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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
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