95966 20210820090347.0 doi 10.3390/e21090873 sideral 116656 ART-2019-116656 eng Valero, Antonio Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-0702-733X Thermodynamic Rarity and Recyclability of Raw Materials in the Energy Transition: The Need for an In-Spiral Economy 2019 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted This paper presents a thermodynamic vision of the depletion of mineral resources. It demonstrates how raw materials can be better assessed using exergy, based on thermodynamic rarity, which considers scarcity in the crust and energy requirements for extracting and refining minerals. An exergy analysis of the energy transition reveals that, to approach a decarbonized economy by 2050, mineral exergy must be greater than that of fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and even all renewables. This is because clean technologies require huge amounts of many different raw materials. The rapid exhaustion of mines necessitates an increase in recycling and reuse, that is, a “circular economy”. As seen in the automobile industry, society is far removed from closing even the first cycle, and absolute circularity does not exist. The Second Law dictates that, in each cycle, some quantity and quality of materials is unavoidably lost (there are no circles, but spirals). For a rigorous recyclability analysis, we elaborate the exergy indicators to be used in the assessment of the true circularity of recycling processes. We aim to strive toward an advanced economy focused on separating techniques and promoting circularity audits, an economy that inspires new solutions: an in-spiral economy. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/ENE2017-85224-R info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 2.494 2019 PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 33 / 85 = 0.388 2019 Q2 T2 0.527 2019 Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2019 Q2 Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) 2019 Q2 Information Systems 2019 Q2 Mathematical Physics 2019 Q3 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Valero, Alicia Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-3330-1793 5004 590 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica Área Máquinas y Motores Térmi. 21, 9 (2019), 873 [14 pp] Entropy ENTROPY 1099-4300 273189 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/95966/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 477918 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/95966/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:95966 articulos driver 2021-08-20-08:38:25 ARTICLE