Sustainable Materials Science - Environmental Metallurgy: Volume 2 : Pollution and emissions, biodiversity, toxicology and ecotoxicology, economics and social roles, foresight 9782759824441, 9782759821990

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SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS SCIENCE ENVIRONMENTAL METALLURGY Volume 2 Pollution and emissions, biodiversity, toxicology and ecotoxicology, economics and social roles, foresight

Printed in France. © 2021, EDP Sciences, 17, avenue du Hoggar, BP 112, Parc d’activites de Courtaboeuf, 91944 Les Ulis Cedex A, France This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broad-casting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data bank. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is only permitted under the provisions of the French Copyright law of March 11, 1957. Violations fall under the prosecution act of the French Copyright law. ISBN (print): 978-2-7598-2199-0 – ISBN (ebook): 978-2-7598-2444-1

Table of contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XV Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XIX Chapter 1 :  The special roles that metals like steel or copper playin the energy system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. Steel helps gain access to more energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. Steel makes it possible to provide the right amount of energy in the right form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4. Conventional processes of metallic iron production . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.1. Reliance on carbon-based energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.2. Coal is a natural capital partially transferred to metallic iron . . . 10 4.3. Power generation in the conventional steel production process . . . 10 4.4. Exchanges with the energy network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5. Basics of steel production: energy needs for metallic iron production 11 6. Principles of steel production: choice of a form of work to produce iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 7. Integration in the electricity grid of steady electric production of metallic iron to manage peak demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.1. Steady electric production of metallic iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.2. Grid balance and variable electricity demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7.3. Empowerment of individual end-users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 7.4. Demand response in general. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7.5. Demand response from a flexible electrolytic plant . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7.6. Section conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 8. Contribution to Decarbonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 8.1. Reliance on a panel of primary energy sources that includes non-carbon energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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8.2. 8.3.

Increased share of fluctuating energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Energetically favorable CCS, based on the use of oxygen generated by electrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 8.4. Limited reliance on backup peaking plants that are strong CO2 emitters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 8.5. Improved energy efficiency of fossil fuel power plants . . . . . . . . . . 24 8.6. Conclusion about carbon dioxide energy mitigation . . . . . . . . . . 24 9. Contribution to Energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 9.1. Energy is stored in metal electrowinning systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 9.2. Iron is the best-fitted atom to carry out redox reactions . . . . . . . . . 25 9.3. Hydrogen is worst-fitted to carry out redox reactions . . . . . . . . . . 25 9.4. Iron system is a low-capital storage system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 9.5. Conclusion on energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 10. Conservation of natural capital and minimization of anthropogenic capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 10.1. Reduced consumption of natural energy resources . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 10.2. Conservation of existing capital of power plants, increasing their capacity factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 10.3. Steel maintains its capital by recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 10.4. Conclusions on conservation of natural capital and anthropogenic infrastructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 10.5. Electrification of steel production as an outlet to electricity generation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 10.6. Component of the electricity grid with firm commitment . . . . . . . . 29 10.7. Single counterpart, which controls a large share of demand . . . . . 29 10.8. Responsiveness to higher-value applications of electricity . . . . . . . 29 10.9. Centralized electrification is better than electrification of personal transport PHEV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 10.10. Low-dependency on future energy scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 10.11. Conclusions on the smart use of energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 11. Extensions of Energy Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 11.1. Iron ore trade represents a network comparable to existing energy resource networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 11.2. Steel trade constitutes an energy network, transporting energy in a compact form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 11.3. Correlating RENs and energy needs separated by long distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 11.4. Low immobilization of resources, no stockpiles of energy, fluid energy networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 11.5. Steel competes favorably with hydrogen as an energy . . . . . . . . . . 33 11.6. Scrap is similar to an energy network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 11.7. Steel contributes to the man-made environment of energy networks and creates a positive feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 11.8. Conclusions on extension of energy networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

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12. 13. 14. 15.

VII

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 2 :  Materials, Greenhouse Gas emissions and Climate Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 2. Climate Change 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 2.1. Physics of the atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 2.2. Anthropogenic GreenHouse Gas emissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 2.3. Abundant evidence of rapid Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.4. Foresight and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 3. Low-carbon policies for countries, cities, industry, civil society and other players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 3.1. International efforts to fight Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 3.2. The role of countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 3.3. EU policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 3.4. Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.5. Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.6. Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 4. How to track the responsibility for Climate Change? . . . . . . . . . . . 81 5. Mitigation paths in the materials sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 5.1. The Steel sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 5.2. Non-ferrous metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 5.3. Other materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 5.4. Conclusion on materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 6. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Appendix 1. Global warming potential of various gases from AR4 . . . . . 100 Appendix 2. Equivalence between the SRES and RCP scenarios of the IPCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Appendix 3. Summary of the ULCOS program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Appendix 4. Process routes recently investigated in the EU for low-carbon steel production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 7. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 7.1. Books & movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 7.2. Articles & reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 7.3. Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 7.4. Association and regulatory documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 7.5. Journals, newspapers and on-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

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Chapter 3 :  Biodiversity and Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 2. Biodiversity and ecosystem services. What can be learned from scientific ecology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 3. Business strategies to address biodiversity issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 4. A miner’s experience with Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 5. A Steel company’s approach to biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 6. Biodiversity and ecosystem stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 8. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 4 :  Methods to deal with materials in a holistic way: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Materials Flow Analysis (MFA), Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (SAT), etc.. . . . . . . . . . . 149 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 2. General presentation of holistic methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 3. Life Cycle Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 3.1. Introduction to LCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 3.2. First things first... defining LCA from a simple example  . . . . . . . 158 3.3. A more formal definition of LCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 3.4. Examples of LCA of common materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 3.5. The future of LCA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 3.6. Rebound and perverse effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 3.7. Recycling and LCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 3.8. Dynamic LCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 3.9. Beyond LCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 3.10. Conclusions on LCA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 4. Material Flow Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 4.1. First things first... defining MFA from a simple example . . . . . . . 187 4.2. MFA of various materials and uses of MFA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 4.3. Open issues with MFA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 4.4. MFAc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 5. Other methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 5.1. Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (SAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 5.2. Environment decision-making based on Emergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 5.3. Sustainability assessment using a scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 5.4. Best available techniques or technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 5.5. ISO standard series related to environmental issues . . . . . . . . . . . 219

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6. Conclusion of chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Appendix 1. The metallogeny of old scrap according to the CdF model 222 Appendix 2. List of environmental ISO standards of the 14000 series . . 224 8. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Chapter 5 :  Materials and Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 2. Elements of toxicology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 2.1. Somatic effects of toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 2.2. Germinal effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 2.3. Genotoxicity and carcinogenicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 3. Toxicology of populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 4. Ecotoxicology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 5. Toxic substances related to materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 5.1. Toxicity of substances as materials or as ion speciations . . . . . . . 252 5.2. Toxicity of substances generated during material production or utilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 5.3. Exposure to ionizing radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 6. International regulation of chemicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Appendix 1. Classification of pesticides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Appendix 2. Toxic Substances List – Schedule 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 8. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 8.1. Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 8.2. Institutional websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 8.3. Roadmaps and regulatory documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 8.4. Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 8.5. Books and textbooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Chapter 6 :  Emissions & pollution: global & local environmental issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 2. Pollution and emissions, when and why did it start? . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 2.1. Air emissions from material industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 2.2. Air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 2.3. Trends in air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

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2.4. Air pollution and health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 2.5. Mechanisms of air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 2.6. Local and global air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 2.7. Bacterial pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 2.8. Indoor air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 2.9. Foresight on air pollution targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 2.10. Conclusions on air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 3. Emissions to water – water contamination and pollution . . . . . . . . 328 3.1. Air and water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 3.2. Basics of water dynamics in the hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 3.3. Water pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 3.4. Water pollution from industry and particularly from the materials sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 3.5. Conclusions on water issues and water pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 4. Soil contamination and ground pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 4.1. Definition of soil contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 4.2. Examples of soil contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 4.3. Sludge and tailings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 4.4. Anthropogenic mines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 4.5. Legal issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 4.6. Conclusions on ground pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 5. Responsibility for emissions and pollution and the role of industry, regulatory agencies and other players . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 5.1. Environmental legislation and rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 5.2. How is closure reached in the case of pollution events? . . . . . . . . 350 6. New kinds of pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 7. Droughts, desertification and long-term phenomena that go beyond simple pollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 8. Conclusions on emissions and pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Appendix 1. Trends in air pollution in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 Appendix 2. Premature mortality due to air pollution in different countries in 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 Appendix 3. Evolution of some organic air emissions (POPs) . . . . . . . . . 360 Appendix 4. Evolution of air emissions of some heavy metals since 1990 (France) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Appendix 5. Conclusions of the UN regarding MDG #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Appendix 6. Foresight on particulate matter and ozone concentrations . 365 9. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 9.1. Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 9.2. Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 9.3. Websites & others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 9.4. Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

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Chapter 7 :  History, geography and geopolitics of materials. . . . 377 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 2. Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 2.1. Materials before metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 2.2. Early metals in Ancient Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 2.3. The Middle Ages until Modern Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 2.4. The industrial revolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 2.5. Timeline of changes in the materials activities since the late 1600s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 2.6. Materia economicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 3. Materials production: geographic distribution of the major world players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 3.1. Iron and steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 3.2. Cement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 3.3. Cobalt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 3.4. Other metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 4. Materials production: business dimension of major industrial world players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 4.1. Iron and steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 4.2. Aluminum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 4.3. Other non-ferrous metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 4.4. Cement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 4.5. Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 Appendix 1. Structure of the manufacturing industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 Appendix 2. First and second producers of materials and of some minerals in the world (2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 6. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 6.1. Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 6.2. Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 6.3. Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 6.4. Websites, reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Chapter 8 :  Philosophy, social sciences and holistic views about materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 2. Philosophy of Science, of Technology, of Matter and of Materials 449 2.1. Materialism and Materiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

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2.2. Philosophy of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 2.3. Etymology of keywords in the Philosophy of Science . . . . . . . . . . . 450 2.4. Earlier Western Philosophers of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 2.5. Modern Western Philosophers of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 2.6. Non-Western philosophies of science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 2.7. Philosophy of technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 2.8. Philosophy of materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 2.9. Philosophy of the environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 3. Sociology of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 4. Materials, according to Leroi Gourhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 5. Materials, in the historical timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 6. Materials constitute the frontiers and barriers that separate the world ecology spheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 7. Materials’ Social Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 8. Narratives about materials and storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 9. Materials’ Eco-Social System Services (ESSS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 10. Preconceptions and sophisms related to Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 11. Strong and Hard vs. Weak and Soft concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 12. Economic concepts related to materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 12.1. Malthus and Malthusianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 12.2. IPAT equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 12.3. Schumpeter and the theory of creative destruction . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 13. The Theory of Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 14. Cleanliness, purity and pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 15. Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 16. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 Appendix 1. Descartes’ rules in the “Discours de la méthode” . . . . . . . . 495 Appendix 2. Witttgenstein’s seven proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 Appendix 3. List of European technology Platforms (ETPs) in 2017 . . . 496 17. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Chapter 9 :  Foresight & Environmental Metallurgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512 2. Demography & GDP Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 2.1. Section Demographic projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 2.2. Long-term evolution of economic growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 3. Foresight on environmental impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 4. Foresight on material production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 4.1. The rationales for foresight exercises about materials . . . . . . . . . . 518 4.2. Foresight on materials: Intensity of Use and Intensity of Stock 520

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4.3. Foresight on steel production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 4.4. Foresight on aluminum production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 4.5. Foresight on cement and glass production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 Appendix 1. A very short history of Foresight and Future Studies . . . . . 528 Appendix 2. Population projections up to 2300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 Appendix 3. Largest cities in the 21st century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 Appendix 4. Construction of long-term emissions targets . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Appendix 5. About Kuznets curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 Appendix 6. Valley of Death model and Hype Cycle of emerging technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 6. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 6.1. Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 6.2. Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 6.3. Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 6.4. Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 6.5. Associations, Research groups, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 6.6. Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Chapter 10 :  Conclusions, materials in space and time. . . . . . . . . 545 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Imbrication of the technical, social and environmental dimensions of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 Sustainability and Industrial Ecology narratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 Crash course on traditional (old) Materials Science . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 Origin of Materials in the cosmological and the historical pasts . . 548 Materials are many and complementary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Materials’ surface, the first boundary between material and ecosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Process engineering of environmental emissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Resources extracted from the geosphere to make Materials . . . . . 551 Reuse, Recycling and the Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 Materials and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 Materials and Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 Metrics to measure the sustainability of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 Materials and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 Emissions during the production of Materials and pollution . . . . . 555 Materials as geopolitical instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Softer, Social-Science narratives about Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 Foresight about Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Conclusions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

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Chapter 11 :  Materials, COVID-19 and sanitary risks. . . . . . . . . . . 561 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 2. Is the COVID-19 pandemic a Black Swan Event? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 3. Foresight about the Coranavirus SARS-CoV-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 4. Foresight about the economy, following the COVID-19 pandemic . 573 4.1. Short Term Outlooks (STOs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 4.2. Jobs, employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 4.3. Aggregated indices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 4.4. Commodities, materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 4.5. Resilience to crises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 4.6. The demand shock and the sanitary crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583 5. Alternative economic views, post-COVID-19 pandemic . . . . . . . . . 585 6. Views from SSH of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 7. The virus and nature, the biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 7.1. Viruses as an integral part of the biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 7.2. Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 7.3. Air pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 7.4. Climate change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 7.5. Materials? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 8. The virus and the geosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 9. The virus and the anthroposphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 10. Materials specific issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596 11. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 Appendix 1. Consumer spending in the US, pandemic’s three months . 602 Appendix 2. Novels about pandemics and confinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Glossary – Acronyms and abbreviations. . . . . . . . . 613 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

Foreword

Materials are social constructs and are to be understood as technologies. This is one of the common points of view that my colleagues and I – a group of social researchers – share with Jean-Pierre Birat. It is this commonality that made it possible for us to deal with the social aspects of materials and approach a theme that, at first sight, could seem very far from the interests and scientific sensitiveness of social scientists and, particularly, of sociologists. Certainly, the book – including this second volume – is not a sociological one. Rather, it deals with a wide range of issues connected to materials according to a technical approach. Nevertheless, a strong attention towards social aspects of materials shines through all its chapters, therefore informing the ways in which even the very technical aspects are presented. The examples of this approach are many; take, for instance, Chapter 1, dedicated to the role of steel and copper in the energy system, that introduces concepts that are fundamental for those who are interested in a sustainable development of metallurgy to pursue the objective of an energy transition. Considering materials as social constructs, as for other technologies, is a fruitful perspective because it makes it possible to use a wide set of concepts, ideas and insights coming from the social sciences which have been dealing with the complex relationship between science, technology and society. It is worth stressing that talking of materials means, for a social scientist, walking in a field that is still partially unexplored. As a matter of fact, the above-mentioned cross-fertilization has not been pursued so far in a systematic way for what concerns materials and the issue of the social meaning of materials is approached according to different and not widely shared perspectives. The book proposes some useful hints for those who are interested in a reflection of such a type, as in Chapter 4, dedicated to the methods for dealing holistically with materials (through the so-called “life-cycle-thinking”) or in Chapters 7 and 8 (dedicated, respectively, to the history of materials and to the ways in which materials have been dealt with by social sciences and humanities) as well as in the concluding Chapter 10. The fact that social sciences have not provided, so far, a systematic reflection on materials is, indeed, a little bit strange. Materials are all around us, they are the constitutive elements upon which the material world social life is based.

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Moreover, from this point of view, the book provides tools that are very useful to help to bridge this gap (see, again, Chapter 8). On the matter it can be observed that considering materials as all the other technologies is a useful approach provided that conflation is avoided, that is all the distinctions needed for fully understanding the specific nature of materials have to be maintained. As a matter of fact, materials have their own specificity. They are instrumental – they are needed for doing other things. As the economists say, they tend to be upstream in the value chain. Nevertheless, considering materials just as means whose importance is due to the artifact they contribute to make and in which they lose their “identity” is an approach that, even if valid, leads to lose important aspects of materials’ nature. A material is not – sic et simpliciter – fungible. In various chapters of the book such an observation finds its corroboration, particularly those masterful dissertations dedicated to one of the materials that are most important for our material civilization, i.e. steel. Those chapters convincingly illustrate how a material is contrived thanks to a very complex scientific, technological and social process; and then it is produced thanks to a likewise complex social and economic process. To the entire set of materials that are being used corresponds a significant part of our technical episteme. Materials enter our material life; they innervate society – that produces them – and society is innervated by them. There is a mutual and close connection between society and materials that – as well showed in the book, especially in the already quoted Chapters 7 and 8 – has progressed through the centuries and millennia of human civilization. For this reason, materials are not just instrumental. Far from this, they provide us with a very useful perspective on society and technology. For example, it is useful to look at materials not only for understanding the past but also for improving those analyses that help us to construct the future (see chapter 9 dedicated to foresight). This book suggests that materials should be approached considering all their facets. According to this interpretation, indeed, the social and economic aspects of materials, that are more or less present in all the book’s chapters (and especially in this volume), are not to be considered as secondary ones, even if interesting. This book is a very useful tool for changing our perspective towards materials. It presents a number of basic concepts, ideas and problems bringing the reader to the core of crucial issues of our technological development and of the challenges being faced today by human civilization. The intellectual journey proposed is somehow dizzying because it ranges skillfully in diverse disciplinary domains, more or less distant from each other. They are not at all futile “Pindaric flights”, but useful in-depth dissertations necessary to fully understand the real enjeux of sustainability – i.e. pollution, energy transition, global warming, biodiversity, geopolitics. This approach makes the book interesting and, since it is a textbook, also practically useful. Reading these pages is a little bit like looking at the materials field against the light. We could say that it has the same feature that made a material like glass important for our (western) civilization: it made it possible to look through the

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things, to light up spaces that otherwise would not have been accessible to our gaze. In other words, the book, through an expert presentation, helps us enter dynamics that are not at all evident. The vision proposed helps us to connect, in an unexpected way, many technological, social and scientific processes, to see links that are the glue of our productive and trade activities. Such links are, at the same time, dictated by the existing technologies, by the social relations that make possible their practical operation, by the entire set of knowledge implied by these relations and technologies. A book of such a wide scope cannot be for specialists, but it is very useful for all those – including specialists – who are approaching the field of materials for different reasons and who are interested to deepen issues that could be inaccessible on the basis of strictly disciplinary or professional perspectives. Rome, Italy, June 2018 Andrea Declich Knowledge & Innovation

Preface

Il lettore, a questo punto, se sarà accorto de un pezzo che questo non è un trattato de metallurgia: la mia presunzione non giunge a tanto, “ma voix est faible, et même un peu profane” 1 Primo Levi [1] This is the second volume of a book that covers the new field of Sustainable Materials Science and Environmental Metallurgy [2].

1. Introduction and purpose of the book The detailed motivations for the book are explained in the preface and the first chapter of volume 1. They are briefly reviewed here. Materials are classically studied by materials science, an engineering science. Materials engineers make metals, cement, polymers, monocrystalline silicon in large, specialized plants or mills; they also work on the development of new categories, grades, structures tailored designed for new specific applications, which it is their duty to invent: the chip of a 5G mobile phone, the largest suspension bridge in the world, the textile worn by a world-class athlete, the foil of a racing sailboat, etc. Materials are objects of a different kind from forces, fields or strings, of which physics talks about: indeed, materials are used to make the artifacts which populate the anthroposphere. They are also quite different from the artefacts themselves, such as tools, machines or automobiles, the finality of which is immediate and clear. Materials can be used to make very many artifacts, all of them as a matter of fact, and therefore their finality is diverse.

  The original quotation says chimica, not metallurgia.

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Economics speak about intermediate goods or commodities to designate economic objects like materials, which stay hidden inside a value chain and, furthermore, are concealed below the surface of the artifacts: few people have a clear awareness of them, apart from designers and engineers. 2 Close to materials in this twilight zone of public consciousness, one finds many chemical or metallurgical reactants, 3 of which only process engineers have ever heard of, but also water and energy. People are more commonly aware of water, because it is also a consumer good, and of energy, because of its price and of its geopolitical importance demonstrated by its daily mention in the news. Another category of economic objects ought also to be mentioned here, the common goods, which do not have a price, are not exchanged on a market and therefore are largely ignored or taken for granted: water belongs in this category again, when it plays an ecosystemic service, pollination and air, breathed or fueling a flame. 4 Materials have a long temporality, which extends over cosmological time (10 Gy) from the explosion of large mature stars that disperse iron and other elements into the universe, to the formation of planetary systems, where metals are segregated in telluric planets like Earth in the core, as metals, and in the mantle as sulfides and oxides (4.5 Gy). Then geology plays its role reorganizing elements and eventually producing deposits of commercially important elements, at its own pace (3 Gy), which is also commensurate with the pace of life (evolutionary time (1 Gy)). This is reviewed in volume 1, chapter 2. Then, time focuses on the time of homo and of sapiens (1 My) to be followed by historical time (10 ky), when material production and use started and developed to its present sophistication (volume 1, chapter 3). Future time is discussed in chapter 9, at the end of the present volume 2. Materials also extend beyond the anthroposphere, as they originate from the geosphere, in mines or quarries, Materials extend beyond the realms of engineering sciences, as they have been ubiquitous in every artifact of the anthroposphere, since the beginning of time, homo’s time: they are technical objects, familiar to engineers, but also social objects, which interrogates about their ontological nature, the roles they play in society and how they play it. Materials, as technical objects, are studied in chapters 2, 4 and 5 of volume 1. Materials as social objects are studied in the present volume, particularly in chapters 1, 8 and 10. Materials also emit back to all the ecological spheres, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere during their lifecycle. This complex connection to the ecological spheres is usually called the environmental footprint of the material.

2   The general public cannot distinguish aluminum and steel, which are the two most common metals! Rarer and more exotic metals are simply ignored, in a physical sense, except for precious metals, which, most of the time, are not hidden. 3   e.g. metallurgical coke, lime, dolomite, pet coke. 4   or fishing stock or grazing land. Common goods are rivalrous and non-excludable.

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Materials call on large materials and energy resources, because they are not naturally available in the form and structure that society needs them to be. Note, hic et nunc, that materials are out of equilibrium with nature: they revert back to equilibrium by the phenomenon of corrosion (chapter 5, volume 1). The art of giving them their commercially useful structure and quenching them there, in a metastable state, is called process or extractive metallurgy (volume 1, chapters 3 and 6). Materials have to be concentrated, purified or reduced from natural resources called ores or minerals: that disperses a large burden of waste along the value chain, starting in the mine. Chapter 7 of volume 1 reviews this connection with the geosphere. Then society steps in, as the economy is veering back to a circular economy 5: this phenomenon is described and analyzed in volume 1, chapter 8. To wrench materials from “earths” into their useful persona, i.e. steel from iron ore or aluminum from bauxite for example, fairly large amounts of energy are needed: to break chemical bonds, like the metal-oxygen bonds in oxide ores, heat metallurgical reactors to temperatures, where reactions take place at equilibrium – unless electrochemistry is called to the rescue, and provide for heat losses and other irreversibilities. This is discussed in volume 1, chapter 8. The objective of the second volume is to tread into more unconventional dimensions of materials: • discuss the connection of materials with the present major environmental threats, Climate Change (chapter 2), collapse of Biodiversity (chapter 3) and Pollution (chapter 6); • explore their relationship with occupational and public health, but also toxicology, ecotoxicology and epidemiology and ecoepidemiology (chapter 5); • Social Science offers fascinating approaches to materials, like the Actors Network Theory; there are also quantitative treatments based on applied tools like LCA (chapters 1, 4 and 8); • finally, reverting back to a diachronic vision of materials focused on the recent past ((chapter 5), recent geopolitics of materials) or in the future (foresight, chapter 9). The final message is that materials entertain a special connection with space and time, from the dynamics of stars and prehistory until tomorrow (chapter 10).

5   There is a strong narrative today of moving the economy back from the linear to the circular economy, especially in political circles, as part of the European Green Deal for example. However, the circular economy was the reference model in most of the historical past: only the frenzy for high tech goods, based on the functional properties provided by rare elements, caused a temporary switch to a linear model for this very visible part of the world economy. In the background, most materials, like metals, paper or glass, were improving their act in the circular economy.

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2. Organization of the book The book is organized in a series of chapters presented in two volumes. There are nine chapters in the first volume of the book. Volume 1 presents the theoretical framework for bringing together all the dimensions of materials, based on the model of the Spheres of Industrial Ecology, Anthroposphere, Biosphere and Geosphere. It then focuses on the connections of materials with the physical world, as analyzed by physics and engineering sciences, thus exploring the matters of resources and energy. A time dimension is also included in as far as the origin of materials and of the major elements of which they are made is explained from the viewpoints of cosmology (nucleosynthesis), geology (metallogenesis) and history, including prehistory; also stressed is the role that materials played in the emergence of civilizations and cultures. There are 11 chapters in the second volume of the book, which deals with the interactions of the ecological spheres with society, thus life and the biosphere as affected by anthropogenic activities [3,4]. It also explores contributions from SSH disciplines, from philosophy and ethics to anthropology and sociology and addresses the matter of temporality in connection with foresight, futures and future studies. • Chapter 1 – The special role that metals like steel or copper play in the energy system Materials – and metals most especially – play a particular role in the structure of the energy system: for example, electricity could not be transported without the lines, cables, pipes, pylons, boilers, electrical machines that give the energy system its physical structure that would not exist without copper or steel. In a holistic, value-chain approach, materials thus have a societal role in making the present technological episteme and its energy subsystem possible: materials, beyond their usual role for which they are exchanged on a market, thus furnish ecosystemicanthropogenic functions and services, which are similar, mutatis mutandis, to the ecosystemic functions and services delivered by biodiversity. • Chapter 2 – Materials, GreenHouse Gas emissions and Climate Change Two major environmental challenges are presently facing mankind: Climate Change and the collapse of Biodiversity. Climate Change in connection with mankind has been present since the Neolithic Age, but it accelerated tremendously from the beginning of the 20th century and even more from its second half. It is clearly due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly CO2 and to a lesser extent CH4 and other gases, which originate mainly from the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, the anthroposphere has to find solutions to bring the phenomenon under some control. Energy-intensive industries are responsible for a small amount of emissions, which, however, is a significantly important part of industry emissions, and, therefore, low-carbon solutions and technologies need to be explored and eventually developed.

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• Chapter 3 – Biodiversity and Materials The connection between materials and biodiversity is more complex than that with Climate Change and therefore it is more difficult to identify business and industrial strategies and policies that could be implemented to mitigate the phenomenon of biodiversity degradation. Biodiversity suffers both from Climate Change and from the increased footprint of mankind on Earth related in particular to urbanization. • Chapter 4 – Holistic tools to deal with materials: LCA, MFA, SAT, etc. Materials are used to make durable goods, which remain in the anthroposphere for long periods of time (people’s, consumers’ or users’ time, not the time of reversion to equilibrium with nature) and end up in waste which may or may not be recycled. This is captured by existing methodologies like Material Flow Analysis (MFA) or Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), especially their dynamic versions like dLCA (dynamic LCA), but also by emerging concepts like the Social Value of Materials (SOVAMAT) or the Sustainability Assessment of Technology methods (SAT). Rather than a posteriori acknowledging the drawbacks of technologies or products, when the harm is done, more pro-active methods are being preferred: ecodesign, recycling, reuse and the many lean and frugal technologies. • Chapter 5 – Materials and Health. At the boundary between the anthroposphere and the biosphere exchanges take place between artefacts and life, plants, animals and people, which cover the fields of health and safety in the working place, public health, toxicology and ecotoxicology, epidemiology and eco-epidemiology. This analyzes the boundary interface at the microscopic scale of biological processes. Chemicals and materials play subtle roles in these areas. The chapter will provide an introduction and a review of the relevant issues. The COVID-19 pandemic, which is raging at the time of printing, helps explore the connection between health and environmental issues, including the collapse of biodiversity, as related to the shrinking of natural space. • Chapter 6 – Local & global environmental issues: emissions & pollution. The other interface between the anthroposphere and the biosphere takes place at larger scales, geographical or global, regional and even planetary. Climate Change is an example, which is completely Global. Making materials means selecting useful elements from raw materials and rejecting useless ones from the gangue as waste, the legal term, but also as by-products or coproducts, a resource-oriented expression. The gangue may be as much as one order of magnitude larger than the economically useful materials for common metals but several orders of magnitude for precious ones (106 or more). Moreover, minor compounds of high toxicity may also be generated and report back to the atmosphere,

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the hydrosphere or the geosphere, in what are called emissions to air, water or soil. In vernacular language, these are simply referred to as pollution. Waste generation and emissions are restricted by regulation and legislation. Technologies for dealing with environmental issues or for abating emissions (e.g. dust collection systems, low-CO2 emission technologies, combustion of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), etc.) are listed in Best Available Technology (BAT) documents. Given the increasing magnitude of the footprint of the anthroposphere on Earth, many pollution issues which used to be considered as local have turned regional, transcontinental and even global. This means that in the future the regulatory targets for all emissions will drop by one or even two orders of magnitude. This will affect the material sectors and require the development of abatement technologies far more powerful than those available today. • Chapter 7 – History, geography and geopolitics of Materials Materials have been produced since the dawn of history and, along this timeline, a long series of different organizing principles have been at play to make materials available. The chapter gives an overview of how this organization has evolved, since the time of the hunter-gatherers until today. Then the various materials sectors are described in their present and modern avatars, with a foresight projection: where are these trends leading? • Chapter 8 – Philosophy and social science views about materials Materials viewed by historians, industrial producers, scientists and engineers are described in a way that brings together the various narratives given in the previous chapters and ties them up with the approaches of sociologists and philosophers. Indeed, while materials provide the boundaries between the technosphere, the biosphere and the part of the anthroposphere where people live, with strong property gradients separating systems with very different physicochemical conditions, they also constitute the infrastructure in which people live and the technological episteme in which they operate. This ensures its robustness, resilience and extension in time. Moreover, materials exhibit ontological features, offering the same services across historical periods of time on the basis of classes of materials which have remained the same almost since prehistory. Of course, their microstructural complexity, the precision of their composition and of their properties and their level of purity have changed with the complexification of society. And newer materials are continuously adding to the biodiversity of materials, but without replacing the older ones. • Chapter 9 – Foresight about material What does the future have in stock as far as materials are concerned? A certain continuity, but also explosions of creativity, whenever a challenge is raised, which requires material innovation. Can steel or copper

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production in 2030, 2050 be predicted? When will peak steel or peak concrete levels be reached, assuming this kind of concept makes sense? On what kind of modeling are these projections based? Where does the uncertainty lie, for example regarding the sensitivity to Climate Change, one of the major disruptors for the future? • Chapter 10 – Conclusions – materials in space and time Materials are not simply technological constructs: they are also to a large extent social constructs. Two sides of a complex, dialectical reality, as materials belong to both worlds. Thus, the case for a broader vision of materials than that provided by material science has been made throughout the book and the connection between materials, society and nature, thus between the spheres of natural and industrial ecology, ought to be taught to students. We propose to name the field Sustainable Materials Science or Environmental Metallurgy. • Chapter 11 – Materials, COVID-19 and sanitary risks Chapter 11 was added in May 2020, when the book was already in the hands of the publisher, because the COVID-19 pandemic had started to wreak havoc in the world. Indeed, the sanitary crisis had already brought the economy to a halt, placed most people under lockdown and triggered an economic and social crisis. The consequences were being felt in every nook and cranny of society, including in the world of materials – hence the need for an extra chapter. Understanding what was happening in real time and writing about it without the hindsight brought by widespread academic analysis was a challenge, more like writing a press review than a scientific one. Therefore this 11th chapter can be viewed as an attempt to tackle a crisis that surfaced suddenly and unexpectedly and to verify whether the methodology proposed in the book gives the keys to propose a narrative, if not an understanding of the connection between the pandemic and materials.

3. Other itineraries to explore this book The book was built around the rationale of the Spheres of Industrial Ecology. There are other ways to explore the book, therefore other itineraries that can be followed by the reader who wants to keep tract of a specific subject, disciplinary approach or material. They will be shown at the beginning of each chapter under the label of reading itineraries. The various disciplines handled in the 10 first chapters are shown in Table 1 to Table 2. A dark cell indicates that the discipline is more heavily discussed in a particular chapter. A different series of itineraries, based on the kind of materials that is the particular topic of a chapter, is given in Table 3 to Table 4.

Table 1  –  Disciplines covered in the various chapters of the book (chapters 11–15 in volume 2). XXVI Sustainable Materials Science - Environmental Metallurgy

Table 2  –  Disciplines covered in the various chapters of the book (chapters 6–10 in volume 2). Preface XXVII

Table 3  –  Materials discussed in the various chapters of the book (chapters 1–5 in volume 2). XXVIII Sustainable Materials Science - Environmental Metallurgy

Table 4  –  Materials discussed in the various chapters of the book (chapters 6–10 in volume 2). Preface XXIX

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4. References [1] [2] [3] [4]

Levi P. (1973) Carbonio, Il sytema periódico. Guilio Einaudi, Torino. Birat J.-P. (2020) Sustainable Materials Science – Environmental Metallurgy, Volume 1 – Origins, basics, resource and energy needs. EDP sciences, Les Ulis, France, 476 pages. Conejo A.N., Birat J.-P., Dutta A. (2020) A review of the current environmental challenges of the steel industry and its value chain, J. Environ. Manage. 250(109782), 9. Birat J.-P. (2020) Society, materials and the environment: the case of steel, Metals 10(331), 36, doi: 10.3390/met10030331.

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The special roles that metals like steel or copper play in the energy system

“Is it a fact – or have I dreamt it – that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?” Nathaniel Hawthorne “Rien de ce qui touche le fer ne doit nous laisser indifférent. N’est-il pas l’élément primordial et en quelque sorte l’armature de la civilisation moderne.” Serge Simon Held [1]

Abstract Steel is closely related to the energy system. Indeed, energy is necessary to produce steel and conversely steel is involved in many artifacts that are related to the production, storage or transformation of energy. This positive feedback loop is at the core of the availability of energy to individual end-users. However, the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves are creating a less easily controllable environment. To restore the relationship between steel as a material and a reliable, manmade environment, the process of steel production has been reconsidered in the present chapter. Thermodynamics gives the most general energy conditions to produce steel. From an engineering point of view, this chapter argues that steel would be best produced from electricity. Indeed, steel produced at a large scale from an electrolytic process would modify the energy system regarding energy efficiency and environmental impact. The energy needed for steel production would be provided by all primary energy sources and, more interestingly, by decarbonized sources. With pure oxygen as a by-product, this could generate additional decarbonized energy, provided that storage of carbon dioxide is possible (oxy-combustion and CCS). Renewable energy represents 27% of electricity generation by 2019 in the world. The flexible operation of steel production would increase this share and probably help increase the amount of intermittent energy sources beyond that level.

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The carbon dioxide content of thermal power plants would be lowered by operating closer to theoretical efficiency and by phasing out small fossil fuel units used at peak hours. Like conventional processes, the electrolytic production of steel is an operation of energy conversion which leads to the chemical separation of oxygen and iron. If stored energy originates from renewable energy sources, then iron production is similar to a storage operation in which flows of energy that normally need to be used immediately would be stored in steel. Electrolytic steel production would thus create an energy capital that is not simply stored until it is needed but contributes to a more efficient management of the global energy system by being embedded in steel infrastructures and appliances. Steel products have an additional non-market value because they help organize and control the energy system. The function of assisting individuals in selecting the right amount and form of energy would be improved by an electrolytic iron producing process. Indeed, a flexible process would avoid sharp peaks of electricity demand, by giving priority of access to power to end-users. It would increase the share of energy dedicated to coordination and synchronization of human activities, which are the conditions for society to generate creative technologies for managing the energy system. This is similar to what has been called the “social value of materials” or the “ecosystem services provided by materials to the anthroposphere”. The electricity infrastructure, in terms of power plants and power lines, would already be sufficient to supply electrolysis iron production in Europe, provided that the route is flexible enough, i.e. can be phased out at times. Existing power plants would be used at a higher load factor resulting in a better utilization of existing infrastructure. This switch of steel production to electricity would decouple it from primary energy resources and, thus, would make the steel sector more able to adapt to future energy scenarios. Steel production would be in a permanent balance with other energy-consuming activities. The present steel production routes, independent of the energy market, have an economic price. First, steel production consumes energy when it is expensive comparatively to the market price of steel products. Second, it does not give priority to energy sources with the lowest marginal cost. Electric steel could play a key role in treating the problem of intermittent energy resource and fluctuating energy demand. Addressing this issue by switching, eventually, to electrolysis production would improve the competitiveness of steel as a material. Electrolysis steel production would contribute to reducing the fluctuations of renewable energy sources. It would thus be a game changing innovation, which would help coordinate different sectors and harmonize energy utilization. The steel embedded in the energy system would compound this effect and contribute to creating the extra-value or the eco-social system services already mentioned.

Keywords Steel sector, process routes, ironmaking, steelmaking, electrolysis of iron ore, ULCOWIN, ULCOS, social value of materials, ecosystem services to the anthroposphere, demand-side load management, smart grid, REN

Chapter 1 – The special roles that metals like steel or copper play

What questions can be answered after reading this chapter? 1. Discuss the concept of positive externalities brought by materials, starting from the case made in this chapter regarding steel (or copper) in connection with the energy grid. How useful do you think the concepts of Eco-Social-System Services (ESSS), of Eco-AnthropogenicSystem Services (EASS) or of Social Value of Materials really are? 2. ESSS are not limited to materials. Sketch an argument for developing that concept in the case of energy rather than materials or of functions such as transport or mobility. Does that strengthen or weaken the concept? Relate that to the Economy of Functionalities or PSS (Product Service System). 3. The philosophically-minded readers can try to continue to develop an analogy of ESSS in the case of space and time (temporalities). 4. Another analogy to the rationale of this chapter is Einstein’s equation E = mc2, which he developed in the framework of his relativity theories. Discuss the equation E = steel and explore the details of the metaphor, including the units for measuring both sides of the equation. One can probably define a weak version of the equation and a strong one, etc. 5. Energy storage is a strong dimension of the future electricity grid based on large amounts of intermittent renewable energy (cf. volume 1, chapter 9). Beyond the mainstream technologies for energy storage, i.e. STEP and batteries, materials can offer many solutions for energy storage: outline the structure of an overall presentation of their role, from “weak” to “strong” versions of this role. 6. Chapter 8, in sections 3 to 9, presents arguments on the role of materials similar to those of chapter 1. Analyze them and look for coherences and inconsistencies between the two chapters. 7. In section 5 of this chapter, a simplified model of a steel mill is presented on the argument that it is sufficient to account for the steps of the process route that are the most energy-intensive – which leaves aside, for example, the ore extraction, beneficiation and sintering steps. What do you think of the argument? Do you think that the same argument could be made for copper or for gold? if a more general standpoint than that of energy was the matter, what kind of parameter would you consider as more important? See chapter 4 for more information and possible solutions. 8. This chapter is a pro-domo argument in favor of the electrification of the energy system. Explain why. Digging deeper into the rationale of the chapter, show that the opposite argument might also be made: the future energy grid should contain much more than electricity and classical energy resources. 9. This chapter is almost uniquely focused on steel. Similar arguments on the ESSS brought by other materials can be made, although

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the corresponding work remains to be done. Try to sketch what would be an argument for the case of copper and then of concrete. Similarities and differences compared to steel. Are the new cases stronger or weaker than that of steel? Could this be generalized to more/all materials? All elements? How? Some of the questions require looking for information outside of this chapter and of this book. Reading itineraries • process engineering, physico-chemistry of producing metals, industrial ecology vision of metal production. • steel and metals. • connection between the world of materials and the world of energy analyzed in a broad sense, to demonstrate the concept of Eco-SocialSystem Services (ESSS).

1. Introduction Materials and energy systems are closely related 1 [2]. Energy is necessary to produce materials and, conversely, materials with special properties, like toughness and stiffness properties or high electrical conductivity, are necessary to handle energy. This relationship is the basis of the abundance of energy and of the efficient technologies that adapt the form of energy to its final use. The present technological episteme has developed by using materials in large quantities and in conjunction with their properties and practical uses, while specific technologies have also appeared and multiplied concomitantly in the technosphere, a kind of quid pro quo evolution that has been called by historians the industrial revolutions. If attention is focused on the energy system, then two materials come to the fore: steel and copper. The first one serves to give shape and strength to most of the machines and means of transportation that the system uses, while copper is ubiquitous where electricity is concerned, because of its high conductivity. In both cases, specific and original physical properties are not the only reasons for the choice of the two metals, as the abundance of resources, the existence of powerful industrial processes to make them in the quantities needed and, at the end of the day, their “low” price, in a cost and benefit analysis also contribute to 1   This chapter is based on an invited lecture co-authored by JP. Birat and H. Lavelaine. It can be read independently and therefore bases its original argument on elements thoroughly exposed in volume 1. This chapter is also a pro-domo argument in favor of the production of steel by electrolysis.

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their ubiquity. Other materials are also consubstantial with the energy system: concrete and also special metals, used in steel alloys (e.g. electrical steels, which contain silicon), or individually. However, these prevailing conditions are compromised by the breakaway of the concentration in carbon dioxide in the Earth atmosphere (cf. chapter 2) and by the depletion of the fossil fuel resource (cf. volume 1, chapter 9). New environmental regulations are therefore progressively imposing a change in individual behavior regarding energy consumption. The increasing reliance on renewable energy (REN), i.e. on fluctuating natural phenomena, introduces new operating paradigms for the energy system, for example regarding the scheduling of energy-intensive activities. Moreover, the anthroposphere has not yet developed operational solutions to offer a buffer function between the intermittent supply of RENs and the continuous, but variable demand of the electricity grid. There are basically three types of possible solutions to this difficulty: supplyside load management, demand-side load management or energy storage. The first method, supply-side load management, is the solution presently used to balance energy demand and supply for the electrical grid, which consists in turning on or off power plants, as needed. The second method, demand-side load management, consists in asking energy users to slow down or turn off completely their energy-consuming activities at peak times – in Japan, for example, EAF steel production used to take place only during the night. The third method, energy storage, is the one that receives the most attention today as far as research is concerned. The present chapter focuses on the role of steel in connection with the energy system, analyzed from a wide range of standpoints. It originates from a paper delivered at a steel conference in 2016 presenting a pro-domo argument related to steel production and use [1]. Mutatis mutandis, what is said here of steel also applies to copper and to some other materials like concrete.

2. Steel helps gain access to more energy The relationship between iron and energy can be understood by recalling two important stages in the development of the use and production of this metal. The first one is related to the late Neolithic period, i.e. to the times when metals and iron became the key materials for making tools, such as the Iron Age, ca. 700 to 500 BC [3,4]. Iron production increased rapidly when a positive feedback loop was established with the production of charcoal from biomass. This energy resource made it possible to produce steel by a device called the bloomery, from which cutting tools and specifically axes with sharp edges were hammered by forging, which in turn made the “harvesting” of biomass easier. This synergy increased the availability of biomass as an energy resource and also of steel tools. The efficiency gained by these tools created a reliable and predictable supply of wood.

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A second synergy loop was created by the conjunction of mineral coal, blast furnaces and steam engines, called the industrial revolutions, which took place from the 17th to the 19th century. Mineral coal was initially considered as out of reach, because it was either too deep underground or located in aquifers – thus mines would flood rapidly. However, iron pumps that withstood high pressure made it possible to overcome these limitations. Coal and coal-fired steam engines became more readily available and were used in numerous applications. This phenomenon helped amplify the development of complex networks and of extensive trade. These examples show that there is a direct relationship between the ability to allow “differences of potential”, made possible by new materials, steel in this particular case, as compared to the former materials they replaced, and the reliability of the supply of energy. It is posited here that this synergy between steel and energy has increased the reliability of the energy supply and its accessibility by individuals – a social function.

