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Global anthropogenic selenium cycles for 1940–2010

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  • Kavlak, Goksin
  • Graedel, T.E.

Abstract

Selenium plays an important role in emerging thin film solar energy technologies. As solar energy is expected to have a larger share in the world's future energy portfolio, the long-term availability of selenium becomes a potential concern, yet no global cycles have ever been generated. In this work, the global cycles, stocks, and flows of selenium are characterized for the entire time period 1940–2010 by using principles of material flow analysis (MFA). The cycles present information on the production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and resource management stages during that period. The results of the analysis show that during 1940–2010 approximately 90Gg of refined selenium was produced and entered into fabrication and manufacturing worldwide. 60Gg of this amount (two-thirds!) was dissipated into the environment through end-uses such as chemicals, pigments, glass manufacturing, metallurgical additives, and fertilizer and feed additives. The in-use stock of selenium is estimated at 2.7Gg as of 2010. Because of data limitations such as proprietary and withheld information, these figures represent informed estimates rather than exact values. Selenium can be recovered from end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment, while for other end-uses recycling is difficult or impossible. One of the ways to buttress supplies of selenium for future technologies would be to deploy recycling schemes for photovoltaics as well as other electronics applications.

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  • Kavlak, Goksin & Graedel, T.E., 2013. "Global anthropogenic selenium cycles for 1940–2010," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 17-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:73:y:2013:i:c:p:17-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.01.013
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    1. Feltrin, Andrea & Freundlich, Alex, 2008. "Material considerations for terawatt level deployment of photovoltaics," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 180-185.
    2. T. E. Graedel & Dick van Beers & Marlen Bertram & Kensuke Fuse & Robert B. Gordon & Alexander Gritsinin & Ermelinda M. Harper & Amit Kapur & Robert J. Klee & Reid Lifset & Laiq Memon & Sabrina Spatari, 2005. "The Multilevel Cycle of Anthropogenic Zinc," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(3), pages 67-90, July.
    3. Izard, Catherine F. & Müller, Daniel B., 2010. "Tracking the devil's metal: Historical global and contemporary U.S. tin cycles," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1436-1441.
    4. Berger, Wolfgang & Simon, Franz-Georg & Weimann, Karin & Alsema, Erik A., 2010. "A novel approach for the recycling of thin film photovoltaic modules," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(10), pages 711-718.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hu, Xueyue & Wang, Chunying & Elshkaki, Ayman, 2024. "Material-energy Nexus: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Kavlak, Goksin & Graedel, T.E., 2013. "Global anthropogenic tellurium cycles for 1940–2010," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 21-26.
    3. Nadine Rötzer & Mario Schmidt, 2020. "Historical, Current, and Future Energy Demand from Global Copper Production and Its Impact on Climate Change," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-31, April.

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