How can we adapt to geological scarcity of antimony? Investigation of antimony's substitutability and of other measures to achieve a sustainable use

M.L.C.M. Henckens, P.P.J. Driessen and E. Worrell

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2016, vol. 108, issue C, 54-62

Abstract: Antimony is an element that is applied in many useful applications for mankind. However, antimony resources are very scarce, when comparing the current extraction rates with the availability of antimony containing ores. From an inter-temporal sustainability perspective, current generations should not deprive future generations from extractable ores. The extraction rate of a mineral resource is defined sustainable, if such a rate can be sustained for 1000 years assuming the same consumption per capita in all countries of the world. To achieve a sustainable extraction of antimony, it is necessary to reduce the current extraction with 96% compared to the primary antimony extraction in 2010. We have investigated whether such an ambitious extraction reduction goal would be technically feasible, without losing any of the current services that are provided by antimony. Reduction of the use of primary antimony can be achieved through (a combination of) substitution, improved material efficiency and recycling. Because the potential of material efficiency and recycling are limited in the case of antimony, the focus is on substitution of antimony in its applications.

Keywords: Sustainable use; Primary antimony; Substitution; Material efficiency; Recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134491630012X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:108:y:2016:i:c:p:54-62

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.01.012

Access Statistics for this article

Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu

More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kai Meng ().