A technology-critical element (TCE) is a
chemical element
A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...
that is a
critical raw material for modern and
emerging technologies
Emerging technologies are technology, technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally innovation, new but also include old technologies finding new applications. Emer ...
,
resulting in a striking increase in their usage.
Similar terms include critical elements, critical materials,
energy-critical elements
and elements of security.
Many advanced
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
applications, such as clean-energy production, communications and computing, use emergent technologies that utilize numerous chemical elements.
In 2013, the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) created the ''Critical Materials Institute'' to address the issue. In 2015, the European COST Action TD1407 created a network of scientists working and interested on TCEs, from an environmental perspective to potential human health threats.
[ ]
A study estimated losses of 61 metals to help the development of
circular economy
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of resource Production (economics), production and Resource consumption, consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, Reuse, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and ...
strategies, showing that usespans of, often scarce, tech-critical metals are short.
List of technology-critical elements
The set of elements usually considered as TCEs vary depending on the source, but they usually include:
Seventeen
rare-earth elements
The six
platinum-group elements
Twelve assorted elements
Elements such as
oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
,
silicon
Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...
, and
aluminum
Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
(among others) are also vital for electronics, but are not included in these lists due to their widespread abundance.
Applications of technology-critical elements
TCEs have a variety of engineering applications in fields such as
energy storage
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...
, electronics, telecommunication, and transportation.
These elements are utilized in cellular phones,
batteries,
solar panel
A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...
(s),
electric motor
An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...
(s), and
fiber-optic cables. Emerging technologies also incorporate TCEs. Most notably, TCEs are used in the
data networking of smart devices tied to the
Internet of Things
Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communication networks. The IoT encompasse ...
(IoT) and
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
.
Environmental considerations
The
extraction and
processing of TCEs may cause adverse environmental impacts. The reliance on TCEs and critical metals like cobalt can run the risk of the “green curse,” or using certain metals in
green technologies whose mining may be damaging to the environment.
The clearing of soil and
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
that is involved with mining can impact the surrounding biodiversity through
land degradation
Land degradation is a process where land becomes less healthy and productive due to a combination of Human impact on the environment, human activities or natural conditions. The causes for land degradation are numerous and complex. Human activitie ...
and habitat loss.
Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines and coal mines.
Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weatherin ...
can kill surrounding aquatic life and harm ecosystems. Mining activities and
leaching of TCEs can pose significant hazards to human health. Wastewater produced by the processing of TCEs can contaminate groundwater and streams. Toxic dust containing concentrations of metals and other chemicals can be released into the air and surrounding bodies of water.
Deforestation caused by mining results in the release of
stored carbon from the ground to the atmosphere in the form of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
(CO
2).
See also
*
Conflict resource
A resource war is a type of war caused by conflict over resources. In a resource war, there is typically a nation or group that controls the resource and an aggressor that wishes to seize control over said resource. This power dynamic between nati ...
*
List of elements facing shortage
*
Rare-earth element
The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set o ...
*
Strategic material
*
Renewable energy#Conservation areas, recycling and rare-earth elements
References
{{reflist
Sets of chemical elements
Scarcity
History of technology
Natural materials
Minerals