Criticality assessment of metal resources in China
Wenyi Yan,
Zhaolong Wang,
Hongbin Cao,
Yi Zhang,
Zhi Sun
Affiliations
Wenyi Yan
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Process Pollution Control, Division of Environment Technology and Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 Beierjie, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Zhaolong Wang
Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Centre, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100029, China
Hongbin Cao
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Process Pollution Control, Division of Environment Technology and Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 Beierjie, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Yi Zhang
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Process Pollution Control, Division of Environment Technology and Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 Beierjie, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
Zhi Sun
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Process Pollution Control, Division of Environment Technology and Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 Beierjie, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; Corresponding author
Summary: With the development of modern industries, the sustainability of critical resources has attracted worldwide attention considering the entire supply chain. With a large industrial sector size in China, a safe supply of metal resources is crucial to ensure the effective operation of the whole industry. Although specific criticality analyses have been applied to identify critical resources in some regions, including Europe and the USA, they are not ready to be directly applied in the case of China because the structure of China’s industry is remarkably different from other areas. In this research, a three-dimensional methodology considering supply safety, domestic economy, and environmental risk is demonstrated, where Chinese industrial conditions are specifically considered. In total, 64 materials were introduced to perform the criticality assessment, and 18 metals were classified with a high criticality degree in the three-dimensional criticality space. With the obtained findings decision-makers can formulate strategic deployment to promote resource management.