3. Steel makes it possible to provide the right amount of energy in the right form Iron and steel are produced to manufacture artifacts, which are ubiquitous and familiar in the anthroposphere. This situation has prevailed over a long, historical period. A brief review of steel applications is given in what follows, classified according to four categories that encompass most steel uses (cf. Figure 1.1). First, steel is found in artifacts which contribute to maintaining a gap, a sharp gradient in the level of intensive properties. Steel gives their shape to transport vehicles, like cars or boats, and thus maintains a velocity differential with water, air or the ground. Similarly, in shelter applications, the inner atmosphere of a building has a differing momentum, temperature and humidity from external air. In packaging applications, a steel can maintains a difference of oxygen activity and of sterility between inside and outside. In all these examples, steel is used as a structural material, which makes it possible to build and maintain sharp contrasts with the environment of the artifact, between the technosphere, of which the artifact is a constituent, and the biosphere, nature. Because of its strength, stiffness and relative lightness, steel contributes to maintaining differences of velocity, temperature and pressure for long periods of time. In such applications, steel stores energy by keeping the artifact functional, thus slowing down the never-ending dispersion of energy as low-temperature heat. What was said here of steel can be extended to all structural materials. Second, the tools made of steel provide the means to produce a significant difference of pressure between the handle and the cutting edge of a simple hand tool. A similar phenomenon takes place in electric transformers, where the electrical potential is changed by several orders of magnitude thanks to ferromagnetism, another property of steel, radically different from those already

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mentioned. Thus, steel behaves as a critical material to leverage pressure or electrical potential. Third, steel is involved in energy conversion, i.e. in systems where the form of energy is changed. Typical examples are the thermal engines where chemical energy is transformed into kinetic energy and the turbines used to generate electricity in power plants. As in the previous examples, strength and stiffness are also important to produce rigid structures and complex shapes. These structures introduce a ratchet effect embodied in the dissymmetric shapes of valves, screws and blades – an embodiment of the law of entropy in mechanical systems. Fourth, steel contributes significantly to the design of grids and networks of energy, water, information and transport. Grids and networks make it possible to organize arts and crafts, industrial and economic activities in a more efficient manner, at a larger scale and generally with more quantitative ambition. This is based on maintaining another kind of gradient, in this case a difference of potential. For example, in water pipes, steel maintains different chemical compositions between the fluid and the outside by preventing mixing. In the electricity grid, electric cables are kept apart by the rigidity of posts, pylons and towers. In transport infrastructures, bridges maintain a gravitational difference, between the table and the bottom of the valley that the bridge crosses, which facilitates displacement. In these applications, the role of steel is to channel, synchronize and guarantee the smooth, regular and reliable flow of energy. More generally, the role of steel in controlling energy is carried out by storing, channeling or changing energy categories and by intensifying and leveraging industrial operations. This is associated with conditions under which differences in pressure, altitude, temperature, electric potential, chemical composition, velocity, etc. are conserved. They can be related to experiments in basic physics, such as Archimedes’ lever, Maxwell demon’s trap door, Feynman’s “ratchet and pawl” mechanism [5] and the magnetic core of electric transformers, first proposed by Tesla. In what follows, it is posited that the ability to produce these effects explains the success of steel components. This can be demonstrated by a thought experiment, where we imagine that there exists an ideal material, infinitely light, strong, stiff, ductile, durable, cheap to produce, from economic and energetic standpoints, and abundant. Although it would not in itself become a source of energy, it would make existing energy sources easier to channel, to transform and to store. With this utopic material, wind turbines capable of handling extreme meteorological events would recover the energy of storms on the one hand and of vanishing slow air flows on the other hand, and the energy harvested would be stored, for example in flywheels, large or small. This ideal material would provide energy with simple systems from the engineering standpoint, and it would be developed at a large scale, dimension-wise or volumewise. Since steel is rather close to this ideal material, its applications to the energy sector have been more highly developed than those of other materials.

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Figure 1.1  –  Differences of potential that can be maintained by the use of steel.

Steel artifacts can therefore be understood as tools to harvest energy and put it under control. They are intimately related to the standard of living of people, and this will continue in the future as a perennial activity that is deeply connected with the “smart” management of the energy system [6]. Steel does not store energy in the sense usually meant by the energy community, like a battery for example, but in the artifacts themselves that are the core and the backbone of the energy system. What this “storage” brings is a service that makes energy more easily available and more balanced among a variety of natural sources of primary energy. The service extends to almost all economic sectors and to all of the challenges posed by society: this is truly a social value of steel as well as an ecosystemic service that it provides to the anthroposphere, i.e. to society as a whole.

4. Conventional processes of metallic iron production Steel production is intensive in energy, mainly because of the need to scavenge the metal from its natural occurrence as oxides. Processes have been developed to produce metallic iron at a large scale, the major one being the blast furnace route adopted in integrated steel mills. Continuing R&D and accumulation of experience have turned that process route into a very efficient energy system (cf. volume 1, chapter 9).

4.1.

Reliance on carbon-based energy sources

The energy needs for steel production are roughly 20GJ.tFe–1 in a benchmark case, for an integrated mill and per ton of coil [7]. Blast furnace steel in 2013 amounted to 1,165 million tons (Mt) worldwide and to 93 Mt in EU-27 [8]. Today, integrated steel mills rely on fossil carbon to meet this energy need. This close connection between coal and steel is evidenced in geographical terms by the location of steel mills close to coal mines, in a physical or a logistical way (bulk transport by sea vessels). The final product of coal oxidation is carbon

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dioxide released directly to the atmosphere. In the benchmark case, roughly 1.9 tons of carbon dioxide are produced per ton of hot-rolled coil [2,9]. Carbon dioxide is an odorless, non-toxic and transparent chemical compound. Although highly diluted in the atmosphere at 391 ppm in 2011, this triatomic molecule interacts strongly with solar energy and the total radiative forcing is caused by the increase in the atmospheric concentration of CO2 since 1750, according to an International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report [10]. The consequences of this interaction are progressively being felt in human activities and cannot be ignored. Climate Change is discussed in chapter 2. Presently, steelmaking processes are based on the assumption that oxygen from the air and carbon dioxide are respectively positive and negative externalities, on the input and output sides of the steel mill. However, the status of CO2 has to be reexamined, particularly in the EU, where the commitment was made to limit the “maximum global temperature increase to 2° Celsius over pre-industrial levels and a CO2 concentration below 550 ppm”, which implies “a global reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 by 80–95% as compared to 1990” [11,12]. Achieving this level of mitigation will probably deeply affect CO2 emitting activities, such as steelmaking. In EU-27, in 2007, steel production accounts roughly for 4% of CO2 emissions, cf. Figure 1.2.

  Figure 1.2 – CO2 Emissions by Sector in EU-27: shares of total CO2 emissions, 2007, society, left and industry, right.

There is no risk of a scarcity of the main raw material resources of steel production, iron ore and coal, as they are abundant enough in the earth crust (cf. volume 1, chapter 7). It is the spouting of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that represents a challenge. Consequently, steel production processes will have to evolve so as to lower their carbon emissions. Two solutions can be considered: the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CCS) emitted by conventional processes or the invention of new processes based on decarbonized energy sources. In the following, for the sake of simplicity and of thermodynamic consistency, a slightly different energy balance is retained for conventional processes

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with 545 kg of coal per ton of steel corresponding to 18 GJ.tFe–1 or 5 MWh.tFe–1 and 2 tons of carbon dioxide. These figures are deduced from the free enthalpy of carbon oxidation at ambient temperature according to reaction (1), the free enthalpy of which is ∆GC = −394 364 J.molC–1 [13]. 2

C (s, 25 °C) + O2 (g, 1 bar, 25 °C) ⇋ CO2 (g, 1 bar, 25 °C)

4.2.

(1)

Coal is a natural capital partially transferred to metallic iron

When coal is mined, it is in a metastable state, as it should spontaneously burn with atmospheric oxygen according to reaction (1), but does not, due to barriers in the kinetics of the oxidation reaction. This is why it can be transported and stockpiled safely for long periods of time – except when it is in powder form. Because it is a storable form of energy, coal can be considered as a natural capital  3 resource. Conventional ironmaking operations transform this natural capital into another storable form of energy, which is metallic iron. In today’s conventional process route, among the 18 GJ.tFe–1 consumed, 6.645 GJ.tFe–1 are chemically stored according to the thermodynamical needs for producing metallic iron. The current status of steel production is thus to transfer a fraction of natural capital to metallic iron.

4.3.

Power generation in the conventional steel production process

The energy system of a conventional steel mill is made of multiple and specific reactors, located close to each other. They rely essentially on metallurgical coke, to a lesser extent on coal, and, marginally on gas and oil, as energy sources. They include coke ovens, sintering plants, blast furnaces, converters, reheating furnaces, rolling mills and a power plant burning the excess gas from coke ovens, blast furnace and converters, after some of it has been used as a gaseous fuel in reheating furnaces. To obtain the required properties of coke, coal is baked at high temperature in a coke oven with some energy consumption (4.51 MJ/tcoke). Charged at the top of the blast furnace, coke contributes to the downward motion and to the permeability of the fixed bed. At these high

2   Coal-based ironmaking that underestimates energy consumption and overestimates carbon dioxide emissions. It does not take into account the application of energy in downstream operation from the output energy flows from ironmaking and ignores other energy sources such as scrap, natural gas and electricity. 3   Natural Capital is the core concept of a variant of the theory of Economics of ecosystems, introduced initially by E.F. Schumacher in his book Small Is Beautiful and then further elaborated by many authors. Cf. volume 1, chapter 3.

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temperatures and oxygen flowrates, because of a chemical equilibrium called the Boudouart reaction, coke is not fully oxidized to CO2 and thus does not release its full energy content. The resulting top gas is a mixture in roughly equal amounts of carbon monoxide and dioxide and of nitrogen. A power plant is necessary to harvest the extra energy as electricity and steam from the final combustion of this gas. Direct-reduced iron by natural gas depends on a different energy system, which is also quite specific [14] – cf. volume 1, chapter 3.

4.4.

Exchanges with the energy network

Integrated steel mills rely on coking coal usually considered as a “reducing agent” rather than as an energy source that could be replaced by other energy types. Indeed, such a substitution is rarely possible and then only marginally. Output has to be maintained in a narrow range under steady-state production controlled by the regular downward flow of the fixed bed and by a steadystate temperature field in the blast furnace. The output of this blast furnace is pig iron – also called hot metal – generated at high temperature; it is an intermediary product that has to be processed almost immediately on the site. In a few cases, hot metal is allowed to solidify and thus can be stored and traded as an iron unit on a market.

5. Basics of steel production: energy needs for metallic iron production 4 The relationship between the production of metallic iron and energy is given by thermodynamics – but this minimum level of energy consumption can only be practically achieved at a vanishing low rate of production. Hematite is assumed here to be the main source of iron, because it is the most common iron oxide in the Earth crust and it can be found as an highgrade ore, which should be available at reasonably high concentration for a long time to come. World resources of iron are estimated to exceed 230 billion tons of iron contained among more than 800 billion tons of crude ore [15]. Hematite is one of the most important iron-bearing minerals, present in many rocks of various origins [16]. It is also chemically stable with respect to the oxygen of the atmosphere. Iron production is essentially a chemical process that carries out a rearrangement of atoms, where the oxide is decomposed into its elements, which are separated into metallic iron and oxygen gas.

½ Fe2O3 (s, 25 °C) ⇋ Fe (s, 25 °C) + ¾ O2 (g, 1 bar, 25 °C)

(2)

4  This section covers material presented in volume 1, chapter 8. However, the approach is slightly different and, therefore, it was felt that this should not be considered as overlapping.

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All reactants and products in this reaction are at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, conditions that correspond to iron ore mining and to the use of steel goods. Therefore, this chemical reaction represents the shortest and most straightforward route that can be imagined to produce steel. Although simple compared to the numerous chemical steps taking place in actual integrated steel mills, this model reflects the main energy exchanges that take place during iron production. Other operations such as separation of the gangue, removal of unwanted impurities, grade adjustment by alloying and hot and cold forming are not taken into account because they are not as energy intensive. The First Law of Thermodynamics [12] gives the precise amount of energy needed to separate iron and oxygen atoms and to re-assemble them as a metal and a gas. Calculated from the thermodynamic properties of pure compounds, the overall energy demand, i.e. the enthalpy variation ∆HFe, amounts to 7.38 GJ.tFe–1 or 2.050 MWh.tFe–1 – a significant amount of energy. If this energy were supplied chemically, the chemical reactant would represent a quantity of matter of the same order of magnitude as iron: for example, to balance this energy need with carbon oxidation would require 225 kg of carbon per ton of metallic iron to be “burnt” with oxygen. However, the reduction of iron from its ore is not a spontaneous reaction: indeed, there is no natural iron in the environment, except for meteoritic iron. To make the reaction happen, it is not sufficient to allow a slight deviation from room temperature. The second law of thermodynamics stipulates which forms of energy are necessary [12]. The reaction is endothermic: therefore, heat is needed to keep the temperature of the reaction compounds constant. The amount of heat is equal to the difference: ∆HFe–∆GFe, which amounts to 0.734 GJ.tFe–1 or 204. kWh. tFe–1, i.e. 10% of the overall energy needed by the reaction. This heat can be supplied from room temperature by heat flow from the surrounding environment. The complement is the positive work needed for the reaction, which means that the reaction is endergonic 5: the amount of work being equal to ∆GFe. It represents the rearrangement of atoms by the forced displacement of chemical bonding electrons: it is the minimum non-expansion work needed to carry out the reaction and it amounts to 6.645 GJ.tFe–1 or 1846. kWh. tFe–1 i.e. 90% of the overall energy need. This is the amount of energy stored in metallic iron. Although both are an integral part of energy, measured by the same physical unit, heat and work are radically different in terms of their “ability to be controlled” and therefore in terms of resources. There is practically no substitute for work and, therefore, to produce iron from its oxide, a work source must be found and handled in such a way that it is transferred to the bonding electrons as closely as possible to equilibrium. Whatever the process route, overall energy

5  An endergonic reaction is one that needs outside work (actually free enthalpy) to proceed. The simpler concept of endothermic reaction refers to a reaction that simply needs heat to proceed.

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demand and work needs are constant. 6 Under current environmental conditions on Earth, work is more than sufficiently available to produce metallic iron, either as radiant energy from the sun or as chemical energy stored in biomass: however, this does not spontaneously lead to the production of metallic iron; an extra condition is necessary, specifying that work flow should be directional – which is one way of expressing that the entropy of a closed system cannot increase.

6. Principles of steel production: choice of a form of work to produce iron In the conventional ironmaking process, the kind of work used is chemical energy, provided by carbon or methane. Alternatives to chemical reduction are related to the interactions existing in nature: gravity, magnetism & electromagnetism and high temperature heat. Thermodynamically, they are all equivalent and indeed devices exist to change energy from one form to another. However, seen from an engineering point of view, they correspond to very different technologies. Some are naturally available, some are storable, some are controllable, some modify the chemistry of the atmosphere and some have intensities that can be easily adjusted. To test their suitability for reducing iron oxide, we will compare the following forms of work and contrast them with chemical energy: temperature, which provides energy as heat, oxygen partial pressure, which controls the chemical activity of oxygen, and electric potential, which provides energy as electricity, cf. Figure 1.4. With regards to the chemical form of work, we consider carbon as the reference, because it is an abundant resource. Carbon oxidation is a source of free enthalpy, but the amount available is too low to reduce hematite at room temperature: indeed, chemical work cannot be exchanged by simply mixing the reactants, as would take place by using a more reducing compound such as hydrazine instead of carbon [17]. Therefore, an extra driving force must be added to complement this work mismatch, for example by oxidizing more carbon until the required level of free enthalpy is reached. The reaction then becomes the following: ½ Fe2O3 (s, 25 °C) + 0.941 C (s, 25 °C) + 0.191 O2 (g, 1 bar, 25 °C) ⇋ Fe (s, 25 °C) + 0.941 CO2 (g, 1 bar, 25 °C) (3) This formulation assumes that reactants are properly brought together to cause the addition of chemical driving forces. The configuration that corresponds best to this ideal system would be a combination of electrolytic cells, where hematite would be reduced by carbon oxidation, and carbon fuel cells, where carbon oxidation would produce supplementary electrical energy.

  A simple way of saying that enthalpy and free enthalpy are thermodynamic functions.

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Figure 1.3  –  Approximation of an ideal carbon-based steelmaking process.

The relative number of cells is given by: (∆GFe + ½∆GC)/(– ½∆GC) = 3.924071 which can be put into practice only approximately, as cells exist in integer numbers. A representation is given in Figure 1.3 as a first approximation, where one fuel cell, shown on the left, provides the complementary work to the four electrolytic cells on the right. Under such ideal conditions, metallic iron would be produced with 212 kgC.tFe–1. The electrochemical reaction in the electrolytic cells would cool them down and therefore they would need to be heated, i.e. by heat imported from the outside. This schematic representation gives the characteristics of the ideal process, any deviation from which will result in a loss of energy efficiency. The processing route would have to be fractioned into separate compartments. This indicates that electricity constitutes a suitable mediating form of energy. The proposed scheme shows that the driving force necessary to extract metallic iron from iron oxide cannot be straightforwardly derived from carbon or from other common chemical energy sources, such as methane or hydrogen. Conventional processes such as smelting reduction depart significantly from this ideal process and therefore from this theoretical efficiency. This ideal process route has never been developed, nor the direct carbon fuel cell, despite many attempts [18]. Several reasons explain this lack of success: • first, the low chemical reactivity of carbon with oxygen at room temperature: oxygen is slow to react, because its reduction is spin-forbidden due to the imbalance of magnetic moment between reactants and products. 7 This is an important property, as it makes aerobic life possible [19]; • second, synchronizing and channeling the flow of three reactants uniformly and simultaneously on large electrode surfaces is an engineering challenge, compounded by the fact that hematite and carbon are solid and therefore that their flowrates are difficult to control with accuracy; 7   This is inherent in the technologies of gas separation. For example, the efficiency of oxygen separation from air is only 17%. The remaining capacity margin is the difference between remaining capacity and margin against peak load.

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• third, finding an ionic medium which simultaneously dissolves hematite and carbon dioxide is probably impossible, as hematite needs acid and carbon dioxide basic conditions. A hypothetical ideal process based on a flow of pure chemical work would rely on a chemical compound, the oxidation free enthalpy of which would be slightly larger than hematite’s needs, while the number of electrons exchanged would be matched. The reactants would be finely mixed to favor the full conversion of the reaction, but the products would need to be separated. The reactant and/or the product would have to be in a dispersed phase, while maintained respectively in excess and in default. This supposes a separation operation relying on a gradient, which here also gives a geometric organization to energy. A process decomposing iron oxide by the action of heat alone would require a level of temperature of 3404 °C, which corresponds to the spontaneous decomposition of iron monoxide (cf. Figure 1.4). From an engineering point of view, this is an unusually high temperature, rarely handled in a reactor, except in a solar furnace. Furthermore, after the dissociation, iron and oxygen would need to be kept apart, which is also an unusual challenge that would require, for example, using mass spectroscopy, a technology not yet developed at the scale necessary for such an application [20]. Among the three compounds involved in the equilibrium, oxygen is the only one, the activity of which can be modulated to influence the outcome. The conversion of hematite into iron can be driven by controlling the partial pressure of oxygen, by diluting it in a neutral gas or by creating a vacuum. The level of oxygen needed to decompose hematite is 10–87 bar, which is extremely low from a technological point of view, much lower than vacuum in outer space (10–20 bar) [19]. These extreme conditions are practically out of reach. Similarly, other forms of energy such as centrifugation, are not likely to lead to a practical technology either.

Figure 1.4  –  How to recover iron from oxides by pure physical means.

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Chemical bonds are electrostatic in nature; their energy is stored by negatively charged electrons in electrical interaction with positively charged nuclei. In a crystal of iron oxide, a separation of charge already takes place due to the difference in electronegativity of iron and oxygen: thus, iron atoms transfer electrons to oxygen atoms. An electrical energy source can be applied to counteract this displacement of charges. The electric potential necessary to produce decomposition in this manner amounts to 1.282 V, which, mutatis mutandis, seems easier to apply than the types of energy formerly considered. The need to be close to equilibrium also requires that the activity of oxygen not be allowed to build up and displace the reaction in the opposite direction. However, the electrical potential can be precisely adjusted to the exact work needed by the reaction and its kinetics, without coupling to a high temperature heat source, which is the main advantage of this process route concept. The electrical potential needed for the decomposition of hematite, 1.28 V, seems at first sight to be close to the potential of the chemical reactants, either hydrogen turned into water, 1.229 V, or carbon turned into carbon dioxide, 1.022 V. But the extra voltage explains the decisive advantage of producing iron at low temperature by an electrolytic route. In comparison, processes relying on chemical energy, such as DRI and blast furnaces, operate at 800 °C [13] and 1490 °C, respectively, whereas electrolysis can be carried out close to room temperature. In conventional processes, extremely high temperature levels are necessary to overcome the small potential difference necessary to reach the minimum thermodynamic requirement. Coupling between heat and chemical reaction in the blast furnace compromises the selectivity of the process by leading to the simultaneous reduction of other elements like silica. Furthermore, high temperature operation has a limited flexibility due to the “sluggishness” of heat transfer and to the fatigue wear of the materials, of which the reactor is made, under cycling temperatures. Consequently, conventional processes cannot be interrupted, nor their production rate modulated with a short response time. On the contrary, processes based on electricity are quite flexible because of contrasted electrical conductivities and of the insensitivity of the material structures to electrical potential [21]. Electricity is the same type of energy as the chemical bonds connecting iron and oxygen in iron oxide compounds. It can be precisely adjusted to the thermodynamic need of iron production from its ore by opposing an electrical force to the bonding force of electrons, which provides efficient control of the reaction rate. In an electric process route, there is a single energy input limited to electricity compared to carbon driven processes, where the energy balance depends on the accurate control of multiple mass flows such as hot blast flow, temperature or concentration of oxygen, coke rate or pulverized coal rate. Thermodynamics shows that iron production requires electricity as a direct source of energy or as an intermediate one, otherwise it is impossible to approach high efficiency. Any deviation from the electricity form of energy involves a loss of efficiency. Therefore, the ideal reactor based on electricity can be approximated by an electrochemical cell.

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7. Integration in the electricity grid of steady electric production of metallic iron to manage peak demand 7.1.

Steady electric production of metallic iron

In the following, it is assumed that an electrolysis iron production process can be developed to produce metallic iron from iron ore. In this process, the anodic reaction is not carbon oxidation into carbon dioxide but the oxidation of oxide anions into gaseous oxygen as in reaction (2). The products of the reactions of iron oxide decomposition, metallic iron and oxygen gas, have very different  densities Fe   6103, so that oxygen can be captured in situ as a high purity O2 gas in the electrochemical cells without ancillary equipment. An electrolytic plant would be made of multiple identical cells connected in series as practiced in the electrowinning industry and as explained before. Another simplifying factor is that only a few chemical compounds are involved and, consequently, that the chemical inventory of the process reactor is kept simple. The cells would be designed to favor the selectivity of the electrochemical reaction of iron oxide decomposition and to lower the resistance of electric transfer between the electrodes. The size of the steel mill can be increased by adding more cells. This will not compromise efficiency, since an electrolytic process is fairly independent of the size of the plant. Facilities of arbitrary size can therefore be designed, simply by increasing electrode surface. A high level of automation can in principle be achieved without any dedicated instrument. The major control parameter is the electric current, which drives electroreduction, and minor parameters can control the mass flows. This makes it possible to achieve an instantaneous control of reaction rates.

7.2.

Grid balance and variable electricity demand

The electricity grid needs production and demand of electricity to be in equilibrium at all times. This is a great challenge as consumption and production vary with time and location. The main drivers that determine demand are sunlight and temperature with daily and seasonal cycles. Thus, electricity demand is correlated primarily to diurnal and seasonal cycles, to weather conditions, to weekly variations related to business days and holidays and to long-term trends such as population growth and improved living standards. The generation of electricity depends either on dedicated combustion-based systems or on variable sources. Fossil-fuel-based power plants reach their high efficiency in the conversion of energy when operated at steady state. Renewable energy sources follow weather conditions and are fed to the electricity grid when they are available because of their low marginal cost; they are also prioritized for environmental reasons. Thus, generation and consumption are not synchronized.

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In Europe, electricity demand features two daily peaks during a working day, one in the morning and one in the evening [22]. The second peak is sharp, corresponding to the simultaneous need for light, home heating, electric appliances and transport. Even though peak consumption takes place during a relatively short time, the daily peak defines the overall generation and transmission capacities of the grid. For a decade, it has been observed that this peak demand increases more than the average demand [23] due to the evolution in the standard of living and to the use of more electrical appliances. It is expected in the future that this trend will continue unabated, resulting in more pronounced variations in the daily consumption cycle. Serving the relative short time of the peak requires significant investments in power generation and transmission infrastructure which remain idle for the rest of the time. The extra power units are generally non-economical. A typical “load duration curve” for France in 2001 is given in Figure 1.5, which shows the level of electricity demand over the 8760 hours of the year: a base load is needed for half of the time, while peak conditions above 6000 MW apply for about 100 hours; the curve is called “MW condition”.

Figure 1.5  –  Load duration curve.

7.3.

Empowerment of individual end-users

Human activities take place essentially during the day. To optimize natural resources, additional energy from artificial systems is mobilized before and after daylight, to meet peak energy demand. Moreover, in order to minimize energy consumption, individuals tend to restrict their electricity consumption to the precise duration of their needs and they turn down the standby mode of electrical appliances. This results in more discontinuous demand and, at a collective scale, this practice tends to increase the sharpness of peak demand.

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Electric lighting is one of the main reasons for the daily peak demand in the morning and the evening. This was the main driver of the development of electricity, the substitution of lighting fuels 8 by electricity being the archetype of electrification of energy and illustrating the notion of “utility”. This explains the ubiquitous use of electric light, with thirty billion light bulbs turned on every day [24]. Other appliances lead to similar consumer behavior. Servicing the peak is costly in terms of capital invested in power plants and lines. The alternative would consist in curbing generation capacity which would lead to interruptions of electrical service when demand overcomes supply – a condition called a brown-out, which occurs occasionally today [25]. It would affect both businesses and residential consumers. For business activity, economical losses can be estimated according to production losses, equipment damage, raw material spoilage and idle time of the workforce. In the domestic sphere, shutdown would limit services related to lighting, heating, cooling, water supply, communication, etc. The comparison between these two costs, investments in capacities and losses as the consequence of power outage, is not straightforward, due to the complex interdependence of the various activities, the extreme variety of electrical applications, the different quality deviation of electrical supply (outage, harmonic distortion, voltage transient, and timing of interruption) and the lack of data [26]. Studies show first that, on the average, the cost of unserved electricity is two orders of magnitude larger than the price of the unit amount of electrical energy. Second, losses from a given activity are inversely proportional to the added value of this activity. Hence, those that generate the most are public transport, tertiary businesses and households. Conversely, large energy-intensive industries, such as primary metal production, have the lowest losses per unit of unserved electrical energy. Third, if warned in advance, industrial plants can halve the cost incurred by the outage. Today, a reliable electricity supply is obtained with capital-intensive infrastructure that eventually increases the electricity bill of the end user. A flexible, electricity-based steel production process would contribute to improving this situation due to its significant share of electricity consumption, its relatively low added value per unit of electrical energy compared to residential and service activities and to its independence from natural cycles of daylight. This process could capture part of the market of uninterruptible power equipment, of insurance policies, of reserve in power generation and of future energy storage facilities. Additional assumptions to the hypothetical electrolytic process are necessary if a flexible iron producing process is to be considered. The electrolytic process would have to be significantly more flexible than base-load power plants. The process would have to operate close to room temperature in order

  Pétrole lampant (F), kerosene.

8

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to be resilient to thermal cycles. As long as an electrolytic process is essentially a resistive electric component with low capacitive and inductive properties, the production rate can be controlled by the energy input, with a short time response. It ought to produce metallic iron plates at room temperature. This would involve low manufacturing costs since the materials of the reactor would have simple properties and thus be available and cheap. The specific production rate ought to be high in order to limit reactor size. Note that the argument made here for electrolysis production of steel is already commonplace for the case of aluminum production [27].

7.4.

Demand response in general

The balance between generation and demand is a problem faced by the power industry since its origin. Until now, most of the solutions have been derived from the generation side. Although the demand side has as much potential, it has been hardly developed, mainly because the guarantee of power for the end-user confers its utility status to electricity. The adjustment of electricity consumption is termed demand response and represents the voluntary reduction or increase of electrical consumption when the supply is under conditions of scarcity or abundance respectively. The reduction of demand is by far the most important action since it determines peak demand. The amplitude of peak demand in turn determines the size of the overall electric infrastructure, which includes both generation and transmission equipment. Therefore, any reduction of the peak reduces the investment in power plants and transmission lines. Given the high cost of this equipment, there is a strong economic incentive to lower peak amplitude. In this regard, electricity-intensive activities are the most likely to take part in demand response. Naturally, most existing electrochemical industries already incorporate such practice in their production plan to take advantage of an electricity price discount [28]. Metal and steel industries have been identified as the most promising contributors to increase demand response in the future [29,30]. To achieve larger demand response effects, the ideal solution would be an electricity-intensive, large, flexible and appropriately localized plant, which would adjust its consumption with low response times.

7.5.

Demand response from a flexible electrolytic plant

The ability to modulate a large electrical flow within a short time represents a highly useful means of managing electricity balance. Our hypothetical electrolytic ironmaking mill would represent an opportunity to develop a purposely large, electricity-intensive and flexible industrial process. Such an iron-producing mill would buffer fluctuations over a large range of time-load variations from instantaneous to seasonal ones. Prescribing iron production at

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21

a short time scale, typically one second, has almost no value for a steel mill, while it has value for an electricity dispatching operator to continuously balance supply to demand in real-time. The steel plant can renounce short term scheduling of iron production and transfer the prescription of the production rate to the utilities. For longer time scales, the steel mill can adjust planned shutdowns for maintenance according to high electricity demand seasons. To participate fully in demand response a new application of electricity would need to be designed to help balance the electricity grid. This would mean that the new process is operated counter-cyclically to existing electricity demand, which can probably be easily achieved. If steel mills were wired to the electric grid, then they would participate in the management of the electric system. As single partners to the utilities, the decision to lower or increase consumption would be easier. Furthermore, by being centralized upstream of the grid, the electrolytic iron plant would take advantage of the smoothing effect of the interconnection of numerous end-users. Contrary to backup and peaking power plants, an electrolytic plant can modify its electrical exchange without threshold levels. Particularly, small variations of energy supply can be absorbed by a reduction of the production rate. Although these small variations have a low impact on the energy balance, they improve the quality of electricity in terms of voltage and frequency. More generally, the electricity system would be more tolerant toward fluctuations of load and demand, which would improve network resilience. This would contribute to improving grid stability. Being able to greatly decrease power during a relatively long period of time and on a quick response basis represents an energy service. The economic value of this service is at the scale of the energy involved in steel production. In EU-27 during 2013, 92 MtFe were produced from blast furnaces, which corresponds to 460 TWh. This figure represents 13.6% of electricity generation in the slightly larger perimeter of ENTSO-E (34 countries), which amounted to 3383 TWh in 2012. The switch from conventional ironmaking to electricitybased production would enlarge the scale of demand response capacity: in France in 2013, 10.2 MtFe were produced, which corresponds to 5.8 GW of steady power generation. This figure is more than six times larger than the 0.9 GW needed for demand response in the French grid [31]. Provided that the electrolytic process is capable of withstanding short shutdowns, its participation in demand response would depend on the precise evaluation of the lead time between the initiation and execution of a demand call, on the duration of these events, on the number of times that a demand response event can be called and on the reliability of the demand response counterparts, which are technology-dependent. The electric potential can be changed to a large extent, a property out of reach with chemical-based energy. High voltage, which can reach 400 000 V, decreases correspondingly the losses in transport and enables the development of extended and dense networks.

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The load factor of power systems ranged from 60% to 69% in Europe in 2001 [32]. In the ENTSO-E perimeter during 2012, the remaining capacity margin 9 amounts to 124 GW, twice the amount of power needed for the 100 Mt of steel produced during this period [28]. A new iron electrolytic process could therefore be supplied with electricity from existing power capacities, if it accepts to cut down its production during peak demand. In 2001 in France, 3 hours of interruptions during peak demand freed 1.4 GW of generation capacity, while 25 hours freed 2.8 GW and 100 hours corresponded to 6.0 GW.

7.6.

Section conclusion

To reach a high level of energy and environmental efficiency, electricity would be best generated from base-load power plants operated under steady state and from intermittent renewable resources. But this would eliminate any flexibility of electricity generation. Moreover, the present trend towards sharp variations of demand would worsen the unbalance between generation and demand. A possible way to overcome this contradiction would be to propose a breakthrough from the demand side: this would be made possible by a system that could adapt its power demand, for example an electricity-intensive activity like electrolysis-based steel production.

8. Contribution to Decarbonization The electrification of steel production could, in many respects, result in the decarburization of this activity. Indeed, the carbon content of electricity and the flexibility of the process would modify its carbon dioxide emissions.

8.1.

Reliance on a panel of primary energy sources that includes non-carbon energy sources

Electricity is a form of energy that aggregates various natural energy sources, some relying on fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil and some on “decarbonized” energy sources such as nuclear, hydro-power or renewable resources. Compared to the current situation, steel mills would be “hybridized” with an enlarged energy basis. They would be greener in as far as the electrical mix includes energy sources with low GHG emissions. According to the EU climate and energy package, the share of renewable energy sources is expected to reach 20% in 2020 and would keep increasing afterwards to levels that will be determined by each member state [33].

9  The remaining capacity margin is the difference between remaining capacity and margin against peak load.

Chapter 1 – The special roles that metals like steel or copper play

8.2.

23

Increased share of fluctuating energy sources

Intermittent energy sources compromise the matching of electricity generation and demand. For example, wind turbine electricity generation is linked to highly variable wind conditions. The share of intermittent energy sources in the electrical grid is therefore limited by the availability of either backup capacities or a controllable demand. For example, in remote or isolated power grids, where the sensitivity to variable generation and demand is particularly acute, the limit of instantaneous power generated from intermittent renewable sources is estimated at 30%, otherwise the reliability of supply cannot be guaranteed [34]. The need for an active demand-side load management is all the more acute as renewable resources are a set of technologies which are unrelated, have their own paths of development, rely on very different physical principles and have very different cost structures. Thus, an adjustable demand is probably a prerequisite to increasing the share of renewable resources. Lowtemperature, electricity-based steel production could turn the steel sector into a large and flexible consumer. With a flexible demand, grid operators should be less conservative in integrating intermittent energy sources with demand response capacities, when generation is lower or demand is higher than predicted [35]. It would create the conditions for the maximum harvesting of intermittent energy sources, whatever their fluctuation.

8.3.

Energetically favorable CCS, based on the use of oxygen generated by electrolysis

In a carbon-constrained economy, the use of coal is only possible in connection with CCS [36]. In electricity generation, it is a costly proposition, because the energy efficiency of the process of gas separation is low. For example, the efficiency of oxygen separation from air is as low as 17% due to the low contrasting properties of oxygen and nitrogen [37]. If combustion is carried out by atmospheric air, about one fourth of the electricity generated by the power plant is needed to run the CCS. When producing steel in an electrolytic process, a by-product output is pure oxygen according to reaction (2). This gas of industrial quality can be used to fire the coal boilers of a power plant, by implementing the so-called “oxy-combustion” technology, which generates pure CO2 in the off-gas, easy to capture since it only needs to be collected without energy needed for CO2 capture [22]. If the exact amount of oxygen generated by electrolysis ironmaking is used in an oxy-combustion power plant equipped with CCS, then a quarter of the electricity needs can be supplied from coal, free of CO2 emissions [38]. This is a very significant feature of electrolysis ironmaking, which has the potential of greening coal-based power generation at an acceptable cost. It reinforces the connection of steel with the overall energy system.

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8.4.

Limited reliance on backup peaking plants that are strong CO2 emitters

Another contribution to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions would be a partial or complete substitution of backup power plants, which are needed to adjust generation to the varying demand and which are high GHG emitters.

8.5.

Improved energy efficiency of fossil fuel power plants

The minimum of carbon dioxide emissions from an electricity grid is obtained when base-load, high-capacity power plants, fossil fuel- or nuclear-based, operate at steady state. At demand peak, GHG emissions increase.

8.6.

Conclusion about carbon dioxide energy mitigation

A paradigm shift in ironmaking would be to make steel from non-storable forms of energy. Indeed, the carbon footprint of steel would be lowered not only by the reduction of emissions from its production process but also by its contribution to improving the environmental efficiency of the overall energy system.

9. Contribution to Energy storage Energy storage systems are expected to participate in the management of electricity grids fed from intermittent renewable energy sources. Storage of energy is considered essential to ensure progress in integrating fluctuating renewable energy at a very large scale [39]. This is true at all scales of technologies, from individual vehicles equipped with lead-acid batteries to the Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (PEHS) already used today for balancing the global electricity grid. Gravitational energy remains at the core of the major storage technology, as it accounts for 99% of storage capacities worldwide [40], in spite of its lack of compactness. It will soon reach its limits as most suitable sites have already been equipped. Chemical storage remains the only alternative, as exemplified in the grids of remote islands, which use sodium-sulfur [41], nickel-cadmium [42] or lead-acid batteries. Intensive work is going on to develop batteries that perform better, but the search is still going on.

9.1.

Energy is stored in metal electrowinning systems

As currently practiced for magnesium, aluminum, 10 cobalt, nickel and zinc, metal electrowinning can be considered as an energy storage technique. 10   With the restriction that, in aluminum production, carbon oxidation contributes with electricity to the supply of energy.

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25

These metal-winning plants behave as large-scale, centralized battery systems in charge mode. As far as iron is concerned, steel production by electricity would demonstrate a much larger storage capacity.

9.2.

Iron is the best-fitted atom to carry out redox reactions

Iron is a redox sensitive element, as, for example, its redox properties are involved in the metabolism of animals [cf. volume 1, chapter 2] and in electrochemical systems such as the nickel-iron Edison battery [20]. They might, in the future, be developed further in the super-iron battery [29]. The applications of iron redox properties are related to the abundance of iron and to its ability to exchange electric charges under low resistance.

9.3.

Hydrogen is worst-fitted to carry out redox reactions

The search for reversible redox properties is more commonly focused on hydrogen gas [43], but electrochemical splitting of water into separated hydrogen and oxygen gases has drawbacks compared to iron. Hydrogen is an electrical insulator that represents a barrier to the flow of current, contrary to metallic iron, which is a good electronic conductor. Furthermore, hydrogen is a gas that cannot be separated from oxygen by gravity effects. This lack of a contrasted property makes it necessary to use a separator, such as a membrane or a diaphragm, which introduces a resistance to the flow of current and increases the loss of energy in the process. Hydrogen is also a gas that drags out water as steam, with a rate twice higher than oxygen gas alone.

9.4.

Iron system is a low-capital storage system

A storage system for grid balance should generate power at the same order of magnitude as a conventional power plant. Therefore, it is a large piece of equipment comparable to power plants in terms of capital investment. To be economically viable, it should have fast charging ability and large capacity to be discharged over a long period of time. But obviously, this is not technically feasible and probably not desirable, as it does not address the electricity demand profile, with its sharp peaks.

9.5.

Conclusion on energy storage

Energy storage is an oxymoron, as energy is the fundamental property that explains change and motion. This probably explains why energy storage technologies have not found convenient solutions yet and are struggling to find some new ones in the future. Iron production supplied from fluctuating

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sources represents one of the few possible routes to involve a reversible redox system close to equilibrium to store energy. The fluctuating flows of energy from REN would be stored in materials that make goods and infrastructures. In this process, some energy capital is accumulated in steel. This energy content of metallic iron could be turned into electricity for the grid, if it were processed in an iron-air fuel cell where iron would be oxidized back to hematite [32,44]. As already mentioned, “restitution” or “discharge” are also achieved in the energy service provided by steel infrastructures as improved access and more efficient transformations of energy. Beyond end-of-life uses of steel as a direct or indirect fuel in the energy system, iron contributes to the management of this system by being at its core, as equipment, structures and machines.

10. Conservation of natural capital and minimization of anthropogenic capital Efficiency, either energetic or environmental, assumes that natural capital is conserved and that, at the same time, existing infrastructures are operated close to their full capacity. Natural capital consists of fossil fuels, both organic and mineral. Man-made or anthropogenic capital is composed of the built infrastructure, which facilitates the delivery of energy to the end-user. Increasing the capacity factor of existing anthropogenic capital reduces the resources involved in building new power generation and transmission capacities. It represents the most straightforward improvement of energy efficiency.

10.1. Reduced consumption of natural energy resources Table 1.1 shows that steel produced by the electrochemical route (ESPP: Electrolysis-based Steel Production Process, ULCOWIN process or ΣIDERWIN process) engages only two thirds of the exergy consumed today in the conventional ironmaking route. Moreover, the share of renewable energy sources incorporated in the electricity mix is expected to increase and reach a very high level at the 2050 horizon [29]. This will reduce the consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels proportionally when steel is produced from an ESPP. These two effects combine to preserve the natural capital involved in steel production. Table 1.1  –  Exergy balance of steel production processes. Exergy balance (MJ.tHRC–1) Conventional route

14.491

ULCOWIN

10.565

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27

10.2. Conservation of existing capital of power plants, increasing their capacity factor Power plants and the electricity generation system in general are one of the most important infrastructures in developed economies; they are considered as the “most significant technological achievements of the 20th century” [45]. They represent an important capital investment which is best valued if it is operated close to its full capacity, at steady state and at the rate closest to maximum efficiency. However, practical operation shows that the load factor is well below its maximum capacity factor. Typically, the load factor of global generation capacity is 64.6% in France (2014) [46] and ranges from 60% to 69% in Europe (2001) [27]. These figures depart significantly from the capacity factors of individual power plants which for nuclear and coal power plants range between 85% to 90% [47]. This difference is related to the variation of demand and to safety margins. A major improvement in conservation of anthropogenic capital would be achieved by using this idle generation capacity. The generation system, composed of base-load, load-following and peaking plants, is designed to provide power at the peak of demand. The remaining margin capacity, defined as the difference between remaining capacity and margin against peak load, is all the higher as the demand peak is sharper. In the ENTSO-E perimeter (2012), the remaining margin capacity is 124 GW [28]. This represents twice the amount of power needed to produce the 100 MtFe of primary steel with an ESPP during this period in the same area. Therefore, existing capacities are more than sufficient to produce steel from an ESPP, if it can cut production quickly at a short notice. The minimum load of an electrolytic industrial process like chlorinealkali with mercury technology is 30% of its maximum [48]. The same may be assumed to hold for an ESPP. The hot metal production of 10.3 MtFe.a–1 in France (2013) could therefore be produced from an extra generation capacity dedicated to steel production of 1.4 GW with 90% capacity factor and by the existing generation capacity if the ESPPs accept being interrupted for 43 hours during the year. This represents an improvement of the overall capacity factor from 64.6% to 68.6% of generation capacity and an interruption of production of 0.5% of the time for steel production by an ESPP.

10.3. Steel maintains its capital by recycling Steel-made infrastructure designed to harness energy may become obsolete in terms of efficiency with changes in energy sources and applications. But steel is easily recycled and is indeed recycled at rates as high as 85% of its production in countries with large steel stock [49], cf. volume 1, chapter 9. The steel value chain has been organized for a long time to collect scrap and to reprocess it in specific steel mills based on the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). This route guarantees that steel finds a second life at an energy cost 6.8 times lower than steel from the mineral resource.

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10.4. Conclusions on conservation of natural capital and anthropogenic infrastructure To preserve natural capital, less fossil resources are needed if steel is made with an ESPP. The anthropogenic capital invested in power generation and transport can reach a higher load factor thanks to a small contribution to demandside power management from ESPPs. Steel-based infrastructure conserves its energetic relevance by being recycled into new, more efficient and better-suited steel-based equipment. The overall effect is a power infrastructure that is easier to amortize. An ESPP is a stationary electrical application easy to connect to the grid. It would extend electrification and, if made sensitive to supply and demand signals, it could turn steel production into a smart component of the energy grid capable of adapting demand to generation.

10.5. Electrification of steel production as an outlet to electricity generation Electrification of steel production is already well established for secondary steel production, which melts scrap in an EAF [50]. Although there is no chemical redox reaction involved in this process, electricity has emerged as the energy type best suited to heating steel to a temperature higher than its melting point. In 2013, this activity of secondary crude steel production represented 1.1%, of the overall generation of electricity in the perimeter of ENTSO-E (34 countries – which amounts to 3383 TWh (2012), cf. Table 1.2. The production of primary steel from an ESPP instead of BF and DRI would, in the same context, represent 9.6% of electricity generation. The switch to an electrochemical route would represent a significant extension of electrification both for the steel industry and the power industry. Table 1.2  –  Electrical needs of steel producing processes. EU(27) 2013 Steel production (ktFe.a–1)

Specific electrical Electrical energy energy consumption (MWh.tFe–1) (TWh.a–1)

Fraction of electrical production in ENTSO-E perimeter (%)

Secondary steel production

0.51 [reference]

37.252

1.1

3.489

325.046

9.6

73.045 (EAF)

Primary steel 93.163 production (BF+DRI)

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29

10.6. Component of the electricity grid with firm commitment An ESPP would be operated as any other industrial equipment with preventive maintenance, according to the current best practices existing in conventional steel processes and to the standards applied in the manufacturing industry. Applied to an industrial piece of equipment like a BF, this practice leads to an availability of 97% [51]. The idle time of 3%, although short, is significantly longer than the time of interruption needed to access installed capacity of 0.5% as evaluated in the previous section. Contrary to domestic and small service activities, an ESPP would therefore guarantee absorbing the generated electrical energy with a high reliability. This perfect match between supply and demand in terms of robustness is compounded by the fact that power generation plants and ESPPs exhibit similar equipment lifetimes, as both are expected to last for decades.

