followed by: The Commonwealth of Independent States with 17% The United States with 12% India with 3% Australia with 1% www.mineralsuk.com The remaining 19% of reserves are divided between South Africa Mauritania Greenland Indonesia GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF RARE EARTH OXIDES Malaysia Tanzania Thailand Namibia Vietnam CHINA Burundi Canada Sweden Malawi Finland Angola Turkey Kenya Brazil RARE EARTH OXIDE PRICES PRICES of rare earth oxides and metals ROSE RAPIDLY in 2010 and 2011 but DECLINED in the first half of 2012. EXPORT REES With a surge in demand and export restrictions it will take time for global supply to catch up. Prices may remain high in the short-term but, typically, tend to fall back to the industry's marginal cost of production after supply increases. Rare Earth Oxide Price increase: S/ks EUROPUIM2008I 2010 2011 475 625 13,800 TERBIUM 2008 2010 2011 |650 605 12,794 DYSPROSIUM 2008 110 2010 295 2011| 12,032 THE SITUATION While the raw materials exist in the ground in amounts that could meet many decades of increased demand, Kirchain says the challenge comes in scaling up supply at a rate that matches expected Increases In demand. DEVELOPING A NEW MINE, INCLUDING PROSPECTING, SITING, PERMITTING AND CONSTRUCTION, CAN TAKE A DECADE OR MORE! 10 YEARS "The bottom line is not that we're going to 'run out'. "The results highlight the serious supply challenges that but it's an issue on which we need focus, to build the supply base and to Improve those technologles which use and reuse these materlals. It needs to be some of the rare earths may face in a low-carbon society. a reminder to material scientists to continue their search for substitutes. also a vivid reminder that the current practice of not recycling any rare earths at end-of-life is unsustainable and needs to be reversed." a focus of research and development." Randolph E. Kirchain - Principal Research Scientist at MIT Barbara Reck - Senior Research Scientist at Yale University appzzone.com * SOURCES * www.wikipedia.org | www.minerals.usgs.org | www.mineralsuk.com www.news.xinhuanet.com | www.wired.co.uk | www.geek.com | www.cbc.ca | www.mit.edu

Why Recycling Your Gadgets Is Important

shared by skylargrey on Jan 21
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Recycling your gadgets is more important for future generations for eco-friendly living.

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