Quantifying the relative availability of high-tech by-product metals – The cases of gallium, germanium and indium

By M. Frenzel, Claire Mikolajczak, M. A. Reuter, J. Gutzmer. 2017

155 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract There are considerable concerns about the supply security of certain high-tech elements produced as by-products. To determine in how far these concerns are justified by the actual availability of these elements, we compare the supply potentials for three particularly relevant examples – gallium, germanium and indium – to current and historic production volumes. Our assessment is based on detailed estimates of the amounts extractable from various raw materials given contemporary market prices and technologies. While the estimate for gallium is taken from a previous publication, the estimate for germanium is recalculated from an earlier estimate of recoverable germanium in reserves and resources, and the estimate for indium is compiled as part of this article. We find that the supply potentials of all three elements significantly exceed current primary production. However, the degree to which this is the case varies from element to element. While both the supply potentials of gallium and germanium are ~10 times higher than primary production, the supply potential of indium is ~3 times higher. Differences also exist in historic growth trends, with indium showing the fastest growth rate of the utilised supply potential. This makes it the most likely of the three to reach its maximum production level in the future. Based on these considerations we propose a new quantitative indicator for the future availability of by-products, time-to-maximum extraction as a by-product (TMEB), and show its utility in discriminating between the different supply situations of the three by-product elements.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Mechanical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/83b982262946eac372e15841c35ac869b77d180a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

In Mechanical Engineering

In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Citations in the corpus

Reviewing the material and metal security of low-carbon energy transitions (2020, background): “(2017) go so far as to claim that indium production could increase by 300% without increasing zinc production, but the feasibility and economic viability of this increase has not been thoroughly assessed [70].”
Rare Earths and the Balance Problem: How to Deal with Changing Markets? (2018, background): “Their approach is illustrated for germanium, indium, and gallium [26, 27].”