10.7. Single counterpart, which controls a large share of demand A typical steel plant has a production level of 4MtFe.a–1: the electricity consumption of an ESPP of this size would represent 14 TWh.a–1. The final electricity consumption per household in EU-27 (2009) is 4.138 MWh [52]. An ESPP of current industrial size for a steel mill would thus represent an electricity-intensive activity commensurate with the consumption of 3.4 million homes. This figure indicates that an ESPP, by virtue of its size, exceeds by far several thousand households, the aggregation of which lowers the coincidence factor and maximizes the use of the network [53]. As a significantly large and centralized electric energy absorber, an ESPP would maintain the simplicity of a grid with a small geographical extension. As a single partner to utility companies, the decision to respond to a call to cut demand would be easier than prompting the many households or small commercial activities to do the same. The management of this large-scale demand-response capacity (DR) would be based on a partnership between utility and steelmaking companies.

10.8. Responsiveness to higher-value applications of electricity Electricity production should be aimed at activities maximizing both economic value creation and social welfare [54]. The implementation of this delicate balance is evaluated by the hypothetically economic damage caused by the interruption of electricity supply; it is known as the Value of Lost Load (VoLL). Estimates indicate that a unit amount of electricity, expected but not delivered during more than three minutes, produces an economic damage two hundred times greater than its price [26]. Far from being a source of energy saving,

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non-consumed electricity has a detrimental economic impact. Among the different activities, service sector and residential are the most cost-sensitive to interruption of electrical supply and the metal industry ranks among the least affected – roughly ranked number 10 in Germany [55] and Spain [56]. The ability to be responsive to activities with higher economic priority is what confers smartness to the grid [57]. In this respect, an ESPP can cut its electricity consumption quickly in terms of response time. In a more general way, the quality of electricity defined as guarantee of power, voltage control, frequency control and black start capacity is transferring smartness from the electric grid to economic activities. This explains the dominant role of electricity in human activities and its rather unlikely future substitution by other energy networks such as hydrogen.

10.9. Centralized electrification is better than electrification of personal transport PHEV The electrification of personal transport has been identified as a possible substitution of fossil fuels by RENs [58]. The mass deployment of Plug-in Electrical Vehicles (PEV) could indeed reduce direct GHG emission from the transport sector. Connecting owners of e-vehicles to the electric transmission and distribution infrastructure implies adaptations to the grid. Furthermore, it would cause distribution losses due to the low voltage of batteries compared to a centralized power consumption unit such as an ESPP, which would be fed by high voltage to numerous electrolytic cells connected in series. Moreover, the demand cycle for PEV charging might be similar to that of residential and service sector consumers and might thus amplify existing peak demand [23]. The load factor of batteries would correspond to the time of use of personal cars, presently between 8% and 17%, a low figure compared to the load factor of industrial processes [59]. An ESPP, therefore, has distinctive advantages for improving the overall efficiency of energy management, because it constitutes a centralized demand, disconnected from the cycles of activity patterns and exhibiting a very high capacity factor of 95%.

10.10. Low-dependency on future energy scenarios An ESPP decouples power generation and iron production, which are intertwined in conventional processes. Therefore, steel production would be independent of variations in REN power availability and insensitive to future energy scenarios. Indeed, a radical change in power generation is expected in the future with the sharp increase in the contribution of RENs by 2050. An ESPP would be consistent with this scenario and, probably, with any other change in power generation technology. As already mentioned, this means that electricity is the energy type best suited to produce iron metal from its oxide.

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31

10.11. Conclusions on the smart use of energy The electrification of steel production would represent an increase of 10% of electricity generation, which would represent a major expansion of the electrification of economic activities. An ESPP would be a large and reliable component of the grid. It could be managed with a small information and communication system and participate in balancing the grid. Steel production has the conspicuous property of not being correlated with the main drivers of electricity consumption, light, outdoor temperature and scheduled human activities. Cutting its power demand temporarily would guarantee electricity supply to services and residential activities with a high priority in terms of economic value and social welfare. Electrification of steel production does not dependent either on changes in energy scenarios, which guarantees the long-term relevance of this processing route.

11. Extensions of Energy Networks By interconnecting material and electricity networks, an ESPP would contribute to improving the fluidity and the integration of energy networks. In the form of steel, as an output of an ESPP, energy continues to flow where it is needed. We want to show here that arbitration between investment decisions in both sectors can be made based on energy efficiency considerations.

11.1. Iron ore trade represents a network comparable to existing energy resource networks Iron ore already constitutes a globally-traded commodity, the value of which can be compared with that of natural gas, cf. Table 1.3.

11.2. Steel trade constitutes an energy network, transporting energy in a compact form Steel stores a significant amount of energy in chemical form. Thus, the simple displacement of steel can be considered as a transport of energy, similarly to other existing chemical energy vectors such as coal, oil or gas. In the present energy economy, steel trade is intensive. The worldwide international trade of steel represents 414 MtFe.a–1 (2012) [60]. If it were produced as primary steel with an ESPP, it would represent an electricity exchange of 1444 TWh.a–1. This quantity is more than twice the amount of electricity traded worldwide, which is 642 TWh.a–1 (2013) [57]. It shows that steel is already a major energy vector. The density of the energy stored in steel can be compared to natural energy carriers such as biomass or earth coal but also to synthesized carriers like hydrogen.

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Table 1.4 gives the energy density of ordinary compounds that are commonly used to change energy type by a redox process using gaseous atmospheric oxygen, i.e. combustion, typically in thermal engines. The higher the energy density of the fuel, the more energy can be stored or transported for the same volume. The table shows that steel is only outperformed in storage density by coal. Table 1.3  –  Natural gas and iron ore values at export. Energy type

Natural gas

Iron ore

Exports

429 × 109 m3N (2013) [61]

1097.2 × 106 t (2012) [59]

Mean yearly Price

11.2 $.MMBTU (Russian gas in Germany 2013) [62]

128.5 $.t–1 (2012) [58]

Value of export

177 G$ (1 MMBTU = 27.096 m3)

141 G$

–1

Table 1.4  –  Energy density of various chemical compounds used as energy vectors. Energy density

MJ.L–1

Coal

66

Metallic iron

52

Biomass

26

Natural gas (250 bars, 25 °C)

8

H2 (700 bars, 25 °C)

7

However, compared to iron, carbon is neither a structural material which can be used to build infrastructure equipment, nor a compound with reversible redox properties. Indeed, carbon cannot be obtained as easily from carbon dioxide as iron metal is obtained from hematite. In the present state of electrochemical reduction technology, carbon dioxide can be used only to synthesize carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane and hydrocarbons but not carbon itself [63], which indicates that carbon does not constitute an adequate energy vector in a chemical loop between RENs and end-uses of energy.

11.3. Correlating RENs and energy needs separated by long distances The role of steel as an energy vector would be amplified if metallic iron contributed to transporting energy resources that are, today, considered as too remote to be useful for the direct needs of large population centers. This would happen if metallic iron were produced from iron ore from remote renewable sources, such as in sunny deserts. An ESPP could be supplied from solar energy, for example, by a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant [64]. Comparing it

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33

to biomass-based ironmaking shows that the solar energy productivity per unit area is 21 times higher with a solar power plant than with a highly productive tropical eucalyptus plantation. Table 1.5 shows the corresponding numbers. Metal production from remote areas where RENs are available and untapped could extend the energy grids. This is already well taken on board in the location of aluminum plants near hydropower in Norway and Quebec and near geothermal power in Iceland. Table 1.5  –  Density productivity comparison between solar energy with ESPP and biomass ironmaking. Energy density production

Steel density production

Solar energy

ESPP

56.4 GWh.a–1.km–2

16 168. tFe a–1.km–2

Biomass [65]

Conventional process

1600 t dry matter. a–1.km–2

775. tHot Metal a–1.km–2

11.4. Low immobilization of resources, no stockpiles of energy, fluid energy networks An ESPP would eliminate energy storage in the form of stockpiles of solid coal or tanks of liquid fuels, as they would be replaced by the grid connection. This ability to operate without intermediate buffers reduces the residence time of the energy vector to vanishingly small values. In this regard, electricity can be seen as the ultimate solution to limit immobilization of the energy resource as long as energy travels in a circuit at the speed of an electromagnetic wave [66].

11.5. Steel competes favorably with hydrogen as an energy Adding new energy vectors to the energy system has been investigated as a way of mitigating GHG emissions by making room for RENs in large volume. In this regard, hydrogen is raising great expectations due to the abundance of this element and to the low weight of dihydrogen gas. However, hydrogen is an intermediate product, which needs to be combined to oxygen in a reverse redox chemical operation with an accompanying loss of energy in the conversion operation. Energy efficiency resulting from a complete cycle of charging and discharging is as low as 30% [44]. Furthermore, hydrogen as a chemical form of energy can only be adjusted in intensity by compression to a high pressure. This contrasts with electricity, the intensity of which can be adjusted accurately and to a large extent.

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In the case of direct involvement in steel production, reduction by hydrogen does not provide the necessary intensity; it cannot be carried out at room temperature and requires therefore a form of intensification by increasing the thermal level. The reduction can only be accomplished with parallel oxidation of hydrogen which incurs a loss of energy efficiency.   ½Fe2O3 (s, 25 °C) + 3/2 H2 (g, 25 °C) ⇆ Fe (s, 25 °C) + 3/2 H2O (l, 25 °C) with ∆G = 10 290 kJ.mol–1

11.6. Scrap is similar to an energy network The output of an ESPP is made of iron metal plates deposited on the cathode and then stripped away. It can be used as a raw material for secondary steelmaking and constitutes a substitute for high-grade steel scrap, the market of which represents a trade of 104 MtFe.a–1 [59]. Stockpiling the iron plates would also represent a compact energy storage acting as a buffer. Using these plates to produce equipment to harness energy would create a flow out of this energy stock.

11.7. Steel contributes to the man-made environment of energy networks and creates a positive feedback Steel contributes significantly to the building material of grids and networks of energy, water, information and transport. In these applications, the role of steel is to channel, synchronize and guarantee the smooth, regular and reliable flow of energy. Steel applications cause a positive feedback on energy availability (cf. the concept of ESSS, in the conclusion).

11.8. Conclusions on extension of energy networks Although iron ore is an energetically inert compound, its trade value compares to a major energy resource like natural gas. Steel is already a major energy vector compared to the cross-border exchange of electricity. It also compares favorably to other chemical forms of energy in terms of energy density. Produced in remote areas from RENs, steel would be an advantageous means of connecting needs to these new resources. Electricity can thus be considered as a better energy vector than hydrogen. The electrical form of energy represents the ultimate reduction of energy stock. Steel made from an ESPP interconnects the primary and secondary steel networks with the electricity network. These networks are integrated markets with multiple competitive suppliers. They correlate demands and supply at a large scale, worldwide for steel and Europe-wide for electricity. They already represent large exchanges of matter and energy,

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35

which demonstrates their fluidity. An ESPP would connect these networks and enhance their fluidity. The simple unidirectionality of power flows would ensure that energy resources are directed efficiently toward energy needs [67].

12. Conclusions Iron can be produced from electricity and the development at a large scale of such a process would modify the energy system in terms of energy and environmental efficiency. The energy need of metallic iron production can, in principle, be provided by fully decarbonized sources. As the process generates pure oxygen, it can therefore partially generate additional decarbonized energy, if storage of carbon dioxide (CCS) is implemented. Renewable energy sources will feed at least 20% of the electrical grid in the near future and more, close to full reliance in 2050 in the EU. The flexible operation of iron production would make it easier to increase this share further beyond the present level. The carbon dioxide emission factor of thermal power plants would be lowered by operating closer to maximal efficiency and by phasing out small fossil fuel-based peakhour units. Electrolytic production of iron, similarly to the conventional process based on ironmaking, constitutes an energy-conversion operation related to the chemical separation of oxygen from iron. If the stored energy comes from renewable energy sources, then iron production is a storage operation where energy is stored in steel. Iron production creates an energy stock that is not idle but contributes to a more efficient use of energy, through steel infrastructures and appliances. Steel products have a non-market extra value, since they help harness energy. This function of assisting individuals in accessing the right amount and the right form of energy would be improved with an electrolytic iron production process. A flexible electrolytic process would accommodate sharp peaks in electricity demand. It would increase the share of energy dedicated to coordination and synchronization of human activities. The infrastructure, in terms of power plants and power lines, would already be sufficient to feed electrolytic iron production in Europe, provided that the iron-production route remains flexible. Existing power plants would be used at a higher load factor resulting in a better utilization of the existing infrastructure. An iron production process sensitive to other energy demand would maintain the present distribution system based on one direction of energy flow from sources to end users and incorporate “once-through flows” of electricity. This reliance on electricity would decouple metallic iron production from primary energy sources, which would guarantee that this technology would adapt to future energy scenarios. Metallic iron production would be in a permanent balance with other activities. Today, operating independently of this market has an economic price.

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First, it consumes energy when it is expensive compared to the price of steel. Second, it does not give priority to energy sources with the lowest marginal cost. Electrolysis steelmaking would play a key role in handling the intermittent energy resource by introducing fluctuation in energy demand. It would also improve the competitiveness of steel as a material. Electrolysis steel production would contribute to lowering the uncertainty of renewable energy sources. Electrolytic steel is therefore a game-changing innovation, which would help carry out the synchronization and alignment of actions carried out in society. Materials – and especially steel – have a level of complexity in their social role that extends beyond the simple business of making and using them (the value-chain, the economic paradigm). They provide non-market services, which are economic externalities similar to the Ecosystem Services provided by Biodiversity (cf. chapter 3): these have been called Eco-Social-System Services (ESSS) or Eco-Anthropogenic-System Services (EASS). They are available for free, or rather at no extra charge in terms of the market price of the materials. A simple thought experiment, assuming the disappearance of iron and steel, would completely annihilate the energy system – not to mention most of the infrastructure on which our present technological episteme is based [68]. Steel and energy are close categories and therefore the steel system is part of the energy system, in a kind of systemic reality. Metaphorically, it can be said that steel is equal to energy, like in special relativity, which equates mass to energy: E = mc2. Note also that this complementarity functions at two levels, exhibiting very different characteristic times: on the one hand, the reduction of iron oxide into metallic iron “stores energy” due to physics, thermodynamics. On the other hand, by contributing significantly to the energy system infrastructure, thus at a social level, it also stores energy in the form of “unconsumed” energy or energy savings or negawatts. This is another demonstration of the holistic role of materials in the economy and in the social system, of the ESSS pointed out earlier. This new way of considering steel production would increase the connection and even the intimacy between the steel and the energy sectors, therefore between an energy-intensive and a utility sector. This is part of a direction of development which is presently being explored in order to share the burden of environmental constraints and especially of Climate Change among different sectors, a special kind of Industrial Symbiosis, which is more systemic and more abstract than the mainstream meaning of this expression (cf. volume 1, chapter 8). At a business level, this would mean arbitrating between investment in steel and in electricity production: less capacity for meeting demand peaks would be balanced by a higher capacity in steel production than a completely steady-state production, the standard of operation today. How close the two sectors would need to become, in order to share investment and real time management of operation, remains an open question. A similar case could be made, mutatis, mutandis, for copper, which lies at the core of the electricity grid as it constitutes the circuits through which electricity flows. Another thought experiment, in which all copper in the anthroposphere

Chapter 1 – The special roles that metals like steel or copper play

37

would be made to disappear, would also stop the electricity flow all over the world immediately. Alternative materials, like silver or aluminum, could not be implemented by a simple substitution mechanism, as the former is much rarer and expensive than copper and the latter would probably not have been produced in the absence of electricity in significant volumes. These thought experiments, which bring us back to Greek philosophy and physics, are an important criterion for verifying that, indeed, a material provides Eco-Social System Services. This chapter is an exercise in technology foresight, more precisely an investigation into what an electrolysis-based steel production process (ESPP) would offer in terms of electricity grid management. Thus, the ESPP would not only reduce GHG emissions in proportion to the carbon-intensity of the grid but would also contribute to the operation of the grid fed from large amounts of intermittent REN, a slightly different rationale. 11 Whether and when ESPP technologies will become available, after going through a technology development phase, is still conjectural (see chapter 2). The chapter should also be read as an attempt to develop the concept of the Eco-Social Systemic Services that materials offer. As such, it is an experimental text, which explores the rationale behind this view of materials. It was initially written independently of the other chapters of this book. Moreover, some of the statements made here, in the heat of developing the argument, may be overstating some problems and offering solutions which are over-simplistic – like the argument that steel is a better energy vector than hydrogen (cf. section 11.5).

13. Acknowledgments The research leading to these thoughts received funding from the European Community’s Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), the IERO project, under grant agreement no. RFSR-CT-2010-00002.

14. Bibliography Renewable energy prospects for the European Union. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), January 2018, 20 pages, accessed on 29 June 2018, https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2018/ Jan/IRENA_REmap_EU_preview_2018.pdf. Schumacher E.F. (1973) Small is beautiful. The future begins with steel. EUROFER, 2017, http://www.eurofer.org/ News%26Events/Media%20Gallery/Videos/TFBWS.youtube.

  Which also contributes to lowering GHG emissions.

11

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15. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

[8]

[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

Held S.S. (2019) La mort du fer. Éditions l’arbre vengeur. First published in 1931. Birat J.-P., Lavelaine de Maubeuge H. (2016) The Eco-Techno-Systemic Services that steel plays in the energy system. SCANMET 2016, Luleå. Keynote lecture. Histoire du fer, Guide illustré du musée du fer, 1977. Alexander W., Street A. (1990) Metals in the service of Man. Penguin Books. Feynman R. Lectures in physics, V. 1 Ch. 46. Birat J.-P. (2004) Alternative ways of making steel: retrospective and prospective, La Revue de métallurgie-CIT, 937. Birat J.-P., Borlée J., Korthas B., van der Stel J., Meijer K., Günther C., Halin M., Bürgler T., Lavelaine H., Treadgold C., Millar I., Sert D., Torp T., Patisson F., Paya B., Burstrom E (2008) ULCOS program: a progress report in the spring of 2008. In: Scanmet III, 3rd International Conference on Process Development in Iron and Steelmaking, 8–11 June, 2008, Luleå, Sweden. Birat J.-P., Antoine M., Dubs A., Gaye H., de Lassat Y., Nicolle R., Roth J.-L. (1992) Vers une sidérurgie sans carbone ?. In: Journées sidérurgiques 1992, 16 au 17 décembre, 1992 and Revue de métallurgie (1993) 90, 411. Birat J.-P. (2011) CO2-lean steelmaking: ULCOS, other international programs and emerging concepts. In: ECCR Steel, 2011. The Physical Science Basis. Intergovernmental Panel on climate change, Climate Change 2013. Decision No. 1600/2002/ec of the European parliament and of the council, of 22 July 2002 laying down the sixth community Environment Action Programme (10.9.2002 L242). EU Energy In Figures 2010 CO2 Emissions by sector extended time series, European Commission NOTE, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN). Ihsan B. (2004) Thermochemical data of pure substances. Wiley-VCH. Feinman J., Mac Rae D.R., Eds (1999) Direct reduced Iron, technology and economics of production and use. The Iron and Steel Society. Iron ore. USGS, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/ iron_ore/. Poveromo J.J. (1999) Iron ores, Chapter 8. The AISE Steel Foundation, Pittsburgh, PA. Duchateau A. (2013) Réduction par électrolyse de nanoparticules d’oxydes de fer en milieu alcalin à 110 °C, PhD Thesis, Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Giddey S., Badwal S.P.S., Kulkarni A., Munnings C. (2012) A comprehensive review of direct carbon fuel cell technology, Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 38, 360.

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[19] Fontecave M. L’oxygène moléculaire : origines et paradoxes, http://www.college-de-france.fr/site/marc-fontecave/course-2009-05-20-10h00.htm. [20] Leclerc J. Techniques du vide, Introduction, Techniques de l’ingénieur, traité Génie mécanique BM 4 000. [21] Jensen W.B. (2013) The Edison nickel-iron alkaline storage cell, Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 21, July/August 2013. [22] CO2 capture technologies: oxy combustion with CO2 capture. Global CCS Institute, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 19 Jan 2012, Global CCS Institute. [23] Rapport Poignant – Sido, Groupe de travail sur la Maîtrise de la pointe électrique, Avril 2010. [24] Zissis G. (2006) Lumière artificielle : développement durable et qualité de vie, Techniques de l’ingénieur IN 42, 1. [25] Le réseau électrique français a-t-il frôlé le « black-out » ?, Le Point 12/10/2019 at 07:13. [26] Quelle valeur attribuer à la qualité de l’électricité ? L’avis des consommateurs. RTE, 2011, www.rte-france.com. [27] Effacement de consommation électrique en France, Évaluation du potentiel d’effacement par modulation de process dans l’industrie et le tertiaire en France métropolitaine, E-CUBE STRATEGY CONSULTANTS, CEREN, ADEME, septembre 2017, 178 p. [28] Dossier de presse, La centrale thermique à flamme de Porcheville. EDF, June 2014, 13 pages. [29] Licht S., Ghosh S. (2002) High power BaFe(VI)O4/MnO2 composite cathode alkaline super-iron batteries, J. Power Sources 109, 465. [30] EFFLOCOM. Energy efficiency and load curve impacts of commercial development in competitive markets, Phase 1  – Basis for Demand Response, http://www.sintef.no/Projectweb/Efflocom/. [31] ENTSO-E. Yearly Statistics & Adequacy Retrospect 2012, https://www.entsoe.eu/. [32] Narayanan S.R., Surya Prakash G.K., Manohar A., Yang B., Malkhandi S., Kindler A. (2012) Materials challenges and technical approaches for realizing inexpensive and robust iron–air batteries for large-scale energy storage, Solid State Ion. 216, 105. [33] Communication from the Commission (…/…) on Energy Roadmap 2050, COM(2011) 885 fial, 15.12/2011, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/DOC/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0885&from=EN. [34] Mahiou B. (2013) Gérer les énergies intermittentes pour la production d’électricité dans des îles, Responsabilité & environnement 69. [35] Critz K. (2011) Power system balancing with high renewables penetration: the potential of demand response, Master Thesis MIT. [36] CCS: the solution for deep emissions reductions. IEA, 2015, https://www.iea. org/publications/freepublications/publication/CarbonCaptureandStorageThesolutionfordeepemissionsreductions.pdf. [37] Petit P. Séparation et liquéfaction des gaz, Techniques de l’ingénieur, Traité Génie des procédés J 3 600.

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[38] What is the efficiency of different types of power plants? Frequently asked questions. EIA, April 25, 2016, https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq. cfm?id=107&t=3. [39] Mécanisme de capacité : les nouvelles règles proposées par RTE. RTE, le réseau de l’intelligence électrique, consulted on 5/05/2016, http://www.rtefrance.com/fr/article/marche-de-capacite. [40] EPRI (2010) Electricity energy storage technology options, A white paper primer on applications, costs, and benefits, 1020676. [41] Marquet A., Levillain C., Davriu A., Laurent S., Jaud P. Stockage d’électricité dans les systèmes électriques, Techniques de l’ingénieur, traité Génie électrique D 4 030. [42] DeVries T., McDowall J., Umbricht N., Linhofer G. (2004) Cold storage, ABB Rev. 1, 38. [43] Rifkin J. (2003) The Hydrogen Economy. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. [44] Doumet G. (1975) Powdered iron-air fuel cell, Master Thesis MIT. [45] The green grid, energy savings and carbon emissions reductions enabled by a smart grid. EPRI (2008), www.epri.com. [46] Historique des consommations journalières en puissance, http://clients.rtefrance.com/lang/fr/visiteurs/vie/vie_stats_conso_inst.jsp. [47] Tidball R., Bluestein J., Rodriguez N., Knoke S. (2010) Cost and performance assumptions for modeling electricity generation technologies, Subcontract Report, NREL/SR-6A20-48595, www.nrel.gov. [48] Gils H.C. (2014) Assessment of the theoretical demand response potential in Europe, Energy 67, 1. [49] Birat J.-P., Chiappini M., Ryman C., Riesbeck J. (2013) Cooperation and competition among structural materials, Revue de métallurgie 110, 95. [50] Edgar R.F. (1985) Chapter 1 History of electric furnace steelmaking, Electric furnace steelmaking (C.R. Taylor, Ed). Iron and Steel Society. [51] Remus R., Aguado Monsonet M.A., Roudier S., Delgado Sancho L. (2013) JRC Reference Report, Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference, Document for Iron and Steel Production, Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control), http://ec.europa.eu/jrc/. [52] Bertoldi P., Hirl B., Labanca N. (2012) Energy Efficiency Status Report, JRC Scientific and Policy Report, https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/. [53] Strbac G. (2008) Demand-side management: benefits and challenges, Energy Policy 36, 4419. [54] Generation Adequacy in the internal electricity market – guidance on public interventions, Communication from the Commission, Delivering the internal electricity market and making the most of public intervention, Commission staff working document, SWD(2013) 438 final. [55] Growitsch C., Malischek R., Nick S., Wetzel H. (2013) The costs of power interruptions in Germany – an assessment in the light of the Energiewende, EWI Working Paper, No. 13/07 April 2013. [56] Linares P., Rey L. The costs of electricity interruptions in Spain. Are we sending the right signals? www.eforenergy.org.

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[57] Technology roadmap smart grids. International Energy Agency, 2011, http://www.iea.org/. [58] Electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Technology Roadmap. OECD/ IEA, 2011, http://www.iea.org/. [59] European Roadmap Electrification of Road Transport, 2nd Edition, 2012, http://www.ertrac.org/. [60] WORLDSTEEL in figures 2013. Worldsteel Association, 2014, http://www. worldsteel.org/. [61] CIA. The world’s Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/. [62] International Monetary Fund, http://www.imf.org/. [63] Centi G., Perathoner S. (2009) Opportunities and prospects in the chemical recycling of carbon dioxide to fuels, Catal. Today 148, 191. [64] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemasolar_Thermosolar_Plant where annual generation is 110 GWh for a total land use of 1.95 km2. [65] Piketty M.-G., Wichert M., Fallot A., Aimola L. (2009) Assessing land availability to produce biomass for energy: the case of Brazilian charcoal for steelmaking, Biomass Bioenergy 33, 180. [66] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation. [67] Making the internal energy market work. COM, 2012, 663 final, European Commission. [68] Cf. Science fiction novels, such as [1].

Gas emissions 2 Materials, Greenhouse and Climate Change

“Or, à cause des effets imprévus de l’histoire humaine, ce que nous regroupons sous le nom de Nature quitte l’arrière-plan et monte sur scène. L’air, les océans, les glaciers, le climat, les sols, tout ce que nous avons rendu instable, interagit avec nous. Nous sommes entrés dans la géohistoire. C’est l’époque de l’Anthropocène. Avec le risque d’une guerre de tous contre tous.” Bruno Latour, 2012

Abstract Climate Change is a phenomenon that was brought fairly recently to the attention of the world, in the late 1980s, to governments and the general public at the same time, and this culminated in the Rio Earth Summit organized by the United Nations in 1992. Climate Change is a unique and unusual phenomenon in which human activities interfere globally with the climate of the planet at a magnitude that has no equivalent, in terms of other events like pollution. It was never historically observed before and, thus, it is the first example of the anthroposphere interfering with the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the biosphere at the level that ancient and slow equilibria, involving huge energy input from the sun, have tipped over with potentially disastrous consequences for the weather, the water cycle, the level of the seas, major meteorological events, biodiversity and human society. The time scale of these changes is so short that the first consequences of this Climate Change are already being observed and have become visible to the lay man, in droughts but also floods, and in a steady increase in temperature everywhere in the world. The weather, and its long-time version, the climate, is controlled by a complex series of physical phenomena, paramount of which is the radiation energy pouring on the planet from the sun. The weather is fairly unstable, because of the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere, but the climate is stable, controlled by astronomical parameters relative to the orbit of the Earth and the radiative

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behavior of the sun, and by the composition of the atmosphere. Thus, changes have occurred, over cosmological and geological times, which have shown a strong connection between climate and the development of life on the planet and recurring events like glaciations driven by the instability of the planet’s orbit. A large section of this chapter is devoted to a very simplified course on climatology called “Climate Change 101”, in order to introduce and explain the concepts that are commonplace in discussing Climate Change, like, for example, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) effect, Radiation Forcing or Greenhouse Warming Potential. This builds up into a presentation of the rationale that has led to the conclusion that the present Climate Change is caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the major villain among these being CO2. A discovery that is not simply a scientific matter but also a political one and which has undergone fierce resistance until it has become, now, more or less universally considered as a fact. The next section deals with anthropogenic GHG emissions, where they come from, who is responsible for them, what it means to be “responsible” in a such a case, and, the 100 $ question, how can measures be taken that can mitigate the consequences of Climate Change. The world has organized with the UNFCC, its COP meetings and the courageous commitments made in Paris in 2015 to bring Climate Change under control. Industry, energy-intensive industries and the material-producing industries are important emitters and, as such, ought to move to cut their emissions – a complex, ambitious and longtime endeavor, which is costly, requires much R&D and is beset with risks. But environmental economists, like Sir Nicholas Stern, explain that, if the stakes are high, they are tipped in favor of mitigation rather than of doing nothing, if the issue is analyzed from a broad and lofty enough standpoint…

Keywords Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Global Warming Potential, CO2, CH4, CFC, CF6, IPCC, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, Energyintensive industries, anthropogenic emissions, mitigation

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What questions can be answered after reading this chapter? 1. Analyze the shift from “global warming” to “climate change” in referring to the phenomenon in the general press. Are the expressions synonymous? In parallel, point out the connection with the collapse in biodiversity and how this is generally reported to the public. 2. Explain the difference between weather and climate, which might be described as slow and fast climate change. Refer to the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and to temporalities. Why can climatologists predict the climate 50 years from now, while meteorologists cannot forecast the weather more than 2 weeks ahead of time? 3. Who can tackle Climate Change most effectively? International organizations? Governments or supra-regional bodies like the EU? Business? Individuals, citizens, NGOs? Scientists? Cities? 4. Explain how climate change is taught in schools, from primary school to universities. 5. Climate skepticism: explain it from various standpoints. 6. Mitigation and adaptation: the two expressions are often used together, nowadays. Discuss what they mean, volens, nolens. 7. The polluter-pays principle is generally used in connection with Climate Change. Does this make sense to you? Please discuss the matter in terms of efficiency, ethics, risk (in the sense of Ulrich), etc. 8. Producing metals from recycled secondary raw materials leads to GHG emissions that are much reduced compared to the virgin, primary raw materials route. Is this a mitigation strategy, as is sometimes stated in policy reports? Discuss the matter carefully… 9. Is the electrification of materials production a credible way to reduce GHG emissions? Of course, this would mean using renewable energy. But there are other considerations to take on board. Try to list them all. Discuss, in particular, the matter of having a broad enough view of all the pros and cons of the solution: maybe, you can refer to consequential LCA. 10. Is the use of hydrogen in materials production a credible way to reduce GHG emissions? Follow the same rationale as in the previous question. Beyond the similarities, are there differences between electrification and use of hydrogen? 11. CCU today is used systematically in connection with CCS. Discuss their similarity and their differences, in terms of mitigation, of temporality of effects and, more generally, of expected impact on overall emissions. Try to be rigorous and critical.

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12. Technology and science are the keys to mitigating GHG emissions from the materials sector, as almost everyone seems to believe. However, while this sounds like a reasonable statement when new breakthrough processes for making materials are of the essence, the case is not so clear when one starts discussing climate engineering. Technology is used in a rhetoric of promises approach, pushed by many stakeholders. Analyze their motives critically. 13. Discuss changes in behavior which would seem necessary to achieve a reasonable target in fighting Climate Change (at the time of print, the target is still officially 1.5 °C, although very few people believe that this can be achieved). How would this affect the use of materials and the materials sector? 14. Find scientific literature devoted to extreme scenarios related to Climate Change and discuss them, from the standpoint of foresight methodology as well as from the outcomes that they imagine. 15. Explain what is popularly known as CliFi (Climate Fiction), find examples and discuss their significance. 16. In an interview with the Le Monde newspaper, on 22 July 2018, Bruno Latour (cf. Chapter 8), referring to the political reaction to the threat of Climate Change, said: “l’impuissance croît en proportion de l’imminence des catastrophes” (the inability to act increases proportionally to the imminence of catastrophes). Look up what the material industry has been doing in the area of Climate Change and try to organize it against a chronological timeline and a geographical distribution of reactions; selecting a particular material may help. Would you agree or disagree with Bruno Latour, in the particular context of materials? Some of the questions require looking for information outside of this chapter and of this book. Reading itineraries • • • • • •

life science, scientific and industrial ecology, sustainability physics of the atmosphere, climatology process engineering, GHG emissions, pollution legal and policy dimensions foresight all materials, metals, plastics, concrete, ceramics, glass, wood, biosourced materials

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1. Introduction Climate Change (CC) and Global Warming (GW) have now become household words, while nobody in the general public had heard about them until the Kyoto protocol was signed in 1995, only 25 years ago. By then, climate modelers were already busily at work, governments were involved in the Conferences of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which met every year towards year’s end, 1 and potentially interested parties had already published papers on how CC would affect their activities and how they could mitigate their own Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions: the steel sector was one of them [1] to be followed by all industrial sectors and most economic activities. In 25 years, a scientific phenomenon initially known only to meteorologists 2 has been widely accepted by the world community and has prompted governments to act decisively to keep it under control. There have also been recurrent bouts of skepticism – climate-skepticism, however, and the latest version is related to the tenure of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Climate Change is one of the truly global environmental issues related to anthropogenic activities. It is active at a wider scale than the destruction of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere or of transcontinental phenomena like acid rains, dust storms or dust pollution – because atmospheric turbulence and circulation mix up greenhouse gases at the scale of the whole world within weeks. This shows that the anthroposphere now reaches out to the scale of both biosphere and atmosphere, thus significantly changing the picture of the anthroposphere being embedded in the biosphere: the Part becomes the Whole! Chapter 2 presents the connection between Climate Change and materials. The physical and geopolitical issues will be introduced first in a simple manner and then the contribution of the anthroposphere, especially industry and materials, will be discussed. This is schematized in Figure 2.1, where the material production sector sits in the center and is connected with greenhouse gas emissions originating from the anthroposphere and their consequences in terms of climate change in the biosphere.

1  Kyoto’s meeting was the 3rd Conference of the Parties (COP-3), while the famous Paris meeting of 2015, where a commitment to curb emissions sufficiently to avoid a temperature increase of more than 2 °C, was COP-21. 2  The “greenhouse effect” explains why the temperature of the lower atmosphere on Earth is about 15 °C higher than what simple calculations would predict in the absence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

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Figure 2.1  –  Scope of chapter 2.

Note also that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions responsible for Climate Change 3 are usually not considered as atmospheric pollution. This is a conventional and fairly technical distinction, which most people, in the press especially, do not bother with.

2. Climate Change 101 There is a continuum between the physics of the atmosphere, climatology and the statement that the climate is changing rapidly. But the shift is from pure science to political statements and this requires some explaining. A more detailed treatment than the simple account that follows can be found in the literature and in textbooks.

2.1.

Physics of the atmosphere

The Greenhouse effect is a physical phenomenon that takes place in the atmosphere of a planet and explains the temperature at its surface. As such, it is part of physics and, where Earth is concerned, of basic meteorology. The Earth receives a flux of radiation energy from the Sun at the level of 1367 W⋅m–2 per unit area of cross-section; this is called the Total Solar Irradiance   This causal relationship will be discussed further under section 2.3.

3

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49

or TSI. Projected on the spherical surface, this translates into 342 W⋅m–2. 4 This is a huge amount of power, 174 PW: compared to the primary energy consumption of the anthroposphere, which was 13 306 Mtoe in 2015, i.e. a power of 18.19 TW spread out during one year, it is 9600 times more energy or, in terms of annual energy, 131.39 Ttoe! As a comparison, the energy coming up from the “molten” core of the planet, the geothermic gradient, is 47 TW, which is an insignificant part (0.027%) of the incident solar energy. All these figures are based on actual measurements, for example satellite measurements like the NASA Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). They are taken from reference [2], while Figure 2.2 is based on another publication and therefore exhibits slightly different numbers [3]. A recommended reference for interested readers would be the latest IPCC report, SR5 today [4,5], while researchers would look at the most recent literature, which will be reviewed in the next IPCC report (AR6), to be released from 2020 to 2021 [6].

Figure 2.2 – Energy budget of Earth’s surface and atmosphere regarding its exchanges with space [7].

4   This simple figure, which is the standard figure shown everywhere, assumes that the whole surface of the planet collects the incident energy flux from the sun, thus over an area of 4pR 2, compared to the cross section of pR 2. However, at each second the incoming flux is twice this value, as only half of the planet is insolated. But as this only happens half of the time during a day, this gets us back to the 342 W⋅m–2 value.

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As an astronomical object, the Earth does not heat up or cool down – the temperature variations that make the daily weather or the seasons are but tiny flickers in terms of energy compared to the energy pouring from the Sun and, anyway, it fluctuates over the short term, day and year. Table 2.1 – Equilibrium temperature of the Earth under various assumptions of incoming radiation flux from the Sun. Flux of radiation from the Sun

Equilibrium planetary temperature

W⋅m–2

K

°C

390

288

15.0

342

279

5.7

235

256

–19.26

This means that the planet reemits the whole amount of the energy it receives and, therefore, it behaves as a Black Body, a physical concept introduced by Gustav Kirchhoff in 1866, as a development of thermodynamics and of the study of radiation. Using Stefan’s law, 5 one can readily calculate the apparent temperature of the planet, called the equilibrium planetary temperature, cf. Table 2.1. Earth receives 342 W.m–2 of radiation energy and therefore, from space, it would look like a Black Body at the temperature of 5.7 °C. This is a kind of estimate of the average temperature of the planet, although it is on the low side compared to actual measurements. Note also that the Sun emits mostly in the shortwave range of visible light complemented by some ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths (0.2–4 µm) due to its outside temperature of 6110 K (5837 °C), while the Earth radiates back to space in the infrared range of wavelengths, the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) domain (4 µm). Now, the energy budget of the atmosphere and surface of the Earth is more complex that this simple description: • indeed, the 342 W⋅m–2 that arrive at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) do not penetrate all the way to the surface; • some is reflected back at the same wavelengths as the incoming flux (by clouds and by the surface, namely 107 W⋅m–2) – this is called the albedo 6;

5   Stefan-Boltzmann’s law states that the flux of radiation energy W of a black body at absolute temperature T is given by: M = s · T 4, where s is the constant of Stefan-Boltzmann, equal to 5.670373⋅10–8 Wm–2K–4. 6  The albedo of the Earth is 31%. That of Jupiter is 52%, Saturn, 47%, Mercury, 10%, Venus, 65%, the Moon, 40% and Mars 16%. A Black body has an albedo of 0, and therefore this parameter measures the gap between a planet and a Black body.

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• the rest is absorbed by clouds, the atmosphere itself and the ground and then is reemitted at shorter, infrared wavelengths. The details of the energy budget are shown in Figure 2.2. The yellow arrows show exchanges of energy in the visible light wavelengths, while the red ones show infrared exchanges. The purple arrows show phenomena which use up energy (from the Sun) to power energy intensive processes like evapo-transpiration and thermals, thus evaporation of water from the liquid to the gaseous state and the mechanical energy embedded in the atmosphere; • the energy flux circulating inside the atmosphere is large, actually the same order of magnitude as the insolation energy flux; • the energy flux radiated back to space amounts to 107 W⋅m–2, directly reflected from the surface and the clouds, and 195 W⋅m–2 plus 40 W⋅m–2 re-emitted by the atmosphere and the surface respectively; • the total is 342 W⋅m–2, which is consistent with the core assumption of the model that the energy budget is balanced. However, the energy reemitted as infrared radiation is only 295 + 40 = 235 W⋅m–2. The equilibrium planetary temperature of the Earth is –19.26 °C, as only reemitted radiation should be taken into account in the calculation. The planet is obviously not that cold, which means that this radiation budget approach misses an important point. What has not been taken on board in the argument is the fact that there are gases in the atmosphere, which absorb infrared radiation, i.e. the radiation from the surface, even though they were mostly transparent to incoming light. The energy absorbed in this way is reemitted again, but in all directions, thus upwards but also downwards, where it will heat up lower atmospheric layers and eventually the surface. The final effect is that the atmosphere warms up and so does the Earth’s surface. This creates a discrepancy between outgoing and incoming power, an energy imbalance estimated at 0.60 ± 0.17 W/m² [8]. This is called the greenhouse effect, by analogy to a physical greenhouse. 7 The phenomenon is a natural one, due to the composition of the atmosphere in socalled “greenhouse gases”: it amounts to roughly 30 °C, 20° of which are due to water vapor in the atmosphere and the rest to carbon dioxide. The greenhouse effect is also called radiative forcing to express the fact that the radiation energy balance between incoming and outgoing fluxes is forced in the direction of conserving energy in the atmosphere and thus of heating it up: this is a positive forcing, whereas a negative forcing would reduce the temperature. Greenhouse gases (GHG) include a number of gaseous molecules with two dissymmetric atoms, like CO, and all molecules with 3 or more atoms, like CO2, CH4, N2O, O3, CFCs, H2O, etc.: indeed, all of these exhibit many rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom, which can be excited by absorbed infrared 7   The mechanisms of a physical greenhouse and of the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere are actually quite different and the word has been selected solely as an analogy in terms of effect on temperature. It was first used by Nils Gustaf Ekholm in 1901.

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photons. The level of radiative forcing of a greenhouse gas depends on its concentration, its residence time in the atmosphere and its radiative forcing strength. The major contributors to the natural greenhouse gas effect, by order of importance, are water, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. The greenhouse effect is responsible for the existence of life on Earth as we know it, because it caused the planet to warm up with respect to the temperature that would have prevailed in the absence of greenhouse gases. As a matter of fact, life itself has been responsible for turning the atmosphere into its present composition. Initially, after cyanobacteria “roamed the oceans of the Earth” some 3.5 to 3 billion years ago, they developed a photosynthetic function, which chemically reduced atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2, present at the level of 10–15%, into dioxygen O2. This was the trigger of the explosion of life on Earth: anaerobic species thus opened the way to aerobic life, the major kind that prevails today. Incidentally, the newly synthesized O2 first oxidized calcium 8 and eventually the iron dissolved in the oceans (precipitation of Banded Iron Formation or BIFs), until Fe virtually disappeared and oxygen was liberated into the atmosphere. The residual level of CO2 in the Devonian was roughly 5000 ppm (ppmv). 9 This stimulated the evolution of plants towards gigantic trees during the “age of forests”, the Carboniferous: they pumped up CO2 from the atmosphere – another sign that major climatic imbalances have been active since the beginning of Earth’s history, and the CO2 composition was divided by 15 to reach a level of 300 ppm, similar to those of today. During that time, the climate was significantly warmer than today [9]. Incidentally, some of those trees were fossilized and ended up as fossil resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas, part of which is still trapped underground and constitutes the fossil fuel reserves that are exploited today. Credit for understanding the Greenhouse Effect should go to Joseph Fourier (1768–1830), who noted first in 1824 that the planet was warmer than the incoming radiation from the sun would have indicated from simple heat transfer calculations (cf. above). The role of greenhouse gases was identified by Claude Pouillet in 1827 and John Tyndall in 1859, but the full analysis of their effect on Earth temperature is due to Svante Arrhenius in 1896. The role of anthropogenic emissions and of their consequence on the Climate was only identified in the 1970s (see further).

2.2.

Anthropogenic GreenHouse Gas emissions

If we fast forward towards the present, then we encounter the strong interaction that the anthroposphere has been entertaining with the atmosphere and especially climate, since the onset of the industrial revolution, but probably for thousands of years, since the Neolithic. The matter is complex and stretches

  And, thus, producing the first sedimentary rocks.   1 ppm is equal to 10–4%. Thus 5000 ppm is 0.5%.

8 9

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somewhat beyond the scope of this book, but the matter is so essential that we have endeavored to give a fairly detailed account of Climate Change here, as it is understood today.

2.2.1.

Long-time historical record

In the last 800 000 years, the temperature was oscillating, following the succession of glaciations which have been occurring 2 or 3 times every 100 000 years. CO2 levels, measured in ice core samples, are correlated with the temperature. This, however, does not mean a causal relationship between the two like the one that is at play today: the glaciations are actually due to spikes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun (Milankovitch cycles) and these changes in temperature caused changes in CO2, due to its dissolution in colder ocean waters. The second point is that the concentration in CO2 has been increasing exponentially in recent times, i.e. since the time that human society has become prevalent on the planet. The transition is positioned at the end of the 18th century, therefore since the first industrial revolution based on coal. In 1750, the level of CO2 was thus 280 ppm, while it reached 400 ppm in 2015. 10

Figure 2.3 – Evolution of world CO2 emissions from 1840 to 2011 and cumulative emissions on the right (source: IPCC [10]).

Note that earlier in history, the world went through a warm period in the Middle ages and through a small cold age in the 16th and 17th centuries, which was attributed to the Great Plague that killed roughly one third of the population in Europe, slowed down the economy and, consequently, reduced the emissions due to the burning of peat and wood. Much earlier, another blip in the CO2 curve took place at the end of the last glaciation, when the tundra of the Paleolithic was replaced by the thick forest

  403.3 ppm in 2016 (WMO, 30 October 2017). 414 ppm on 6 March 2020.

