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Exergoecology: A thermodynamic approach for accounting the Earth's mineral capital. The case of bauxite–aluminium and limestone–lime chains

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  • Valero, Antonio
  • Valero, Alicia

Abstract

As man extracts minerals, the natural deposits become depleted in quantity and concentration, and hence the mineral wealth of the Earth decreases. This paper explains the exergoecological method used for calculating the mineral exergy bonus that Nature gives us for free for providing minerals concentrated in mines and not dispersed in the Earth's crust. The method is based on two concepts: Exergy and the Exergy cost. Exergy measures the minimum (reversible) work required to extract and concentrate the materials from a Reference Environment (RE) to the conditions found in Nature. This RE can be approximated to a completely degraded crepuscular planet with the absence of fossil fuels and mineral deposits. And the exergy cost accounts for the actual exergy required for accomplishing the same process with available technologies. These costs are complementary to the conventional extraction, land-recovering, processing and refining costs. The case studies of two industrial chains: bauxite–alumina–aluminium, and limestone–calcite–lime are presented and discussed. As the method provides values in energy units, the annual exergy decrease in the mineral endowment of the planet due to the extraction of minerals can now take into account the fossil fuel's exergy as well as the non-fuel mineral exergy costs.

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  • Valero, Antonio & Valero, Alicia, 2010. "Exergoecology: A thermodynamic approach for accounting the Earth's mineral capital. The case of bauxite–aluminium and limestone–lime chains," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 229-238.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:229-238
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2009.09.013
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    1. Dunham, Sir Kingsley, 1974. "Non-renewable mineral resources," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 3-13, September.
    2. Steen, Bengt & Borg, Gunnar, 2002. "An estimation of the cost of sustainable production of metal concentrates from the earth's crust," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 401-413, September.
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    4. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Arauzo, Inmaculada, 2008. "Evolution of the decrease in mineral exergy throughout the 20th century. The case of copper in the US," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 107-115.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodrigo A. F. Alvarenga & Ittana De Oliveira Lins & José Adolfo de Almeida Neto, 2016. "Evaluation of Abiotic Resource LCIA Methods," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Kovalev, Andrey V., 2016. "Misuse of thermodynamic entropy in economics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 129-136.
    3. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Gómez, Javier B., 2011. "The crepuscular planet. A model for the exhausted continental crust," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 694-707.
    4. Torres, César & Valero, Antonio & Valero, Alicia, 2013. "Exergoecology as a tool for ecological modelling. The case of the US food production chain," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 255(C), pages 21-28.
    5. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2010. "Physical geonomics: Combining the exergy and Hubbert peak analysis for predicting mineral resources depletion," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1074-1083.
    6. Sofia Russo & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero & Marta Iglesias-Émbil, 2021. "Exergy-Based Assessment of Polymers Production and Recycling: An Application to the Automotive Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Valero, Al. & Valero, A., 2011. "A prediction of the exergy loss of the world's mineral reserves in the 21st century," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1848-1854.
    8. Domínguez, Adriana & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2013. "Exergy accounting applied to metallurgical systems: The case of nickel processing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 37-45.
    9. Jose-Luis, Palacios & Abadias, Alejandro & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Reuter, Markus, 2019. "The energy needed to concentrate minerals from common rocks: The case of copper ore," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 494-503.
    10. Valero, Alicia & Domínguez, Adriana & Valero, Antonio, 2015. "Exergy cost allocation of by-products in the mining and metallurgical industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 128-142.
    11. Domínguez, Adriana & Czarnowska, Lucyna & Valero, Alicia & Stanek, Wojciech & Valero, Antonio, 2014. "Thermo-ecological and exergy replacement costs of nickel processing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 103-114.
    12. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Stanek, Wojciech, 2018. "Assessing the exergy degradation of the natural capital: From Szargut's updated reference environment to the new thermoecological-cost methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1140-1149.

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