56230 20210121114500.0 doi 10.3390/en8020821 sideral 89841 ART-2015-89841 eng (orcid)0000-0003-0702-733X Valero, A. Universidad de Zaragoza Thermodynamic rarity and the loss of mineralwealth 2015 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted The second law of thermodynamics and, specifically, exergy analysis have been traditionally used for the assessment and optimization of energy systems. Nevertheless, as shown in this paper, exergy could also constitute a powerful tool for the evaluation of mineral commodities. That said, new or re-defined exergy-based concepts need to be developed. This paper presents Thanatia as a baseline for evaluating the exergy of any mineral in the crust and opens the door to discuss the “thermodynamic rarity” concept as a basis for exergy analyses for mineral systems. Thermodynamic rarity is understood as the amount of exergy needed to obtain a given mineral from a completely degraded state, denoted as Thanatia. The rarer the mineral, the greater the associated exergy costs. It quantifies value, as it relates to concentration, chemical composition and cohesion, key aspects that determine whether a mine is exploitable. The theory further allows one to quantify the gradual loss of mineral capital on Earth as a consequence of “rarefaction processes” that occur at a mineral’s end-of-life, when a commodity is wasted, and at its beginning-of-life, where mining ore grades decline after extraction. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 2.077 2015 ENERGY & FUELS 43 / 88 = 0.489 2015 Q2 T2 0.785 2015 Energy (miscellaneous) 2015 Q1 Energy Engineering and Power Technology 2015 Q1 Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2015 Q1 Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment 2015 Q2 Control and Optimization 2015 Q2 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion (orcid)0000-0003-3330-1793 Valero, A. Universidad de Zaragoza 5004 590 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica Área Máquinas y Motores Térmi. 8, 2 (2015), 821-836 ENERGIES Energies 1996-1073 1016274 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/56230/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 81477 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/56230/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:56230 articulos driver 2021-01-21-10:50:48 ARTICLE