10

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of the Mesolithic, which absorbed a lot of CO2 during its growing period. On the other hand, the Neolithic, with the settlement of farmers, the opening up of agricultural land by deforestation, raised CO2 emissions and this may have been the reason why the regular succession of glaciations stopped. These interpretations, however, are not necessarily properly scientifically based.

Figure 2.4  –  Record of CO2 emissions measured at the Mauna Loa laboratory, courtesy of NOAA [11].

2.2.2.

Short-time historical record

A more recent time-evolution of carbon dioxide, as measured in Hawaii at the Mauna Loa observation station, is given in Figure 2.4. It shows the steady increase in CO2 concentration from 1960 to 2015 (the black continuous line), as well as the annual variations due to the succession of winters and summers (the red line), when photosynthesis goes through a seasonal cycling. These are experimental data measured in the atmosphere in real time and reported on the internet, which constitute the longest continuous set on record [10].

Figure 2.5  –  Distribution of CO2 emission around the globe (source: NASA) [12].

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Emissions vary around the globe, as shown in Figure 2.5. The sources are located on clusters of economic activities and population centers and then CO2 spreads out around the planet, west to east in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa in the Southern, carried by the general circulation of the atmosphere. Latitude distribution takes place in a second step. Overall, the Southern hemisphere lags by a few years behind the Northern: 400 ppm was thus reached for the first time in Mauna Loa on May 2013 but in the Southern hemisphere only in April 2017. Until now, the focus has been on CO2, the most emblematic GHG, but the other major GHG have also been increasing steadily since the onset of the industrial revolution (cf. Figure 2.6). The causes are the same: a sharp acceleration in human activities due to the linked effects of industrial revolution and of population growth.

Figure 2.6  –  Globally average greenhouse gas emissions from 1750 until 2010 (source: IPCC, AR5).

Note that water vapor is not on the list of major anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions: indeed, even though large amounts of water are handled by human activities, part of which is evaporated, this does not change the amount of vapor in the atmosphere, which is mostly determined by physical conditions, related to the weather. The main reason is that the residence time of water vapor from anthropogenic origin is very short. There is one case, however, where anthropogenic water might contribute to warming: the emission of vapor in the stratosphere by airplane jet engines, which bring H2O in an atmospheric layer which is normally dry [13]. Any water vapor generated in the troposphere, where long-haul subsonic jet planes cruise, precipitates quickly into small droplets and the greenhouse effect of air

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flight reverts back to that of ordinary transport. When the plane flies at higher altitudes in the lower stratosphere, as supersonic planes do, water remains in the gaseous state and therefore behaves as the GHG that it is; its contribution, however, is less than that of other GHGs.

2.2.3.

Greenhouse Warming Potential [14]

Most of the research on Climate Change, carried out since the Rio Earth Summit, has been devoted to analyzing the various forcings that cause climate change, such as the many greenhouse gases, dust and aerosols, surface or cloud albedos, volcanic eruptions or changes in the solar constant. Meteorologists, atmosphere chemists & physicists and climate modelers all contributed to this understanding. The concept has been turned further by the IPCC into a metric for comparing various forcings among each other, by introducing the concept of Greenhouse Warming Potential or GWP. As an example, the case of CO2 can be analyzed in a series of steps, as follows. First the LW radiation re-emitted from the surface is absorbed by CO2 present in the atmosphere at specific wavelengths (cf. Figure 2.7). The molecules will surrender this energy after vibrating and it will be sent in all directions to go through more steps of absorption & re-emission. Eventually, part of it will accumulate in the lower atmosphere or on the surface as sensible energy, i.e. higher temperatures. Eventually, the energy in the absorbed wavelengths gets trapped as a function of the amount of greenhouse gas. Calculating this amount is fairly simple in principle, but requires complex calculations using line-by-line radiation transfer codes. These calculations can be fitted to data, in simple formulas like:  CO2  RF  5.35  ln    CO2 _ orig  where RF stands for Radiative Forcing, expressed in W⋅m–2 and CO2 content in ppm [15]. It expresses the increase in radiative forcing when the concentration reaches CO2 from an initial value of CO2_orig. RF is not proportional to CO2 but varies as its logarithm, thus expressing that CO2 is a potent GHG, that captures the emitted wavelengths with its initial concentration, whereas extra gas has a marginal effect as the energy bands have already been mostly scavenged. Note also that RF depends on the initial level of CO2. The second point is relative to the residence time of the gas in the atmosphere after its initial generation, or, rather, of accumulated CO2 and not of each molecule individually. CO2 is consumed mostly by dissolution in the oceans (the hydrosphere) and by uptake by plants (the biosphere), while the gas is too heavy for atmospheric escape to take place [16]. The kinetics of ocean dissolution takes much longer than that of carbon uptake by photosynthesis, so that it is unlikely that a simple answer can be obtained! In particular, the rule of thumb calculation, that would compare the annual anthropogenic emissions of 720 Gt to the annual 230 Gt absorbed by oceans predicts a 3 to 4-year residence time. Using more complex models, researchers have estimated that 50% of an

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anthropogenic pulse would be absorbed in the first 50 years, 70 percent in the first 100 years and then the sink efficiency would collapse and the residence would drag on with an additional 10 percent being removed after 300 years and the remaining 20 percent lasting tens or hundreds of thousands of years before being removed. This long tail means that the effect of anthropogenic activities will extend for eons! The IPCC does not give a lifetime distribution of CO2, because of the superposition of different lifetime distributions for the different active mechanisms. It is, however, possible to calculate the CO2 composition by taking them all into account.

Figure 2.7 – Flux of infrared energy transmitted (transmittance) & absorbed by various molecules in the Earth atmosphere [17].

The next level of analysis consists in comparing various forcings with a common metric, which refers the forcing of each GHG to that of CO2, used as the reference gas against which to benchmark them all. The GWP or Global Warming Potential is the ratio of specific radiative forcing ax (or radiative efficiency) of GHG x present at concentration x(t) integrated over a time horizon TH to the integrated specific radiative forcing over the same TH of the reference gas r, namely CO2:

 GWP x   

TH

a x  x t dt

0 TH 0

a r  r t dt

ax or ar are expressed as W⋅m–2⋅kg–1 and GWP is a pure number. By definition, the GWP of CO2 is 1. TH is usually taken as 20, 100 or 500 years, so that 3 different kinds of GWP are available to be used as seen fit by policy makers or researchers. Of course, the values for CO2 are equal to 1 in all 3 cases. They decrease in the case of CH4, because of its relatively short lifetime, but increase in that of perchlorinated compounds which have very long lifetimes. Unless otherwise specified, the GWP that is most commonly used is for 100 years.

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The IPCC has been publishing updated values of GWP for all GHG, taking on board the most recent research work. The data from AR4, which were only modified at the margin in SR5, are shown in Appendix 1, which also gives the initial estimate of the SAR report. Note that the precision of GWP estimates is assumed to be ± 35%. The most potent GHG in terms of GWP is SF6, while CH4 and N2O are respectively 298 and 25 times more potent than CO2, in a direct comparison per unit of mass. The comparison between the various forcings, in absolute terms, is shown in Figure 2.8. CO2 comes out as the major culprit, followed by CH4, halocarbons and N2O, plus the stratospheric water vapor & black carbon on snow. There are negative forcings due to land use-controlled albedo and aerosols. The solar irradiance comes out as a positive forcing, as do the contrails left by jet planes. Note that this amounts to expressing all GHG as equivalent to CO2, and they are indeed measured by this metric as CO2 equivalent or CO2equi. The overall balance turns out to be equivalent to the forcing due to CO2 alone, which is possibly why the present analysis, where many more forcings are taken on board than in the initial analyses of the IPCC, yields the same kind of conclusions in terms of the influence of CO2.

Figure 2.8  –  Radiative forcing components (source: IPCC [5]).

There is another function of the GWP, which consists in adding up the various GWP of individual forcings. The last bar to the left of Figure 2.8 thus gives the aggregated effect of all anthropogenic forcings. The additivity of Climate Effects is based on the physics of Radiative Forcing but the additivity of GWP, which is the first order term of a series of ratios, is clearly an approximation. Finally, the anthropogenic warming potential has become a universal metrics to evaluate the influence of any action on the Climate, for example in LCA. Practitioners should be aware that this is but a simplified method.

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Recent historical increase in GHG emissions

Figure 2.9 summarizes the latest findings of the IPCC regarding anthropogenic emissions of GHG published in the AR5 report [5]. The total annual emissions of GHG gases expressed in billions of tons of CO2 equivalent have been increasing steadily over the last 40 years, with a rate of 1.3%/yr in the first 30 years and an acceleration to 2.2%/yr in the last 10 years. 11

Figure 2.9 – Total annual anthropogenic GHG emissions by gases  –  1970–2010 (source: IPCC, AR5). Errors on emissions are shown on the right as brackets [5].

The level reached in 2010 was 49 Gt: using the GWP “SAR, 100 years” metrics, it breaks down to 65% due to CO2 from fossil carbon, 11% to Forestry and Land Use Change (FOLU), 16% to CH4, 6.2% to N2O and 2.0% to fluorinated GHG. The SR5 new metrics, which reevaluates the importance of CH4, would add up to 52 Gt in 2010, an acceleration due to all GHG.

2.2.5.

Section conclusions

The conclusion of section 2.2 is the following. The large variations in CO2 content in the atmosphere over geological times are well supported by scientific evidence and the correlation with temperature as well. Causes are many, from changes in the orbit of the planet and therefore in the solar constant, as far as the “long time” is concerned, to increases in greenhouse gas emissions, sometimes with forcings and at other times with

11   The most recent data show a decline in global emission growth, with a stall in 2014, which is analyzed as structural (Trends in Global CO2 emissions – 2015 Report, PBL & JRC, 2015, 77 pages). This a but a small step towards meeting COP21 targets!

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feedbacks. Recently, i.e. since the middle of the 18th century, emissions have been increasing exponentially and the trend is continuing: this is true of CO2 and also of the other important GHG, except water vapor. Note that the kinetics of change is very fast compared to the phenomena described before under the heading of natural greenhouse effect, literally years vs. eons!

Figure 2.10  –  Global climate system components [18].

Climate Change is clearly caused by the activity of the anthroposphere and Climate sceptics are fighting a rearguard action or, maybe, promoting a warmer planet for reasons of their own [19]!

2.3.

Abundant evidence of rapid Climate Change [20]

There is a large body of evidence of Climate Change today covering rather overwhelmingly the various phenomena that were intuitively expected to happen, 25 years ago, at the time of the Earth Summit in Rio. The components of the climate system, shown in Figure 2.10, give an overview of the various phenomena which are involved. Thus, Climate Change means much more than Global Warming, but it also involves the hydrosphere, where sea levels are rising, the cryosphere, which is melting, in the mountains (glaciers) and at the poles (ice caps), changes in major weather events, including tornadoes and hurricanes, and, more globally, major changes in the ecosystem organization, along with a reduction in biodiversity. How these are affected is schematized in Figure 2.11, which gives a regional description of most of these events, with an assessment of the degree of confidence in connecting them with Climate Change.

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Evidence for temperature increase is shown in Figure 2.12, where a highly-integrated average, accounting for both warming on land and in the oceans, is presented. The curve exhibits frequent spikes, accelerations and slowdowns, due mostly to the presence or absence of a strong El Niño: failure to analyze the data set over long enough periods has led to controversies regarding the reality of Global Warming, which were completely unwarranted.

Figure 2.11  –  Observed impacts attributed to Climate Change with level of confidence in the causal connection (source: IPCC [21]).

Figure 2.12 – Globally averaged combined land and surface temperature anomaly (source: IPCC [26]).

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Warming over the period 1880 to 2012 is 0.85 °C [0.65 to 1.06]. Year after year, record highs have been registered over past historical records and, recently, over the previous year: the Press has been reporting this in real time (“Of the 17 hottest years ever recorded, 16 have now occurred since 2000” [22]). Moreover, temperature may have increased much more locally than a weighted average, for example 1.5 °C in Greenland since 1950 compared to an average of 0.7 °C. Global Warming heats up the oceans, which store most of the energy due to Climate Change (90%) compared to only 1% stored in the atmosphere. The first 700 meters have warmed up since 1870, with the top 75 m accumulating most of the heat. 12 This warming has been accompanied by an acidification of the water due to the dissolution of CO2, which generates CO22– and the corresponding H+ ions. The pH of surface water has decreased by 0.1, i.e. a 26% increase in acidity. This is an issue for the survival of coral reefs, like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which is showing large areas of coral bleaching, a sign of the death of the corals [23,24], but it affects all ecosystems in the ocean including plankton and fish. The extent of the cryosphere has also been shrinking. For example, the Arctic Ice Cap has recently shrunk in dramatic proportions, as shown in Figure 2.13. The phenomenon is different in the Antarctic, where temperature has risen less, but there is evidence of both the ice cap shrinking and growing in different areas there as well. In the Arctic Ocean, the opening of a regular freight line, open all year round, is expected soon and neighboring countries are lining up to take advantage of the phenomenon, as international trade sea lanes could be significantly shortened.

Figure 2.13  –  Extent of the Arctic Ice Cap in 1979 and 2012 (source NASA [25]).

12   This is due to convection, i.e. to currents and vertical mixing. The crust, where only heat conduction is active, has not accumulated any significant heat at any significant depth.

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Figure 2.14 – Globally average sea level change (source: IPCC, SR5). Different colors show different data sets, aligned to the satellite altimetry data shown in red, which serve as a common calibration (source: IPCC [26]).

Precipitation over mid-latitude land areas of the Northern Hemisphere has increased significantly since 1951. This is an average result which can hide large discrepancies between regions. For example, in the East of France, this is expected to translate into periods of heavy rains (+15% in the Winter) and then of droughts (+20% in the Summer) [27, AURELHY model]. The volume of the oceans is increased by thermal expansion and this leads to an increase in sea level. Evidence for the past century is shown in Figure 2.14. Over the period 1901 to 2010, global mean sea level rose by 0.19 [0.17 to 0.21] m.

2.4.

Foresight and Climate Change

Part of the effort in understanding Climate Change has been devoted to modeling the evolution of the Climate in numerical computer simulations. These models can be used to analyze the past and the present, but also to project the evolution of Climate in the future, based on various assumptions grouped in a series of scenarios. They have indeed been used as the basic tools to carry out extensive foresight studies and, in effect, to carry out the only possible experiments on climate, i.e. analyze numerically what various sets of parameters, i.e. climate policies, would bring compared to business-as-usual scenarios. In principle, a Climate Model solves the physical conservation equations for energy, mass, momentum and moisture as well as the equation of state in the atmosphere, with boundary conditions imposed by the biosphere, the upper layer of the geosphere, the hydrosphere, which can be part of the model too, and the incoming solar energy pouring down from space. Most of the relevant physics is incorporated, via another layer of models or parametric equations. Modern Climate Models are called Global Climate Models or GCM, because they include air and ocean fluid flow and energy modeling, at least. GCM used to mean Global Circulation Models, which described the behavior of the atmosphere only. A working GCM is available to students and researchers at a Columbia University website [28].

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GCMs focus on time-averaged numbers describing the dynamics of the atmosphere in a long-time perspective, that can extend for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is quite different from what a weather model does, in effect solving the same physical equations but focusing the effort on predicting the weather at a local scale and in real time, thus taking on board the complexity of turbulence and the development of storms that propagate through turbulence cascades – what has been called the butterfly effect. A weather model can hardly make predictions beyond 2 weeks in the future, because of the spatial resolution of initial data from physical meteorological stations. The Climate models do not bother with this fine scale, as the climate is about time-averaged values over the “long time”, not about meteorological events. Typically, a GCM has a spatial resolution between 250 and 600 km, 20 vertical layers in the atmosphere and 30 layers in the oceans, with a time step for the calculations of 30 minutes. 13

Figure 2.15  –  Annual anthropogenic GHG emissions (source: IPCC, SR5 Synthesis report).

The IPCC has devoted a large part of its regular assessment reports to foresight scenarios projecting the evolution of the major climate features until 2100 or later. It has used a series of formatted scenarios, which were called SRES until the AR4 and then were changed into RCPs (Representative Concentration Pathways) in SR5. These scenarios make assumptions about the amount of GHG 13  The Global Forecast System (GFS), a famous US weather model that describes the whole world, has a horizontal resolution of 13 km and 64 layers in altitude. Previsions are carried out for a duration of 16 days and a time step of 10 min. Regional models, run to refine the projections at a smaller geographical scale, have finer resolutions (below 1 km, 1–4 min) and shorter prediction horizons (48 hours).

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emissions that will be released in the future and are referenced according to the corresponding radiation forcing: scenario RCP2.6 refers to +2.6 W/m2, scenario RCP4.5 to +4.5 W/ m2, with further scenarios RCP6 and RCP8.5 following the same format [29,30]. 14 The new and the old scenarios are close enough until 2100 to make comparisons easy between the two series (cf. Appendix 2); beyond, the calculations were not published for the case of the SRES scenarios.

Figure 2.16  –  Projection of CO2 emissions, temperature rise and sea level rise until 2500 (source: IPCC, SR5 Synthesis report, figure 2.8 (b) [20]).

  This is equivalent to specifying CO2equi in 2100.

14

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Scenario RCP2.6 is representative of a scenario that aims to keep global warming likely below 2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures. One could call it a COP 21 scenario. RCP 8.5 is an extreme scenario in terms of emissions. Futures without any additional constraints on emissions would lie between RCP6 and RCP8.5: these are “business as usual” scenarios. RCP4.5 projects a situation where emissions reduction would miss the COP 21 target. The various scenarios are presented in terms of GHG emissions pathways and temperature pathways respectively in Figure 2.15 and Figure 2.16. Note that by 2100, the level of emissions and the temperature increase will not have peaked yet: the peak would take place between 2200 and 2500 (Figure 2.16).

Figure 2.17 – Evaluation of the risks from Climate Change (source: IPCC, SR5 Synthesis report, figure 3.1 [20]).

There is a direct connection between the level of warming to be expected and the amount of GHG that will be emitted in the future (until 2100). This relationship is shown in Figure 2.17. It can be read in a simple manner: if a final temperature target of +2 °C is set, then whatever remaining emissions are “allowed” can be read from the curve, which is also informed in terms of RCP scenarios. If reduction efforts are delayed for too long, it will not be possible to

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allow as high a level of emissions in the future. This might mean, for example, that at some point fossil fuels reserves should stop being extracted. The risks from climate change are directly related to the cumulative amount of emissions, as shown in Figure 2.17. There is no risk-free temperature rise: however, the international community has consensually decided that, below 2 °C, the risks would be manageable, while they would get out of control beyond. The COP 21 negotiations in Paris actually set a target at 1.5 °C to reduce the risk, although it was widely acknowledged that such a stringent target could hardly be met. Figure 2.16 (c) presents projections on sea level rise. It shows mean sea level as projected by IPCC models with horizons of several hundred years. By 2100, the rise seems small, about 1 m with exact figures depending on the CO2 scenarios. Even after 500 years, the rise only reaches 6 m. 6 m would be reached if all the ice on Greenland melted. If the inlandsis on the Antarctic melted, this would raise the sea level by 60 m. This was an unlikely scenario in the present status of knowledge, when we started writing this chapter. But there is proof of more rapid melting in Greenland than projected by the IPCC models, which may turn out to be overoptimistic. Newspapers proposed simulators to model how the coastline in your neighborhood would change with different assumptions, after scientists started to published worst case scenarios, cf. Figure 2.18, where a hefty assumption of a 12 °C temperature increase was calculated.

Figure 2.18 – Coastline in Europe in the case of the worst-case scenario (source: Deutsche Welle [31]).

There are many more risks associated to Climate Change, like more droughts in part of the world, a connection with a major collapse of biodiversity, the melting of the permafrost, which frees trapped CH4 into the atmosphere, 15 the   And liberates frozen mega-viruses, the danger of which is still unclear.

15

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creation of climate refugees, some sources mentioning up to one billion of them [32], etc. Of course, the amplitude of these risks will depend on the ability of the world governance to cut anthropogenic GHG emissions. Climate Change has now moved out of the field of climate scientists and economic modelers into those of social science, political science and international relations. Figure 2.19 shows an attempt of the World Bank to discuss the connection between climate change and poverty [33]. The work was initiated because it was felt early on that CC was threatening the target of reducing extreme poverty, of which the UN Millennium Goals are proud (902 millions of people left extreme poverty in 2012 and 702 in 2015). CC is expected to put agricultural production at risk and thus to increase the difficulty of access to food from rural areas subject to droughts, like in the sub-Sahel, but also from impoverished population in coastal cities threatened by sea-level rise. The argument of the report is that simple measures could greatly avoid the worst-case scenarios (called poverty scenarios in Figure 2.19) and thus cut the number of new people entering extreme poverty from 120 to 20 million people in the high impact scenarios. The numbers should not be scrutinized too carefully, as this report is one of the first attempts at exploring this dimension of Climate Change.

Figure 2.19  –  Increase in extreme poverty due to Climate Change by 2030 (source: World Bank [34]).

Equally interesting is the work carried out on the connection between Climate Change and the risk of war or, actually, on-going wars. The theme of “water wars” has been proposed to explain the present Middle East Wars, i.e. as one of the many factors that have been driving local geopolitics, its tensions and conflagrations [34–36]: indeed, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Israel and Jordan compete for scarce water resources and dams, which are the usual way of appropriating

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water, as they tend to deprive downstream regions of resources. There are also tensions around the Colorado river, which is emptied of most of its water to feed Los Angeles and Las Vegas before entering in Mexico. The Aral Sea, the Aswan Dam on the Nile and the 3-river dam on the Yang-Tse are other examples of mismanagement of water resources that have pre-dated the awareness of Climate Change. Last, there are talks of irreversible and more abrupt Climate Change, also called a cliff effect. Under such scenarios, the change would cease to be linear but would accelerate, for example due to the melting of permafrost, and thus lead the climate towards a temperature increase of more than 5 °C (cf. Figure 2.18). There is no clear evidence yet of this, nor is there any of the slowdown or even stoppage of the North Atlantic Oscillation or NOA (the Gulf Stream) either, but research starts looking into it [37]. This is analyzed in the framework of a new discipline called callapsologie in French, a word being slowly adopted in English (collapsology).

3. Low-carbon policies for countries, cities, industry, civil society and other players The risks associated to Climate Change were identified by climate scientists in the 1980s and then they immediately started to alert the political world. The global nature of the threat suggested early on that a collective, worldwide effort would be needed to address it and the United Nations took hold of the issue. Individual countries had soon to relay the collective wishes of the world assembly, to launch more research and to imagine mitigation policies. Economic players, particularly energy utilities and energy-intensive industries joined this reflection, as did citizens and NGOs but also cities, which were becoming political actors. This included an open debate over the reality of Climate Change.

3.1.

International efforts to fight Climate Change

The United Nations decided to tackle environmental issues as early as 1983, when it gave mandate to a commission headed by Ms. Brundtland, a former Prime Minister of Norway, “to propose long-term strategies for achieving sustainable development to the year 2000 and beyond” (cf. volume 1, chapter 1, Appendix 3). The work of the Commission was reported in 1987, after which the UN decided to convene a special conference called UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) to launch the proposed new policies at world level.

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Table 2.2  –  Time and location of the COP and CMP meetings of the UNFCC. 1995: COP 1, Berlin, Germany

2004: COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2013: COP 19/CMP 9, Warsaw, Poland

1996: COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland

2005: COP 11/CMP 1, Montreal, Canada

2014: COP 20/CMP 10, Lima, Peru

1997: COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

2006: COP 12/CMP 2, Nairobi, Kenya

2015: COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France

1998: COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007: COP 13/CMP 3, Bali, Indonesia

2016: COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1, Marrakech, Morocco

1999: COP 5, Bonn, Germany

2008: COP 14/CMP 4, Poznań, Poland

2017: COP 23/CMP 13/CMA 2, Bonn, Germany

2000: COP 6, The Hague, 2009: COP 15/CMP 5, Netherlands Copenhagen, Denmark

2018: COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 3, Madrid, Spain

2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany

2010: COP 16/CMP 6, Cancún, Mexico

2019: COP 25/CMP 15/CMA 4, Santiago, Chili (convened in Madrid)

2001: COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco

2011: COP 17/CMP 7, Durban, South Africa

2020: COP 26/CMP 16/CMA 5, Glasgow, UK

2002: COP 8, New Delhi, India

2012: COP 18/CMP 8, Doha, Qatar

UNCED was convened in Rio in 1992 and this landmark conference is now remembered as the Rio World Summit. Two essential conventions were proposed and signed in Rio, one on Climate Change and another one on Biodiversity and special international organizations, bearing the names of the convention, were set up to run the corresponding programs and take charge of their long-term organization: UNFCC for Climate Change (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) for Biodiversity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, 16 was created under the auspices of the UN and of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988. It is composed of scientists representing the members of the UNFCC. It is in charge of keeping track of the advancement of knowledge regarding CC. UNFCC was created in 1992. 17 Like all UN organizations created in support of a convention, it brings together members (i.e. signatories to the convention) in annual meetings called Conference of the Parties or COP (cf. Table 2.2). The first two COP meetings in 1995 and 1996 worked to define the details of the policies that ought to be implemented and this evolved into a Protocol on

16   The chairman of IPCC in 2017 was Hoesung Lee, an economist from South Korea. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, along with former US Vice-President Al Gore. 17   The secretariat of the UNFCC settled in Bonn, Germany at the invitation of the German Government in 1995.

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Climate Change, now remembered as the Kyoto Protocol, from the name of the city where COP 3 met and where the protocol was signed in 1997. The Protocol made several important choices: CC ought to be put under control by reducing anthropogenic GHG emissions; emissions should be monitored, managed and reduced at the level of countries, which constitute the members of the UN; emissions should be monitored at end of pipe or smokestack on the basis of the polluter-payer principle. A further series of regular conferences, called the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol or CMPs, was then launched to monitor the implementation of the Protocol. The Protocol came into force in 2005 and its duration was 15 years. There are presently 192 countries parties to the Protocol.

Figure 2.20 – Annual CO2 emissions from fuel combustion between 1990 and 2009 for the Kyoto Annex I and non-Annex I countries (source: Wikipedia [38]).

The parties to the Treaty were divided into two subsets. The first one, called “Annex I countries”, had agreed on voluntary reduction targets relative to base year 1990 for the first commitment period (2008–2012). It comprised 38 industrialized countries plus the 15 members of the EU at the time. The other countries, comprising either emerging or developing economies, were not required to commit to binding reductions: the point was to let them grow economically and thus get closer to developed countries. Annex I countries managed to stabilize their emissions and to get them below target by 2012, while non-Annex I countries increased theirs (cf. Figure 2.20). The Kyoto protocol had met its goals: get the whole world ready to monitor and control its emissions and show how to do it with the modest targets of the initial commitment period. It was a kind of dry run for the world. It was also the epitome of the tensions that went along the acknowledgement of Climate Change as a major threat for mankind, with countries signing but not ratifying it (like the US), signing but then leaving the Protocol (like Canada), and sticking to their emerging country status even

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when their emissions had become enormous (like China). The political situation has changed a lot since then. The Kyoto protocol proposed a number of flexibility instruments to manage emissions. Besides the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), Emissions Trading (ET) turned out to be the most powerful and the most used one (cf. section 3.2).

Figure 2.21 – Climate Mitigation projection after COP-22 commitments (source: Wikipedia [39]). INDC: Initial Nationally Determined Contributions.

Figure 2.22  –  The front page of Le Monde on 14 November 2017 (soon it will be too late…).

A second commitment period, embedded in the Doha Amendment in 2012 at COP 18, extended the Kyoto protocol from 2012 to 2020. Participation was much narrower than in the Kyoto Protocol and it showed even more

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disagreements between countries: for example, some which had a commitment in the former agreement refused to have one in the second, like Japan, New Zealand and Russia. The agreement therefore never came formally into force. However, the period was used to prepare the true post-Kyoto agreement, which was discussed in Paris at COP 21, on 12 December 2015. A binding agreement, called the Paris Agreement or Accord de Paris, was signed [40] and it became international law on 4 November 2016. 194 countries have signed it and 143 had ratified it by then. The Agreement has binding targets of emissions for each signatory country, proposed on a voluntary bottom-up basis, 18 and an overall goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 °C below 1990’s level, without threatening food production and by providing a financial flow between rich and poor countries. Most countries became now part of the Paris Agreement, including the two largest emitters China and the US, but also Canada, Australia, Japan, Russia, etc. At least, this was true in 2016. A Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement called CMA has been created and meets along with the COP and CMP meetings. Figure 2.21 shows the gap that still exists between commitment in terms of “allowed” temperature increase and commitments in terms of reduction of emissions. Clearly, the world is not yet on track to meet its 1.5 °C target, nor a more modest 2 °C. The commitments stand rather at 3.2 °C. Where this is heading will become clear long after this book is printed! Figure 2.22 shows the front page of the French paper Le Monde, on 14 November 2017, when 15 000 scientists issued an alarm call, to alert the general public that we are running out of time.

3.2.

The role of countries

As countries have been empowered with monitoring and controlling GHG emissions, their emissions have been scrutinized and benchmarked against each other.

Figure 2.23  –  2011 Global emissions from fossil fuel combustion and some industrial processes (source: IPCC, SR5 Synthesis report).

  Called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs.

18

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The first obvious metric consists in comparing overall emissions, such as in Figure 2.23: the major emitters are the largest countries in the world, with a sizing parameter related to their population and their level of economic development: China comes first and India is 4th. The US have much larger emissions than the EU, which introduces another sizing parameter, the energy efficiency of the economy.

Figure 2.24 – Major drivers of increase in GHG emissions during various decades (source: IPCC, SR5 Synthesis report).

Figure 2.25  –  Absolute and per capita CO2 emissions of major emitting countries in 2013 (source: EU Edgar Database [41]).

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Figure 2.24 proposes an analysis of the drivers of GHG increases by decade, between 1970 and 2010. Country comparison in terms of efficiency in GHG emissions gives another vision for the benchmark. Emissions can be related to population (GHG emissions per capita, cf. Figure 2.25) or to GDP (cf. Figure 2.26). In the 21st century, the increase in GDP/cap has been the major factor of change because of the exponential growth of China.

Figure 2.26 – CO2 emissions per unit of GDP from fossil-fuel use and cement production (US$ PPP) (source: EU Edgar Database & World Bank [42]).

The stories that these figures tell are many and they are used extensively in communication pitches to paint each individual country under its best features. The major emitting countries, China and the US, exhibit quite different behaviors: the US has a large per capita emission footprint, while China is at the level of the EU, thus is quite low. The major emitters per capita are oil-producing countries, thus the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf States and again the US: the reason is very clearly the local price of energy, as low prices are not conducive to energy leanness. Australia is higher than the US in per capita emissions. Russia is also high, as are Turkey and South Korea: these countries now ought to change their habits of the Kyoto periods. In the long term, a per capita level of CO2 emissions of 4 t/cap and then 2 t/cap would probably be advisable. The connection with GDP shown in Figure 2.26 is more complex to analyze. The case of Ukraine and China, which are both at the head of the list, shows that both countries have engaged in an energy and ecological transition since 1990 or 2000.

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Russia, Poland and South Africa are next in line, due to the relative strength of their economy, based on growth that was probably mostly uncoupled from environmental objectives: Poland, for example, is relying on its black and brown coal resources and does not implement CCS. France seems virtuous because of the high proportion of nuclear power in its electricity generation: it has decreased its footprint since 1990 though, mostly by increasing its renewable energy and natural gas share at the expense of the few remaining coal-fired power plants. There are more ways to analyze CO2 footprints (cf. section 4), although those just mentioned are the mainstream ones.

3.3.

EU policies

Climate Policies have always been high on the EU political agenda and the Union has been among the first signatories of the various climate conventions. It has set policies through various Climate and Energy Packages and large development programs such as the SET-Plan (cf. volume 1, chapter 8). The EU is clearly willing to lead by example. Because of the size of its economy, EU’s rules and standards that come along with its climate policies have a large international clout beyond the boundaries of the Union. The most recent targets set by the EC 19 are related to 2050 [42,43]: they were declined in intermediary roadmaps for 2020 [44] and 2030 [45] and most recently the European Green Deal [46].

Figure 2.27 – Gross inland energy consumption (EU) for 2016, 2030 and three scenarios (source: EU Roadmap 2050 [47]). 19   For non-EU readers: the expression “set by the EC” does not mean that the policies are decided by the European Commission (EC) and then “dictated” to Member States. The EC proposes policies, which are enacted by the Council of the European Union, sometimes also called the Council of Ministers. Only then, should each Member State have it ratified by its national legislative body.

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In term of primary energy mix, the targets are shown in Figure 2.27: there is a strong trend towards RES, which ought to reach up to 50% in 2050, while solid fuels and oil should decrease accordingly. In terms of economic sectors, Figure 2.28 shows the dramatic deceleration in emissions that the policies require. Besides the power sector, which has the largest effort to make, residential and tertiary comes next. Transport should cut its emissions by 60%, probably because the EC estimates that switching to lowcarbon transport will be more difficult to implement due to the large number of actors. Agriculture should virtually not reduce its emissions. 20 Industry, which is of particular interest for the present book, should accelerate its reduction to more than 80%, which puts the burden on the shoulders of the energy-intensive industries.

Figure 2.28  –  Evolution of GHG emissions in the various economic sectors in the EU until 2050 (source EC [48, p. 19]).

The EU documents point out that these policies, as stringent as they may seem, would actually decrease the cost to society compared to a business-asusual, do-nothing scenario, in economic terms but also in terms of public health. “To make the transition, the EU would need to invest an additional €270 billion (or on average 1.5% of its GDP annually) over the next 4 decades” (quote from [33]).

20   Food production should grow until 2030 and therefore, “agriculture will need to cut emissions from fertilizers, manure and livestock and can contribute to the storage of CO2 in soils and forests. Changes towards a healthier diet with more vegetables and less meat can also reduce emissions.” (quote)

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3.4.

Cities [49]

Cities tend to develop their own policy agendas regarding environmental issues, because the divide between rural and urban areas tends to grow in developed countries as well as in emerging ones. This shows in recent election results from the US to Turkey. In other words, what the national government is not willing to do, cities will organize to carry it out. In large countries like the US, states, besides cities, may be the new proactive players. Cities are also subject to more environmental hazards than rural areas, as they concentrate a large part of the population in denser areas and specific risks (cyclones, flooding, landslides and drought). The trend is not new, as Urban Ecology was invented in the 1970s in the French City of Metz by Jean-Marie Pelt, a biologist [50]. Social researchers point out the relevance of a multi-level governance of climate change involving cities, in particular [51–53], because this refers to overlapping circles of power and influence and it avoids a linear hierarchical formulation of policy, either top-down or bottom-up. Cities have organized across several networks 21 to share their level of understanding of the issue, to adapt for example to disasters like flooding, 22 especially in coastal areas, and more generally to build up resilience to CC. They are also moving in the direction of sustainable cities, based on the use of locally-harvested RENs and resource conservation, including water, and on green transport, from walking and bicycling to battery electric vehicles or Fuel-Cells ones and of smart cities, where a global data infrastructure and digital solutions are used to push the climate mitigation agenda by providing efficient eco-services. The legibility of the city CC agendas is less obvious than UNFCC’s because of the myriad actions that are pushed forward in parallel and do not easily add up through a simple metric. However, they reach out to many more actors and elicit the proper awareness in citizens that may trigger the change of habits and attitudes that are needed for CC mitigation to take place at the necessary volume of involvement. Note that religious entities, at the local scale, like Christian parishes, have also been proactive in engaging their members in talking and thinking about climate change [54].

3.5.

Civil Society

How Climate Change moved from the Climate Science community to broader circles and became the doxa of Civil Society is a story that is presently being told by sociologists, communication experts and historians in articles, essays, books and autobiographies [55–57]. Movies [58–60] and novels, including science 21   For example: CCP: Cities for Climate Protection, Climate Alliance, Énergie-Cités, European Covenant of Mayors, U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, etc. 22   Many coastal cities have launched plans to adapt to sea level rise, like New York, Miami, etc.

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fiction ones like Cli-Fi [61], have played a significant part in popularizing the concepts. Climate Change is now taught in science classes from primary schools to universities. The consensus building on the risk of Climate Change followed a bumpy road, with strong standpoints taken by climate deniers, who were found in all walks of life – from organized groups set on denying CC by any means available [62,63], to scientists recruited among geologists or meteorologists. At a broader level, this has been associated with a deep mistrust of science and of experts speaking from the height of their scientific knowledge. The matter is not settled yet, as the pro-science demonstrations organized in the US in April 2017 show [64]. This is actually deeply related to the connection of people as citizens to truth, trust and scientists (see chapter 8) and what has been coined deliberative or discursive democracy [42]. NGOs and environmental groups including Green Parties, which are mostly favorable to an environmental agenda, are supportive of many CC policies and have developed their own storytelling on the matter. However, Climate Change is rarely their priority, compared to the proclaimed “unacceptable” danger of nuclear power, for example, or to more mundane environmental matters that engage people more readily in the short term. Moreover, there are issues like CCS, which are considered as controversial and elicit negative opinions from some NGOs. Note also that industries all started by denying Climate Change and their role in connection to CC, until they became familiar with the issue, understood that it was here to stay for “good” reasons and that taking CC on board in their strategy might show good business acumen. The sales pitch that industry or materials “are not part of the problem, but rather part of the solution”, while objectively true, is also part of the denial temptation. The case of trade unions is also interesting to analyze. They have been more clearly and earlier in favor of low-carbon policies than industry in their institutional communication, but within reason. When trade unions saw climate policy as threatening jobs, then their support turned weak.

3.6.

Industry

The allocation of emissions to economic activities is shown in Figure 2.29, as recorded by the IPPC. The largest contributing sector is the energy sector, at 25%. As the sector sells its energy to final users, its emissions are listed as secondary emissions and they can be further dispatched to the final consuming sectors. The second contribution at 24%, is related to Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use Change (AFOLU), thus to a series of emissions which were not included in previous versions of GHG inventories in past IPCC reports; as a matter of fact, it is not an economic sector in the usual sense of the word. The third contribution is industry at 21%: a full inventory would take on board the indirect emissions of 11% listed under energy sector, which were

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emitted to produce the energy that industry uses. As an example, the carbon that the steel industry uses to fire its blast furnaces is listed under “industry” proper, while the emissions due to the electricity used by the sector are under “energy”. Then come transport and buildings / residential and others. As the emissions aggregate direct and indirect ones, the industry ends up being the largest emitter, at 32% of all emissions. This gives a more realistic image of the importance of industry in the economy than when comparisons are made in terms of contributions to GDP.

Figure 2.29  –  Greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector (source IPCCS, AR5).

There are several ways for a business (or any other organization, including a region or a country) to account for emissions and mentioning direct and indirect emissions does not address the full complexity of the matter. Direct emissions cover the actual emissions of the company, thus excluding outsourced activities as well as emissions incurred by the value-chain, upstream as well as downstream. In the language of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol [65], this is called Scope I emissions (cf. Figure 2.30). Scope II emissions stem from the production of energy, mostly electricity, that the organization uses. Scope III are value-chain emissions including emissions from subcontracted work. 23 Scope I + II + III are the emissions usually calculated in an LCA – but not systematically, depending on its scope. Care should be taken to understand what kind of GHG emissions are reported in a particular context.

23   A metal producer, for example, will usually not include downstream emissions of cars incorporating its material.

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Figure 2.30 – Reporting of GHG emissions: scope I, II and III according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol [66].

Note that this categorization is not sufficient to compare different process routes in process engineering studies: in such a case, model process routes need to be defined, which incorporate all the core functions of the route in Scope I emissions, thus, for example, coke ovens, sintering and pelletizing, as well as oxygen, steam and electricity production for off-gases in an integrated steel mill, as a commercial mill does not necessarily include all these plants [66]. Note that also IT and ultimately the Internet are responsible for several percent of all GHG emissions – although the exact figure is fuzzy (2% in 2015?). The expected growth of these activities will raise the sector to the level of traditional activities. Industrie 4.0 and its assumed dematerialization therefore does not come for free in terms of carbon footprint. Hence the slogan: “your data is dirty”! 24 [67].

4. How to track the responsibility for Climate Change? The magnitude of the Climate Change phenomenon demands original and diversified approaches regarding the responsibility for GHG emissions, in order to keep a tight rein on them.

24   A search on the Internet is supposed to generate 7 g of CO2, a figure that was posted everywhere in 2009. Google, however, answered back that a Google search is only 0.2 g of CO2.

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The basis of international approaches is the responsibility of GHG emitters, a kind of “polluter pays” principle, except that responsibility means a duty to look for mitigation solutions and not an acknowledgment of guilt, i.e. a strict liability (responsabilité sans faute). Since direct emissions happen along the valuechain, wherever carbon is oxidized, this is a pragmatic and effective approach that in principle guarantees the traceability of emissions. Secondary emissions are more difficult to track: indeed, it is tempting to claim the green part of the electric grid for one’s own uses and, anyway, the carbon intensity of a kWh depends a lot on where it is produced in the world so that a solution based on green electricity in Iceland, France or Norway would not be green any more in Saudi Arabia or in the United States. The business of looking for responsibility for emissions is, mutatis mutandis, as old as law enforcement and the old Aristotle’s theory of causes 25 and indeed, the burden of penance has been shared among all actors on different occasions. Emblematic is the case of prostitution, where legislation fluctuates between penalizing the prostitute or her/his pimp, or her/his customer. Where GHG emissions are concerned, this opens up the option of sharing responsibility between players in the value-chain and not simply overburden the final user, who does not necessarily have access to the best solutions. Note also that, since monetizing GHG emissions is becoming common, as emission rights or emission taxes, then the monetary fee could be asked of any actor in the value chain, such as in tax law, which tends to favor value-added taxes, paid at the end of the chain, but also wealth and ownership taxes (property taxes, wealth tax) or activity taxes (income tax, corporate tax), etc.

Figure 2.31 – Comparison of countries in terms of GHG emissions accounting at production (virtual emissions) or at generation (real emissions) in year 2006 [69].

25   The statue of Hercules has a material cause, the marble of which it is made, a formal cause, Hercules himself which provides a template to the artist, an efficient cause, the sculptor who makes the statue, and a final cause, for example the mayor of the city which has ordered the statue.

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A “simple” solution would consist in shifting the burden to the coal miner or the oil or gas producer [68]. This is actually taking place informally in discussions in Australia about opening up a new coal mine (the Wandoan Mine of Xtrata) or in the US, about constructing the Keystone pipeline, where the opportunity of going ahead with the exploitation or construction is weighted against the GHG emissions that would be generated. Figure 2.31 shows that applying this rule to countries would completely redistribute the cards and show oil producers as the main parties “responsible” for GHG emissions: this would be true of the largest producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia and, in Europe, Norway. Again, the point is not to ostracize selected “bad guys”, but, rather, to allow out-of-the box thinking in the search for solutions: as oil producing countries would have to mitigate their own emissions, they might want to export H2O rather than CO2, as they are doing today, and thus to sell hydrogen rather than oil or gas and use the opportunity to capture the CO2 that would be generated in the process and store it in their own oil fields, for example by doing Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). This is a forward-looking option, which raises challenging technical issues, but, nevertheless, one that ought to be carefully examined. There is an oil rent related to the production of oil 26 and the monetarization of CO2 emissions would introduce an emission rent. The oil rent today is appropriated by oil producing countries. The emission rent today, under the prevailing emission right systems, falls in the coffers of emitting countries. 27 Switching emissions responsibility from CO2 emitters to fossil fuel producers would bring the emission rent back to the oil producing countries in addition to the oil rent. This is another reason why changing the rules on the allocation of the emission burden is complex and does not progress rapidly. The most important point in terms of fighting Climate Change in developed countries, however, is to focus on citizens, individual behaviors and changes in life styles. Emerging countries should not adopt all the practices of developed countries as a template of their own organization and behavior, which, however, is basically what China is presently doing. Moreover, developing countries should search for original models to be used from the very onset of development.

5. Mitigation paths in the materials sectors Materials constitute the backbone of the anthroposphere and of the technosphere and, as such, control the intensity of anthropogenic emissions. The production of materials is an energy-intensive activity, because materials are not present in the geosphere in the state in which they can be used in the anthroposphere. 26  The oil rent is the difference between the value of crude oil production at world prices and the total cost of production. More generally, one speaks of the rent of a mining commodity. The oil or the gas rents tend to be high. 27   At the present price of CO2, the emission rent is still quite small!

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They therefore need large amounts of exergy (energy) to wrench them out of equilibrium with Nature. Since this is accomplished today mostly by using carbon from fossil fuels, the outcome is a large generation of CO2. Simple discussions of this point have already been made in volume 1, chapter 4 (material comparison) and chapter 9 (energy consumption during material production). We deal here with the issue again with more details, even if this means some overlap with volume 1 chapters: the point is to make each chapter autonomous on issues, which are anyhow interrelated and do overlap. Historically, the material sectors have already pioneered large efforts in energy efficiency. As a matter of fact, the larger the energy intensity of a sector, the earlier the steps were taken, because the cost of energy has always been an important part of the industry conversion cost. However, this is not enough, given the size of reduction which the fight against Climate Change and the COP 21 Paris Agreement require. New technologies have to be imagined, scaled up and implemented, a formidable innovative agenda for sectors with a conservative image: paradigm shifts and breakthrough technologies are of the essence. Another way of expressing this is to say that GHG emissions and growth should be decoupled. The vision of the Green Deal is shown in Figure 2.32.

