PRRE1003 Resources, Processes & Materials Engineering

Workshop R1: Classification of Materials

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Explore the various ways in which material can be classified into Natural Resources, Raw
Materials, and Bulk/Engineering Materials
• Identify the processes required to produce an end product
• Identify the impacts from a life cycle analysis, for producing ethylene from a natural resource,
and translate them into material/energy costs of the process

INTRODUCTION

Everything we use in daily life may be considered to be an End Product, which is designed,
manufactured or assembled from Engineering Materials, or even directly from Bulk Materials in some
cases.

Natural Resources often need to be mined, drilled or harvested before they form the Raw Materials,
which often need different levels of extraction, refining or processing to form Bulk or Basic Materials,
from which most of the world’s products are made.

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ACTIVITIES

Each group will be given one End Product, which they will work with through the session.

Activity 1: Identifying the Materials that form the End Product (30 minutes)
Working as a group,

• List all separate material constituents of your End Product.

• Identify the key material properties that each constituent material provides to your End
Product.
• Do some research on the internet of how these products are made and list the raw, bulk
and engineering material for the constituents
• State the naturally-occurring resource that it might originate from

For example:

A pencil is made out of wooden fibres and graphite. The graphite provides the flow of material
required for writing. The wooden fibres provide the strength required to hold up the graphite so that
the pencil will not be flexible or brittle. Wooden fibres (bulk material) are derived from wood (raw
material). Graphite is a bulk material which is refined from graphite ores (raw materials). Tree is the
natural resources for wood and rocks are the natural resources graphite ores.

A file folder A ballpoint Pen A paper coffee cup

End Product: ___________

Material of Key material Type of materials Material
Constituents properties (Raw/Bulk/Engineering) Resources

Cardboard Strength: Cardboard is Cardboard is an Engineering material Cardboard, like

known for its strength other paper-
and durability based products,
Weight: Cardboard is is manufactured
lightweight, which from cellulose
makes it easy to fibres extracted
transport and store primarily from
Moisture resistance: trees.
Cardboard can be
treated with various
coatings or laminations
to make it resistant to
moisture

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Graphite Lubricity: Graphite is a Graphite is an Engineering material Graphite occurs
very slippery material, in metamorphic
which makes it ideal rocks as a result
for use in a pen. of the reduction
Low friction of sedimentary
coefficient: The low carbon
friction coefficient of compounds
graphite allows it to during
move smoothly over metamorphism.
the paper, without
sticking or smudging.
Hardness: Graphite is a
relatively hard
material, which means
that it can withstand
the pressure of being
pressed against the
paper without
breaking or wearing
down too quickly.
Plastic lining Heat resistance: The Plastic lining is and engineering These cups are
in paper plastic lining must be material generally
coffee cup able to withstand the manufactured
high temperatures of with
hot liquids without polystyrene
degrading or melting. plastic.
Water resistance: The
plastic lining must be
able to prevent water
from penetrating
through the paper and
into the cup.
Strength and
durability: The plastic
lining must be strong
and durable enough to
hold the weight of the
liquid and prevent the
cup from collapsing or
breaking.

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Activity 2: Identifying Key Processes (15 minutes)
Australia is currently the highest producer of lithium precursor in the world1. The production of
battery-grade lithium is crucial to the value chain of electric batteries (EV), electronics and energy
storage technology2,4. The flow diagrams below show how battery grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is
produced from ore containing lithium minerals.
Figure 1 shows a generic block diagram, to depict a series of processes that convert a Raw Material to
a Bulk Material.
Raw Material

Bulk Material

Figure 1: block diagram for conversion of Raw Material to Bulk Material.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram to produce Bulk Material (battery-grade Li2CO3) used to make
the final end product, the lithium-containing cathode.

