A Comparative Analysis of Energy and Water Consumption of Mined versus Synthetic Diamonds

Vladislav Zhdanov, Marina Sokolova, Pavel Smirnov, Lukasz Andrzejewski, Julia Bondareva and Stanislav Evlashin
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Marina Sokolova: Institute of Oil and Gas’ Problems SB RAS, 20 Avtodorozhnaya Str., 677007 Yakutsk, Russia
Pavel Smirnov: Ioffe Institute, 26 Politekhnicheskaya Str., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Lukasz Andrzejewski: Department of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, 1, H. Wieniawskiego Str., 61-712 Poznan, Poland
Julia Bondareva: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, 30 Bolshoy Blvd, 121205 Moscow, Russia
Stanislav Evlashin: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, 30 Bolshoy Blvd, 121205 Moscow, Russia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: In our research, we analyzed the energy and water consumption in diamond mining and laboratory synthesis operations. We used publicly available reports issued by two market leaders, DeBeers and ALROSA, to estimate water and energy use per carat of a rough diamond. The efficiency of the two most popular synthesis technologies for artificial diamonds—High-Pressure-High-Temperature (HPHT) and Microwave-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (M-CVD)—was examined. We found that the modern HPHT presses, with open cooling circuits, consume about 36 kWh/ct when producing gem-quality and average-sized (near-) colorless diamonds. ALROSA and DeBeers use about 96 kWh/ct and 150 kWh/ct, respectively, including all energy required to mine. Energy consumption of M-CVD processes can be different and depends on technological conditions. Our M-CVD machine is the least energy-efficient, requiring about 215 kWh/ct in the single-crystal regime, using 2.45-GHz magnetron for the support synthesis. The M-CVD methods of individual synthetic companies IIa Technology and Ekati Mine are different from our results and equal 77 and 143 kWh/ct, respectively. Water consumption for the HPHT and M-CVD methods was insignificant: approximately zero and 0.002 m 3 /ct, respectively, and below 0.077 m 3 /ct for ALROSA-mined diamonds. This study touches upon the impact of the diamond production methods used on the carbon footprint.

Keywords: energy efficiency; water intake; diamond mining; high-pressure; high-temperature; chemical vapor deposition; diamond synthesis; carbon footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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