Figure 2.32  –  GHG emissions and economic growth (GDP) should uncouple with a Green Deal target [49, p. 17].

5.1.

The Steel sector

The steel sector is energy-intensive because of the physics of making steel (cf. volume 1, chapter 9) and this results in GHG emissions, which are reputed to be the highest anthropogenic emissions of all industrial sectors, roughly 5% of

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world emissions, the exact figure depending on the procedure chosen for calculating this ratio. However, for reasons already mentioned, much effort has already been devoted to energy efficiency, which is now the highest of all industrial sectors. The best operators have little leeway left to improve their energy efficiency further and this falls short of the scale of reductions still required in GHG emissions. In other words, a decoupling between energy and GHG emissions has to be implemented, which requires the development of breakthrough technologies. The peculiar situation of the steel sector is that it uses carbon in a very different way from the major emitters which “burn it” (oxidation with oxygen) in combustion processes. Indeed, carbon is used for the chemical reduction of the oxides, which constitute the major iron ores: this is a high-temperature chemical reaction, which ends in generating CO and CO2, but with a greatly better exergy efficiency than combustion processes. Thus, some authors have argued that treating the sector in the same manner as the energy generation sector is putting a higher burden on the steel industry than is reasonable due to the completely different mechanisms by which CO2 is generated. Moreover, the avenues for solutions that other sectors can rely on, mostly large improvement in energy efficiency, are no longer available to the steel sector, because they have already been implemented. This is probably, however, only a gallant, last-ditch argument as every CO2 molecule is important in the fight against CC.

Figure 2.33 – The four main low-carbon technologies retained in the ULCOS programs as “ULCOS solutions”.

The steel sector has therefore been engaged for a long time in GHG reduction based on improving energy efficiency (EE) with a very successful outcome, since it decreased by 60% over the period from 1960 to the present [69]. Further efforts have been devoted to reducing GHG emissions directly in original ways and thus new and breakthrough technologies have been explored, in a series of research and development programs, mainly in Europe

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with EC financial support, but also elsewhere in the world. This effort was launched in the early 2000s in two parallel programs, the ULCOS series of programs in Europe and the CO2 Breakthrough program at world scale (conducted within the Worldsteel organization). A summary of the ULCOS programs is given in Appendix 3. The final ULCOS solutions that the program arrived at and further developed up the TRL scale are shown in Figure 2.33. This effort is continuing in 2017, although at a slower pace, due to many reasons but mainly to the 2008 crisis which has not yet fully subsided (in 2016).

5.1.1.

Improving energy efficiency beyond the state-of-the art

As explained in the previous section, improving energy efficiency to a significant extent is only possible in old and obsolete steel mills, which operate below bestin-class level and which have become fairly rare in the major steel producing countries. Anyway, implementing the best technologies and practices everywhere is a necessary initial step to bring the whole sector to a homogeneous, high level of operational excellence. Breakthrough technologies, however, would change the physical operating points of the reduction reactors used in the sector and therefore change energy consumptions. The ULCOS program has thus shown that its ULCOS solutions would further improve energy efficiency compared to the best technologies of today, by 10 to 25%, depending on the solution and on the method chosen for estimating the improvement [70]. This would be quite a significant step forward in terms of improving energy efficiency beyond the best state of the art.

5.1.2.

New Smelting Reduction technologies

The basic Smelting Reduction technology (SR) used in the steel sector is the Blast Furnace (BF), which evolved from historical bloomeries and has improved energy and material efficiency by several orders of magnitude since ancient times. The BF today has become one of the largest, most efficient and most sophisticated process reactors ever developed by process engineering. The result of this is the relatively low-production cost of steel and consequently, its ubiquitous use. One path to make the BF use less carbon is to transform it from a reduction/gasification reactor into a pure reduction reactor by collecting the top gas (which contains a mixture of CO and CO2 in roughly similar quantities), remove the CO2 it contains and then reinject CO at the tuyeres. This is the so-called ULCOS-BF or “top-gas recycling blast furnace” concept (TGR-BF) experimented upon and optimized at the scale of a large pilot (TRL 6) on the experimental blast furnace in Luleå, Sweden, as part of the ULCOS programs. An experiment at the scale of TRL 7-9, called ULCOS-II, was planned and prepared in the late 2000’s with a request for financing under the NER-300 scheme but it was eventually cancelled when the industrial plant where it was to be located was shut down due to the 2008 economic crisis. Supporting research for a future reopening of this research effort has been continued in France under various names (IGAR, VALLERCO).

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ULCOS-BF should truly be considered as a new SR process. There are several other solutions than the BF for reducing iron ores into hot metal. The COREX process is one of them and the only one based on coal which has been developed at industrial scale and is used commercially. However, it uses significantly more carbon than the BF: a larger proportion of coal is gasified and, most often, eventually burned in combustion processes. Thus, it generates more GHG emissions than the BF. This is not necessarily true if a direct reduction furnace is coupled to the COREX. A new process based on “in-bath smelting” and derived from the HIsmelt process has been investigated and developed to TRL 6 within the ULCOS programs under the name of HIsarna [71,72]. A large-size pilot plant was built in the Netherlands at Tata Steel Ijmuiden and is being scaled up in terms of experimentation times (days, weeks and then months), with partial financing from various EU programs (FP7, RFCS, H2020). HIsarna improves energy efficiency and decreases GHG emissions by 20–25%, due to the modification of the physical-chemistry operating points compared to BF operation. A recent update on the pilot operation shows two campaigns of continuous operation for 19 days, as well as feeding scrap or biomass or both with iron ore to the extent that CO2 emissions were cut by 50%. Several more years will be needed to validate the technology at the scale of the present pilot and then a further scale-up will be necessary to reach a large demonstrator scale (1.5 Mt/y, 15% gain in carbon efficiency vs. the present pilot) and establish operating conditions, including costs. This would allow definite conclusions on technical and economic feasibility to be reached in the mid-2020s. HIsmelt is running commercially in China since 2016 with an annual capacity of 0.8 Mt/y [73], after a long development in Australia at demonstrator scale in Kwinana. Coal consumption is 900 kg/tHM on the average, with a best result of 810 g/tHM, which is still high compared to a blast furnace. More paper studies were carried out on other SR technologies but no experimental work was carried out. Altogether, more than 70 different steel production routes, including SR ones, were investigated at the onset of the ULCOS program (cf. Figure 2.44 to Figure 2.46 in Appendix 3). Those that were eventually selected, under the name of ULCOS solutions shown in Figure 2.33, for follow-up at larger TRLs, were the most promising ones, as judged at the time.

5.1.3.

Direct Reduction technologies, based on natural gas

Direct reduction produces iron in the solid state, usually with natural gas reformed into a syngas in order to achieve reduction. The products of the chemical reactions are CO2 and H2O (water) and therefore the carbon footprint of the process is reduced compared to the BF. The limits on the use of the process (market share) are the availability of natural gas at a low-enough price.

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The ULCOS program developed a concept called ULCORED, which, however, has remained at the level of paper studies, although the technical risks were low: but the economic incentive was simply not there at the time. ULCORED was conceptually developed in connection with CCS (see section 5.1.5).

5.1.4.

Direct Reduction technologies, based on hydrogen

The use of hydrogen as a reducing agent is an old concept (cf. for example the CIRCORED process), which is quite sensible from the standpoint of chemical reduction: hydrogen is indeed a “better” reducing agent than carbon, a fact that can translate into higher kinetics, smaller reactors and, possibly, operation at higher temperatures such as in “flash smelting”. The difficulty, as analyzed at the time of the onset of the ULCOS program, was related to the availability of hydrogen, which has to be produced from natural gas (reforming) or water (electrolysis) by using energy, which thus would add its own carbon footprint. The issue has been recently revisited as the option of producing hydrogen from green electricity (low-carbon-footprint kWh) has gained traction and a large number of new process-route concepts have started to be investigated in the EU: they are called HYBRIT, GrinHY, H2Future, SuSteel and SALCOS (see Appendix 4) [74]. Most of them are at the stage of pre-feasibility studies, with a large pilot (TRL 5-6) or even a demonstrator (TRL 7-8) as a target. The use of hydrogen is also being investigated in Japan and in Korea. Besides the demonstration track, first implementation plants have been announced for example by ArcelorMittal in Dunkirk, France and, with Midrex, in Hamburg, Germany, entirely based on hydrogen prereduction.

5.1.5.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

CCS has been investigated as a solution to increase the level of mitigation achieved by existing or new processes that produce CO2. A detailed feasibility study, complete with requests for storage authorizations, was an integral part of the ULCOS-II program proposed around the ULCOS-BF project under NER-300. Its major achievement would have been to reach a CO2 mitigation level of more than 50% with one capture point on the BF, and more with multiple capture points in the steel mill, typically up to >90% (cf. Figure 2.34). CCS was also part of the concepts of HIsarna and ULCORED and it would also have made it possible to reach mitigation levels above 50%. CCS is a controversial solution for some stakeholders, because of the reluctance of the public to accept the technology in their neighborhood – the NIMBY syndrome, an attitude which, in Europe, seems to depend on the member state. Other stakeholders state that the technology is a necessary step to achieve the kind of overall GHG reduction target stipulated by the COP21 Paris agreement and that it cannot be avoided.

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Figure 2.34  –  Level of CO2 mitigation achieved by applying CCS to various smokestacks of an integrated steel mill beyond the implementation of ULCOS-BF. The difference between the 2 bar graphs is related to the concepts of avoided emissions (green) and of actual reduction of emissions (blue) (source: ULCOS [66]).

5.1.6.

Direct use of electricity for iron ore reduction

The direct use of electricity to reduce iron ore, a technique widely used in the nonferrous and aluminum metal industries, has never been used to any extent in the steel sector. However, a few research projects, demonstrating promising results at intermediate TRLs, have been launched in Europe (ULCOWIN, ULCOLYSIS) as part of the ULCOS programs and in the USA (MIT). If green electricity was used, then the process of making iron would become entirely carbon-free. ULCOWIN is continuing under the name of ΣIDERWIN, which has been awarded H2020 support under the SPIRE 10 call in 2017, with the plan to scale up beyond TRL 7, cf. Figure 2.35 [75]. An electrolysis-based steel production route would, in principle, be more energy efficient than the BF but, on the other hand, would become a very large electricity user on the grid. Therefore, by implementing the concept of demandside load management of the grid, by allowing the steel mill to cut its demand during high-consumption periods, it would become an enabler for large proportions of green electricity in the grid – a result only achievable, today, by installing large electricity storage capacities for achieving the balance between intermittent production and consumption. A detailed discussion of these electrolytic steelmaking processes is carried out in chapter 1.

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Figure 2.35 – Evolution of the low-temperature electrolysis of iron ore, known as ULCOLYSIS and now as SIDERWIN (courtesy of ArcelorMittal).

Note that that ULCOWIN or ΣIDERWIN carry out the reduction of iron ore at low temperature compared to the SR processes. This is part of its appeal and one reason for its reduced energy consumption.

5.1.7.

Use of biomass in steel production

Biomass of the “proper quality” would reduce the carbon footprint, if used in making steel. This is already the case in Brazil where small BF using charcoal from sustainable eucalyptus plantations are in operation with roughly 15 million tons of capacity. Biomass is used marginally elsewhere and added to various reactors of the steel mill. Much research has been conducted, including within ULCOS, to evaluate the conditions for using “proper” biomass and to estimate how much would be available without competing with the use of land to feed people [76].

5.1.8.

Carbon Capture and Usage, CCU

The concept of converting CO2 into less oxidized molecules, preferably of high added-value, has gained popularity in recent years and many research projects have been launched, either by the chemical sector, which is wary of the announced arrival of the oil peak that would reduce its access to its preferred carbon feedstock for making organic compounds, or in connection with larger CO2 emitters like the steel sector. Two projects called Carbon2Chem (ThyssenKrupp Steel) and Steelanol (ArcelorMittal & Lanzatech) are presently running in connection with the steel sector in the EU, but more are in the pipeline. The implicit assumption is that the energy burden of the chemical reduction of CO2 can be shouldered by green or waste energy and that the new molecules would substitute for the

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same molecules from fossil fuels and thus reduce their carbon footprints on both accounts. The subject is also controversial, as some stakeholders fear that the carbon footprint of CCU is not properly evaluated, especially since an LCA analysis is difficult to carry out rigorously (consequential LCA should be used systematically), and therefore that CCU might, in some cases, be the equivalent of firstgeneration biofuels, which did not deliver the reduced carbon footprint that had been promised.

5.1.9.

More recycling of steel

In the very long term (second-half of the 21st century or beginning of the 22nd), it should be possible to produce steel based almost entirely on recycled steel, i.e. on scrap (cf. Figure 2.36). However, until then, because the production of steel will continue to increase at world level and because of the long life of steel in artifacts (about 40 years), this is not a significant option for the present. Today, steel is recycled at the level of roughly 90%, which is an upper limit of what can be achieved (cf. volume 1, chapter 8).

Figure 2.36 – Simulation of the evolution of the scrap ratio in steel until the 22nd century [77].

The only way to replace iron ore by scrap entirely would be at the level of a small country and this would shift the carbon footprint to the rest of the world. It would bring no real benefit in terms of climate change.

5.1.10. Other breakthrough solution paths for low-carbon steel production There are other potentially breakthrough solutions, like Additive Manufacturing (AM), often mentioned in connection with the 3rd (or 4th) Industrial Revolution, which claims a much-improved material efficiency by doing away with negative manufacturing and the corresponding loss of matter in machining chips (cf. volume 1, chapter 9). Most steel producers are working on the topic,

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although secretly, and academic research is thriving. The real potential of these concepts will soon be clarified. Steel is also a powerful enabler of low-carbon technologies in other industrial sectors (e.g. light-weight automobiles or green electricity generation, which are more steel-intensive than conventional power plants). A metric, more balanced than LCA in measuring the pros and cons of a material, would take this on board when evaluating the carbon footprint of steel – except that it has not been developed yet. Thus, progress in materials, i.e. new steels that are constantly and briskly developed, would add its contribution to process breakthroughs in reducing the carbon burden of the steel sector. A more detailed discussion of this point is given in chapter 1.

5.2.

Non-ferrous metals

Other metals have potentially the same options as steel to cut their own emissions, as far as Scope I and Scope II are concerned. Scope III emissions, particularly upstream emissions related to mining, are mainly related to the concentration of ores and thus less amenable to easy control. Metals that are produced by electrolysis or by hydrometallurgy can easily benefit from the greening of electricity production, virtually as soon as it takes place. Aluminum, which is entirely produced by electrolysis, has another problem to solve, i.e. the fact that its carbon anodes participate in the reduction of alumina by generating CO2 and not O2. The technology of inert anodes, which would replace carbon for example by cermets, is an important R&D topic in the sector [78], but is still in limbo, commercially, in spite of real breakthroughs already accomplished in laboratories. Carbo-reduction is amenable to similar solutions as steel’s, although developments in the non-ferrous area have been less active because of the relative size of the industries involved. In particular, CCS would be an effective option.

Figure 2.37  –  Copper’s low-carbon “indirect” strategy [80].

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Non-ferrous metals, like steel, claim that they are powerful enablers of lowcarbon solutions in all economic sectors. Copper, in particular, which is a key element of the electrification of the economy associated with the greening of its supply, has developed a sophisticated rationale in support of this argument, cf. Figure 2.37 [79]. It is based, in particular, on the concept of smart grids which rely on copper.

5.3.

Other materials

Cement generates CO2 from the calcination of limestone (CaCO3) and from the combustion of the fuel used for firing the kiln (cf. Figure 2.38).

Figure 2.38 – CO2 emissions of cement production [83].

The cement sector has been exploring two avenues for cutting emissions [80,81]: • one consists in substituting the fuel by replacing it with combustible waste, like old tires, animal feed contaminated by mad cow disease, MW, waste oil and solvents, plastics, textiles & paper residues, sewage sludge, rice husk, sawdust, etc. The argument is that this waste substitutes for fossil fuel and thus avoids the corresponding emissions. A 30% substitution rate is expected to be reached by 2030. Note that cement also substitutes its raw materials with other kinds of waste, like fly ash from coal-based power plants and blast furnace slag from the steel sector [82]. This affects scope III emissions and raises complex questions on how to exchange byproducts and their emission trading responsibilities, in industrial synergy contexts, in a fair and balanced manner;

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• CO2 can be captured, concentrated and stored in geological traps like deep saline aquifers, in which case there is the potential of capturing both calcination and combustion CO2 (Figure 2.39). However, while fuel substitution is common practice, CCS is still only a plan, like in the case of the steel sector.

Figure 2.39  –  Cement sector CO2 emission reductions below the baseline, low-demand scenario, 2010–2050 (source: WBCSD, IEA).

5.4.

Conclusion on materials

Materials are of different kinds and as such have developed different strategies for meeting their commitment towards significant GHG mitigation. Most of them have been on track towards reducing their emissions for decades, because they have pushed their energy saving agenda as well as recycling. Both families of solutions are saturated today in the metal areas for the best industrial performers, but there remains some leeway for improvement because not all production facilities are at the highest level of performance (laggards) and because some industries have a larger potential for improvement than others – like the chemical industry, which produces myriads products at lower efficiency than the steel or aluminum sectors. The sectors which need to uncouple GHG emissions and energy efficiency because there is little to gain there any longer have a unique opportunity to adopt new breakthrough technologies. The argument is the same as the one about energy transition, which is often presented as a tremendous opportunity for the energy sector, along the line that change is (almost) always best – a popular version of the Schumpeter principle of creative destruction (cf. chapter 8). The Steel sector has several avenues open for low-carbon production: capture and store CO2 and reap the benefits of changing the physico-chemical operating points and thus of harvesting hidden energy efficiency by engaging in something like the ULCOS-BF process or HIsarna; move to electric

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production and electrolysis, thus relying on a greener grid and proposing to contribute to the smart management of the grid; use hydrogen for the metallurgical reduction of ores, produced from water by green electricity; and build an industrial ecology industrial synergy between steel, utilities and the chemical industry to use the CO2 it would produce to make chemicals (CCU). Note that the only solution which would entirely rely on the steel sector to handle its own CO2 emissions is the first one based on CCS. All the other solutions require a synergy with other sectors, which would either carry the burden of greening the energy or the reducing agent or of transforming CO2 into a desirable product. The non-ferrous metal sector has in principle available the same solutions as the ferrous sector, with some special features like inert anodes for aluminum production. There is less on-going R&D than in the case of steel because the smaller size of these sectors offers less opportunities for developing completely breakthrough solutions. Cement can rely on substitute fuels, substitute raw materials and recourse to CCS. Plastics are a completely different matter since they are made from oil and thus tend to be considered as an energy carrier rather than a material, as far as GHG emissions are concerned. Anyway, they are part of the Chemical Industry, which relies mainly on energy conservation and on a further electrification of the economy based on RENs. The Chemical Industry is part of the SPIRE Public Private Partnership (PPP), an organization created to support the H2020 program. 28 Its roadmap forecasts energy reductions 29 that reflect the opportunities left to the Chemical sector, rather than to the Metal industries [71]. New materials and new processes, like additive manufacturing, are mostly being developed without evaluating their carbon footprint: the focus is on innovation and the sustainability of the proposals will have to be checked in the future. It reflects the rationale of the rhetoric of promises. It probably makes sense not to be burdened with environmental caveats too early in the development of novel concepts in the materials area, especially at a time when answers cannot be fully elaborated. However, the matter should stay on hold and dealt with as soon as it becomes feasible.

28  Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency, https://www. spire2030.eu/, accessed on 23 April 2017. 29   “A reduction in fossil energy intensity of up to 30% from current levels through a combination of, for example, introduction of novel energy-saving processes (including enhanced use of optimization techniques, monitoring and modelling via ICT tools), process intensification, energy recovery, sustainable water management, cogeneration- heat-power and progressive introduction of alternative (renewable) energy sources within the process cycle.” (source: SPIRE roadmap).

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6. Conclusions Climate Change is one of the most formidable challenges facing mankind today – among others like the sanitary COVID-19 crisis running wild at the time of printing. It is also one of the global issues which has been addressed in a complex, coordinated and truly holistic way at various scales and by a broad variety of stakeholders, from international organizations, states and governments, regional organizations and cities, businesses, environmental NGOs, churches, civil society and individual citizens, therefore virtually all the players in the anthroposphere. The stakes are not to “save the planet”, as is often reported, but to help mankind literally survive on that planet and continue its trip towards more universal well-being and, beyond that, more cultural creativity – indeed, the planet itself would most probably survive, almost no matter what, because of its extraordinary resilience. 30 When the reality of Climate Change was in question, economists worked on developing a cost and benefit analysis of fighting against Climate Change. On the one hand, the economy saw increasing costs due to GHG mitigation that could not readily be absorbed in the context of mainstream economics, where most environmental burdens are externalities (cf. volume 1, chapter 1). Thus, the rather universal claim by industry that it cannot afford to implement low-carbon solutions and that, anyway, the absence of a level playing field 31 would prevent any responsible CEO from doing it without scuttling his own business. On the other hand, environmental economists, have tried to evaluate the cost of climate change. This has consisted in monetarizing the downsides of Climate Change, a complex and difficult endeavor. Indeed, what is at stake is to evaluate the cost of inaction. 32 The iconic exercise of Sir Nicholas Stern has offered answers, which are summarized in the quotes below [84]: • “the evidence gathered by the Review leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs.” • “the impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed – the poorest countries and people will suffer earliest and most. And if and when the damages appear it will be too late to reverse the process. Thus, we are forced to look a long way ahead.” • “(the review) suggests that BAU climate change will reduce welfare by an amount equivalent to a reduction in consumption per head of between 5 and 20%.” 30   Although the examples of Venus and Mars show that even at this very large scale things can go wrong! 31   This expression, a sport’s metaphor, has been adopted to refer to trade conditions under which all players (another metaphor!) can compete in a fair way, with equal opportunities. The expression has been readily extended to refer to environmental issues, where different countries apply different and conflicting rules. 32   This is based on methods like willingness to pay (WTP), willingness to accept (WTA), the hedonist method, or production function-based techniques.

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• “Resource cost estimates suggest that an upper bound for the expected annual cost of emissions reductions consistent with a trajectory leading to stabilization at 550 ppm CO2e 33 is likely to be around 1% of GDP by 2050.” In the mind of the author, the cost of 1% of GDP is easily manageable at world level against the risk of a 5–20% drop in GDP, in a BAU, do-nothing scenario. The Paris Agreement is an answer to the “level playing field” objection of industry lobbyists. In this area, things are changing very quickly, as, for example, the announcement in early 2017 by the US government that they might drop out of the Paris agreement has turned China into a Climate champion, quite a reversal of roles! Implementing low-carbon technology was for a long time running against a wall, because there was a lack of business model for implementing the corresponding solutions. 34 What is missing is a valuation of carbon and the Emission Trading System implemented in the EU and several other parts of the world is a first attempt at correcting this situation. However, the amount of emission rights on the market has kept the price low, except in 2008 (Figure 2.40): it was 13.82 €/tCO2 in April 2020, too low to have any kind of effect on CO2 mitigation. The optimum level of CO2 price is very controversial and industry claims that the brutal implementation of a high price would trigger carbon leakage. 35

Figure 2.40  –  Evolution of the ETS carbon price during the 3 KYOTO commitment periods in Europe (source: ICE [85]).

  This is equivalent to a 3 °C target for Global Warming. 2 °C is 450 ppm CO2eq.   This is a litote meant to express the fact that low-carbon technologies, under present economic conditions, are clearly un-economic. 35   Another litote that means that some industries, which are in competition with unregulated producers (CO2 havens), would simply have to stop operation, shut down or go bankrupt. 33 34

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The way that regional and national governments are facing this conundrum is to support research in low-carbon technologies with large public funding, thus using the incompressible time-to-development of breakthrough technologies to find the magic path to that elusive business model. The situation at the time of writing is that the commitments made following the COP21 meeting are still significantly below the temperature target. A large number of studies point this out clearly [86,87]. On the other hand, the European Union has committed to zero emission by 2050, which is equivalent to the Paris target for the region. As Figure 2.41 shows, the identified levers of actions do converge towards the very large reductions that will be necessary to meet the COP21 targets, even if not fully quantitatively yet. Note that the DDPP study has only 15 countries on board that represent 70% of world emissions.

Figure 2.41 – Energy-related CO2 emissions per capita and unit of GDP for DDPP countries (indexed to 2010) (source: DDPP [88]).

There is not much time left to refine the commitments and to make them more stringent and, indeed, it will be the purpose of the next COP meetings to do just that. On the other hand, commitments have to be turned into action. Industrial emitters have also a lot on their plate. Some sectors have explored technology options that have the potential of cutting emission to the required level and worked them out up to fairly high TRLs. However, the industrial scale is still several years in the future, as is the implementation.

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An interesting way to analyze the technology options to curb emissions is to draw the so-called “abatement curves”, which show the cost of mitigation in €/tCO2 against the abatement potential, cf. [88]. Although the figures, hard-marketed by McKinsey, are difficult to understand and confirm quantitatively, they are easy to use for decision makers in business and government, hence their success. They seem to show that there are still a lot of low-hanging fruits to collect at the level of the whole world economy but that the most powerful levers are expensive, which is true but rather trite. The materials sectors will have to continue their efforts to develop lowcarbon production technologies. Beyond regulatory constraints, which are weak at the present time, stakeholders are starting to demand this kind of action, including shareholders. Such language is probably easier to understand by business than pure science-based scientific messages. The creativity of people looking for solutions to climate change is sometimes taking twists that are surprising and not necessarily pushing in the proper direction. Planet Engineering or Geo-Engineering has the ambition to modify climate forcings in order to counter the present trend: several schemes have been proposed, for example seeding the ocean with iron or manganese, two important metals, in order to let plankton thrive again and thus collect CO2 en masse from the atmosphere. There are doubts whether this can be done because of the size of the endeavor, but, assuming it could work, then controlling it would raise the stakes and the risks beyond those of climate change itself. Moreover, it shows a complete misunderstanding of the relationship of mankind with the planet! Another twist is to propose solutions which do not seem to be able to significantly change the deal in terms of volume of emissions within a meaningful time scale. Capturing CO2 from the air in cities by “artificial trees”, as proposed by Professor Lackner [89], or more recently by VEOLIA in Paris [90], belongs to this category of solutions. On the other hand, they are harmless and are probably sending a message which is partly right, for example that “every CO2 molecule is important”. More research is going on, however, on Direct Air Capture (DAC) for example on Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) and Porous Coordination Polymer (PCP), the structure of which would be favorable to direct CO2 capture at the very low dilution levels present in the atmosphere [91]. The Skytree project has been spinned off into a small company that markets technology based on a plastic film with nanopores, which pumps CO2 out of the air at low concentrations 36 [92]. Other solutions, like biofuels of the first generation and, probably, some of the schemes connected to CCU, are adding to the problems, i.e. increasing emissions, rather than reducing them.

36   The technology was developed by the ESA to clean up the air in space vehicles, due to CO2 emissions caused by the breathing of cosmonauts. Civilian applications today include purifying air in an automobile. Actual CO2 capture is not yet in the book.

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Appendix 1 Global warming potential of various gases from AR4

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Appendix 2 Equivalence between the SRES and RCP scenarios of the IPCC

Figure 2.42  –  Comparison of scenarios AR4 (SRES) and AR5 (RCP).

Appendix 3 Summary of the ULCOS program ULCOS stands for Ultra-LOw CO2 Steelmaking. The ULCOS program was developed over a 20-year-period and a series of successive projects, funded by the European Union or Member States. The main concept behind the program is shown in Figure 2.43. Low-carbon production or decarbonizing means moving away from the top apex of the pseudo-tertiary diagram of the figure, which shows the reducing agents available for the steel sector to reduce iron ores. CCS (CO2 Capture and Storage) is an out-of-the box solution that continues to rely on fossil fuels. The initial ULCOS project established a list of potential or existing process routes that would match this rationale, more than 100, which were later trimmed down to 53 routes. Those were modeled in terms of mass and energy balance, of CO2 emissions and of operating and investment cost, cf. Figure 2.44 and references [75,93].

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Figure 2.43  –  The principle or mitigation CO2 emissions in the steel sector (source: author).

Figure 2.44 – The 53 ULCOS options examined and modeled at the onset of the program (source: author).

The analysis is shown in Figure 2.45 and Figure 2.46. The various processes are color-coded, with the caption shown in Figure 2.46. In terms of energy, all processes exhibit a small dispersion regarding the benchmark blast furnace, which shows the major role of thermodynamics in these high-temperature processes that are already very optimized. Some of the differences are not necessarily significant, because simulation based on actual industrial operating data

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are compared to pure modeling exercises. However, the differences inside process families are probably quite significant. A detailed analysis can be found in the papers and in Figure 2.51.

Figure 2.45  –  Simulation of the initial ULCOS process routes. Energy consumption [67].

Figure 2.46 – Simulation of the initial ULCOS process routes. CO2 emissions for a scenario with 5 gCO2/kWh [67].

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CO2 emissions, on the other hand, differ widely. CCS brings emissions down significantly and rather obviously. So does electrolysis, with the assumption of low-carbon electricity shown in this particular picture. Note that if biomass is used, then negative emissions are possible if CCS is used. The point is to demonstrate that indeed there is room for action in terms of emissions and of decoupling energy and CO2 emissions. Cost curves ought to be looked up in the original publications, although they are only shown as indices. However, they show that virtually all low-carbon solutions command higher operating costs. The ULCOS solutions (Figure 2.33) selected among the 53 routes to be developed at higher TRL in the follow up of the program are shown in Figure 2.47 to Figure 2.50. They are self-explanatory and details are widely available in the literature.

Figure 2.47 – Schematics of ULCOS-BF process with a view of Carbon Capture, left & experimental Blast Furnace, right (courtesy LKAB).

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Figure 2.48 – The HIsarna process, left and the experimental pilot plant in Ijmuiden, right (courtesy Tata steel).

Figure 2.49 – The ULCORED process on the right and main features of the process on the left (courtesy SWEREA).

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Figure 2.50  –  Sample of metal produced by the ULCOWIN process on the left and the experimental pilot plant in Maizières on the right (courtesy, ArcelorMittal).

Figure 2.51  –  Energy efficiency of the various ULCOS solution, with different variants.

Simulation were carried out to check that if it would indeed be possible to reach lower GHG emissions by implementing a cocktail of ULCOS solutions [94].

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Figure 2.52 thus shows that it would indeed cut emissions from the steel sector at world level by a factor 4 (F4), 37 a vocabulary used at the time to speak about desirable low-carbon routes. This was achieved in a scenario called F2 world. Figure 2.53 specifies how the various ULCOS technologies would gain market share, based on their own merits in terms of OPEX and CAPEX (the BF solutions are retrofits, while Smelting Reduction requires a green field ironmaking plant). Thus, the blast furnace variants would be used first, with electrolysis appearing only late. Note that the level of steel production in 2050, which is also a result of the simulations, is fairly invariant, whatever the carbon scenario. Even the F2 world scenario, which calls on a carbon price of 600 €/t, an extraordinarily high value, comes up with the same level of production. This was interpreted at the time as a proof of the resilience of the need for a key material like steel in the economy, even under extraordinary circumstances.

Figure 2.52  –  Simulation of the CO2 emissions of the steel sector as a function of the carbon scenario (BAU, left, and F4, right) [94].

37   Factor 4 meant in this case cutting emissions by 4 compared to 1990. Other publications mean reducing the amount of use by 2 and the impact also by 2.

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Figure 2.53  –  Simulation of evolution of steel production as a function of the carbon scenario (BAU, left, and F4, right) [94]).

Appendix 4 Process routes recently investigated in the EU for low-carbon steel production The various process routes investigated in the EU in the recent past or in the present are described in this appendix. SSAB has selected, in connection with LKAB and Vattenfall, to decouple energy and GHG emissions by replacing carbon (coal, coke) by hydrogen as a reducing agent, in a process called HYBRIT, the pre-feasibility study of which started in 2016 (cf. Figure 2.54). The concept is to implement direct reduction in a shaft reactor, using hydrogen as the reducing gas; H2 originates from electrolysis of water, based on green electricity, which is already the standard in Sweden. The output would be sponge iron, further melted in an electric arc furnace. Demonstration would take place between 2025 & 2035. The European Steel sector is presently engaged in a long list of low-carbon steel production projects at various levels of maturity. They can be organized in 3 families: direct reduction of emissions by avoiding the use of carbon (DCA, Direct Carbon Avoidance); reduced carbon use and, in some cases, storage of CO2 by CCS; mitigation of CO2 emissions by CCU. H2-prereduction would produce sponge iron, which would eventually be melted in an Electric Arc Furnace or in a plasma furnace, opening up the possibility of using even more green electricity.

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Figure 2.54  –  Hydrogen direct reduction (HYBRIT Process, courtesy SSAB).

The projects are the following: • DCA: ○ Hybrit (already presented, SSAB), ○ GrInHy, a FCH-JU 38 project launched in 2016, is the first-time implementation of the reversible high-temperature steam electrolysis as a proof-of-concept to produce green hydrogen in the steel mill site from renewable electricity and in-house waste heat (2016–2019, Salzgitter + 6 other partners); beside others, the project assesses the technology’s techno-economic potential to provide green hydrogen for Carbon Direct Avoidance at an integrated iron-and-steel works, ○ the Voestalpine initiative comprises two projects, H2Future, an FCHJU 39 project launched in 2017, and SuSteel, a national Austrian project launched in 2016, which should feed into each other, the former producing H2 by electrolysis based on PEM cells and the second using that gas in a plasma torch to reduce iron oxides (cf. Figure 2.55),

38  http://www.fch.europa.eu/project/green-industrial-hydrogen-reversible-high-temperatureelectrolysis. 39  http://www.fch.europa.eu/news/h2future-build-europes-largest-electrolysis-plants-greenhydrogen.

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○ SALCOS, a direct reduction project, in which the proportion of hydrogen used could go up to 80% at Salzgitter; as a first step, it will be addressed in a FS called MACOR in 2017–2020, ○ ΣIDERWIN, an electrolysis concept upscaling the technology called ULCOWIN, developed as part of the ULCOS program, up to TRL7 and run at ArcelorMittal R&D, which would reduce iron ore at around 100 °C in a reactor capable of interruptible electricity demand from a grid fed by RENs 40; the project has received H2020 funding in the SPIRE10 call for 2017–2022; • reduced carbon with/without CCS: ○ HIsarna, a smelting reduction process based on an in-bath smelter, has also been developed as part of the ULCOS program and is scaled up to TRL 8 at Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant. Full benefits (> 25%) in terms of CO2 mitigation require CCS; financial support from H2020’s SILC-II project in 2018–2019, ○ IGAR studies the injection of reformed steel flue gas by a plasma torch in the tuyeres of a blast furnace, a demonstration on one tuyere being under way with French National research funding (ArcelorMittal Dunkirk), ○ PEM (Primary Energy Melter) proposes to melt low-quality scrap in a shaft furnace with natural gas and mix it with a virgin iron stream; • CCU: ○ Steelanol is a demonstration unit based on the Lanzatech technology, to start up in 2019 at ArcelorMittal Ghent. It reduces CO-rich gas (BOF gas) by fermentation and generates ethanol, ○ Carbon2Chem is a proposal of ThyssenKrupp to transform CO/ CO2 flue gas from a steel mill into high-added value chemicals.

Figure 2.55  –  SuSteel process, courtesy Voestalpine.

40   The same concept of demand-side load management of the grid would also apply to the large electrolysers needed for feeding the H2 reduction processes.

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ArcelorMittal (AM) is pushing a series of processes, the connection between which is explained in the diagram of Figure 2.56.

Figure 2.56 – AM’s vision of low-carbon process deployment in the future, courtesy ArcelorMittal.

ThyssenKrupp is engaged in a program called Carbon2Chem, where CO2 generated by the steel sector would be used to make high-value added chemicals with the help of the power sector, which would produce the hydrogen needed to synthesize them by electrolyzing water. It is focused on the idea that CO2 would connect the steel, energy and chemical sectors more closely together and that this would redefine the core business of all these players.

7. Bibliography 7.1.

Books & movies

Al Gore, Inconvenient Truth, 2006 (film). Al Gore, An Inconvenient Sequel, 2017 (film). Kingsolver B. (2012) Flight Behavior. Faber & Faber limited, 599 pages. Latour B. (2015) Face à Gaïa – huit conférences sur le nouveau régime climatique, Les empêcheurs de penser en rond. La découverte, 400 pages. Leonardo DiCaprio, The 11th Hour, 2007 (film).

7.2.

Articles & reports

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[74] Birat J.-P. (2020) Society, materials and the environment: the case of Steel, Metals 10, 331, 36 p., doi: 10.3390/met10030331. [75] Lavelaine H. (2019) ΣIDERWIN project: electrification of primary steel production for direct CO2 emission avoidance. In: METEC/ESTAD, 24-28 June 2019, Düsseldorf, Germany. [76] Jahanshahi S., Mathieson J.G., Somerville M.A., Haque N., Norgate T.E., Deev A., Pan Y., Xie D., Ridgeway P., Zulli P. (2015) Development of lowemission integrated steelmaking process, J. Sustain. Metall. 1, 94, doi: 10.1007/s40831-015-0008-6. [77] Birat J.-P. (2011) The future of CO2-lean steelmaking, Technology developments towards 2050, presented at “Scenario 2050 for the Iron & Steel industry in Northern Europe”, Luleå, 6/09/2011, organized by SVEREAMEFOS. [78] Sadoway D.R. (2001) Inert anodes for the Hall-Héroult cell: the ultimate materials challenge, JOM, 34. [79] Copper’s contribution to a low-carbon future a plan to decarbonize Europe by 25 percent. European Copper Institute, Copper Alliance, 2014, 24 pages. [80] WBCSD, IEA (2009) Cement Technology Roadmap 2009, Carbon emissions reductions up to 2050, 36 pages. [81] WBCSD, IEA (2009) Cement roadmap foldout. [82] Birat J.-P., Delbecq J.-M., Hess E., Huin D. (2002) Slag, steel and greenhouse gases, La Revue de métallurgie-CIT, 13. [83] Birat J.-P., Chiappini M., Ryman C., Riesbeck J. (2013) Cooperation and competition among structural materials, La Revue de métallurgie 110, 97. [84] N. Stern (2006) Stern review: the economics of climate change, 662 pages. [85] Source: European Union Emission Trading Scheme. Wikipedia, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EUA_future_real_price.pdf. [86] Alazard-Thoux N. et al. including JP. Birat (2015) Decarbonization wedges, Report, October 2015, Ancre, France, 56 pages. [87] Ribera T., Sachs J., Colombier M., Schmidt-Traub G., Waisman H., Williams J., Segafredo L., Bataille C., Pierfederici R. (2015) Pathways to deep decarbonization, 2015 report, IDDRI & Sustainable Development Network, 46 pages (“the DDPP study”). [88] Pathways to a low-carbon economy: Version 2 of the global greenhouse gas abatement cost curve Global abatement curves v2.0. McKinsey, 2009, 192 pages. [89] Professor K.S. Lackner. Columbia University, accessed on 22 April 2017, http://earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2523. [90] Guiné F. (2017) Paris va tester une colonne Morris dépolluante – À l’intérieur du cylindre rempli d’eau, des micro-algues doivent capter le gaz carbonique et purifier l’air, Le Monde, 17 avril 2017. [91] Horiuchi Y., Toyao T., Matsuoka M. (2016) Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) and Porous Coordination Polymer (PCP)-based photocatalysts. Nanostructured photocatalysts (H. Yamashita, H. Li, Eds). Nanostructure Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. [92] Skytree, accessed on 31 October 2017, https://www.skytree.eu/.

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[93] Birat JP., Lorrain JP., de Lassat Y. (2009) The “cost tool”, La Revue de métallurgie-CIT, 337. [94] Bellevrat E., Menanteau Ph. (2009) Introducing carbon constraint in the steel sector: ULCOS scenarios and economic modeling, La Revue de Métallurgie-CIT, 318.

3

Biodiversity and Materials

“What is called genius is the abundance of life and health, so that whatever addresses the senses – each sight and sound and scent and flavor – intoxicates with a healthy intoxication.” Henry David Thoreau “Les arbres sont des torches de temps pur ; Le Temps n’est la propriété de personne.” Belinda Cannone “We send thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are glad they are still here and we hope it will always be so”. Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, Greetings to the Natural World, Mohawk version

Abstract Biodiversity is initially a specific feature of the biosphere, described by basic sciences like biology, ecology or geography, thus a matter of natural science. Then the subject spilled over to other fields, agrobiology and then management, political science, LCA methodology, etc. Biodiversity has always been present in business, as a set of boundary conditions imposed by environmental regulations in particular as far as obtaining permits to operate industrial plants was concerned. The focus was on endangered species and on the preservation of specific habitats. The point of direct application was the land belonging to the company meant for erecting plants or mills. The spillover of biodiversity to the full social-political dimension is due to the particular status of biodiversity, which is seen as endangered with a risk of a mass extinction coming up soon. It is at the center of a major UN initiative similar to that on Climate Change. This concern was not clearly linked to the economic sphere until the concept of ecological services (ES) began to be used

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and popularized to express the deep connection of life to the stability of ecosystems, which provide specific services to both biosphere and anthroposphere. ES had been taken for granted, as they had been free and thus remained an externality in the market economy, at the periphery of the field of vision of business. This creates risks and opportunities for business. Large business associations and think tanks have taken up the issue and explored how to integrate biodiversity with business practices and management. The focus on ecosystem services was the privileged approach. WSI and WBCSD have done pioneering work. Many businesses have taken up the challenge of introducing the conclusions in their management systems, at least 300 of them according to WBCSD. The examples of two steel companies are given in this chapter.

Keywords Pluri-disciplinarity, trans-disciplinarity, scientific ecology, industrial ecology, bioagronomy, social sciences, management science, regulatory constraints, environmental management, biodiversity, ecological services

What questions can be answered after reading this chapter? 1. Explain the evolution of the public understanding of biodiversity from the endangering of large species (e.g. the dodo or the panda bear) to that of ecosystems with the small living organisms that they encompass. Have regulation and law fully taken on board the broader, ecological view? What about businesses? 2. Explain the tension between the time/temporality of extinctions of biodiversity, as driven by evolution and major, cataclysmic natural events, and of the present crisis driven by population growth and urbanization. Draw a parallel with Climate Change. For example, draw a parallel between the concepts of biodiversity preservation and that of mitigation of Climate Change: are the words neutral or biased? 3. Evolution and biodiversity extinctions. Analyze the connection between both phenomena and underlying concepts. 4. Analyze the concept of ecosystem services. How different is it from that of positive externalities and of common goods in economics? Compare with the concept of Eco-Anthropogenic System Services discussed in chapter 10. 5. One point, which is not addressed rigorously yet, is the fact that biodiversity is threatened at several levels by an activity such as the mining of ores, the production of a material or any human activity. It is like a case of double jeopardy. The mine, indeed, may endanger biodiversity locally, on its site, but it is part of a value chain which has

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a carbon footprint which contributes, at a global level, to Climate change and to the collapse of biodiversity. Can you imagine a way to take all these effects into account? 6. Do you think that businesses have understood their role and responsibilities related to the preservation of biodiversity? 7. What about your own role as individuals and citizens at a local, national or international scale? 8. Explain in some details how materials can help preserve biodiversity. Some of the questions require looking for information outside of this chapter and of this book. Reading itineraries • • • • • •

life sciences, biology, biodiversity, scientific ecology industrial ecology legal and policy dimensions of biodiversity economics, business, sustainability foresight all materials, metals, plastics, concrete, ceramics, glass, wood, biosourced materials

1. Introduction Biodiversity is a concept originating from the field of Scientific Ecology, which entered international political governance through the United Nations in 1992 at the “Earth Summit” in Rio, where the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was signed 1 [1]. This is another example of the collision between the biosphere and the anthroposphere, which has been accelerating since the end of the 20th century [2]. The Convention on Climate was signed at the same time as the CBD and it captured more attention from the media because the subject was easier to communicate about. Business has started to address the issue of biodiversity more recently and more experimentally, through various management tools related to ISO certification. Today, the 1  “The UN has played a major role in protecting biodiversity through the adoption of the convention on biological diversity, one of three major conventions produced at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. More recently, the UN has adopted the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing (Nagoya Protocol) and has created the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). In order to create awareness in the international community about biodiversity, the United Nations declared 2010 the international year of biodiversity, and 2011–2020 the decade of biodiversity.” (quoted from: http://www.franceonu.org/ france-at-the-united-nations/thematic-files/development/sustainable-development-follow-up/ convention-on-biodiversity/article/convention-on-biodiversity).

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issue needs some exploration to understand the stakes involved and point to what a material-producing sector can do on the matter. This chapter draws on the work carried out at ESTEP, to explore the connection between biodiversity and steel. Several meetings took place in 2012 and 2014 and an intermediary report was drafted [3], on the basis of which the present chapter is written. A final document is due to come out soon [4]. The initial findings were that the Steel sector was fairly active in the area of biodiversity, but without being too explicitly conscious of the effort. It also showed that speaking about ecosystem services, rather than simply of biodiversity, made it easier to evaluate stakes and risks. The two expressions tend now to be aggregated in the expression Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES), which binds the two concepts together. The format of the chapter is that of a seminar in which various authors have presented papers that constitute the sections of the chapter.