Figure 2: A conventional process route3 for the production of battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3).

a) Fill in the following textboxes, using Figures 1 and 2 above, for Bulk Material battery-grade
Li2CO3:

Spodumene
Concentrate
Sulfuric Acid
Sodium Sulphate
Sodium Carbonate

Energy Residue

Battery-grade Li2CO3
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 b) Referring to Figure 2 above, list the 5 most energy intensive processes:

Calcine, Roast, Milling, Dryer and Evaporator

1https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-lithium-production-by-country-1995-2020/
2https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/mineral-resources-and-advice/australian-resource-reviews/lithium
3 Extracted from: https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20170830/pdf/43lw4l1drpkmh8.pdf
4https://www.nanoone.ca/technology/cathodes-infographic/

Activity 3: Sustainability - Which Process is “Better”? (40 minutes)

Ethylene is a bulk chemical produced on very large scales globally, as it is the starting chemical to
produce many plastics. The Figure below shows alternative routes to produce ethylene from biomass.
Using the data in the paper, and Lecture R1, answer the following questions:

Figure: Systems boundaries considered for 3 thermo-

chemical routes to produce ethylene from the same
biomass supply. Case 1: direct ethanol dehydration;
Case 2: indirect ethanol dehydration; and Case 3:
dimethyl ether to ethylene.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.147

(a) What are the different routes for producing ethylene that are considered in this paper?
Hint: see section 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3.4 in the paper

Route Cases 1,2,3 Bio-chemical ethylene Fossil-fuel based ethylene

Feedstock Poplar Sugar Beet Fossil Fuel

(b) Which case is the least energy intensive, in MWh (Table 2)? Show your full working, taking
energy units of 1 Nm3 = 10.655 kWh.
*Nm3 = normal meter cubed, refers to the volume of a gas measured under Normal conditions (not Standard conditions)

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Electricity: Case1: 1.7MWh, Case 2: 0.39MWh, Case 3: 2.1MWh

Natural Gas:

Case 1: 84.0 X 10.655 = 895.02 kWh 895.02kWh = 0.90MWh

Case 2: 84.0 X 10.655 = 895.02 kWh 895.02kWh = 0.90MWh

Case 3: -

Case 1: 1.70MWh + 0.90MWh = 2.60MWh

Case 2: 0.39MWh + 0.90MWh = 1.29MWh

Case 3: 2.10MWh + 0.00MWh = 2.10MWh

Comparison: Case 2 is the least energy intensive, compared to the other cases

Identify within your group what 11 environmental impact indicators are used to assess each thermo-
chemial route. Hint: see section 2.4 in the paper.

global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP),
abiotic depletion potential (ADP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP),
eutrophication potential (EP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and eco-toxicity potential (ETP),
freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP), marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential (MAETP),
terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP), photochemical oxidants creation potential (POCP)

Ethylene has historically been produced using fossil fuels (via steam cracking of hydrocarbons), and
also sugar beet (via bio-ethanol). To decide which route is best for producing ethylene, the relative
environmental impacts of each route must be considered.

(c) Fill in the Table below, by placing a “Y” when ethylene produced via Cases 1,2 or 3, is better
than bio-ethylene from sugar beets, and ethylene from fossil fuels (sections 3.3 and 3.4).

Route better
than bio- ADPe ADPf GWP ODP HTP FAETP MAETP TETP POCP AP EP
ethylene
Case 1 Y Y Y Y Y
Case 2 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Case 3 Y Y Y Y Y

Route better
ADPe ADPf GWP ODP HTP FAETP MAETP TETP POCP AP EP
than fossil fuel
Case 1 Y Y Y
Case 2 Y Y Y Y
Case 3 Y Y Y

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 (d) Discussing the significance of the impacts in the Tables above, make a decision about
whether ethylene should be produced from fossil fuels, from sugar beets, or from biomass
via thermo-chemical route (Cases 1 or 2 or 3). Justify your answer by identify the largest
materal/energy consumption/production that shoud be reduced in your chosen route.

Case 2 is the optimal choice for eight out of the 11 effects taken into consideration, according to
the discussion of the impacts in the tables above. On the other hand, making ethylene from sugar
beetroot is the greatest choice as well because Case 2 has the highest ethylene production rates
when compared to Cases 1 and 3. Additionally, when contrasting the energy needed to make
ethylene in Cases 1, 2, and 3, The optimal choice for HTP, FAETP, and MAETP is Case 2. This is as a
result of using less biomass per unit of output compared to Cases 1 and 3 and using less energy,
metal catalysts, and herbicides. Cases 2 have the greatest effects and comparable FAETP
numbers. MAETP and AP compared to case 1 and predicted the values to be reduced in the
chosen route in the future.