Stocks, Flows, and Distribution of Critical Metals in Embedded Electronics in Passenger Vehicles
Abstract
One of the major applications of critical metals (CMs) is in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), which is increasingly embedded in other products, notably passenger vehicles. However, recycling strategies for future CM quantities in end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are poorly understood, mainly due to a limited understating of the complexity of automotive embedded EEE. We introduce a harmonization of the network structure of automotive electronics that enables a comprehensive quantification of CMs in all embedded EEE in a vehicle. This network is combined with a material flow analysis along the vehicle lifecycle in Switzerland to quantify the stocks and flows of Ag, Au, Pd, Ru, Dy, La, Nd, and Co in automotive embedded EEE. In vehicles in use, we calculated 5 –2 +3 t precious metals in controllers embedded in all vehicle types and 220 –60 +90 t rare earth elements (REE); found mainly in five electric motors: alternator, starter, radiator-fan and electronic power steering motor embedded in conventional passenger vehicles and drive motor/generator embedded in hybrid and electric vehicles. Dismantling these devices before ELV shredding, as well as postshredder treatment of automobile shredder residue may increase the recovery of CMs from ELVs. Environmental and economic implications of such recycling strategies must be considered.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Only a fraction of the increasing amount of electronics is recycled as electronic parts are distributed throughout the car and are not easily collected.
“Only a fraction of the increasing amount of electronics is recycled as electronic parts are distributed throughout the car, as these parts are not easily collected [121,174].”
From Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review (2019) · cites this paper as [174]
Cites
The state of the art of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles
Chan, C. C. (2007) · Proceedings of the IEEE · doi:10.1109/jproc.2007.892489 · Cited by 1,987 · see citing works
Juran, J. M., Godfrey, A. B., Hoogstoel, R. E., & Schilling, E. G. (1999) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 1,209 · see citing works
Practical handbook of material flow analysis
Brunner, P. H., & Rechberger, H. (2004) · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · doi:10.1007/bf02979426 · Cited by 1,137 · see citing works
Criticality of metals and metalloids
Graedel, T. E., Harper, E. M., Nassar, N. T., Nuss, P., & Reck, B. K. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1500415112 · Cited by 770 · see citing works
Permanent magnet motor technology : design and applications
Gieras, J. F., & Wing, M. (1996) · Thammasat University Digital Collections · Cited by 753 · see citing works
2023 Critical Materials Strategy
Bauer, D., USDOE, Khazdozian, H., Mehta, J., Nguyen, R. T., Severson, M. H., Vaagensmith, B. C., Toba, A.-L., Zhang, B., Hossain, T., et al. (2023) · doi:10.2172/1998242 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Expanding automotive electronic systems
Leen, G., & Heffernan, D. (2002) · Computer · doi:10.1109/2.976923 · Cited by 476 · see citing works
Criticality of Non-Fuel Minerals: A Review of Major Approaches and Analyses
Erdmann, L., & Graedel, T. E. (2011) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es200563g · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Embedded Software: Facts, Figures, and Future
Ebert, C., & Jones, C. (2009) · Computer · doi:10.1109/mc.2009.118 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Rademaker, J. H., Kleijn, R., & Yang, Y. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es305007w · Cited by 346 · see citing works
Recycling-oriented characterization of small waste electrical and electronic equipment
Chancerel, P., & Rotter, V. S. (2009) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2009.04.003 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Recycling Potential of Neodymium: The Case of Computer Hard Disk Drives
Sprecher, B., Kleijn, R., & Kramer, G. J. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es501572z · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Long-Term Strategies for Increased Recycling of Automotive Aluminum and Its Alloying Elements
Løvik, A. N., Modaresi, R., & Müller, D. B. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es405604g · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Self-citationAutomotive shredder residue (ASR) management: An overview
Cossu, R., & Lai, T. (2015) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2015.07.042 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Are scarce metals in cars functionally recycled?
Andersson, M., Ljunggren Söderman, M., & Sandén, B. A. (2017) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2016.06.031 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
A Comprehensive Overview of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Shen, C., Shan, P., & Gao, T. (2011) · International Journal of Vehicular Technology · doi:10.1155/2011/571683 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Scarce Metals in Conventional Passenger Vehicles and End-of-Life Vehicle Shredder Output
Widmer, R., Du, X., Haag, O., Restrepo, E., & Wäger, P. A. (2015) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es505415d · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Self-citationScenario analysis for recovery of rare earth elements from end-of-life vehicles
Xu, G., Yano, J., & Sakai, S.-I. (2016) · Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management · doi:10.1007/s10163-016-0487-y · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Sekine, N., Daigo, I., & Goto, Y. (2016) · Journal of Industrial Ecology · doi:10.1111/jiec.12458 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Du, X., Restrepo, E., Widmer, R., et al. (2015) · Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management · doi:10.1007/s10163-015-0353-3 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Hertwich, E. G., Ali, S., Ciacci, L., Fishman, T., Heeren, N., Masanet, E., Asghari, F. N., Olivetti, E., Pauliuk, S., Tu, Q., et al. (2019) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab0fe3 · Cited by 477 · see citing works
Material Flow Analysis from Origin to Evolution
Graedel, T. E. (2019) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b03413 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Ohno, H., Matsubae, K., Nakajima, K., Kondo, Y., Nakamura, S., Fukushima, Y., & Nagasaka, T. (2017) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b04477 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
- Authors
- Restrepo, E., Løvik, A. N., Wäger, P., Widmer, R., Lonka, R., & Müller, D. B.
- Affiliations
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Empa (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Restrepo, Eliette
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2017-01-30
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1129-1139
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2573749114
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 11.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DORA Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Amt für Abfall, Wasser, Energie und Luft
- Autoverwertung Truninger AG
- Systematic Absolute Return AG
- Varex AG
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Keywords
- critical metals, embedded electronics, passenger cars, end-of-life vehicles, material flow analysis, precious metals, rare earth elements, vehicle life cycle, electric motors, vehicle controller, automotive shredder residue, vehicle dismantling, metal recycling, silver, gold, palladium, ruthenium, dysprosium, lanthanum, neodymium, cobalt
- MeSH terms
- Automobiles, Electronics, Environment, Metals, Recycling
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