2. Biodiversity and ecosystem services. What can be learned from scientific ecology? This section is an introduction to Biodiversity and BES, which describes the knowledge developed in scientific ecology [5,6]. Biodiversity is a neologism created from the two words biological diversity. It reflects the extraordinary diversity of life on the planet, in the biosphere. As such, it is part of natural sciences and of biology and it is in principle backed up by a continuous inventory of living species, simply known as life, formerly organized in kingdoms and now in domains with kingdoms as a sublevel, in a taxonomic system that is still evolving. The inventory is far from complete, though, with the number of species estimated between 3 and 80 million, while taxonomists have identified no more than 1.8 million. New species are discovered daily, a fact which might be interpreted as a growth in biodiversity, at least in “measured” biodiversity. Biodiversity is seen as a patrimonial resource of the biosphere and of mankind, as an element of this biosphere. Thus, biodiversity should be preserved and much effort is devoted to preventing animals or plants from a list of endangered species [7] 2, 3 from becoming extinct. Focusing on the preservation of endangered species has constituted the core of biodiversity policies for a long time.

2  “The Red List of 2012 was released on 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit; nearly 2000 species were added, with 4 species to the extinct list, 2 to the rediscovered list. The IUCN assessed a total of 63 837 species which revealed 19 817 are threatened with extinction. With 3947 described as ‘critically endangered’ and 5766 as ‘endangered’, while more than 10 000 species are listed as ‘vulnerable’. Under threat of extinction are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reefbuilding corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, and 13% of birds.” (quoted from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUCN_Red_List, accessed in February 2014). 3   There is also a list of extinct species.

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This is however a very local, partial and time-frozen view of biodiversity. Indeed, life as we know it today is the result of a process that started 3.5 billion years ago and developed spontaneously by following rules that emerged during this same period of time and are known today as evolution. Needless to say, these rules are very different from the concepts that physicists or engineers are familiar with, although, of course, they remain bound by physics. The biosphere is an open system, collecting energy from the sun and from the planet’s inner heat, and using it to perpetuate life and not to minimize any kind of local thermodynamics function, as would be the case in a closed physical system. This property is known as resilience, the ability to perpetrate itself under greatly changing conditions. Life has also extended over a temporality which is many orders of magnitude greater than that of man as a species and even that of geological time, as life has transcended the time of plate tectonics. The story of life, over this gigantic time scale, gives a completely different picture of biodiversity: species have changed continuously and radically as shown in the schematic picture of Figure 3.1. The number of species has increased as a base trend, but the change has not been monotonous, as it has been punctuated by massive drops in the number of species over specific events known as mass biodiversity extinctions – during which more than 75% of species disappeared. There were 5 in this distant past, the most recent one dating from the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs became extinct. Noticeable is the fact that the planet has been able to recover its ability to carry life in spite of these cataclysmic events; it even seems as if extinctions are part of the normal storyline of life; they demonstrate the resilience of biodiversity. After a major extinction, species left in the background replaced extinct ones at the top of the animal size scale: man, homo, eventually became one of these.

Figure 3.1 – Biodiversity on the timeline of life on planet Earth: boxes show the 5 past extinctions, plus the 6th one (adapted from [5]).

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It might sound paradoxical to speak of loss of biodiversity or of biodiversity collapse, when the number of living species is not known in any precise quantitative manner. But there are many examples of situations where the derivative is known but not the variable itself, as in cars equipped with a speedometer before the advent of the GPS, for example!

Viruses Bacteria Protozoa Algae Mushrooms and lichens Plants Invertebrate animals Among which, insects Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds Mammals

# of known species 5000 4000 30 000 27 000 100 000 270 000 1 300 000 950 000 20 000 4200 6500 9600 4300

# of species to be discovered 500 000 400 000 100 000 100 000 2 000 000 300 000 10 000 000 7 000 000 21 000 4400 6800 10 000 4500

Figure 3.2  –  Biodiversity distribution of all living species (adapted from [5]).

The number of living species is related to their physical size and complexity, as shown in Figure 3.2 – an inverse proportionality. Thus, mammals are much less diverse (4300 species) than worms, mushrooms, snails, flowers and plants or insects (900 000 species). The largest-sized phyla, which have the largest footprint on their environment in terms of energy needs (food, amount and complexity), are much less numerous in terms of species than insects, which are much smaller and frugal living organisms: moreover, the big ones feed on the smaller ones, a series of trophic chains. This shows the limits of the concept of endangered species and of their protection, which focuses mainly on the larger living organisms. Life strives in a complex system called an ecosystem, where all scales, kingdoms and phyla are represented. An ecosystem is composed of the biocenose, i.e. the animal life forms, and of the biotope (also more frequently called in English habitat), both of which constitute the sets of living organisms (animals, plants and bacteria) living in a physical system. 4 4   There is some confusion in the vocabulary, depending on the discipline which uses it, for example between biocenose and biota, the latter being a subset of the biocenose comprising only animals and bacteria.

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Diversity relates to life forms but also to genetic diversity within the same species. There is also a diversity of ecosystems and they are classified according to large families, called biomes or eco-regions, in geographical ecology or biogeography. The WWF distinguishes 14 terrestrial biomes, 7 freshwater biomes and 5 marine biomes on the planet, such as, for example, mangroves, tundra or taiga [8]. Tropical forests

20 Mkm2

450 sp./ha

Temperate forests

18 Mkm

20 sp./ha

Mediterranean ecosystems

0.4 Mkm

Prairies

9 Mkm2

2 2

120 sp./ha 50 sp./ha

Figure 3.3  –  Biodiversity hot spots with areas in millions of km2 and number of species per ha.

Biodiversity is not spread evenly on the planet. Indeed, there are biodiversity hot spots that gather 44% of the plants and 35% of terrestrial vertebrates on 1.4% of the surface of continents (cf. Figure 3.3). There are demands for protecting hot spots in a manner similar to the protection of endangered species.

Figure 3.4 – The 34 hot spots of biodiversity in the world (source: Wikipedia [9]). Number indicate hot spots.

One of the major reasons why biodiversity has popped up on the international political agenda is that the number of species is presently decreasing

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dramatically, at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than ever before on record (1000 times). This trend has been identified over the last 500 years, but modeling of the near future, based on the assumption that all identified endangered species would indeed disappear, projects a figure of 10 000 disappearing species per year. This is the order of magnitude that announces a mass extinction and many scientists predict the arrival of the 6th mass extinction, a major biodiversity crisis. Mutatis mutandis, this is somewhat similar to the issue of Climate Change, although some experts would insist that the scientific case for an oncoming abrupt climate change is much stronger than that for the 6th extinction (cf. chapter 2). The data of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5 – Rate of species extinction in unit of 1000 species per millennium, Holocene compared to the fossil record data plus projections (adapted from [10]).

The present biodiversity crisis is due to several factors, all related to the level attained by the world population (7.55 billion in 2017) [11] and to the footprint of its economic activities: • reduction and degradation of biotope areas: 40–80% of the surface of the planet is controlled by man (thus out of bounds for wild life). Tropical forests have been reduced by 7% and mangroves by 20% over the last 10 years. In simple terms, this is historically due to the agriculturization of landscapes and to urbanization; • Climate Change: 0.8 to 2 °C increase in 2050 should lead to the extinction of 15–37% of animals and plants, probably more, as 2 °C is an unlikely lower boundary; • overfishing of oceans, threatening 70% of all fish species.

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The solutions/measures for dealing with this crisis are the following: • protect endangered species and re-introduce them (easier to do for “big” animals); • preserve habitats of plants and animals: through national parks, regional parks, “green & blue” / biodiversity corridors (fight against the fragmentation of urban and rurban space, for the connexity of “natural” areas); • implement sustainable development, i.e. make the coexistence of the biosphere and the anthroposphere possible; • set the International Convention on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in motion. The first two items are classic and already embedded in the legislation of many countries: they address the patrimonial dimension of the preservation of biodiversity and they probably put too much emphasis on large animals. Sustainable development is a concept that has been adopted by many society stakeholders, including businesses – but its impact on biodiversity is indirect and probably not major, given the fuzziness of the many meanings of the concept. The last measure deals with the concept of ecosystem services, which will be introduced next. Ecosystems provide services to the biosphere and to society; awareness of these services was almost nil until the concept was developed in the 1950s, when ecological economists introduced the concept of natural capital, a metaphoric representation of nature based on economic categories [12]. The Millennium Ecosystem Sustainability Assessment adopted this representation and proposed a formulation of these services [13]: • Supporting services include ecosystem services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services, such as: nutrient dispersal and cycling, seed dispersal, primary production 5; • Provisioning services include products obtained from ecosystems, such as food (including seafood and game), crops, wild foods and spices, raw materials (including lumber, skins, fuel, wood, organic matter, fodder and fertilizer), genetic resources (including crop improvement genes, and health care), water, minerals (including diatomite), medicinal resources (including drugs, pharmaceuticals, chemical models), energy (hydropower, biomass fuels), ornamental resources (including fashion, handicraft, jewelry, pets, worship, decoration and souvenirs like furs, feathers, ivory, orchids, butterflies, aquarium fish, shells, etc.); • Regulating services include benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, such as carbon sequestration and climate regulation, waste decomposition and detoxification, purification of water and air, pest and disease control;

5  I.e. the production of organic compounds from inorganic carbon dioxide and water, for example by photosynthesis. The reference concept is that of NPP, Net Primary Production.

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• Cultural services include nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences, such as cultural (including use of nature as a motif in books, film, painting, folklore, national symbols, architecture, advertising, etc.), spiritual and historical (including use of nature for religious or heritage value or natural), recreational experiences (including ecotourism, outdoor sports, and recreation), science and education (including use of natural systems for school excursions, and scientific discovery). Supporting, provisioning and regulating services stem from a systemic description of the way the biosphere functions. Cultural services introduce society as a special player in the description, a somewhat paradoxical approach giving a special role to mankind in a model that would otherwise tend to describe mankind as part of the biosphere with no special privilege – the approach, therefore, is anthropocentric (cf. chapter 8). Note that in neoclassical economics, these ecosystem services are externalities which are provided for free to the biosphere and the anthroposphere. However, when a natural service deteriorates, society steps in and provides a similar service as part of its economic activity: this is the case for water, used in large amounts by society and handled, collected, recycled, desalinated or purified, etc. by various market or non-market players. The drop in the population of bees in Europe has recently been a focus of interest on the part of the press and estimates of the ecosystem services of pollination, which bees provide usually for free, have been evaluated in monetary terms. Monetizing ecosystem services means evaluating the natural capital that the services represent. This can be compared with what was done in the Stern Report [14], 6 in the case of Climate Change, where the cost of inaction in the face of climate change was evaluated and compared with the cost of acting against it. A global initiative carried out under the auspices of UNEP, IUCN, the EU Commission, etc., and called “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB) [15] was launched in the first decade of the 21st century, in parallel with other similar efforts. What is particularly interesting in the case of TEEB is that it stemmed from a book “Towards a green economy” written by Pavan Sukhdev, a business person and visiting fellow at Yale University, who argued that business ought to get involved in biodiversity issues alongside international organizations, governments and NGOs. This is clearly a utilitarian approach, which, however, may prove easier to communicate about than biodiversity alone, especially in connection to business circles. It is also focused on losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services, as its ambition is to evaluate what will be lost as a consequence of this event.

  Nicolas Stern is a member of the Advisory Board of TEEB.

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Figure 3.6  –  Values of 7 ecosystem services in wetlands (source: TEEB).

Figure 3.7 – Benefits provided by ES by mangrove and shrimps in Thailand (from TEEB).

Two reports were published in 2010 [16,17], which lay the methodological foundation for the work of TEEB and focus on case studies calculating a Total Economic Value (TEV) and on a data base for 12 of the major biomes. Examples of results for wetlands are given in Figure 3.6 and Figure 3.7. More reports were later published [18–21]. A simple result is already obvious: the value of the externality is always much larger than the market value that would be “spontaneously” attributed to it.

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3. Business strategies to address biodiversity issues What can business do regarding the complex issue of biodiversity? Answering this question would help answer the more direct question: what can materials do regarding biodiversity? There are 3 levels of possible implications: • regarding biodiversity itself, a business can advocate for it by various means, like sponsoring TV programs, school initiatives, museum exhibits, publishing books, etc., or supporting University chairs doing research in the area; • follow regulatory rules, when they apply to its domains, and thus preserve bird habitats, enforce wildlife zones (e.g. the Natura 2000 network in Europe), provide wildlife refuges, promote biodiversity corridors – which might end up as a business opportunity, like crapoducts (frog underground passages, wildlife bridges, new urban and rurban concepts for enforcing biodiversity corridors, etc.) and take various other kinds of initiatives; • regarding ecosystem services, analyze risks to corporate performance and opportunities related to them (reduce costs due to the reduction of ESS, avoid cost escalation, develop new business, restore and enhance ecosystems, etc.). This offers a much wider scope and many more opportunities in principle than the traditional view about biodiversity… Risks and opportunities can be organized according to the kind of domain they impact and serve as the basis of a review system for assessing what a particular corporation can do in a practical way, like in the methodology proposed by the World Resource Institute (WRI), the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Meridian Institute [22]: • Operational: ○ risks such as higher costs for freshwater due to scarcity or lower output for hydroelectric facilities due to siltation, ○ opportunities such as increasing water-use efficiency or building an on-site wetland to circumvent the need for new water treatment infrastructure; • Regulatory and legal: ○ risks such as new fines, government regulations, or lawsuits from local communities that lose ecosystem services due to corporate activities, ○ opportunities such as engaging governments to develop policies and incentives to protect or restore ecosystems that provide services a company needs; • Reputational: ○ risks such as retail companies being targeted by nongovernmental organization campaigns for purchasing wood or paper from sensitive forests,

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○ opportunities such as implementing and communicating sustainable purchasing, operating, or investment practices in order to differentiate corporate brands; • Market and product: ○ risks such as customers switching to other suppliers that offer products with lower ecosystem impacts or governments implementing new sustainable procurement policies, ○ opportunities such as launching new products and services that reduce customer impacts on ecosystems or participating in emerging markets for carbon sequestration, etc.; • Financing: ○ risks such as banks implementing more rigorous lending requirements for corporate loans, ○ opportunities such as banks offering more favorable loan terms or investors taking positions in companies supplying products and services that improve resource use efficiency or restore degraded ecosystems. Various reports from companies which have engaged on this path are published complementary to this document [21], like Cemex [23] and Lafarge [24] in the materials-cement sector. Altogether, WBCSD reports that 300 companies have adopted its methodology. Many companies are not fully aware of the extent of their dependence on ecosystems, nor of the impact they inflict on them or of possible ramifications. Likewise, environmental management systems and environmental due diligence tools are more suited to handle “traditional” issues of pollution and natural resource consumption and focus on environmental impacts, than on their dependence on BES. Several tools and methodologies have been developed that can help the private sector value and assess ecosystem services. These include: • • • •

the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) [21]; Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) [25]; the Natural Value Initiative (NVI) [26]; InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services & Tradeoffs) [27], etc.

Consultants are available who specialize in guiding a company through the process. Publications on these methods are coming out regularly [28–30] as well as books meant for a larger audience [31]. Trade associations have also published documents on the subject, like the CEFIC document for the chemical sector [32] or the ESTEP reports and papers for the steel sector [3,4]. There is also an analogy between BES, a distinct feature of the biosphere, and the positive features that a material like steel brings to the anthroposphere (cf. chapters 1 and 10). The SOVAMAT initiative [33,34] has been insisting on the environmental and societal benefits that structural materials bring and which are not fully described or understood: they also constitute an externality,

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extending beyond the essential features that a customer buys on the material market. For example, materials are a core constituent of GDP and of people’s well-being. Thus, it seems interesting and innovative to claim the equivalent of ecosystem services for materials, and probably for other societal activities. This point would benefit from being investigated further. Note that materials’ ecosystem services are more important, in terms of value or of another indicator (e.g. savings in GHG emissions), than their direct environmental footprint, a result similar, mutatis mutandis, to what was found by TEEB.

4. A miner’s experience with Biodiversity ArcelorMittal Mining (AMM) has an extensive and proactive experience dealing with biodiversity issues [35]. The international legislation on biodiversity, based on the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) [1], focuses on 3 objectives, which were used to structure the policy and practice of AMM: • conservation of Biodiversity; • sustainable use/preservation of components of biological diversity; • equitable share of biodiversity benefits.

Figure 3.8  –  Counting species in AM mines (courtesy of ArcelorMittal).

Conservation is based on the knowledge of the number of species present in a given area, in the case of a Mining company the large piece of land that belongs to it. These are collected through dedicated surveys on fauna and flora carried out by experts in the area. AMM’s findings for the mines it owns in Canada, Liberia and Mexico are given in Figure 3.8. The sustainable preservation of biodiversity is based on measures applied in response to legislation but also to the biodiversity conservation plans to which the company commits locally. A summary of what is actually being done by AMM is given in Figure 3.9. Note that the geographical area of action extends

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often beyond the land owned directly by the company; the focus is on terrestrial, fresh water and marine wildlife; the word monitoring is often used, which means that the present condition is measured and also its evolution and the information fed back to the system to help improve it continuously; the company also helps get a region organized and active in terms of biodiversity preservation through the expertise it has gathered, e.g. the Nimba Biodiversity preservation program [36].

Figure 3.9  –  Management practices at AM mining (courtesy of ArcelorMittal).

The equitable share of biodiversity benefits addresses education and research activities related to biodiversity in AMM’s mining areas, cf. Figure 3.10. AMM works with specialized NGOs, universities and research centers. Some programs look at how to alleviate and compensate local disruptions, while others address future issues. Legislation on biodiversity is country-specific and AMM is active in Mexico (Norm NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 Flora and Fauna protected species), Canada (Nunavut Department of Environment – wildlife, Canadian Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), Canada Species at Risk Act (SARA)) and Liberia (Protected Areas Network Act 2003 and other forest legislation National Biodiversity Action Plan and membership of various conventions).

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Figure 3.10  –  Education and research activities related to biodiversity at ArcelorMittal Mining (courtesy of ArcelorMittal).

The most ambitious biodiversity programs conducted by AMM are relative to its new mines, i.e. the mine in Yekepa, in the Nimba region, Liberia and the Mary River project in Baffinland, Nunavut, Canada. The conditions of this involvement were a quid pro quo for the attribution of mining and ore export permits. Because the programs were part of the start-up of mining operations, a more rigorous approach was possible, for example the establishment of baseline information for the development of the Biodiversity conservation program. In Liberia, where the mine is located in a rain forest ecosystem, rich in wildlife with unique species (e.g. the viviparous Nimba toad), the approach has involved setting up conservation programs to compensate for the damage caused by mining operations (management of the East Nimba Natural Reserve and long-term management plan with NGO Fauna and Flora International, support Community Forest Management bodies, fund agricultural improvement work, long-term plans for land use management and conservation in Northern Nimba with Conservation International). In Canada, the focus was mainly but not exclusively on aquatic systems, fresh and salt waters, to ensure that mining and shipping operations would not disturb local ecosystems. Species of particular interest were whales (narwhals), caribous and peregrine falcons, but also polar bears, bowhead whales, bearded seals, harp seals, ringed seals, etc. The continuous monitoring will induce mitigation measures, if negative effects are observed (adaptative management). Transparency, based on the consultation of all stakeholders, has been built into the management system.

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5. A Steel company’s approach to biodiversity [37] The experience related here was conducted by Jernkontoret and the Stockholm Resilience Center of Stockholm University, in Sweden [38]. It deals with a case study relative to the Swedish special steel company Uddeholms.

Figure 3.11  –  Global footprint of mankind on the planet (courtesy of Jernkontoret).

The approach is related to the methodology of corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) proposed by WRI & WBCSD [21,39]. The rationale stems from management science, regarding the connection between business and environment and the assumption that it ought to evolve towards a Socio-Ecological Approach, – rather than from a direct connection with scientific ecology, as was done in section 2, or with legal obligations. The point is to introduce Ecosystem Services in the Environmental Management System (EMS) and to do it with a vision of the interaction of the biosphere and the anthroposphere, as a way to broaden the viewpoint of the company and to internalize a Social-Ecological System (SES) perspective. Figure 3.11 shows an illustration of this concept in terms of how the planet boundaries (shown in green) are respected or surpassed, depending on what indicator is reviewed (shown in red) – a particular representation of mankind’s footprint on Earth expressed as a fraction of an annual flux of a “sustainability commodity”.

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The theoretical ambition of the work is to leverage on the resilience of biodiversity and of the social-ecological system to introduce this feature into the company’s values and its management practices. “A resilience perspective offers a departure from traditional environmental management practices, such as ISO 14001 environmental management systems, by focusing on the dynamics of humans and nature as parts of a system, rather than focusing solely on effects of human activity as seen in nature” [37]. The methodology of the work was Participatory Action Research (PAR), a kind of ethnographic approach to field work in the area of sociology and empirical management. The work consisted in implementing the 3 first steps of the ESR, all of which are shown in Figure 3.12, but exploring the whole approach to prepare for further work. The simplified scheme is given in Figure 3.13.

Figure 3.12  –  Principle of the 5-step approach of the ESR methodology (source: [38]).

The method goes through a number of steps, based on the use of userfriendly tools, in practice a set of questionnaires: 1) selecting the scope of the study, i.e. defining the system in which the company is immersed in this particular case; 2) identifying the ecosystems services relevant for the case study, i.e. those on which the company is dependent and has impacts, and organize them in terms of priorities and select the highest priority item; 3) identify drivers and conditions relative to the selected BES; 4) assess the related risk; 5) compare with ISO 14001 and existing routines in the company; 6) propose a new system for environmental management.

Figure 3.13  –  Fieldwork Methodology. Methodology used during the case integrates a social-ecological system approach into the company (source: [38]).

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The work was conducted as teamwork in Uddelholms Company under the guidance of a graduate student, who was given access to the company and its staff. The selection of water as the BES on which the study was based came up as a fairly obvious consensus decision, as water had already been part of the consciousness and practice of the company, although not exactly with the approach that was introduced here. Water is also part of the heritage of neighborhood communities and thus is emblematic of the social-ecological system in which Uddeholms is embedded. Why did Uddeholms choose to focus on water? The rationale turns out to be practical and includes: the dependence of the company on water today as well as in the future; the existence of well-identified stakeholders (fisheries, hydropower, cultural) in the community; the awareness, that emerged during the work, that access to water (consumption) is more critical for production than its impact (i.e. discharge and pollution, the “old” environmental approach); the expectation of coming legislation imported from EU level (IED-BAT) and the point that the new methodology would make it easier to explain it internally; it is visually easy to communicate about water because water flows in visible systems. The experience gained in the approach is summarized in the following: • until now, Uddeholms AB has been 99% focused on the environmental impact that they produce – not their dependence on ecosystem services; • the company’s dependence on water as an ecosystem service was taken for granted!; • instead of carrying out a complete ESR analysis including all steps, they focused on integrating the ESR tool into existing work in order to keep the knowledge alive; • the ESR-tool gives a better analysis of current environmental impacts, for example it helps identify the most significant environmental aspects; • risks & opportunities are visualized within the different areas of the company, thus providing a better understanding of the approach to all, and giving them a greater system perspective; • working with ecosystems turns out to provide a valuable opportunity to get a broader perspective on a company’s relationship to its natural environment; • this broader perspective can be powerful in discussions with lawmakers, local authorities and customers, as well as in considering new legislation or business opportunities; • taking an ecosystems approach does not require a lot of money or time up front, but mostly a willingness to consider the entire company and all its operations; • language is very important. One does not need to learn a new language to discuss a new concept such as an ecosystem, as the language and the culture of each individual company is adequate;

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• working with ecosystems is not like ‘reinventing the wheel’. Systems and routines such as permit applications, ISO certification do not have to be changed or deeply re-engineered, rather they are seen and considered in a new way, which in turn makes these routines more robust.

Figure 3.14  –  Graphic representation of the proposed new environmental management system at Uddeholms AB, referred to as the ‘Uddeholms AB Model’ by the company (source: [38]).

6. Biodiversity and ecosystem stability This section deals with the role of biodiversity on ecosystem stability, seen from the standpoint of a biologist, working in the field of agronomy [40]. The impact of human/societal activities on natural resources (air, soil, water and biotic system) can be divided into pollution (in the case of infinite resources) and/or depletion (in the case of finite resources): a fairly complete set of examples is given in Figure 3.15.

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Figure 3.15 – Inventory of pollution and other impact of human activities on ecosystems (source: [40]).

Figure 3.16 – Trophic levels in the food chain related to the relative amount of total biomass and “embedded” energy (10% vs. 90% lost as heat at each step). Source: [40].

The impact of biodiversity is related to 3 major concepts: food chain efficiency, bio-magnification and resilience. Food chain efficiency tells the story of trophic chains and quantifies the loss of total biomass (similar to the number of species discussed before) as a function of energy retained in plants and animals, cf. Figure 3.16. The shape of the pyramid is explained by the amount of energy available at a next lower level of the trophic scale; moreover, if all levels are populated, it means that the ecosystem is diverse. On the other hand, if secondary or tertiary consumers have disappeared, it means either human intervention or an unstable ecosystem unable to provide a sufficient primary production.

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Bio-magnification means that contaminants accumulate along the food chain, for example pesticides or heavy metals. Contaminants have more serious effects on populations high in the food chain and can result in the extinction of the most sensitive organism, with the risk of the total collapse of the entire ecosystem. Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to accept disturbances; either shortterms oscillations (thus, eventually coming back to the previous state) or longer-term trends (thus finding a new equilibrium). This stability is provided by biodiversity, which also serves as a marker of the health of the ecosystem. The presenter compared an ecosystem to a gearbox, where removing a single gear may stop the machine from running or may ruin it altogether. There is strong scientific evidence of the influence of biodiversity on the stability and health of an ecosystem: • the complementarity effect expresses the idea that species with different morphological and phenotypic characteristics have different resource use and thus that increased diversity increases resource use and thus ecosystem functioning (productivity); • the insurance hypothesis states that in species-rich communities there are both redundant and complementary species, a situation which contributes to the stability of the ecosystem; • functionality is more important than biodiversity in providing an (agro-) ecosystem service (AES), but the concept of functional biodiversity links the two together by providing examples showing that functionality is increased by biodiversity 7 – a technical point important in agronomy, which was supported by a large number of examples given in the oral presentation.

7. Conclusions Biodiversity and ecological functions and services (BES) have been addressed in this chapter from several standpoints. The ecology description, a mixture of scientific and industrial ecology, focuses on the connection between biosphere and anthroposphere, focusing on the tension that is generated by the huge footprint that societies have generated on the planet as a whole [41]. Social applied sciences like management prefer to speak of the social-ecological system. Business is intent on fulfilling the requirements of legislation, especially as far as permitting the opening of new mines is concerned, and favors connecting biodiversity with environmental management as defined for example by ISO international standards. Agrobiology

7   For example, 10 poplar trees take up 20% of copper from contaminated soil but 5 poplar trees and 5 willows take up 30% of copper.

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focuses on the mechanisms governing the way in which biodiversity enhances the stability of ecosystems and uses it to introduce this feature in agronomic systems. Biodiversity is initially a specific feature of the biosphere, identified and described by basic sciences like biology, ecology or geography, thus a matter of natural science. The subject spilled over to other fields, in a natural way to agrobiology, which can be described as part of an applied science, agronomy, and then to management, political science, LCA methodology, etc. Biodiversity has always been present in business, as a set of boundary conditions imposed by environmental regulations on permitting industrial plants in particular. The focus has been on endangered species and on the preservation of specific habitats, which is a narrow vision of the issue. The point of direct application was the land belonging to the company, which can be very large in the case of mining companies or of integrated steel mills. The spillover to the full social-political dimension and to the planet as a whole is due to the particular status of biodiversity, which is seen as endangered with a risk of a mass extinction coming up soon. It is at the center of a major UN initiative similar to that on Climate Change. This concern was not clearly linked to the economic sphere until the concept of ecological functions and services began to be used and was popularized to express the interrelationship of biocenose and biotope, i.e. the deep connection of life to the stability of ecosystems, which provide specific services to both biosphere and anthroposphere. ES had been taken for granted, as they had been free and thus remained an externality in the market economy, at the periphery of the field of vision of business. This creates risks but also opportunities for business, a dichotomic concept with which management feels comfortable. Large business associations and think tanks have picked up the topic and explored how to integrate biodiversity issues into business practices and management. The focus on ecosystem functions and services was the privileged approach. WSI and WBCSD have done pioneering work, relayed locally at a national level, as through the MEDEF 8 in France. Many businesses have taken up the challenge of introducing the conclusions in their management systems, at least 300 of them according to WBCSD. Examples from two steel companies were given. What is the way forward from there? Business ought to feel a sense of duty relative to biodiversity due to the fact that industry and particularly the materials sectors are social actors embedded in the socio-economic system.

8   The MEDEF is the French national federation of business (Mouvement des entreprises de France).

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Among mitigation actions, the promotion of the continuity of the biosphere around urban centers through concepts like biodiversity corridors, called green and blue corridors in France, would be one option. This will require: • on the one hand a deep rethinking about the relationship between areas devoted to the biosphere and to the anthroposphere – where the present model gives free rein to city sprawl and tends to isolate biodiversity in concave reserves called Natural Parks, which were invented in the US in the 19th in a completely different context; • and on the other hand, a continuous fabric of natural spaces that communicate with each other (where biotope and biocenose can indeed become continuous): formerly isolated areas would be connected by biodiversity bridges and corridors and, possibly, turn the model around by enclosing city space in reserved, concave areas, completely embedded in natural spaces. In addition to giving a chance to nature and wild ecosystems, it would provide city dwellers with recreational facilities in some of the natural zones. 9 This is called green infrastructures, blue and green corridors, biodiversity corridors, etc. Materials like steel, but probably also wood or concrete, i.e. the major enduring structural materials of our technological episteme, could provide the infrastructure for these corridors, where they would connect biodiversity spaces. These materials have been providing this kind of socio-economic services in the anthroposphere, for people; why not let them do it in the biosphere for all life forms and ecosystems?

8. Bibliography Cannone B. (2008) Mon chêne, repère de mon territoire intime, Le Monde, Le Monde Idées, 4 August 2018. EU pollinators initiative. European Commission, accessed on 11 January 2018, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/pollinators/ index_en.htm. Green infrastructure. European Commission, accessed on 11 January 2018, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ecosystems/index_en.htm. Nature and biodiversity. European Commission, accessed on 11 January 2018, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/index_en.htm. Reeves H., Boutinot N., Casanave D., Champion C. (2017) Hubert Reeves nous explique la biodiversité. Le Lombard, 62 pages. Sukhdev P., Wittmer H., Schröter-Schlaack C., Nesshöver C., Bishop J., ten Brink P., Gundimeda H., Kumar P., Simmons B. (2010) The economics of ecosystems

9   This is one of the types of ecosystem services that natural space provides: cultural and recreational services.

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and biodiversity: mainstreaming the economics of nature: a synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB. TEEB, ISBN 978-3-9813410-3-4. The global assessment report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Summary for Policymakers. IPBES, 2019.

9. References [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5] [6] [7]

[8] [9] [10]

[11] [12]

[13] [14] [15]

http://www.cbd.int/history/. Strategic Research Agenda, A vision for the future of the steel sector, 2nd edition, May 2013, European Steel technology Platform, ftp://ftp.cordis.europa. eu/pub/estep/docs/sra-052013-en.pdf. Birat J.-P., Alzamora C., Carler S., Moonen A.-C., Malfa E. (2014) Biodiversity, business and the steel sector, ESTEP working document, 23 p. K. Peters, V. Colla, Moonen A.C., Branca T.A., Del Moretto D., Ragaglini G., Menendez Delmiro V. M., Romaniello L., Carler S., Hodges J., Bullock M., Malfa E. (2017) Steel and biodiversity: a promising alliance, Matériaux & Techniques 105(5-6), Society and Materials (SAM11). Lacroix G., Abadi L., Jean C. (2008) Le grand livre de la biodiversité. CNRS Éditions. Carpentier A., Ed (2012) Dossier biodiversité, La Lettre de l’Académie des sciences 31(été-automne). CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) (2000) Joint Meeting of the Animals and Plants Committees, Shepherdstown (United States of America), 7–9 December, 2000. WWF, http://worldwildlife.org/biomes, accessed on 16 February 2014. Wikipédia, Points chauds de biodiversité, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Biodiversity_Hotspots.svg. Duraiappah A.K., Naeem S., Eds (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being, Biodiversity synthesis, a report of the Millenium ecosystem assessment, World Resource Institute, http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.354.aspx.pdf. World population prospects, the 2017 revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables, Working Paper No. ESA/P/WP/248, United Nations, Department of Economic Affaires (DESA), Population division, 46 pages. Osborn F. (1948) Our plundered planet. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 217 p.; Vogt W. (1948) Road to survival. William Sloan, New York, 335 p.; Leopold A. (1949) A sand county almanac and sketches from here and there. Oxford University Press, New York. 226 p. Summarized from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_production, accessed on 15 February 2014. Stern N. (2006) The Stern review on the economics of climate change. British Government, 700 p. http://www.teebweb.org.

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[16] TEEB (2010) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity ecological and economic foundations (Pushpam Kumar, Ed). Earthscan, London and Washington, http://www.teebweb.org/our-publications/teeb-study-reports/ecologicaland-economic-foundations/#.Ujr1xH9mOG8. [17] TEEB (2010) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity: mainstreaming the economics of nature: a synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB, http://doc.teebweb.org/wp-content/uploads/Study and Reports/Reports/Synthesis report/TEEB Synthesis Report 2010.pdf. [18] TEEB (2011) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity in national and international policy making (P. ten Brink, Ed). Earthscan, London and Washington. [19] TEEB (2012) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity in local and regional policy and management (H. Wittmer, H. Gundimeda, Ed). Earthscan, London and Washington. [20] TEEB (2012) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity in business and enterprise (J. Bishop, Ed). Earthscan, London and New York. [21] Russi D., ten Brink P., Farmer A., Badura T., Coates D., Förster J., Kumar R., Davidson N. (2013) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for water and wetlands. IEEP, London and Brussels; Ramsar Secretariat, Gland. [22] Hanson C., Ranganathan J., Iceland C., Finisdore J. (2014) The corporate ecosystem services review, guidelines for identifying business risks & opportunities arising from ecosystem change. World Resource Institute, Version 2.0, February 2012, 48 p., direct quote from the executive summary. Accessed on 16 February 2014 at http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/corporate_ecosystem_services_review%20%281%29.pdf. [23] http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/esr_case_study_cemex.pdf, accessed on 16 February 2014. [24] http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/esr_case_study_lafarge.pdf, accessed on 16 February 2014. [25] Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES), An adaptive modeling technology, accessed on 5 November 2017, http://aries.integratedmodelling.org/. [26] The Natural Value Initiative (NVI): the ecosystem services benchmark. Fauna & Flora International, FGV, UNEP Finance Initiative, 2009, 38 pages, accessed 5  November 2017, http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/ecosys_benchmark.pdf. [27] InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services & Tradeoffs), accessed on 5 November 2017, http://data.naturalcapitalproject.org/invest-releases /3.3.1.post149+na44695a68181/apidocs/. [28] Entreprises et biodiversité, exemple de bonnes pratiques. MEDEF, 2010, 546 p. [29] Houdet J. (2013) Le bilan biodiversité, principes comptables et indicateurs pour communiquer sur l’empreinte et la performance « biodiversité » de mon entrepris. Synergiz & Natureparif, 212 p. [30] Mesurer et piloter la biodiversité. EPE, December 2013, 48 p. Cf. the editorial: “Des entreprises deviennent créatrices nettes de biodiversité”.

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[31] Kolbert E. (2014) The sixth extinction, An unnatural history. Henry Holt & Company, 319 p. Cf. its review by Gore A. (2014) in Without a trace, the New York Times. [32] Biodiversity & ecosystem services: what are they all about?. CEFIC, January 2013, 40 p. [33] Birat J.-P., Thomas J.-S. (2008) Beyond Life-Cycle Thinking: the SOVAMAT initiative and the SAM seminars. In: ECOBALANCE 2008, International Conference on Ecobalance, Tokyo, Japan. [34] www.sovamat.org. [35] Almadora C. (2014) Mining experience with biodiversity. In: “Biodiversity, business and the Steel sector”, seminar held by ESPEP in Dalmine, 6 February, 2014. [36] Biodiversity Conservation Programme, Annual Report, July 2012 to June 2013, Western Range DSO Iron Ore Project, Liberia, Environmental and Social Studies, 2008-2015, ArcelorMittal Liberia, 2013, accessed on 17  February 2014, http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/~/media/ Files/A/ArcelorMittal/corporate-responsibility/publications-andreports/BCP-Annual-Report-July-2012-June-2013.pdf. [37] Berg A., Stockholm Resilience Center, C.  Johnsson, J.  Mossfeldt, Uddeholms AB, L. Deutsch, Stockholm Resilience Center, S. Carler, Jernkontoret (2014) Empowering the Steel Industry as a Stakeholder: Environmental Management and Communication through a SocialEcological System Approach. In: “Biodiversity, business and the Steel sector”, seminar held by ESPEP in Dalmine, 6 February, 2014. [38] Berg A. (2013) Empowering the Steel Industry as a Stakeholder: Environmental Management and Communication through a SocialEcological System Approach, Master’s Thesis, Stockholm Resilience Centre  –  Stockholm University, Sustainable Enterprising Master’s Program. [39] EcoBiz4, Ecosystem services and biodiversity tools to support business decisionmaking, Version 1. WBCSD, April 2013. [40] Moonen A.-C. (2014) The contribution of biodiversity to ecosystem stability. In: “Biodiversity, business and the Steel sector”, seminar held by ESPEP in Dalmine, 6 February, 2014. [41] Birat J.-P. (2014) Environmental metallurgy: continuity or new discipline?, Steel Res. Int., doi: 10.1002/srin.201300279, Special Issue: Science and Technology of Steelmaking 85(8), 1240.

4

Methods to deal with materials in a holistic way: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Materials Flow Analysis (MFA), Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (SAT), etc. “Cessons de parler des ‘non-humains’, cessons de parler de l’environnement’, comme si nous étions au centre de l’univers.” Michel Serres [1]

Abstract Chapter 4 deals with structured methods connecting materials, the environment and society, i.e. anthroposphere and technosphere on the one hand and biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere on the other. The methods are not specific to materials, although one of them, Materials Flow Analysis (MFA) was initially designed for them. The most common method, Life Cycle Analysis or LCA, although developed only in the 1970s, has now become popular, especially in decision-making circles, among both regulators and businesses. It has given birth to a broad community of developers, practitioners and users with a strong academic life supported by dedicated journals. Materials, being ubiquitous as part of the objects that LCA describes, are important in LCA and vice versa. LCA was invented to measure the environmental impact of industrial artifacts, as whole objects (e.g. a car) or parts (components, like the bumper of a car). It was thus initially an effort to collect information on the way the artifact is made, used and discarded at end-of-life, thus to capture the impact of the whole value chain on the environment. Prior to the invention of LCAs, the only measuring stick was the added-value along the value chain, a concept which was imperfectly captured by the price of the artifact in its market. LCA looks at a broad set of environmental impacts. It distributes responsibilities clearly along the value chain, with a yardstick that depends on which indicator is used – and many of them are used in parallel, thus turning LCA into a multi-criterion method. This avoids burden shifting, i.e. blaming the next guy in the value chain for one’s own impacts. And, generally, it favors a clearer description of the consequences of industrial and economic activities on the environment.

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LCA provides a means to compare materials, not in an absolute way, which would be meaningless, but under the special circumstances of use in the artifact that is described by the LCA. This gives information which is complementary to the traditional design process. Thus, steel or aluminum cars end up fairly close to each other in terms of their environmental footprint when they are compared through a proper LCA: lightweighing alone, the criterion that has been privileged by regulators until recently, is missing the point regarding production and end-of-life by focusing arbitrarily only on the use phase of the vehicle. LCA has a few imperfections as well: it is overly complex – and as such is long and expensive to implement – and it can lead to misleading conclusions if used improperly. The chapter provides a critical review of how LCA ought to improve in the future. Material Flow Analysis or MFA looks at materials from a more holistic, global, macroscopic viewpoint. The guiding light here is that materials are conservative, an application of Lavoisier’s conservation law applied to territorial systems. MFA tracks the flows, for example, of iron or of phosphorus in the economy and, in the process, explains how these “materials” are either moving along or are parked in stocks composed of artifacts used in the economy, of end-of-life materials and of intermediary stocks in the production chain. The system can be a region, a city, a country, the world, the whole planet or the solar system. Materials can escape from the narrow definitions of materials science or of chemistry and include waste, a theme regarding which MFA has been eloquent. MFA also encompasses time, in a different way from LCA, where time was the life cycle, while here it is the residence time of the material in the system. Because of the stocks, where accumulation can be long (e.g. steel in buildings or infrastructures), MFA has evolved into dynamic MFA, which describes the dynamic of stocks and thus, for example, relates the steel stocked in the automotive fleet to the scrap that is generated when the vehicles are discarded. Because of its global nature, MFA is a privileged tool for foresight studies, e.g. for analyzing the expected production of materials by mid-century. Beyond LCA and MFA a rich array of methods looks at artifacts and materials from a variety of standpoints related to the environment and society, some of which are described here, like the Sustainable Assessment of Technologies, SAT, or the concept of Emergy in the analysis of energy systems. This evolution of methodologies is explored in a dynamic way by Society & Materials Conferences.

Keywords LCA, MFA, SFA, emergy, BATs, scoreboards, ISO standard, systems, time, dynamic LCA, dynamic MFA, Social LCA, Life Cycle Costing, Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (SAT), SOVAMAT, new metrics, Society & Materials (SAM) conferences

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What questions can be answered after reading this chapter? 1. At the core of an LCA study lies a functional unit. Compare it to the concepts of value chain and of supply chain. Compare it also to the concept of a physical system, as used in thermodynamics and chemical engineering: similarities, differences? 2. Give examples of a functional unit for a part of a consumer product, for a whole consumer product, for a service, for a PSS (product service system). 3. Explain the rationale of using LCA for studying large systems like an electricity grid. 4. Same question relative to the energy transition. 5. Global Warming in LCA is analyzed based on the Global Warming Potential (GWP), a concept developed by Climatology. Going back to the initial definition of GWP, discuss whether this approach is rigorous enough. 6. Do you think that the concepts of gate-to-gate or tank-to-tailpipe inventories are useful and under which circumstances? 7. LCA practitioners distinguish between foreground and background data. Background data can be desegregated or not. Explain these concepts and the stakes related to these alternative practices. 8. Rebound effects are usually defined in a narrower way than in this chapter: it is meant to refer to the fact that improving energy efficiency does not usually decrease overall energy consumption but rather increases the use of the energy-consuming device and ends up consuming as much or more energy overall than before. Explain the shift of meaning used in this chapter. 9. LCA has been a very successful methodology in terms of adoption by a broad set of stakeholders. Can you find articles in the literature, outside of the LCA community and especially in the social sciences, which explain why it came ahead of all other methodologies? 10. Emergy analysis, on the other hand, has remained a confidential methodology, rarely used. Can you try to explain why? 11. LCA and MFA are sometimes seen as competing methodologies and the scientific communities, which serve them, hold militant views about their favorite one. Try to explain why and to discuss this tension. 12. The overlap between LCA and MFA or MFAc is real. For example, MFAc claims that it describes the influence of the mining activities necessary for producing materials more thoroughly than LCA does. Look for the relevant papers and discuss the issue. 13. MFA is the pet method of the Industrial Ecology community. Try to explain why.

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14. All the methods described in this chapter are based on the use of quantitative indicators. This shows that they originate from communities of engineers or hard scientists. Would there be alternative ways to deal with the same issues, based on social science approaches, for example? 15. All the methods described in this chapter rely on large amounts of data. The availability of data is a serious issue. LCA relies on data bases, some of which are in the public domain and others are proprietary. DB are updated more or less regularly and this usually induces discrete changes in the results of an LCA based on them. Data are fraught with uncertainties, approximations, errors, etc. Moreover, some data do not exist, therefore they would have to be measured for carrying out a particular study and sometimes they are out of reach, “unknowable”. Discuss this matter using for example the theory of uncertainty quantification. But you can be more creative and explore other paths! 16. The same issue is even more important in the case of MFA, where data bases are usually the property of the laboratories, which work in the field. Carry out the same analysis as in 15, but focusing on MFA. Some of the questions require looking for information outside of this chapter and of this book. Reading itineraries • scientific ecology, industrial ecology, process engineering, chemical engineering • sociology, anthropology, legal framework, geography, economics • sustainability, foresight • all materials, steel, copper, lead, aluminum, etc.

1. Introduction Many methods and tools have been developed to turn the content of the previous chapters into practical measurements of the connection between materials, environment and society. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is probably the most emblematic and the most widely used among them, but there are many more methods, existing or in the making.

