Addressing societal challenges and opportunities through : an industrial mineral focused FP7 project Aurela SHTIZA, David MOSELEY, Luke PALMER, Sirkka-Liisa JÄMSÄ-JOUNELA, Mike BUXTON, Lev FILIPPOV, Olivier MULLER MINCE Conference in Aalto, 26-27 November, 2014 Industrial Minerals: “Your world is made of them” g Industrial minerals are geological materials which are mined for their commercial value, which are not fuel and are not sources of metals. They are used in their natural state or after processing either as raw materials or as additives in a wide range of applications. GLASS contains up to 100% minerals Silica sand, dolomite, calcium carbonate, lime, feldspar, borate 50% of PAINT is made of minerals Calcium carbonates, quartz, cristobalite, plastic clay, talc, bentonite, diatomite, mica, perlite Up to 50% of a sheet of PAPER is made from minerals Calcium carbonate, talc, kaolin, bentonite CERAMICS contain up to 100% minerals Feldspar, clay & kaolin, lime, talc, silica 2 Industrial Minerals: “Your world is made of them” g A CAR contains up to 250-300 kg of minerals Rubber (talc, calcium carbonate, baryte), plastics (talc, calcium carbonate, kaolin, silica sand, wollastonite), glass, casting (bentonite, silica sand, wollastonite) For one tonne of STEEL several minerals are needed: Bentonite, lime, olivine, silica sand A family HOUSE contains up to 150 tonnes of minerals Cement (clay, calcium carbonate, silica sand), plaster & plasterboard (gypsum, hydrated lime, calcium carbonate), insulation (perlite), ceramics, bricks & tiles, glass, paint, etc. 3 Multiple markets vs multiple challenges g Policy & societal challenges:  Resource efficiency of primary raw materials;  Recover raw materials from waste (secondary raw materials);  Energy efficiency;  Lower the overall carbon footprint;  Increase the functionality of the end products; … 4 How? g A Value Chain Approach:  Maximize yield from mined resource;  Redesign processing stages to improve functionality;  Test new products with end users;  Waste as resource/feed;  Assess potential to recover Critical Raw Materials (CRM);  Measure by Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to quantify the savings (energy, resource efficiency) and decrease of CO2. 5 “NMP.2012.4.1-1: New environmentally friendly approaches in minerals processing.” What? g In the scope of the project now:  Three Industrial Minerals:  Diatomaceous earth (Diatomite, or DE);  Perlite;  Kaolin;  Future scope of the project:  Transfer technology to other Industrial Minerals;  Beyond Industrial Minerals ? 6 Who is Who? g Consortium Industry Lead R&D Universities End User Association Total: 17 Companies 8 EU Countries 8 SME’s 7 Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC. Consortium Structure g WP9: Management WP1: Raw Material Extraction WP2: Beneficiation 1 Jan 2013 WP3: Dewatering & Drying Start WP4: Calcining WP5: High temperature waste recycling WP7: Demonstration activities End 31 Dec 2016 WP6: On line monitoring & process control WP8: Dissemination & Exploitation Budget: 8.6 Mill Euro (FP7 funding: 5.8 Mill Euro) 8 Geological assessment (1) g 9 Geological assessment (2) g Resource classification: Subordinate orebody characteristics to mineable blocks Orebody definition: Low grade Middle grade Block model definition: High grade On this scale of discretisation, dilution of high-grade ore and middle-grade ore is clear. 10 Geological assessment (3) g 2. Fragmentation of ore after blast 1. Blast Low grade Middle grade High grade Blast movement can affect process allocation of ore blocks 11 Geological assessment (4) g With reliable resource characterisation and a well-managed mining operation, optimum value is achieved by selection of the appropriate process. Ore Process Sub-optimal process selection through: Ore Product Ore Middle grade Processing uncertainty 12 Product Resource and mining uncertainty High grade Low grade Process Process Product Impurities: The carbonate problem g Carbonate in DE makes them chemically reactive Diatomite – Carbonate (Ore - Waste) sorting Density: Diatomite 2,09 < * Calcite 2,7 Z effective Diatomite < diatomite + calcite ore < Waste From well known ore and waste samples Conclusion: Detectable density differences between diatomite and diatomite + carbonate mixtures make DE-XRT a suitable technique for ore/waste sorting; 13 * E-XRT - Energy X-Ray Transmission Impurities: The carbonate problem g Diatomite ore: LIBS* spectrum Diatomite SiO2•n(H2O) • Si 32% • H 4% • O 64% Carbonate (mostly calcite) CaCO3 • Ca 40% • C 12% • O 48% Conclusion: Relative Ca-Si proportion measured with LIBS can be used for carbonate quantification in diatomite ores; DE-XRT and LIBS are technologies that can be potentially used for determination of carbonate content in diatomite ores at early stages of mining operations, facilitating further mineral processing. 14 * Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Impurities: The iron problem in calcined kaolin g For industrial applications, primary kaolin is calcined by roasting at temperatures > than 1100 °C. Widely used in the manufacture of pigments and coatings when colour and brightness appropriate. The presence of Fe impurities in the primary kaolin prior to calcination affects these properties. Reflectance spectroscopy successfully used for: 1. Fe identification in kaolin Kaolinite structural Fe vs. Fe hosted in kaolin auxilliary minerals 2. Kaolin alterations during calcination: Changes in optical properties related to shifts in Fe3+ absorptions; Tracking of the kaolinite - mullite transformation phase. 15 T- Calcination Temperature Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Demand & Supply g Elements used in the production of computer chips (2000): 61 out of 92 elements Elements used in the production of computer chips (1990): 16 out of 92 elements Elements used in the production of computer chips (1980): 12 out of 92 elements 16 European Commission has defined the list of 20 CRM in 2014 compared to 14 CRM identified in 2010. Ref: 2008. Elements used in the production of computer chips. National Research Council/Intel Coorporation Kaolin waste as secondary raw material recovery g 1. Identify the most valuable waste stream for CRMs and Metals 2. Identification and characterization of CRM bearing minerals 117 3. Trace element estimation Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) g Life cycle thinking is an approach which evaluates the environmental impacts in a holistic approach (the raw material extraction, material processing, transportation, distribution, consumption, reuse/recycling, and disposal). EXTRACTION END of LIFE WASTE TRANSPORT RE-USE PROCESING MANUFACTURING USE WASTE WASTE TRANSPORT LCA helps to identify hot spots in the life cycle of a product, therefore driving management decisions and action to minimize the environmental impact for industrial minerals manufacturing. 18 Dissemination g 19 Questions ? g Thank you for your attention!!! Support for this research as part of the Sustainable Technologies for Calcined Industrial Minerals (STOICISM) project is provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number 310645. http://www.stoicism.eu David Moseley STOICISM Exploitation Manager Imerys [email protected] Dr. Aurela SHTIZA Scientific Adviser Environment & Sustainability IMA-Europe [email protected]