Anticipating impacts of introducing aluminum-cerium alloys into the United States automotive market

• Main Authors: Imholte, D.D (Author), McCall, S.K (Author), Nguyen, R.T (Author), Rios, O.R (Author), Sims, Z. (Author), Stromme, E. (Author), Weiss, D. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V. 2019
• Subjects: adaptation; alloy; aluminum; Aluminum - cerium alloys; Aluminum alloys; Article; automobile industry; Automotive industry; automotive market; Automotive market; Automotive markets; Binary alloys; cerium; Cerium alloys; chemical composition; combustion; Commerce; cost control; Cost saving potentials; cylinder head; Cylinder heads; Dynamic material flow analysis; Dynamic materials; dynamics; engine; engine block; Engine blocks; environmental impact; flow measurement; High Efficiency Spark Ignition; impurity threshold; industry; market; material flow analysis; mathematical analysis; Mechanical properties; mortality rate; motor vehicle; practice guideline; Primary production; Production capacity; quality control; Rare earths; recycling; Recycling; Secondary supplies; segregation; Segregation; Segregation (metallography); sensitivity analysis; simulation; United States; waste management
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Increasing demand of abundant co-product rare earths such as cerium and lanthanum has become a focus for improving mine economics. The recent development of an aluminum-cerium (Al-Ce) alloy targeted toward broad market adoption in the automotive industry is one recent example. This alloy has shown exceptional mechanical properties and cost-saving potential. However, since market adoption is unknown, impacts of this alloy on Ce demand remains uncertain. We estimate Al-Ce impacts by simulating adoption in different automotive sectors using a dynamic material flow analysis model. We then project future Ce content in the recycled Al stream given current recycling practices. We also compute the required segregation given different Ce impurity tolerances of existing automotive Al alloys. Finally, once secondary supply is derived from segregation, we calculate primary Ce demand. Results showed that segregation of Al-Ce components from non-AlCe automotive Al components is needed for most adoption scenarios and impurity thresholds. Ce metal demand was found to be lowest at 1000 mt/yr if the target market is light duty trucks. If Al-Ce could penetrate the High Efficiency Spark Ignition market (i.e., turbocharger market), Ce demand could reach 23,200 mt Ce/year in 2045, without accounting for Chinese and Australian Ce primary production capacity. When accounting for primary Ce production capacity, demand could reach up to 16,200 mt/yr. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.