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Figure 4.1  –  Scope of chapter 4 (everything).

These methods are more general in their scope and ambitions than simply materials as they deal with the extensions of materials: • in time (their life-cycle but also their fate at end-of-life, circular economy issues, product line duration, fleet effect, etc.); • in the economic fabric of society (production and consumption, end-oflife disposal, energy harvesting and raw materials consumption); • in the complexity of human artifacts (consumption, investment and industrial goods, product design – its evolution and its drivers); • in the geopolitical organization of the world in terms of stocks and flows with an essential dynamic dimension (SFA, MFA, EFA, MFAc); • in the social fabric of society. They may also relate to services and not simply to products or goods. Being practical in their objective, these methods have been answering specific and well-focused needs. Many have remained confined to the particular universe where they were born, but some have developed more ambitious targets and extended their scope beyond their initial one.

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In the process of growing, they have become disciplines in their own right, which belong to the applied side of knowledge, like engineering sciences, technology or management: in this sense, LCA is a technology rather than a scientific discipline. Each of these new disciplines has given birth to communities which live in their own ecosystems, with their own conferences and journals. There is even competition between different approaches in trying to deal with very broad systems: LCA and MFA thus demonstrate this kind of overlap. Stakeholders include academics but also industrial researchers and policymakers at government level, geopoliticians in international organizations and strategic planners, in business organizations. The scientific production in these disciplines is large and scattered across many media: specialized scientific journals, general ones – nobody will resist a chance to get a paper in Nature or Science – as well as a huge trove of unpublished documents, circulated within closed communities like professional associations, or kept confidential inside the information systems of companies. Such documents are usually called the grey literature. Institutional communication media also abound in information about sustainability, often in the quantitative style that would qualify them to be included in this chapter, but sometimes with lesser quality standards, what some call green washing. The chapter will give a general presentation of the various methods and approaches, then focus on the two major ones that have generated important communities of their own, LCA and MFA, and then outline on-going efforts to reach beyond the present status of the field. The scope of the chapter is shown symbolically in Figure 4.1. The methods differ in scope, therefore in terms of time (static and dynamic methods, 1 historical and foresight studies), of space extension (territory in geography language, i.e. city, region, country, international region, international organization, business area like metals or automotive transport) and of complexity extension (value-chain, life-cycle, circular economy, single activity, single site or mass-produced item, etc.).

2. General presentation of holistic methods Many methods and tools have been used to assess environmental and social dimensions of human activities, industrial services or others. A list is given in Table 4.1. It encompasses a broad range of models, tools, methods that belong to various disciplines and approaches. Some are very specialized, while others have a broad appeal. They are mentioned here for the sake of completeness but only the ones that are most often used, starting with LCA and MFA, will be described in detail later in the chapter.

1   Most methods are static or synchronous and thus this qualification is hardly used. Dynamic or diachronous methods, which take time as an explicit variable, are the ones that stress this point.

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Table 4.1  –  Toolbox of methodologies used in connection with sustainability studies. Acronym

Methodlogy or tool

Comments

Agent Based modeling [2]

Related to the physics of Emergence and to the self-organization concept

Biodiversity indicators

Ruled by the UN Biodiversity Convention [3], biodiversity is considered as an ecological service in Industrial Ecology

Carbon Footprint

A new family of indicators proposed to provide consumers with a “carbon value” to balance the usual cost items in their decision to buy a product or a service

CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility

The activity of a corporation in this area is reported in a special report, which has often replaced the Sustainability Report.

CBA

Cost Benefit Analysis

DfE

Design for the Environment, Ecodesign

A new field in design, introduced to account for environmental constraints besides economic ones

dLCA

Dynamic LCA

Cf. section 2.8

dMFA

Dynamic MFA

ABM

BI

CF

EL

Ecolabelling

E-MFA

Energy-MFA

EE

Environmental Economics

EA

Environmental Accounting

EIA

Environmental Impact Assessment

EMS

Environmental Management System

ER

Environmental Report

EP

Equator Principles

EA

Exergy Analysis

FCA

Full Cost Analysis

GP

Green Procurement

Chapter added to the Annual Report of a company; then a report of its own standing published independently. Corporate world.

SEEA 2003

Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and See NA Economic Accounting 2003

HIA

Health Impact Assessment

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Acronym

Methodlogy or tool

Comments

IA

Impact Assessment

Document required by local government authorities for licensing and permitting the site of a new industrial activity

IOA

Input Output Analysis

Leontief matrices

ICM

Integrated Chain Management Series of ISO standards used in environmental contexts

ISO 14000 LCA

Life Cycle Analysis

LCC

Life Cycle Costing

LCI

Life Cycle Inventory

LCM

Life Cycle Management

LCT

Life Cycle Thinking

MFA

Material Flow Analysis

M-LCA NA NAMEA PIOT PS

Macro-LCA National Accounting

See IOA

National Accounting Matrix With An OECD tool Environmental Accounts Physical Input–Output Tables Product Stewardship

Prospective (foresight) tools Delphi, MICMAC, etc. 3R

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

SIA

Social Impact Assessment

A waste hierarchy commonly used in Industrial Ecology

SSH tools Social Science tools, surveys, etc. SA

Stakeholder Analysis

SFA

Stock and Flow Analysis

SEA

Strategic Environmental Assessment

SFA

Substance Flow Analysis

SA

Sustainability Appraisal

SA

Sustainability Assessment Sustainability Report

SAT

Sustainable Assessment of Technologies

TA

Technology Assessment [4]

Evolution of the environmental report. Corporate world.

More general than SAT and more mature in terms of methodology

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3. Life Cycle Assessment [5] 2 3.1.

Introduction to LCA 

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), sometimes also called Life Cycle Analysis, is a relatively new discipline invented in the late 1960s to bridge the gap between the economy and the environment, thus between anthroposphere on the one hand, and biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere on the other. It is closely related to sustainable development (SD), an even more recent concept [6], with which it developed close ties as soon as the latter became widely popular. LCA is a transversal effort to represent economic activities from a new, unconventional perspective, where dimensions ignored by neo-classical economics, i.e. externalities, take center stage. LCA is based on a broad range of methodologies, related to physics (mass and energy balances) and to accounting, with contributions from all the sciences that environmental science calls upon (e.g. eco-toxicology, climate change science, etc.). Today, LCA is often defined initially from a set of international standards, the ISO 14000 series, which outlines its methodology, a procedure which is unusual to define a field of knowledge. LCA is thus more akin to a technology than to a scientific discipline. LCA’s approach is ambitious and pragmatic, features that point to its strengths and weaknesses. More traditional scientific domains tend to ignore LCA, from physics and engineering science to economics and scientific ecology, but political science and management technology like it and promote it as a tool for decision making, in regulatory circles and in businesses, thus acknowledging the complexity of real life, where action is sometimes more important than the formal purity of new knowledge. A somewhat unconventional account of LCA will be given here, explaining both its originality and its perceived limitations. The basis for this view on LCA is the SOVAMAT Initiative [7–9] and the regular series of seminars called Society and Materials 3 [10]. The focus in this chapter will be on materials and metals. Originally, LCA was developed as a tool to account for the environmental impact of the production of a consumer good: one of the first LCAs was made to compare various containers of Coca Cola (1969) and went by the name of REPA or Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis [11]. It looked at energy and raw material consumption, with the view that resources were finite and thus discussed the 2   Section 2 is borrowed from reference [5] and marginally rewritten, with the permission of Elsevier. 3  SAM-1, 7-8 March, 2007 – Seville, Spain; SAM-2, 24-26 April, 2008 – Nantes, France; SAM-3, 29 April-1 May, 2009 – Freiberg, Germany; SAM-4, 28-29 April, 2010 – Nancy, France; SAM 5, 11-12 Mai, 2011 – Metz, France; SAM-6, 30-31 May, 2012 – Leuven, Belgium; SAM-7, 30-31 May, 2013 – Leuven, Belgium; SAM-8, 20-21 May, 2014 – Liège, Belgium; SAM-9, 11-12 May, 2015 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg; SAM-10, 9-10 May, 2016 – Rome, Italy; SAM-11, 15-16 May, 2017 – Trondheim, Norway; SAM-12, 22-23 May, 2018 – Metz, France, SAM-13, 20-22 May, 2019 – Pisa, Italy, SAM-14, 11-12 May, 2020 – Bordeaux, France.

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matter of resource depletion, a Malthusian topic brought to the attention of the general public by the first book of the Club of Rome [12]. In Europe, the concept went by the name of Eco-balance (écobilan) until the approaches were recognized as similar and a single name was forged. Many studies were carried out initially about packaging, for example on steel beverage cans in 1991 [13], aluminum in 1991 [14], but the approach gained in scope and ambition and was readily extended to all kinds of consumer products, services and to more complex systems. More dimensions of what constitutes an environmental impact were brought in, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in particular, but also waste generation, air emissions, etc. Today, the field does not exclude anything from its scope, and tries for example to include social issues.  It should be stressed at this point that LCA was initially designed to deal with consumer products or services that are mass-produced. Making an LCA of the Eiffel Tower or of the Mona Lisa has never been among the intentions of the inventors of LCA. Indeed, even though the focus is usually on a very precisely defined system, which we will call the functional unit, the artifact will only matter at a macro-level if it is produced in very large quantities: this is the definition of a consumer item. Single objects do not capture the attention of LCA: if they are very big, like a manufacturing plant, and thus have visible and obvious environmental impacts, they are described by other means such as an impact assessment, which is usually required by local administrative bodies before they give a license to operate. LCA is thus a micro-economic approach, focusing on the production of a specific good, or service. Conversely, it lacks a macro-economic dimension, except if the macroscopic dimension stems from mass production. The ISO standard speaks of system of products or services.

3.2.

First things first... defining LCA from a simple example 

Let’s start from the example of a beverage can to explain what LCA is in detail, thus walking in the steps of the historical inventors of the methodology.  A can is a complex artifact, which is used to contain food or drink and is discarded after being used, a period metaphorically called its life. The so-called end-of-life, or the grave, is also complex, as the can may be lost (dissipated), landfilled, combusted or recycled. The manufacture of the can is called its cradle and comprises several steps, from the production of the materials of which it is made, to the actual manufacture of the can itself. Speaking of the can seems like a reasonable system to explore the environmental consequences of using a can, as the consumer does: the focus is thus on the consumption act, which defines the function of the can. LCA, thus, is focused on a system which is called the functional unit (FU), in the vocabulary of the discipline. More precisely put, the functional unit will be a can containing for example 33 cl of Coke, manufactured and used in Europe around 1990, made of steel (the body of the can) and aluminum (the lid of the can), with painting pigments on the outside and varnish inside, etc. 

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Figure 4.2 – Principle of LCA with resources (inputs) and waste (outputs). The vocabulary is not uniquely defined to refer to the production/processing of materials and the manufacturing of goods. Transport is shown here for distribution of goods, and the repair phase is emphasized. Source shown in the figure.

The environmental impact of the can FU was generated at various moments of its life, i.e. during its production, filling, transportation and sale, purchase and consumption and finally disposal. One speaks thus traditionally of the production, (processing), manufacturing, use and end-of-life phases of the life of the can (cf. Figure 4.2). The tradition is to speak about life cycle (or lifecycle) rather than only of life, even if the meaning of cycle here is not the same as in recycling. Note that LCA thus has a time extension, which is the life of the product or good associated to the functional unit: it will be rather short in the case of a can, typically one year, but much longer for more durable goods, like cars (roughly 10–20 years), or buildings (from 20 to 70 years or more). Environmental consequences are related to the consumption of resources and to the release of various residues due to the processes involved in the life cycle of the can. This ranges from issues related to energy, water, ores, air, etc. as inputs, to waste generation, by-products, air, water and soil emissions as outputs. These exchanges can take place at the iron ore mine or during the transportation of the can from the supermarket to the consumer’s home.

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What is thus carried out is an inventory of inputs and outputs into the can system seen from cradle to grave, thus a system extending over the full lifetime of the FU. The exercise leads to what is called the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) of the can. The methodological model for proceeding in this direction is based on accounting, with its excruciating efforts to be exhaustive and as precise as several digits behind the decimal point. There are variants for doing an LCI, taking on board only part of the life cycle by introducing the boundaries or “gates” of one of the manufacturing plants, thus a cradle-to-gate, a gate-to-gate or a gate-to-grave inventory 4 (cf. Figure 4.3). Cradle to grave

Raw materials extraction

Manufacturing

Use phase

End of Life phase

Gate to gate Cradle to gate

Figure 4.3  –  Definition of full (cradle to grave) and partial LCIs.

LCI is therefore akin to the mass, energy and element balances that are commonly carried out in physics and in chemical or process engineering. It is also akin to the inventories made by accountants and financial controllers. Then, again, economists calculate similar budgets (not necessarily monetized, as the word might suggest), for example when macro-economic Leontief matrices, also called input-output matrices, are built. Privileging one of these analogies is not without consequences. When physics is in the driving seat, then mass balances follow simple rules of mass and energy conservation, called the Lavoisier law and the first law of thermodynamics. Accountants do not always close their balances, as they depend on measuring systems with imperfections. Economists, on the other hand, like to differentiate among scenarios, which are not bound by these laws. LCA methodology does not specify univocally what kind of balance is performed in an LCI. Some practitioners insist on following physics and thus stick to a straightforward description of the “real” world: they propose to follow a principle of reality. For example, GHG emissions, in such an approach would be real emissions from a smokestack or a tailpipe and this would exclude a discussion of avoided emissions. Other practitioners accept a weaker definition of mass and energy balance and, indeed, many tools defined as part of the ISO 4   In the oil sector and often in relation with transport issues, for example, well to wheel inventories are used. They belong to this family of partial LCIs.

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standardized LCA methodology follow this path: system expansion, for example, does not follow Lavoisier’s law. The rationale for this latter choice is the proclaimed need to compare several competing solutions, thus introducing a relativistic standpoint in the LCA approach. This ambiguity is probably a drawback of LCA methodology, as it creates confusion in the way the method is applied and understood.  In summary, an LCA takes on board the whole value chain of the can and it extends the concept to the consumption world and to the handling of consumer waste. The Life Cycle thus extends over market and non-market activities and forces the players in the chain to exchange information, where only confrontational dialogue “normally” used to exist. It avoids burden shifting, i.e. focusing on only one step in the value chain, improving it with a narrow perspective, and, thus, in effect, pushing the burden to the other steps: a typical example of this is the focus on tailpipe CO2 emissions of automobiles, which leaves aside the manufacture of the car and of the embedded materials; the discourse about light-weighing, which was emphasized to adapt to tailpipe emissions standards, is another example of burden shifting. The solutions that emerge from this standpoint are not the best, from a sustainability standpoint, and therefore this creates rebound effects – a theme that will be reviewed further on. It also creates the need to make publicly available information, which had been considered until then as commercial, strategic and often secret. This information constitutes the Life Cycle Data Base (DB). Coming back to the case of the can, very large amounts of information (hundreds of input and output items) are necessary to flesh out its Life Cycle Inventory: for example, the materials used in making the can, i.e. steel, aluminum, lacquer and varnishes, have to be understood in the language of LCI. A practitioner in charge of doing the LCA cannot reasonably carry out the task from scratch, although this is exactly what was done in the historically initial studies. Thus, they rely on data bases available commercially or institutionally. The matter of the quality of these DB raises many questions [15], which are usually analyzed in terms of uncertainty and precision, although the issue extends to the level of epistemology, as some authors wonder about the realism of capturing all the necessary data in a finite system [16]. In simple terms, data bases are constantly in the making, but practitioners use those which are presently available, either self-standing DBs like ECOINVENT’s [16], the European ELCD’s [17] or the US government’s [18], or DBs attached to an LCA software, like GABI, or originating from an industry institute like worldsteel [19] or EAA [20]: needless to say, all data bases differ in principle and in details. Reasons for the discrepancies are numerous, but a very basic one relates to the generic nature of the process describing for example the production of steel: should it describe the particular steel mill where the steel of the can has been produced, or an average steel mill in Europe producing steel for packaging applications, as, in practice, cans are made from material procured from various steelmakers? This issue will be discussed more in depth, further in this chapter section.

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Another issue is related to the geographical extension of the LCA study. If one buys furniture from a local carpenter sourcing his wood locally, the issue may be trivial, but, in the present global economy, this is rarely the case any longer. Indeed, a metal is made from ores usually extracted on the other side of the world and usually beneficiated regionally, but the manufacturing of the product may be shipped overseas and crisscross the continent following a series of second-hand owners, as is common with cars in Europe. Waste may find its way, sometimes illegally, to another continent altogether. The functional unit thus extends geographically literally all over the world and this puts strong requirements on the databases, which should cover the same domain, and on the methodology used in adding outputs in the inventory, as a molecule of SOx released to the air in Brazil does not mix with SOx produced in Europe. This issue is under intensive scrutiny by the LCA community [21] under the name of regionalization of impacts, but the methodology is not yet completely accepted nor yet broadly implemented in LCA software.

Figure 4.4 – The first LCA study on a steel can performed in Europe [13]: energy consumption and waste generation, inputs and outputs [13].

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Figure 4.5 – The first LCA study on a steel can performed in Europe [13]: air emissions (dust, CO, SO2, NOx and CO2); sensitivity of the energy consumption as a function of lightweighing [13].

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Carrying out an LCA study in a practical way entails using special LCA software. This is usually done via dedicated software, most of which is commercially available, although some practitioners use their own tools, for example based on excel sheets, especially when some kind of simplified LCA is carried out [22]. Commercial software usually gives preference to its own data base and has embedded many methodological assumptions, like, for example, whether the data base is desegregated or not. 5 The exact nature of these assumptions is the source of lively debate and, for the readers, of much confusion. The results of the first LCA of a steel can for food published in 1991 [13] are shown in Figure 4.4 and Figure 4.5, as an historical example. It is a gate-to-grave LCA made at a time when the methodology still had to be defined; it was called an Ecobalance (écobilan) then. With hindsight, the work had not yet fully understood the value of a cradle-to-grave inventory. On the other hand, it developed the data base for steel production and can manufacture, which was focused on the SOLLAC plant where the steel for packaging was produced: collecting this data was the largest part of the effort in doing this LCA. The functional unit concept was already in place. Most of the steps of a modern LCA were taken into account, except for the production and transport of the raw materials. The production of energy was already included in the balances. A fairly extensive set of outputs was taken on board [15]. The results are no longer fully relevant, as the context has changed significantly in the last 20 years. A sensitivity study was however conducted at the time and the range taken into account includes the present values of most of the indicators. Also note an implicit assumption of LCA methodology: all important issues can be quantified, thus translated into numerical indicators, either at the level of the inventory or at that of more synthetic indicators. Qualitative indicators are not taken on board. This is a methodological choice common to hard and management sciences that is not necessarily followed in “subtle sciences” (soft sciences, social sciences) or in socio-economics. The magic wand imagined by LCA ISO standards for dealing with all the difficult issues mentioned until now is the review of the study by a third party, something mimicking peer reviewing in the scientific literature. It is indeed a safeguard against the gross misuse of LCA studies for biased reasons, but it falls a bit short of the challenge: the shortcomings of LCA are found indeed at the level of methodology and not only at that of implementing the method as it stands today, the compliance to which is the only point that the third-party review can verify. The target of LCA has been until now presented as a consumer good or some part of it, precisely defined by its function as expressed in the functional unit.

5   There are 2 kinds of data in an LCA: foreground data, e.g. the data related to making steel in the case of the can LCA; background data, e.g. the data related to the generation of electricity. Background data can be segregated, i.e. given as a “black box” set of data, or desegregated, i.e. where the practitioner needs to choose the appropriate LCI detailed data.

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Intermediary goods, commodities and more generally materials, which are ubiquitous but not necessarily seen by the consumer – they are “hidden” inside the product, do not fit easily into this approach. Steel, for example, is not simply used for making cans, but also in very many applications: with the LCA method as it stands at this point, just as many LCAs of steel should be produced as there are artefacts made of steel. There are solutions for dealing with this difficulty and they will be reviewed in a further section, but this issue points to a further shortcoming of LCA, which is its failure to address materials issues properly, even though it was one of its original ambitions to do so. The LCA community does not consider these shortcomings as disqualifying the method, just as physics does not stop doing research on string theory even though no experimental evidence has been found to support it. The LCA community answers by proposing solutions to identify difficulties and pushing forward, in effect by adding layers of complexity to an approach which is already quite complex. However, LCA is a technology, not a science, thus not prone to philosophical and epistemological inquiries, and it is used by decision makers to define policies and strategies: however, is this bias in favor of action compatible with the present status of the discipline? This larger issue cannot be dealt with in this section, but at least it can be mentioned.

3.3.

A more formal definition of LCA

There are many documents and textbooks written to give authorized presentations of LCA, generally as defined by the ISO standards. Each country has its own books in its own language, which stresses both the empowerment of local players in an effort to popularize LCA in almost every part of the world and the cultural flavor that the methodology has acquired here and there. The international and global approach is pushed by UNEP-SETAC, by the European Commission and by the LCA community in its abundant production of papers, which are published mainly in three English language journals, the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment [23], the Journal of Cleaner Production [24] and the Journal of Industrial Technology [25]. Many relevant papers are also published in less specialized journals serving other scientific communities. The presentation to follow is therefore very condensed, intended only to quickly introduce the main vocabulary in a more general and abstract way than the example proposed before.

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International Standard Organization (ISO) LCA series • • • • • •

ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Principles and framework ISO 14044:2006 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Requirements and guidelines ISO 14045:2012 Environmental management -- Eco-efficiency assessment of product systems -Principles, requirements and guidelines ISO/TR 14047:2012 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Illustrative examples on how to apply ISO 14044 to impact assessment situations ISO/TS 14048:2002 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Data documentation format ISO/TR 14049:2012 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Illustrative examples on how to apply ISO 14044 to goal and scope definition and inventory analysis

Figure 4.6  –  ISO standards series dealing with LCA. ISO 14041, 14042 and 14043 are now obsolete.

An LCA should follow a process comprising several steps, outlined in the various standards of the 14040 ISO series (cf. Figure 4.6): • first the scope and goal are established, which amounts to defining function and functional unit in a clear and unambiguous manner and choosing the boundaries of the reference system, in terms of space (geographical space and business space, e.g. in the supply chain) and temporality; • then the Life Cycle Inventory is calculated, using the proper set of data, including use of data bases, specific data collection, making assumptions to infer inventory data from the data base, estimating the quality of the data, and choosing a software program to do the calculations, etc.: this is one of the most complex parts of an LCA study; • the next step, the impact assessment, consists in doing just what it says, i.e. assessing the environmental impact of the FU. This is however not a simple task, as the analysis ventures much further than the input and output balances mentioned heretofore and proposes an analysis of the effect of the FU on the environment. This necessitates using no less than a theory of the interaction of human activities with nature or of the anthroposphere with the ecosphere (ecological sphere): it is interesting to note, at this point, that the scientific discipline which tackles this matter, scientific ecology, has not yet reached the stage of development where it would claim to have achieved this goal. LCA, being result-oriented, uses what is available today and even proposes its own versions of that theory to fill existing gaps: this raises some issues at

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an epistemological level again. There are two levels for theorizing the impacts: ○ one level deals with impact categories, i.e. a series of environmental phenomena which are coherent and homogenous, cf. Figure 4.7. For example, Global Warming (sometimes called Radiative Forcing) is a recognized impact category which is related to the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions; it is also related to the system boundaries, especially the temporal boundaries, which is obvious to understand if the indicator used for valuing global warming is the Greenhouse Gas Potential (GWP), which has several definitions depending on its time scale (e.g. 20, 50, 100 or 500 years), and to many other implicit assumptions; the corresponding indicator ends up being expressed by a mass of CO2 equivalent, a complex scientific construct adopted by the LCA community as an acceptable measurement of Global Warming. There is no exhaustive list of impact categories, as many of them are in principle acceptable: the most common ones, however, deal with resource availability and, if applicable, depletion (raw materials and energy), water use, eutrophication (or nitrification), acidification, photochemical ozone creation, ozone depletion (high atmospheric ozone), particulates, eco-toxicity, human toxicity, etc. The corresponding indicators are called impacts or mid-point indicators (midpoints),

Figure 4.7  –  Impact categories and weighting proposed by NIST to assess their relative importance [26].

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○ another level deals with areas of protection, also called damage categories, which define broad categories of sustainability features expressed at the level of the anthroposphere or the ecosphere (cf. Figure 4.8). The corresponding indicators are also called end-point or damage indicators (ISO 14044). Three areas of protection have been theorized, human health, man-made environment and natural environment. The introduction of a fourth indicator, related to natural resources, is presently under debate. These categories reflect political visions of the world as much as they describe the way the anthroposphere and the ecosphere operate and interact: even leaving the ideological nature of the debate aside, its scientific content overlaps with ecological science, economics, industrial ecology, geography, etc., ○ there is a lively debate on-going in the LCA community and among users of LCA results, regarding whether endpoints should be preferred to midpoints on the one hand and whether endpoints should be used at all on the other; • the last step is the interpretation, where an extensive discussion ought to be conducted at the discretion of the authors. This may cover proposals for changes and actions that stem from the study, a final control of the quality of the study, a discussion on the quality of the data or a sensitivity analysis. The report ought to be controlled by outside experts in the socalled “third-party review”.

Figure 4.8  –  Impact and damage categories aggregated from LCI results; note that the list of midpoints is not exactly the same as in the previous figure.

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A simple LCA following the rules explained in this section is called an attributional LCA, because it focuses on the attributes of the functional unit and of its lifecycle, without further ado. In a simple-minded way, it assumes that the ambition of the study is to describe an existing system: the study does not change the system, which it describes, in the same way as a measurement in classical physics does not change the phenomenon it focuses on. However, when decision making is of the essence, an LCA may explore situations which are not identical to the present one and thus a scenario will be explored where things will somehow change, marginally or at a more fundamental level: this change thus needs to be taken on board in the analysis, which has therefore to include some kind of modeling of the evolution that is expected. Such an LCA is called consequential LCA, which means that it explores the consequences of a scenario that is not true today. The rules for making a consequential LCA are not completely specified, so that many solutions are possible and the method has thus the reputation of being fraught with more complexity and uncertainty than attributional LCA [27].

3.4.

Examples of LCA of common materials

When applied to materials, mainstream LCA requires the production of the LCI part related to this material. Only when aggregated into a full LCI of the functional unit at the center of the LCA study does this material LCI acquire its full meaning. Now, comparing materials in terms of their life-cycle and sustainability properties is a worthwhile endeavor, even if the exercise does not quite match the context of an ISO LCA. At an epistemological level, there is a difficulty related to the micro-economic nature of LCA as opposed to the more macroeconomic nature of materials and similar commodities (e.g. energy). A proposal to escape this problem rather than to live with it will be examined in the next section. There is however a formal and normalized way 6 to describe some special products, which has also been used to describe materials, the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD): it is a concept familiar in the EU and in several member countries but still under construction at the time of writing. An EPD is an LCI related to the whole life cycle, except for the use phase, which cannot at this stage be fully described, as the product or the material has a generic nature and can be used in many different systemic applications. 7 As this definition is an oversimplified way to describe a complex issue, see the original documents for a more exact definition of an EPD [28,29].

  ISO 14025, NF P01-010, BPX30-323 approach II and EN15804.  EPDs are often made in connection with the construction sector, where an element of a building (like a facade element, for example) is the subject of this EPD. 6 7

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As an example of the LCI of a specific material, we shall describe the LCI of steel as it was reported by worldsteel in its 3rd edition of the eponym report in 2011 [30]. The system described in the LCI is shown in Figure 4.9, emissions to air and water are accounted for in Table 4.2 and the various co-products, generated in parallel to steel, are listed in Table 4.3.

Cradle-to-Grave Transportation

Avoided primary production

End of life scrap

Gate-to-Gate Raw material and energy production (including extraction)

Steel Making Processes

R

Steel products

E S O U

Consumable production

R C E S

External scrap supply

Ancillary Processes & Transport

Waste water treatment

Recovery processes

Waste treatment

Saved external operations Equivalent co-product functions

Coproducts

Emissions to air, water, land

Figure 4.9  –  LCI system described in the worldsteel LCI of steel.

The steelmaking process is not specified in Figure 4.9, as several routes are possible, i.e. one based on virgin iron sources (ores) called the blast furnace or Integrated Steel Mill or primary route, and another one based on recycled material (scrap) called the Electric Arc Furnace or scrap or secondary route. At the time of writing (2017), the proportion of the two routes is 75/25%, 8 compared to an overall recycling rate of steel of 80% to 90%. The figures are not contradictory, as the life-in-use of steel is about 40 years (cf. volume 1, chapter 8): the steel recycled today was, on the average, produced 40 years ago

8   70.8 and 29.8% in 2018, worldwide. 58.5 and 41.5% in the EU. 33.3 and 67.7% in NAFTA. 75.0 and 25.0% in Japan. 88.4 and 11.6% in China.

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and production worldwide has exploded since then. Note here that all recycled materials exhibit this kind of behavior, although different materials have different life expectancies. There are methodological choices embedded in this LCI. The inventory includes the recycling of steel, which is treated by attributing a credit to the steel used. This is a choice made by the steel sector to project what it sees as the “true” description of recycling – in an area where many methodological solutions are possible and, according to ISO, where each LCA practitioner can make his own case and thus arrive at different choices. 9 The background data are aggregated – thus, for example, the carbon intensity of electricity used for the mining of iron ore cannot be easily changed. Output flows cover the major emissions to air and water, which are monitored to meet the environmental constraints set by government regulation in various countries and which are needed to calculate the major mid-point indicators. Co-products, which are produced in very large quantities in a steel mill and are usually reused in other industrial sectors, 10 are accounted for by using a system expansion approach: this means that a credit is attributed back to steel, to which all the emissions were charged, rather than allocating the emissions directly to the co-product. These kinds of choices are common when producing an LCI and they have been made on the basis of the best practices recommended by ISO standards. Table 4.2 – Air and water emissions accounted for in the steel LCI of worldsteel. Accounted Emission

Flows

Air

Greenhouse Gases

CO2, CH4, N2O

Acidification Gases

NOX, SOX as SO2, HCl, H2S

Organic Emissions

Dioxins VOCs (excluding methane)

Metals

Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn

Others

CO, Particulates (Total)

Metals

Cr, Fe, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd

Others

N (except ammonia), P compounds, Ammonia, COD, and Suspended Matter.

Water

9   To be complete, it should be added that worldsteel also publishes data, which do not include the recycling at the end of life, cf. examples further in the text. 10   Industrial ecology synergies: for example, 94% of blast furnace slag is recovered and 82% is used in the cement industry as a clinker substitute.

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Table 4.3 – Co-products generated in a steel mill in parallel to steel. Production process

Main co-products

Allocation methods

Coke oven

CO gas

System expansion

Coke Benzene Tar Toluene Xylene Sulphur

System expansion

Blast Furnace

Blast Furnace gas Hot metal Slag

System expansion

Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)

BOF gas Crude steel Slag

System expansion

EAF

Crude steel Slag

System expansion

Table 4.4  –  Life cycle impact assessment results of steel products. PED MJ Sections, 1 kg

Cradle-to-gate

GWP AP kg CO2-e kg SO2-e

EP kg Phosphate-e

POCP kg ethene-e

19.6

1.6

0.0045

0.00036

0.0008

Including recycling 16.4

1.2

0.0037

0.00034

0.0006

Recycling benefit

–0.37

–0.0008

–0.00002 –0.0002

–3.2

Hot rolled Cradle-to-gate 21.6 coil, 1 kg Including recycling 11.9 Recycling benefit

–9.8

Hot dip Cradle-to-gate 27.5 galvanised Including recycling 17.5 steel, 1 kg Recycling benefit –10.0

2.0

0.0052

0.00035

0.9

0.0025

0.000282 0.00035

0.00094

–1.1

–0.0027

–6.8E-05

–0.00059

2.5

0.0074

0.00048

0.0012

1.3

0.0047

0.00041

0.00061

–1.1

–0.0027

–0.00007 –0.00059

The worldsteel LCI shows the average data from the actual steel mills which participated in an extensive gate-to-gate data collection exercise carried out over a period of 2 years. The data are averaged over the world and categorized according to the type of steel product made, e.g. sections or hot-dip galvanized (HDG) steel. Examples of outputs, expressed as midpoint indicators, are shown in Table 4.4. The figures give an estimate of the recycling benefit: it is high for hot and HDG coils, which are produced today mostly from virgin iron so that

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recycling will generate a significant future benefit; in the case of steel sections, where scrap accounts for 65% of production, the benefit is less. 100

100

80 90

Lignite Renewable energy Uranium

60 %

Natural gas

Others % 80

Methane Carbon dioxide

Hard coal

40

Crude oil

20

70

0 Sections

HRC

HDG

60 Sections

Figure 4.10  –  PED vs. energy resource.

100

80

80

Emissions to fresh water

Emissions to fresh w ater

Hydrogen sulphide Sulphur dioxide

40

Nitrous oxide

60

Hydrogen chloride / fluoride

%

HDG

Figure 4.11  –  GWP vs. greenhouse gases.

100

60

HRC

Nitrogen oxides

%

Ammonia(um) 40

Nitrogen oxides Ammonia

20

20

0 Sections

HRC

HDG

Figure 4.12  –  AP vs. water and air emissions.

0 Sections

HRC

HDG

Figure 4.13  –  EP vs. water and air emissions.

The way in which the various midpoints in the inventory of steel are related to direct inputs and outputs is summarized in Figure 4.10 to Figure 4.15, where 3 kinds of steels are represented, sections, hot rolled coil (HRC) and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) cold rolled coils. 100% conventionally represents the cradle to gate indicator, prior to accounting for recycling.

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Energy (PED) is overwhelmingly represented by hard coal (85% to 95%): some natural gas is used to fire furnaces, while lignite, uranium and renewables represent the input related to electricity; HDG has a small oil contribution related to reheating by oil in the preheating section of the galvanization line (cf. Figure 4.10). Figure 4.15 shows how PED is engaged along the process route: it consists mainly of coal, which is considered as an upstream input, 11 and electricity. By-product and recycling allocations for the HRC case reduce the initial input by almost half (Figure 4.15). The Greenhouse Warming Potential (GWP) is due to CO2 for more than 90%, then to methane, and, marginally, to other greenhouse gases (mostly nitrogen oxides) (cf. Figure 4.11). The process route contributions originate mainly in the steel mill (65% for the HRC), upstream (22%) and there is also a small contribution from co-products, due to the steel mill gases considered as a coproduct and generating more CO2 than the fuel they replace (natural gas, usually). The recycling credit compensates 50% of the cradle to gate GWP (Figure 4.15). The Acidification Potential (AP) is caused mainly by air emissions (85% to 95%), among which the largest contribution is HCl, followed by HNO3 and H2S (cf. Figure 4.12). In the process route, emissions are mainly due to the steel mill (combustion processes) and to the upstream part of the mill (mainly transportation of raw materials); the recycling credit cuts half of the cradle to gate emissions (Figure 4.15). The Eutrophication Potential (EP) is due mainly to air emissions (90%) and overwhelmingly to nitrogen oxides (NOx) (cf. Figure 4.13). As in the previous AP case, steel mill and upstream contribute to most of it, with compensation due to co-products and recycling allocations. Recycling has less effect on EP than on AP, because NOX is due to combustion processes located in the rolling plant of the steel mill, which is shared by the primary and secondary steel production routes (Figure 4.15).

11   Considering coal as an upstream input which brings along its energy content is a convention, which is usually taken for granted. However, coal has many different uses in industry: when it is burned in a combustion process, then considering its energy content (evaluated as its LCV and sometimes called embedded energy) makes physical sense; when carbon is used as a chemical reactant, however, then the important feature is its mass rather than its energy content. In the case of steel production, carbon is used primarily as a reducing agent and to a partial extent only for the energy it can deliver by combustion. A similar analysis can be made for oil used to make plastics or for wood used as a construction material. After using plastics or wood, however, they can be incinerated at end of life and thus part of the embedded energy can be recovered – which is different from the case of coal used for steel, although the energy of steel mill gases is usually converted into heat in furnaces or into steam and electricity in a power plant ancillary to the steel mill. Metals can be oxidized and burned as fuels (cf. chapter 1), although this property is rarely used in practice as metals would make for expensive fuels: anyway, this option is never taken on board in an LCA analysis. These subtle process details, which escape most LCA work, can lead to different conclusions, if different assumptions are made.

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The Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) is caused mainly by air emissions of CO (60%), SO2 (15%–20%), Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC, i.e. VOC excluding methane), NOx and methane (cf. Figure 4.14). In the process route, emissions are mainly due to the steel mill (coke oven batteries and sinter plant); the recycling credit cuts 60% of the cradle-to-gate emissions (Figure 4.15). These comments are summarized in Table 4.5, where the major input/ output flows and the life-cycle stages that contribute the most to a mid-point impact category are pointed out. 100

80

60

Methane Group NMVOC to air

%

Sulphur dioxide Nitrogen oxides Carbon monoxide

40

20

0 Sections

HRC

HDG

Figure 4.14  –  Contribution to POCP of steel products.

This detailed example dedicated to steel vividly shows some of the features of LCA, which distinguish it from standard materials science: on the one hand, because a life-cycle perspective is adopted, the discussion extends beyond the classic domain of process and products and takes on board the real complexity of a value chain and its economic, geographic and environmental extensions; it also factors in various temporalities and the fact that materials are incorporated in artefacts and structures which last for short or very long times and thus overlap over widely differing historical and social timescales. Part of the environmental footprint, for example, is due to the upstream part of the inventory and thus often to logistics, i.e. to the transportation of raw materials from the mines to the material production plant: low costs of transportation are the justification for this organization of the supply chain, but LCA often shows that this is sometimes balanced by hefty environmental burdens.

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HRC 120 100 80 60 %

40 20 0 -20

PED

GWP

AP

EP

POCP

-40 -60 Gate to gate Co-product allocation contribution Recycling credit

Upstream contribution Cradle to gate incl upstream/allocation LCI including recycling

Figure 4.15  –  Burden distribution across the life cycle of a HRC.

Table 4.5  –  Life Cycle significant flows, phases and processes in the worldsteel steel LCI (excluding the end-of-life phase). Impact category Main input/output Primary energy demand

Hard coal (75–95%) Natural gas (0–15%)

Main phase

Main processes

Upstream (~ 100%)

Global warming Carbon dioxide (90–95%) potential Methane (~ 6%) (100 years) Acidification potential

Gate-to-gate (> 60%) Upstream (20–30%) Upstream energy: Sulphur dioxide (50–60%) Gate-to-gate electricity and (40–60%) Nitrogen oxides (30–40%) fuels Hydrogen sulphide ( 90%) Nitrous oxide (~ 2%) Ammonia (~ 2%) COD (~ 2%)

Photochemical ozone creation potential

Carbon monoxide (60–70%) Sulphur dioxide (10–20%) Gate-to-gate (> 80%) NMVOCs ( 2500 µg/l), behavioral disorders, cognitive impairment and drop in IQ (100 µg/l ≃ 3–5 IQ points). Lead is also nephropathic and causes mild to severe dysfunctions of the kidney (increase in chronic kidney diseases, tubular proteinuria, glomerular & tubulointerstitial nephritis). Lead is responsible for heart diseases, in particular through an increase in blood pressure. As a reprotoxic, lead causes the birth of smaller than normal babies, a reduction in the number of gametes in the spermogram, delays in procreation time, miscarriages and premature birth, delays in reaching puberty, etc. Most of these pathologies appear at low levels of contamination ( 2 µm), which settle close to their point of emission. Aluminum is persistent in the environment, as there is no abiotic degradation. The world production of primary aluminum was 53.13 Mt in 2014 and consumption 74.9 Mt, the difference being due to recycling and marginally to stocks like the LME’s in London 29 [46]. Aluminum is used as a material because of its

28  Protein that binds physiological and xenobiotic heavy metals together through the thiol group of its cysteine residues. 29   This is a specific way of reporting the production of this metal, where primary (ex ores) and secondary production (ex recycling) is distinguished. Steel, for example, reports production as the sum of direct production from ores carried out in integrated steel mills and from scrap in Electric Arc Furnace mills, mostly.

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light weight and of its easy cold-formability: construction (e.g. window frames, doors), energy sector (high voltage cables, electrical wires in automobiles), transport (automobiles and airplanes), packaging (cans and foil) and to make fireworks (aluminum powder), etc. Its compounds are also used in cosmetic products (anti-perspirants, toothpaste) and pharmaceutical drugs (vaccines, where, as an adjuvant, it fosters the immunological reaction and thus the efficiency of the vaccine). Aluminum is inert in biological systems and does not play a role in the metabolism of humans, animals and plants. However, the metal passes through the organism “as a kind of visitor”. There are 30–60 mg of aluminum in an adult’s body, most of it in bones, then in lungs, liver, the central nervous system and the spleen. Aluminum absorbed ends up in the blood within 24 hours and then a small fraction settles in the “red cells” (erythrocytes). Aluminum connects with transferrin in the blood (cf. volume 1, chapter 2) and more marginally to albumin, until it is captured by cells in the target organs, by passing through transferrin receptors. The toxicity of aluminum is a very controversial issue, with definite statements by associations and NGOs regarding its toxicity [47], while toxicological studies have come up with little evidence of it [48]. Acute toxicity does not show any convincing cases. Chronic toxicity has been alleged in connection with the use of antiperspirants, but, again, not convincingly. The only established case of neurotoxicity is related to dialysis patients, who were treated with an aluminumrich fluid (> 200 g/l). As far as vaccines are concerned, there has been a heated debate, especially as far as macrophagic myofasciitis is concerned, but the French Academy of Pharmacy has concluded that the advantages of vaccination far outweigh these drawbacks [49]. The fact that existing information does not establish the toxicity of aluminum convincingly does not mean that the issue is settled and therefore further studies are ongoing.

5.1.1.11. Summary on heavy metals Heavy metals are metals of either high density or high atomic number, which is often the same thing. Some of them play an essential role in biological systems because of their quality as trace elements and their chemical properties. Consequently, if they are present in excessive amounts, they can be toxic to humans, animals, plants or the complete ecosystem. The most important heavy metals in terms of toxicity have been reviewed in the previous sections. The following is a high-level summary of the effect of heavy metals on life, directly quoted from Wikipedia [50]. “Trace amounts of some heavy metals, mostly in period 4 of the Mendeleev table, are required for certain biological processes. These are iron and copper (oxygen and electron transport); cobalt (complex syntheses and cell metabolism); zinc (hydroxylation); vanadium and manganese (enzyme regulation or functioning); chromium (glucose utilization); nickel (cell growth); arsenic (metabolic

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growth in some animals and possibly in humans) and selenium (antioxidant functioning and hormone production). Periods 5 and 6 contain fewer essential heavy metals, consistent with the general pattern that heavier elements tend to be less abundant and that scarcer elements are less likely to be nutritionally essential. In period 5, molybdenum is required for the catalysis of redox reactions; cadmium is used by some marine diatoms for the same purpose; and tin may be required for growth in a few species. In period 6, tungsten is required by some bacteria for metabolic processes. An average 70 kg human body is about 0.01% heavy metals (~7 g, the weight of two dried peas), 2% light metals (~1.4 kg, the weight of a bottle of wine) and nearly 98% nonmetals (mostly water).” “A deficiency of any of these periods 4–6 essential heavy metals may increase susceptibility to heavy metal poisoning. A few non-essential heavy metals have also been observed to have biological effects. Gallium, germanium (a metalloid), indium, and most lanthanides can stimulate metabolism, and titanium promotes growth in plants (though it is not always considered a heavy metal).” “Chromium, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead have the greatest potential to cause harm on account of their extensive use, the toxicity of some of their combined or elemental forms, and their widespread distribution in the environment. Hexavalent chromium, for example, is highly toxic as are mercury vapor and many mercury compounds. These five elements have a strong affinity for sulfur; in the human body they usually bind, via thiol groups (–SH), to enzymes responsible for controlling the speed of metabolic reactions. The resulting sulfur-metal bonds inhibit the proper functioning of the enzymes involved; human health deteriorates, sometimes fatally. Chromium (in its hexavalent form) and arsenic are carcinogens; cadmium causes a degenerative bone disease; and mercury and lead damage the central nervous system.” “Other heavy metals noted for their potentially hazardous nature, usually as toxic environmental pollutants, include manganese (central nervous system damage); cobalt and nickel (carcinogens); copper, zinc, selenium and silver (endocrine disruption, congenital disorders, or general toxic effects in fish, plants, birds, or other aquatic organisms); tin, as organotin (central nervous system damage); antimony (a suspected carcinogen); and thallium (central nervous system damage).” “Heavy metals essential for life can be toxic if taken in excess; some have notably toxic forms. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) is carcinogenic in animals and, when inhaled, causes DNA damage. The purple permanganate ion MnO–4 is a liver and kidney poison. Ingesting more than 0.5 grams of iron can induce cardiac collapse; such overdoses most commonly occur in children and may result in death within 24 hours. Nickel carbonyl (Ni2(CO)4), at 30 ppm, can cause respiratory failure, brain damage and death. Imbibing a gram or more of copper sulfate (Cu(SO4)2) can be fatal; survivors may be left with major organ damage. More than five milligrams of selenium are highly toxic; this is roughly ten times the 0.45 milligram recommended maximum daily intake; long-term poisoning can have paralytic effects.” “A few other non-essential heavy metals have one or more toxic forms. Kidney failure and fatalities have been recorded arising from the ingestion of

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germanium dietary supplements (~ 15 to 300 g in total consumed over a period of two months to three years). Exposure to osmium tetroxide (OsO4) may cause permanent eye damage and can lead to respiratory failure and death. Indium salts are toxic if more than a few milligrams are ingested and will affect the kidneys, liver, and heart. Cisplatin (PtCl2(NH3)2), which is an important drug used to kill cancer cells, is also a kidney and nerve poison. Bismuth compounds can cause liver damage if taken in excess; insoluble uranium compounds, in addition to the dangerous radiation they emit, can cause permanent kidney damage.” “Heavy metals can degrade air, water, and soil quality, and subsequently cause health issues in plants, animals, and people, when they become concentrated as a result of industrial activities. Common sources of heavy metals in this context include mining and industrial wastes; vehicle emissions; lead-acid batteries; fertilizers; paints; and treated woods; aging water supply infrastructure; and microplastics floating in the world’s oceans. Recent examples of heavy metal contamination and health risks include the occurrence of Minamata disease, in Japan (1932–1968; lawsuits ongoing as of 2016); the Bento Rodrigues dam disaster in Brazil, and high levels of lead in drinking water supplied to the residents of Flint, Michigan, in the north-east of the United States.”

