Public defence in processing of materials, M.Sc. (Tech.) Marja Rinne
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Title of the thesis: Prospective life cycle assessment of hydrometallurgical cobalt processes for the battery value chain
Doctoral student: DI Marja Rinne
Opponent: Professor Rickard Arvidsson, Chalmers tekniska högskola, Sweden
Custos: Professor Mari Lundström, Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering
Environmental impacts of cobalt extraction and recycling
Technologies which enable low-carbon economy, such as the batteries powering electric vehicles, produce fewer emissions during their use compared to their traditional counterparts. These technologies are, however, also more reliant on scarce minerals and metals, and they are also typically challenging to recycle efficiently due to their complex composition and design. It follows that the raw material extraction and end-of-life phases of technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and solar panels are crucial to evaluate for sustainability.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most used method to systematically quantify different environmental impacts throughout the entire life cycle of the product. Although carbon footprint, meaning global warming, has received the most attention, other impacts, such as acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion, can also be studied. A challenge of the methodology is that collecting the necessary data is typically time consuming, and that primary data from producers is not always available. The investigation of, for instance, emerging and non-commercial processes requires more creative methods to model the data.
In this dissertation, process simulation was used to gather life cycle inventory (LCI) data of prospective processes to evaluate their environmental impacts. The topics of study were the processing of gold-cobalt bearing ores and the hydrometallurgical recycling of spent batteries. The goal of the studies was to recognize dependencies between process parameters and environmental impacts. With the results, it was possible to make recommendations for further process development, to reveal critical data gaps, and to compare different process options.
→Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence.
Contact information of doctoral student:
DI Marja Rinne
[email protected]
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