IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v12y2008i5-6p754-767.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Platinum Group Metal Flows of Europe, Part 1

Author

Listed:
  • Mathieu Saurat
  • Stefan Bringezu

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> In this article, we analyze flows of the platinum group metals (PGMs) platinum, palladium, and rhodium and the environmental impacts associated with their supply in Europe. A model of the use of PGMs in Europe has been developed, and this is combined with a model of environmental pressures related to PGM production. Seven industrial sectors and product groups form the main users of PGMs in Europe, comprising the chemical, petroleum, and glass industries; jewelry, dentistry, electronic equipment, and car catalysts. Most relevant environmental impacts of secondary production in Europe and primary PGM production in South Africa, Russia, and Canada are taken into account, including emissions of sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide and total material requirement. The article quantifies the PGM flows to, from, and within Europe in 2004. The automotive industry is the single largest user of primary PGMs, and catalytic converters represent the major PGM end use. The chemical and glass industries also require large amounts of PGM but rely mostly on secondary metals. The environmental impacts of primary production exceed those of secondary production by far. An analysis of the use of car catalytic converters shows that as a result of efforts to reduce air pollutant emissions in Europe, other negative environmental impacts, such as point-source pollution and mining waste, are occurring elsewhere—for example, at extraction and refining sites in Siberia and South Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathieu Saurat & Stefan Bringezu, 2008. "Platinum Group Metal Flows of Europe, Part 1," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 754-767, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:12:y:2008:i:5-6:p:754-767
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2008.00087.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ritthoff, Michael & Rohn, Holger & Liedtke, Christa, 2002. "Calculating MIPS: Resource productivity of products and services," Wuppertal Spezial, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, volume 27, number 27e.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fuse, Masaaki & Yamasue, Eiji & Reck, Barbara K. & Graedel, T.E., 2011. "Regional development or resource preservation? A perspective from Japanese appliance exports," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 788-797, February.
    2. Hatayama, Hiroki & Daigo, Ichiro & Matsuno, Yasunari & Adachi, Yoshihiro, 2012. "Evolution of aluminum recycling initiated by the introduction of next-generation vehicles and scrap sorting technology," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 8-14.
    3. Helga Weisz & Heinz Schandl, 2008. "Materials Use Across World Regions," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 629-636, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lettenmeier, Michael & Gobel, Christine & Liedtke, Christa & Rohn, Holger & Teitscheid, Petra, 2012. "Material Footprint of a Sustainable Nutrition System in 2050 – Need for Dynamic Innovations in Production, Consumption and Politics," 2012 International European Forum, February 13-17, 2012, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 144983, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    2. Tuni, Andrea & Rentizelas, Athanasios, 2019. "An innovative eco-intensity based method for assessing extended supply chain environmental sustainability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 126-142.
    3. Fernández-Herrero, Laura & Duro, Juan Antonio, 2019. "What causes inequality in Material Productivity between countries?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Giljum, Stefan & Burger, Eva & Hinterberger, Friedrich & Lutter, Stephan & Bruckner, Martin, 2011. "A comprehensive set of resource use indicators from the micro to the macro level," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 300-308.
    5. Bülent Sarı & Farhad Zarifi & Muhammed Alhasan & Hakan Güney & Selman Türkeş & Serdal Sırlıbaş & Deniz Civan Yiğit & Güray Kılınççeker & Beşir Şahin & Olcayto Keskinkan, 2023. "Determining the Contributions in a Denim Fabric Production for Sustainable Development Goals: Life Cycle Assessment and Material Input Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Tomer Fishman & Niko Heeren & Stefan Pauliuk & Peter Berrill & Qingshi Tu & Paul Wolfram & Edgar G. Hertwich, 2021. "A comprehensive set of global scenarios of housing, mobility, and material efficiency for material cycles and energy systems modeling," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 305-320, April.
    7. Marta Romero Ariza & Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Daniel Olsson & Peter Van Petegem & Gema Parra & Niklas Gericke, 2021. "Promoting Environmental Citizenship in Education: The Potential of the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire to Measure Impact of Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Abokersh, Mohamed Hany & Norouzi, Masoud & Boer, Dieter & Cabeza, Luisa F. & Casa, Gemma & Prieto, Cristina & Jiménez, Laureano & Vallès, Manel, 2021. "A framework for sustainable evaluation of thermal energy storage in circular economy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 686-701.
    9. Roberto Leite & Marlene Amorim & Mário Rodrigues & Geraldo Oliveira Neto, 2019. "Overcoming Barriers for Adopting Cleaner Production: A Case Study in Brazilian Small Metal-Mechanic Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-14, September.
    10. Carmen Dienst & Clemens Schneider & Chun Xia & Mathieu Saurat & Thomas Fischer & Daniel Vallentin, 2013. "On Track to Become a Low Carbon Future City? First Findings of the Integrated Status Quo and Trends Assessment of the Pilot City of Wuxi in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(8), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Lettenmeier, Michael & Rohn, Holger & Liedtke, Christa & Schmidt-Bleek, Friedrich & Bienge, Katrin & Urbaneja, Dafne Mazo & Buddenberg, Jade, 2009. "Resource productivity in 7 steps: How to develop eco-innovative products and services and improve their material footprint," Wuppertal Spezial, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, volume 41, number 41.
    12. Luis Gabriel Carmona & Kai Whiting & Helmut Haberl & Tânia Sousa, 2021. "The use of steel in the United Kingdom's transport sector: A stock–flow–service nexus case study," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 125-143, February.
    13. Dittrich, Monika & Bringezu, Stefan & Schütz, Helmut, 2012. "The physical dimension of international trade, part 2: Indirect global resource flows between 1962 and 2005," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 32-43.
    14. Mancini, Lucia & Lettenmeier, Michael & Rohn, Holger & Liedtke, Christa, 2012. "Application of the MIPS method for assessing the sustainability of production–consumption systems of food," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 779-793.
    15. Nils Thonemann & Matthias Schumann, 2016. "Ressourceneffizienz in der Ökobilanz," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 69-74, June.
    16. Buonocore, Elvira & Häyhä, Tiina & Paletto, Alessandro & Franzese, Pier Paolo, 2014. "Assessing environmental costs and impacts of forestry activities: A multi-method approach to environmental accounting," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 271(C), pages 10-20.
    17. Rincón, Lídia & Castell, Albert & Pérez, Gabriel & Solé, Cristian & Boer, Dieter & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2013. "Evaluation of the environmental impact of experimental buildings with different constructive systems using Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 544-552.
    18. Buonocore, Elvira & Franzese, Pier Paolo & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2012. "Assessing the environmental performance and sustainability of bioenergy production in Sweden: A life cycle assessment perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 69-78.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:12:y:2008:i:5-6:p:754-767. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.