5.1.2.

Particulate matter

In the biogeochemical cycles of metals (cf. chapter 4), PM flows enter the atmosphere annually, originating both from natural sources and anthropogenic ones. Table 5.3 gives estimates of both flows for 9 metals according to the analysis of Bliefert et al. [3]. The most abundant metal circulating in the atmosphere is aluminum, followed by iron, which is directly related to the relative abundance of both metals in the earth crust. 30 Some metals originate mainly from natural sources (Al, Hg, Fe and Co), while the others are mainly due to anthropogenic emissions and therefore, in a loose kind of language, to pollution (Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb). Thus, lead is the third most frequent metal in the atmosphere. Metals in the atmosphere are present as dust, also called particulate matter (PM), aerosols and sometimes colloids or colloidal suspensions, different words being used depending on the scientific discipline which is telling the story. Sources of metals feeding the atmosphere are volcanic events (eruptions but also more diffuse and lasting emissions), combustion, aeolian erosion of soil and industrial emissions, quoted here without any order of merit. Metals in the atmosphere can stay there more or less indefinitely (colloids and nanoparticles), but also be transported to greater distances, the finer they are, and then drop down to oceans or land. Iron, for example, is of interest since some iron will be bioavailable 31 to feed phytoplankton, which in turn will participate in the CO2 balance in the atmosphere and therefore is at the core of abundant

 Cf. chapter 2. Al is 7.7% in weight and Fe 2.9%.   Not to be confused with bioavailability to humans.

30 31

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research in atmospheric science [51] (cf. chapter 2). Their iron speciation is not always known, although oxides are probably the most common phase. The formation of anthropogenic dust is a challenging issue which has received little attention at the micro-scale of process engineering, but has been examined carefully by atmosphere scientists at a macro-scale, in connection with climate change 32 [52]. An example illustrative of the urgency of the issue but also of the lack of proper methodology to deal with it from a scientific standpoint, is the case of the ILVA 33 steel mill in Taranto, Italy, which was closed down in 2012 for several months by judicial authorities because of alleged pollution by the steel mill connected, among other things, to dust emissions (4000 t per year) and the (alleged) onset of very serious health effects, including deaths, in the vicinity of the mill [53]: the evidence in the report does not hold up to the standards of toxicology and epidemiology and therefore is more confusing than clarifying. Which, however, is not an argument against legal action... Table 5.3  –  Natural & anthropogenic emissions of metals in the atmosphere (annual flow of emissions). Natural emissions NE

Anthropogenic emissions AE

Atmospheric Interference Factor IF = AE/NE

t/year

t/year

%

Al

49 000 000

7 200 000

15

Hg

40 000

11 000

28

Fe

27 800 000

10 700 000

38

Co

7000

4400

63

Cr

58 400

94 000

161

Cu

19 300

263 000

1363

Cd

290

5500

1897

Zn

35 800

840 000

2346

Pb

5870

2 030 000

34 583

In terms of the influence of these metal particulates on life, the picture is complex. For example, authors who worry about the toxicity of aluminum to humans point out that Al is the most abundant metallic aerosol in the atmosphere. On the other hand, iron is analyzed as an essential element in the

  Called aerosols in this context.   This steelmill was acquired by ArcelorMittal in 2017.

32 33

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planetary carbon cycle and, as such, seen as providing negative feedback (contributing to reduction) on climate change. Other metals are definitely toxic to humans, animals, plants and actually all kingdoms of life. Ordinary dust, when it penetrates into the respiratory track or through the skin, is toxic whenever it can migrate through membranes, be transported to target organs and settle there, where it accumulates and can lead to chronic poisoning or to the development of cancers (asbestos). This means that the finer the dust, the most dangerous it is. Measuring techniques, which used to have difficulties in analyzing the smaller particulate matter, have been refined and are now able to report regularly on PM2.5 in the case of urban pollution, for example. Nanomaterials – and the nanoparticles from which they are produced or which they generate – are a contemporary source of concern. The field is lively with work and publications, not fully coherent, sometimes contradicting themselves and leading to active controversies. There is a lack of established methodology and also a lack of understanding on how biological systems react at that nanoscale. It would be preferable to give the jury time to figure out what can be said on the matter and leave regulators with the headache of deciding on issues that are not yet properly understood.

5.2.

Toxicity of substances generated during material production or utilization

Making metals or materials involves a series of large industrial sectors, which have a significant footprint in terms of use of resources, including energy resources, and of emissions of various substances to air, water and land, some of which are toxic, while others influence climate change and biodiversity. Emission of metals is part of the problem as already explained in section 5.1. But there are also emissions related to the various processes involved and not necessarily to the chemical composition of the materials that they produce, cf. volume 1, chapter 6 and volume 2, chapter 6. Most of these emissions are related to fossil fuels used in industrial processes, which involve combustion but also gasification and pyrolysis (e.g. cokemaking and ironmaking in the case of steel production). The products of partial combustion of fossil fuels are one category of potential pollutants, while another is related to the generation of “oxides of air” (actually nitrogen oxides) and of some reaction products like SO2. The former are either solid (e.g. clinker or fly ash from waste incineration), liquid (e.g. tar and specific organic chemicals produced in a coke oven plant, for example) or gaseous – in the latter case, they belong to the class of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and the most worrisome ones are called Persistent Organic Compounds (POPs). Of course, the processes involved also generate bona fide products like coke or biochar, pyrolysis oils or syngas. Only toxic emissions will be reviewed here, especially PAHs, PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs, HCB and POPs in a more general way.

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5.2.1.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons are organic compounds built on several connected organic rings (cf. Figure 5.16). They are the residues of the partial combustion or of the pyrolysis of fossil fuels, coal, oil or biomass, which are quite stable – like benzene or methane – and therefore are persistent in the environment. They are present in all compartments of the biosphere, although they are not soluble in water. Some PAHs are also emitted by volcanoes. Cosmologists believe that PAHs are ubiquitous in interstellar gas and may have been involved in the onset of life on Earth. PAHs are probable or possible human carcinogenics, 34 they are also mutagenic, genotoxic, neurotoxic; they influence the growth of the fetus, can cause cardiovascular disease and induce oxidative stress. PAHs are metabolized by cytochrome enzymes into mutagenic diol epoxides, which can induce cancer or favor its growth, depending on the chemical structure of the PAH.

Anthracene

Benzo(a)pyrene

Phenantrene

Corannulene

Tetracene

Benzo(ghi)perylene

Chrysene

Coronene

34 Historically, chimney sweeps used to develop scrotum cancer, which is related to benzo(a)pyrene. It took two hundred years to connect the sweep illness with tar and soot and then with HAPs.

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Triphenylene

Ovalene

Pyrene

Benzo(c)fluorene

Pentacene Figure 5.16  –  Examples of PAH compounds.

The concentration of PAHs in air, but also in cosmetic products, is regulated in several countries (US, EU).

5.2.2.

PolyChlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) [54]

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is an organic chlorine compound with the formula C12H10−xClx, formed of two organic rings, where some or all of the hydrogen atoms are substituted by chlorine. The structure of some congeners is similar to that of dioxins. PCBs were chemical compounds used to cool electrical equipment (e.g. transformers and condensers) that were selected because of their dielectric properties. 35 They were banned as soon as their carcinogenic properties were understood. Waste accumulated in soil, due to leaky transformers or to illegal landfilling, has been creeping up the food web and can contaminate humans or animals. All PCBs found in the environment are from anthropogenic sources. PCBs can penetrate the human body through the respiratory or digestive tracks and the skin. They end up in the liver where they are metabolized by cytochrome P450 enzymes into a range of bioactive molecules, some of which can modify DNA and may induce cancers. PCBs cause a skin disease called chloracne, which is not life-threatening. A major industrial accident related to PCBs happened in Yusho, Japan 36 in 1968, when rice oil was heated by pipes where PCB was used as the heating medium and leaks into the oil took place through cracks in the pipes. Poultry was contaminated and 400 000 birds died, while 14 000 people were affected by various mild symptoms; it also hindered cognitive development in children.

  They were known in France under the commercial name of pyralène.   The disease was called Yusho disease 油症. .

35 36

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Acute and chronic exposure to PCBs leads to respiratory, gastro-intestinal, hepatic, endocrine, ocular, skin (chloracne), immunologic and neurological effects of varying seriousness. The carcinogenic status of PCBs is ambiguous: the EU does not consider them as such, while IARC and the US EPA label them as probably carcinogenic. They are not reprotoxic either, according to the EU. Polycyclic brominated biphenyls (PBBs), where chlorine is substituted by bromine, have similar uses and raise similar toxicity and environmental issues.

5.2.3.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and Polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) [55]

Dioxins (PCDDs) and furans (PCDFs) are chlorinated compounds made of two organic rings (dibenzo) bound together by one (furan) or two oxygen atoms (dioxin) (Figure 5.17). They result from the partial combustion of fossil fuels or of biomass and are generated in very small amounts by various anthropogenic processes (waste incinerators, metallurgical processes such as a sinter plant or an Electric Arc Furnace, chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper, backyard barbecue) or by natural ones (accidental fires and wild fires). Neither of them are manufactured as a chemical product but they may be present as traces in some other chemicals, like PCBs, chlorophenols and hexachlorophene or the infamous Agent Orange used by the US army during the Viet Nam war as a defoliant.

 

 

Figure 5.17 – Dioxins (left) and furans (right), with the numbering scheme of substituents in the center.

There are 75 congeners of PCDD and 135 of PCDF, depending on the number and location of chlorine atoms in the molecule. The toxicity of each one of them is expressed as a fraction, or toxic equivalent (TEQ), of that of the most toxic congener, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin (TCDD) labelled as 1. The toxicity of dioxins is mediated through an intracellular protein, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a transcription factor, which induces enzyme P450 1A to break down toxicants while at the same time generating very toxic by-products [56]. Dioxins accumulate in body fat (or milk fat). Dioxins bioaccumualte in the environment and bioamplify in trophic chains, while resisting many degradation mechanisms, abiotic and biotic ones, so that they are persistent and have acquired the label of POP.

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Dioxins have long been considered as one of the most toxic substances in the technosphere, causing reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, interference with hormones and also cancer. However, most of the evidence is based on animal studies. The best proven symptom in people is the skin disease chloracne. The lack of evidence of serious consequences of dioxin toxicity on human health contrasts with a background of major industrial accidents like the one in Seveso 1976), of wide-spread military pollution in Viet Nam and of a few cases of severe poisoning of individuals including the future Ukraine President, Viktor Yushchenko (Віктор Ющенко) in 2004. The status of the toxicity of dioxins has remained a very controversial topic for the last 25 years. The evidence obtained in animal studies was considered as serious enough to warrant the application of the precautionary principle and to label dioxins as carcinogenic for humans. NGOs have been very vocal in pushing in this direction. With time passing, the issue remains unclear although long-term effects cannot be excluded: it is necessary to wait for more evidence before reaching any conclusions! There are technical solutions for decreasing the generation of PCDDs in industrial processes and thus for cutting emissions (cf. volume 1, chapter 6), as the spectacular decrease in emissions observed in most European countries during the 1990s demonstrates: this result was achieved by setting the admissible level of dioxins in the air at less than 0.1 ng/m3 – a spectacular demonstration of the power of regulation in bringing an environmental threat under control. Whether dioxins are the most toxic substance in the anthroposphere or not remains a mystery, but emissions have been drastically reduced and the world is probably all the better for it, as lower emissions also mean better process control in addition to reducing the risk to humans.

5.2.4.

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)

Hexachlorobenzene or HCB has the molecular formula C6Cl6 and was used as a pesticide (fungicide) until it was banned by the Stockholm Convention on POPs (see section 5.2.5). It is an animal carcinogen and it is considered as a probable human one by the IARC. Chronic exposure in humans gives rise to a liver disease, a skin disease, thyroid and bone effects and loss of hair. HCB accumulates in the environment, especially its aquatic portion. It can stay in the soil for up to 6 years. There was one acute poisoning episode in Turkey in the 1950s, when people were poisoned by bread made from tainted grain that had been treated by HCB for agricultural use. 500 people died and 4000 became ill.

5.2.5.

POPs

The pollutants reviewed under sections 5.2.1 to 5.2.4 are examples of chlorinated organic compounds called Persistent Organic Compounds or POPs, which exhibit long residence times in the biosphere, because they are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological or photolytic processes and

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thus can bioaccumulate and possibly bioamplify in the biocenose of all ecosystems and move up trophic chains until they find a host that is sensitive to their toxicity. The basic reason for their bioaccumulation is that they are lipophilic, 37 i.e. they accumulate in body fat. POPs combine a large number of toxic effects on all kingdoms of life. Effects on humans are the following: endocrine disruption, reprotoxicity, cardiovascular diseases, cancers (possibly breast), obesity, diabetes and risks related to exposure of the fetus during pregnancy. They also exhibit synergistic effects. UNEP engineered an international treaty on POPs in order to put them under control and ban most of them. Called the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, it went into force in May 2004 [57]. The POPs listed in the initial convention are the following: aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, HCB, mirex, toxaphene, PCB, DDT, dioxins and furans. 38 More were added later: PAHs, brominated flame retardants, chloredecone, a-HCH, hexabromodiphenyl ether, lindane, pentachlorodiphenyl ether, pentabromodiphenyl ether, endosulfans and hexabromocyclododecane. The ban on DDT raised a controversy as this pesticide had been the major weapon to fight malaria in developing countries. However, it was acknowledged in the Stockholm Convention that the ban ought not to apply in that case. While human intoxication was attributed for a long time to inhalation and ingestion from outdoor environments, it seems clear today that indoor environments contribute more POPs than outdoor ones.

5.2.6.

NOx, inorganic residues of partial combustion and some other inorganic toxic elements

Combustion and more generally degradation of fossil fuels and biomass take place in many processes used to make materials. The main inorganic emissions that are of relevance for the biosphere or the atmosphere are nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulfur oxides, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, free carbon and hydrogen.

5.2.6.1. Nitrogen oxides Nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2, and rarely N2O) 39 form during air combustion, when nitrogen gets oxidized under specific conditions (high temperatures – above 1550 °C – and an intermediate window of excess oxygen – around 8%): the product of the reaction is called NOx and is the sum of NO and NO2. 40 N2O, on the other hand, is generated from fertilizers that contain nitrogen 41 and to a lesser extent by waste-water treatment. It is also a very potent greenhouse gas (see chapter 2).

37   Lipophilic is the opposite of hydrophilic, which provides for easy transport in living organisms, for example in the blood. 38   Many of these are pesticides. 39   Nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and nitrous oxide, respectively. 40   Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) or smoking also generate nitrogen oxides. 41   Nitrates are decomposed by bacteria into N2O.

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Nitric oxide, NO, is the main constituent of NOx, but it is also a free radical that plays an essential role in biology, that of cell signaling, a recent concept for which the 1998 Nobel prize in medicine was attributed. NO is considered toxic for concentrations above 100 ppm. In a car exhaust system, a catalytic converter reduces NO by reverting it to N2 and O2. Nitrogen dioxide, NO2, a brown gas that appears as a pollution layer above cities, irritates the respiratory system in humans, for example inducing asthma. Acute intoxication can lead to death. Nitrous oxide N2O, on the other hand, has been used as an anesthetic (laughing gas) and other uses (e.g. propellant in whipped cream canisters). The toxicity is believed to be related to apoxia, like any non-oxygen gas. Long-time exposure can cause vitamin B12 deficiency. N2O is a powerful oxidizer used in rocket engines. NOx are a major component of urban pollution and part of its induced public health effects (see chapter 6). They also tend to contribute to the formation of ozone O3 (tropospheric ozone 42), which itself raises public health issues, according to the reactions: HO2• + NO → •OH + NO2 NO2 + hν → NO + O(3P) O(3P) + O2 → O3

Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3

where HO2• is the hydroperoxyl radical, h is the Planck constant, ν stands for a photon and P means photolyzed free oxygen O.

5.2.6.2. Ozone Ozone O3 is distributed in the troposphere and the stratosphere 43 in the proportion of 10%–90% (cf. Figure 5.18) [58]. Stratospheric ozone causes a global pollution issue, which will be discussed in chapter 4. It is produced by the reaction of dioxygen with ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun and destroyed in equal amounts by the absorption of these UVs. Tropospheric ozone, which is not related to stratospheric ozone (no exchange between them), is due to the reaction of NOx with CO and VOCs, called ozone precursors (cf. the chemical reactions, above), in the presence of sunlight, using the hydroxyl radical •OH 44 as an initiator: OH + CO → •HOCO HOCO + O2 → HO2• + CO2

• •

Equation 4 Equation 5

 The troposphere is the lower layer of the atmosphere, from the ground up to 12–20 km.  The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere immediately above the troposphere, thus between 12–20 and 50–60 km depending on the latitude. It represents 10% in terms of mass of the atmosphere. 44   The hydroxyl radical is the neutral form of ion OH–. In atmospheric chemistry, it is produced by the reaction of excited oxygen with water. It is highly reactive and plays the role of the “detergent” in the atmosphere, cleaning up pollutants… more or less effectively. 42 43

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Adding equations 1 to 5 leads to the overall reaction that shows oxygen transformed into ozone by the action of CO with energy provided by light:

CO + 2O2 + hν → CO2 + O3

Equation 6

Figure 5.18  –  Distribution of ozone in the atmosphere.

VOCs behave like CO although equations are more complex to write down. Ozone is a respiratory irritant that induces asthma and other respiratory ailments like shortness of breath. It participates with N2O, dust, VOCs and sometimes SO2 in the formation of smog. Ozone originates from natural causes (forest fires, lightning) but also from industrial activity, which produces mostly ozone precursors, although electrical equipment can generate small amounts of it – which may become significant in indoor environments where heavy office equipment is used.

5.2.6.3. Hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide, H2S, is a gas with natural origins (volcanos, natural gas, anaerobic degradation of organic matter) and anthropogenic ones (oil refineries, coke ovens, paper mills, tanneries & sewerage). It is responsible for the degradation of materials by sulfur oxidizing microorganisms, a phenomenon called sulfide corrosion (see volume 1, chapter 5). H2S is a broad-spectrum poison which can affect different systems in the body and act like CO, by bonding with iron in mitochondrial cytochrome enzymes

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and thus prevent cellular respiration. Human toxicity exhibits a threshold at 300 to 350 ppm. Chronic exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness. Acute exposure can lead to death by asphyxia and to severe neurological damage, if death is avoided. H2S was used as a chemical weapon during World War I. H2S plays a specific role in the metabolism of many living organisms as a signaling molecule. It can be used as a medicine to treat heart attacks. Alzheimer’s disease is related to a deficiency in H2S in the brain. H2S is also related to type I diabetes. In some animals, it can be used to induce hypothermia and suspended animation. H2S plays an important role in the biogeochemical cycle of sulfur. Extremophile bacteria can use H2S as fuel and oxidize it to sulfur. Some bacteria use H2S as an electron donor in photosynthesis and liberate sulfur, rather than water and oxygen, as cyanobacteria, algae and plants do. H2S has been implicated in several mass extinctions in the history of the Earth, for example the one that occurred in the Cretaceous, due to the anoxia (depletion of oxygen) of oceans.

5.2.6.4. Sulfur dioxide [59] Sulfur dioxide SO2 is an ubiquitous gas present in the atmosphere at the concentration of 1–5 ppb (µg/m3), although it is not persistent (half-life in air of 3–5 hours) and does not bioaccumulate. Its natural sources are volcanic activity and forest fires. In the anthroposphere, from which most of the emissions to the environment originate, it is an intermediary product obtained by oxidizing pure sulfur and used for making sulfuric acid (H2SO4), chlorine dioxide (ClO2) or the sulfites (-SO3) used in winemaking. It is also generated by roasting sulfide ores or when combusting fossil fuels, mostly oil and coal, which contain sulfur. The toxicokinetic involves dissolution in water, production of sulfide or disulfide ions, which can be captured by plasma proteins to form S-sulfonates or interact with DNA. Detoxification takes place in the liver, with elimination in the kidneys via urine. Acute toxicity involves eye sores, respiratory symptoms that can lead to death. Asthma patients are particularly sensitive to SO2 exposure. Chronic exposure leads to respiratory symptoms and irritation of the respiratory track. SO2 is not considered as carcinogenic in the EU, but IARC labels it as group 3, i.e. possibly carcinogenic. SO2 does not seem to be reprotoxic either.

5.2.6.5. Ammonia [60,61] Ammonia NH3 (or NH4+ in its ionic form) is a ubiquitous gas in the atmosphere at the level of 1 ppb. Ammonia is part of the nitrogen biogeochemical cycle, but is not persistent since it transforms rapidly into other nitrogen compounds. It does not bioaccumulate.

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Ammonia is an anthropogenic substance produced by the chemical industry of which it constitutes one of the major products, with a production capacity, worldwide, of 219 Mt/y in 2016. It serves as a major intermediary product for making fertilizers, nitric acid (HNO3), urea (CO(NH2)2), ammonium salts, adipic acid (CO2H(CH2)4CO2H), 45 hexamethylenediamine (H2N(CH2)6NH2), acrylonitrile (CH2CHCN), isocyanate, plastics (nylon, synthetic fibers, etc.), hydrazine (N2H4), pesticides, detergents and cleaning agents. Several sectors contribute to environmental emissions, beyond the chemical industry: agriculture (organic waste from livestock) and silviculture, both together being responsible for 97% of these emissions, the manufacturing industry and road transport. Ammonia is a by-product of cokemaking so that air and water emissions can take place for that plant in a steel mill, as background noise or accidentally. Ammonia, when inhaled, is mostly captured in the upper respiratory track (nose, pharynx) and, if it penetrates further, ends up being metabolized as urea or glutamine (NH2)2O2OH). Acute toxicity leads to severe irritation of the eyes culminating in cataracts and glaucoma, of the throat and of mucous membranes. It can produce irritant-induced asthma. Chronic exposure leads to the same symptoms, but milder. Ammonia is not carcinogenic nor reprotoxic. Aquatic plants are ambivalent vis-à-vis ammonia, as they can be damaged by it but they can also use it as a source of nitrogen, which is necessary for their metabolism.

5.2.6.6. Carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide CO is a gas which originates from natural and anthropogenic sources. Natural sources are the photochemical oxidation of methane by the hydroxyl radical, 46 natural fires and volcanoes. Anthropogenic sources are related to partial or incomplete combustion but also to industrial processes like cokemaking or ironmaking, which generate so-called process gases (coke oven gas or COG or blast furnace gas or BFG), which are collected and burned as a fuel, sometimes in a torch. Leaks are strictly controlled, but accidents have happened resulting in deaths by CO poisoning. CO is a poison for humans and for animals with hemoglobin – it is actually the most common type of poisoning. When inhaled, CO binds with hemoglobin instead of oxygen 47: it can quickly reduce the amount of oxygen transport from the lungs to the cells and cause asphyxiation (> 100 ppm) (cf. 2.1.2.3).

  It is also known as a food additive named E355.   Not shown in the previous equations, which focus on the generation of ozone by consumption of CO. 47   Hemoglobin is a complex protein with four heme groups, each being capable of binding to one oxygen molecule and then of releasing it. When CO is present, it can bind more effectively with hemoglobin and thus compete successfully with oxygen. The complex formed is called carboxyhemoglobin. It is harder to get rid of CO than O2 and therefore the amount of CO builds up. 45 46

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5.2.6.7. Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide CO2 is not a toxic gas for humans, animals or plants but its anthropogenic emissions have caused the climate to warm up, as discussed in chapter 2. As such it has had a profound effect on an essential planet-wide biogeochemical cycle, that of carbon, and on the energy budget of the planet: it is therefore ecotoxic in the extended meaning defined at the end of section 4, i.e. in affecting the ultimate aggregate of all ecosystems, the whole planet. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 400.47 ppm in August 2016 48 [62], cf. Figure 2.4. CO2 is not classified as toxic or harmful by the GHS, but it is an asphyxiant gas, which can lead to suffocation at concentrations of only 7 to 10%. Of course, in case of an insufficient level of oxygen, it can cause rapid death. Research is continuing over the effect of low levels of CO2 in a confined atmosphere and concentrations below 0.1% (1000 ppm) have led to noticeable effects (lethargy, headaches), for example in the International Space Station.

5.2.6.8. Others Many more toxic chemical compounds are found in the anthroposphere; some of them are emitted by human activities, and specialized documents should be consulted if one wishes to go further. Let us simply mention a few more, for the record: hydrochloric acid, which raises issues like corrosion in addition to occupational health hazards; nitric acid; hydrogen cyanide, etc. A special mention should be made of the Legionnaire’s disease, which is a bacterial infection brought about by Legionella pneumophila. The bacterium thrives in natural fresh water systems but also in anthropogenic water systems like cooling towers and air conditioning devices. The first effect is severe pneumonia. It does not belong to this chapter, stricto sensu, as it is not a toxicity issue but an epidemic due to an infectious disease: it has been mentioned because it is clearly related to the technology used in the anthroposphere and because it can be kept under control by approaches similar to those used in toxicology issues.

5.3.

Exposure to ionizing radiation

Ionizing irradiation is due to electromagnetic waves and to elementary devices with enough energy to rip electrons away from biochemical molecules and ionize them. This includes gamma rays, X-rays, lower wave-length UVs, cosmic radiation, alpha particles (protons), beta particles (electrons), neutrons, pions, muons and the radioactive elements which are naturally present in the geosphere or are man-made and thus have become part of the anthroposphere.

48   The annual 2019 avearge was 409,8 ppm. The daily reading at Mauna Loa was 414,19 ppm on Nov. 27, 2020.

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Thus, part of the toxicological effects of radiation is based on matter, while another part is only related to electromagnetic waves. Both interact with biological systems and affect them in ways that are somewhat similar to toxic elements, which is why toxicology and ecotoxicology usually take them on board. The physical quantities and units used in the context of ionizing radiation and their effects are the following: • the number of disintegrations of a radioactive isotope is measured in becquerel (Bq), 49 equal to one decay per second or 1 s–1; • the energy flux emitted by the source, or energy fluence, measured in J/m2 (formerly in MeV/m2); • the flux of (kinetic) energy emitted by the source, kerma (kinetic energy released per unit mass), measured in gray (Gy) or J/kg of the source; • the absorbed dose, i.e. the amount of energy received by a living organism, is also expressed in grays; • when the physical dose is translated in terms of risk of health damage (cancer), therefore speaking of equivalent dose, effective dose, and committed dose, the biological effect is measured in sieverts (Sv), which is the biological effect of 1 Gy hitting 1 kg of human tissue. 50 The outcome depends on the type of radiation and the type of tissue, through a proportionality factor called the weighting factor WR, a number calculated from experimental data and from models published by the ICRU. 51 The whole body receives an equivalent dose when facing a uniform source of radiation, while single organs receive an effective dose and may respond differently: there are formula for adding up effective doses and aggregating them into an equivalent dose. The committed dose is used when a radionuclide has been ingested in the body and thus constitutes a lasting internal exposure as opposed to a temporary exposure from the outside. For example, the Fukushima nuclear disaster released 24 kg or 15 PBq of cesium-137 to the environment, compared to 85 PBq in Chernobyl. The highest effective radiation doses in the area were 12–25 mSv. However, in Chernobyl, the “liquidators” were exposed to several sieverts and died. Acute toxicity causes severe damage to tissues and cells (radiation burn, acute radiation syndrome) and, depending on the dose received, can lead to death. For example, the incidence of cancer is proportional to the effective dose at a rate of 5.5% per sievert. Chronic toxicity may cause cancer, mutations, heritable diseases, teratogenesis, cognitive decline and heart disease. In occupational medicine, the allowable level of exposure is 50 mSv in a single year.

49   The old, non-SI unit, was the Curie (Ci), which is the number of disintegrations of 1 g of radium-226. 1 Ci = 37 GBq. 50   Formerly, the non-SI unit was the rem, the Roentgen equivalent man unit. 1 Sv = 100 rem. 51  WR is 1 for electromagnetic rays, beta particles and muons, 2 for protons and charged pions, and 20 for alpha particles and heavy nuclei (HZE ions).

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Figure 5.19 – Reporting of various radionuclides to metal, slag, dust (mistakenly called fly ash) and air in steel production (EAF).

In the world of materials, radiation exposure may result from a number of causes: • scrap from end-of-life nuclear equipment is contaminated and should be stored as nuclear waste, when the level is severe. At lower levels of contamination, the dilution in ordinary scrap has been proposed as a solution, but scrap users have resisted accepting this procedure. There were some famous accidents, as in Taiwan in 1982, when a radioactive source was melted unbeknownst of the steel producer; radioactive rebar was produced and it was used in residential buildings; or in Spain in 1998, when an incident involving Ce-137 was only detected when the radioactive cloud passed over the city of Lyon in France, where very sensitive monitoring equipment was in place. The problem has been brought under reasonable control by installing radioactivity detection devices both in scrap yards and in steel mills. When such an incident takes place, contamination affects not only the metal but also all the emissions to dust and slag (cf. Figure 5.19); • metallurgical processes, the purpose of which is to separate metals from gangue and various reactants, also concentrate radioactive elements present at low concentrations in ores. The case of the 210Po isotope is rather well known in the steel community, as it accumulates in blast furnace sludge and is an alpha particle emitter which might be inhaled by workers [63]; • there are numerous radioactive sources used in measuring devices in material production plants, like the liquid steel meniscus level measurement in a continuous caster (steel) and more generally in gauging techniques (measurement of the level of coal in a hopper, of the thickness of a plastic film, etc.), gamma radiography (for controlling welds, for example), etc. [64].

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6. International regulation of chemicals [65] Legislation has been intent on regulating the use of dangerous substances and on curbing them altogether, when necessary. The variety of approaches mirrors the culture of the countries which passed the laws, in terms of handling risk and of acknowledging responsibility. There are hundreds of documents and treaties related to environmental issues and toxic chemicals: only the most important ones will be reviewed in this section [66]. At an international level, a UNEP initiative was launched in 2006 under the name of Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). It sets guidelines and timed objectives for achieving its targets, which are left to the initiative of states and industry associations. Its opening statement says that “sound management of chemicals is essential if we are to achieve sustainable development, including the eradication of poverty and disease, the improvement of human health and the environment and the elevation and maintenance of the standard of living in countries at all levels of development” [67]. In the European Union, a regulation called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) was adopted in 2008 after several years of preparation and negotiations between the EU and the chemical industry (2001–2006). It makes it compulsory for companies to collect information about any substance they manufacture or import from outside the Union 52, 53 and to evaluate its “dangers or potential risks”. Substance means initially a chemical but the concept has been extended to materials, textiles, natural substances like essential oils, etc. Then the substance has to be registered with the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), the duty of which is to check and validate the information provided with the help of member states and then to label them, either by placing them in the Authorization List or setting them apart as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs). 54 Their utilization under strictly regulated conditions may be authorized for a short period of time during which substitutes ought to be found. All substances, already existing or new, ought to go through the REACH procedure. Out of 100 000 chemicals, 30 000 of them should have gone through the REACH procedure by 2018. REACH was adopted “to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals” [68]. The balance between protecting people and the ecosystem and letting the chemical industry go about its business of providing

  In amounts larger than 1 t/y.   It therefore also controls substances that are exported. 54  There are 3 categories of SVHCs: CMR substances; PBT (persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic) or vPvB (very Persistent & very Bioaccumulative) substances; substances identified on a caseby-case basis for which there is significant scientific evidence that raises concerns similar to the two previous categories. 52 53

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chemicals, which have become core to the functioning of the modern technological episteme and of our present society, is at the center of that policy. In the United States, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was enacted in 1976 and gave the EPA the authority to check any existing or new chemical 55 and to authorize or ban them [69]. 84 000 chemicals are registered for use in the US, but only 200 have been tested by the EPA and 5 have been banned as “dangerous”. 56 The EPA has not been very proactive in banning dangerous chemicals since the decision from a court to strike down the ban of asbestos. A new legislation was therefore enacted into law in 2016, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act or Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act [70], which should give reinforced power to the EPA and therefore provide the US with a tool for controlling dangerous chemicals on a par with REACH. 57 However, the EPA has lost its teeth under the Trump administration and the future effectiveness of this legislation is in doubt. REACH has pioneered a fairly extensive control system for chemicals and other products, the influence of which is felt beyond the EU, because EU trade reaches out to most of the world and because other countries are aligning their policies with Europe’s. NGOs look favorably on REACH, calling it “the world’s most progressive chemical legislation”, but they are holding ECHA (European Chemicals Agency), the EU agency in charge of REACH, accountable for reaching its announced targets by 2020 and for continuing to extend the number of banned chemicals beyond the present achievements [71]. The chemical industry through its international association, ICCA, launched a voluntary initiative called Responsible Care [72], which has been running in parallel with the various regulations mentioned before. It shows a conversion of the industry from its initial hostile reactions against outside policing to an acceptance of this regulatory approach. Note that this legislation, including REACH, applies also to the materials sectors, which produce substances as the chemical industry does.

7. Conclusions Toxicology and ecotoxicology explore how chemical compounds, and in particular materials, interact with life. The focus is on noxious influences as the field originates from knowledge about poisons. In the overall structure of this book, it explores a particular interface between anthroposphere and biosphere, related to biology and ecology, with a one-sided approach/bias related

  There are exceptions, where chemicals are regulated under another piece of legislation.   Most of them were “grandfathered” in the list and therefore not tested, because their use by December 1979 made them “statutorily not considered an unreasonable risk”. 57   A new chemical should not be allowed to come to market unless it is “declared likely to be safe” by the EPA. 55 56

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to health: the discussion of the benefits of chemical species is not a core concern here, only their liabilities. At the basic level of life sciences, biology and medicine, the field is complex and an introduction into its mechanisms and main effects was given at the beginning of the chapter. Moreover, the peculiar features of the methodology related to toxicology and ecotoxicology have been outlined: they are very different from the methodologies used in the fields reviewed in the previous chapters and in the following ones. The detailed mechanisms at the level of cell biology are fairly objective in a traditional scientific way, but when they deal with health effects and when a connection is sought with toxicants or pollution events, then knowledge is expressed in terms of risks and, often, it has simply not been satisfactorily developed for the time being. This is reason to worry, given the number of artificial molecules that populate the technosphere and the anthroposphere, as both stocks and flows. Note, furthermore, that the residence times of molecules in the bio-geo-anthropospheres cover many orders of magnitude and that the noxiousness of some molecules changes with time, due to biotransformation and biomagnification. Knowledge is therefore sometimes only partial and under construction, as it is continuously confronted to new molecules. Innovation in terms of the introduction of new molecules and regulation in terms of curbing their possible toxic effects run in parallel and at different paces. The press is prompt to seize issues that have been left hanging in the balance, and this gives rise to public controversies. Industry lobbies present mostly the benefits of their products but also, sometimes, try to hide their deleterious effects. Other organizations, regulating agencies, scientific bodies, governments, NGOs and international organizations speak for the people, society or mankind – or claim to be doing so. Controversies flourish: at the time of writing, the most current one is related to a pesticide called glyphosate (C3H8NO5P), which has been deemed a probable human carcinogenic by IARC, while the relevant expert groups of the EU have concluded that it is harmless for humans 58 [73,74]; another one is related to a 20-year old case of asbestos-induced deaths for which the court refuses to designate the industrial company that made the asbestos as responsible for these casualties: again, the press has taken sides with the victims and explained that the court’s decision is inexplicable [75].

58   The controversy has been generated by high-quality newspapers, like Le Monde, which have launched investigative reporting efforts. They have “discovered”, for example, that the EC delegates the writing of the report to a research organization, which relies on analyses and documents provided by the industrial company which has put the molecule on the market, in the present case, Monsanto. The report, they write, incorporates direct quotations from the documents provided by Monsanto. Le Monde analyzes this as an obvious conflict of interest. However, this is more or less how articles are peer-reviewed in the scientific literature and, therefore, this cannot be the major reason why the system is at fault!

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Courts of law are often called upon to decide on issues which may have had disastrous consequences, but which are not always clearly related to well-identified causes or responsible parties. Liability without cause would be one solution out of this conundrum as would be insurance systems or state compensations. In former times, the scapegoat model would designate an arbitrary culprit. 59 Ulrich Beck (cf. chapter 8) explains that risk is actually an intrinsic part of our modern societies and as such cannot simply be resolved in courts of laws nor by invoking the precautionary principle! Toxicants are responsible for a loss of sustainability, when they accumulate in the environment (like POPs do): future generations will be confronted with this problem, in line with the mainstream definition of sustainability. However, toxicants are not only a problem for the future; they also affect the most fragile members of our societies, children, fetuses and older people and this is taking place today [76]. Now, all issues are not unresolved, even if it took time to move from the publication of Silent Spring to the more policed world of today, in developed countries but also in emerging economies. Toxicological and ecological issues have been discovered and analyzed in the 20th century. They have been slowly incorporated into the political debate, then into policy making and turned into regulations which have policed the use of toxic substances in the work place but also on industrial sites and in everyday life. The REACH regulation is probably one of the most emblematic efforts to bring things under control. After more than 50 years of mistakes and in parallel with careful fact gathering and knowledge building under the leadership of ecotoxicology and of ecotoxicology, disciplines that were born out of this effort, the anthroposphere has changed some of its bad practices. The use of toxic metals like mercury, lead or beryllium has been curbed or severely reduced. The same is true of chemical compounds like ethylated lead or many of the more aggressive pesticides, which have been completely banned – at least in most of the world. 60 This is probably the first time in history that the fate of a material or of a chemical substance has been decided on the basis of arguments not strictly based on a purely economic rationale. It is also interesting to note that the metals that demonstrate a clear level of toxicity are produced today mostly in China, as if environmental and health risks – and the pollution that goes with these – had been outsourced to China.

59   Note that the polluter-pays-principle is, in many cases, a scapegoat model related to the concept of added-value or of rucksack burden. 60   In 2016, TEL was still used in Algeria, Yemen and Iraq.

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Appendix 1 – Classification of pesticides [77] The term pesticide includes all of the following: herbicide, insecticide, insect growth regulator, nematicide, termiticide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, predacide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, antimicrobial, fungicide, disinfectant (antimicrobial), and sanitizer [78], i.e. chemicals that can destroy or restrict “pests”, i.e. other lifeforms that society considers as harmful, 61 and control plant disease. There are many classifications of pesticides, for example related to the type of pest they help fight. We give a classification according to the chemical species on which they are based (quoted directly from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pesticide): • Organophosphate pesticides Organophosphates affect the nervous system by disrupting, acetylcholinesterase activity, the enzyme that regulates acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Most organophosphates are insecticides. They were developed during the early 19th century, but their effects on insects, which are similar to their effects on humans, were discovered in 1932. Some are very poisonous. However, they usually are not persistent in the environment. • Carbamate pesticides Carbamate pesticides affect the nervous system by disrupting an enzyme that regulates acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. The enzyme effects are usually reversible. There are several subgroups within the carbamates. • Organochlorine insecticides They were commonly used in the past, but many have been removed from the market due to their health and environmental effects and their persistence (e.g., DDT, chlordane, and toxaphene). • Pyrethroid pesticides They were developed as a synthetic version of the naturally occurring pesticide pyrethrin, which is found in chrysanthemums. They have been modified to increase their stability in the environment. Some synthetic pyrethroids are toxic to the nervous system. • Sulfonylurea herbicides The following sulfonylureas have been commercialized for weed control: amidosulfuron, azimsulfuron, bensulfuron-methyl, chlorimuron-ethyl, ethoxysulfuron, flazasulfuron, flupyrsulfuron-methyl-sodium, halosulfuronmethyl, imazosulfuron, nicosulfuron, oxasulfuron, primisulfuron-methyl, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, rimsulfuron, sulfometuron-methyl Sulfosulfuron, terbacil, bispyribac-sodium, cyclosulfamuron, and pyrithiobac-sodium.

  A judgment made at some point in time and in some particular culture.

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Nicosulfuron, triflusulfuron methyl, and chlorsulfuron are broad-spectrum herbicides that kill plants by inhibiting the enzyme acetolactate synthase. In the 1960s, more than 1 kg/ha crop protection chemical was typically applied, while sulfonylureates allow as little as 1% as much material to achieve the same effect. • Biopesticides Biopesticides are certain types of pesticides derived from such natural materials as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. For example, canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications and are considered biopesticides. Biopesticides fall into three major classes: Microbial pesticides which consist of bacteria, entomopathogenic fungi or viruses (and sometimes includes the metabolites that bacteria or fungi produce). Entomopathogenic nematodes are also often classed as microbial pesticides, even though they are multi-cellular. Biochemical pesticides or herbal pesticides are naturally occurring substances that control (or monitor in the case of pheromones) pests and microbial diseases. Plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs) have genetic material from other species incorporated into their genetic material (i.e. GM crops). Their use is controversial, especially in many European countries. There were more kinds of pesticides, which have now been removed from the market, at least in the West, like those based on mercury and arsenic. “By the 15th century, toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, and lead were being applied to crops to kill pests. In the 17th century, nicotine sulfate was extracted from tobacco leaves for use as an insecticide. The 19th century saw the introduction of two more natural pesticides, pyrethrum, which is derived from chrysanthemums, and rotenone, which is derived from the roots of tropical vegetables. Until the 1950s, arsenic-based pesticides were dominant. Paul Müller discovered that DDT was a very effective insecticide. Organochlorines such as DDT were dominant, but they were replaced in the U.S. by organophosphates and carbamates by 1975. Since then, pyrethrin compounds have become the dominant insecticides. Herbicides became common in the 1960s, led by triazine and other nitrogen-based compounds, carboxylic acids such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and glyphosate” (quoted from Wikipedia, Toxic metals).

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Appendix 2 – Toxic Substances List – Schedule 1 [79] Updated Schedule 1, as of June 29, 2016 • Chlorobiphenyls that have the molecular formula C12H(10-n)Cln in which “n” is greater than 2 • Dodecachloropentacyclo [5.3.0.02,6.03,9.04,8] decane (Mirex) • Polybrominated Biphenyls that have the molecular formula C12H(10-n)Brn in which “n” is greater than 2 • Chlorofluorocarbon: totally halogenated chlorofluorocarbons that have the molecular formula CnClxF(2n+2-x) • Polychlorinated Terphenyls that have a molecular formula C18H(14-n)Cln in which “n” is greater than 2 • Asbestos • Lead • Mercury and its compounds • Vinyl Chloride • Bromochlorodifluoromethane that has the molecular formula CF2BrCl • Bromotrifluoromethane that has the molecular formula CF3Br • Dibromotetrafluoroethane that has the molecular formula C2F4Br2 • Fuel containing toxic substances that are dangerous goods within the meaning of section 2 of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 and that are neither normal components of the fuel nor additives designed to improve the characteristics or the performance of the fuel; or are normal components of the fuel or additives designed to improve the characteristics or performance of the fuels, but are present in quantities or concentrations greater than those generally accepted by industry standards • Dibenzo-para-dioxin that has the molecular formula of C12H8O2 • Dibenzofuran that has the molecular formula C12H8O • Polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins that have the molecular formula C12H(8-n)O2Cln which “n” is greater than 2 • Polychlorinated dibenzofurans that have the molecular formula C12H(8-n)OCln in which “n” is greater than 2 • Tetrachloromethane (carbon tetrachloride) CCl4 • 1,1,1-trichloroethane (methyl chloroform) CCl3-CH3 • Bromofluorocarbons other than those set out in items 10 to 12 • Hydrobromofluorocarbons that have the molecular formula CnHxFyBr(2n+2-x-y) in which 0 • Methyl Bromide • Bis(Chloromethyl) ether that has the molecular formula C2H4Cl2O • Chloromethyl methyl ether that has the molecular formula C2H5ClO • Hydrochlorofluorocarbons that have the molecular formula CnHxFyCl(2n+2-x-y) in which 0