Tetrahedrite-Based Thermoelectric Devices: Balancing Environmental and Economic Indicators through a LCA-LCC Approach

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Poster Number:  34 

Main Presenter:    Giovanni Borsoi 

Co-Authors:   Diogo Lourenço     Francisco Reis      Eduardo Santos                                    

Mining waste, derived from extracting and processing mineral resources, is among the largest waste stream in the EU, and tailing management can lead to severe environmental risk and potential safety hazards. Within this context, the EU-funded START project intends to deliver thermoelectric generator partially developed with mine tailings, i.e. with tetrahedrite-group minerals ((Cu,Fe)12Sb4S13), identified in several European mines. Along with the ongoing development of the device with tetrahedrite (TH)-based legs, a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis was also carried with the aim of to measuring the environmental impacts of the device, adopting a cradle-to-grave approach.

Key components along the extraction of the raw material, preparation and assembly of the module and production of the TEGs were used to build the life cycle inventory, adopting data both from project partners and literature. Furthermore, the most common commercially available TEGs (based on PbTe and BiTe) were studied and compared to the TH-based TEG.

Furthermore, a life cycle cost (LCC) analysis of the tetrahedrite-based TEG was carried out, in order to evaluate its economic performance, and compared with that of the BiTe and PbTe TEGs. By calculating the costs of raw material extraction, transport and module production and TEG module assembly, the initial investment for each type of TEG module is obtained (CAPEX). The maintenance and operation costs (OPEX) are also calculated considering the TEG modules lifetime.

Results showed that the adoption of TH-based TEGs can reduce wastes and air emissions, when compared to the BiTe and PbTe TEG modules, when analysing midpoint impact categories e.g. global warming (GW), human toxicity (HT), mineral resource scarcity (MRS) and fossil resource scarcity (FRS). End-of-life considerations and sustainability-by-design recommendations for low-emission products were also drawn Furthermore, TH-TEG has lower production costs per module when compared to BiTe TEG, but higher than those of PbTe TEG. By combining LCA and LCC data, a product optimization strategy was provided allowing systematic evaluation of trade-offs between environmental and economic factors during TEG implementation.

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