HCTGS v8.0 presents a concept-of-proof architecture for transforming salt lake brine â currently treated as industrial waste or environmental threat â into the primary feedstock for a post-plastic, post-cement, post-titanium material economy. The document establishes magnesium, the lightest structural metal on Earth, as the central output of the HCTGS gravity-driven extraction cascade, deployable across six industrial sectors simultaneously. The global resource base across salt lakes in Tibet (Siling Co, 1,000+ lakes), Chile (Salar de Atacama), Bolivia (Salar de Uyuni), the US Great Basin, East Africa's Rift Valley, Central Asia, and Australia exceeds 4.5 million tonnes of extractable magnesium per year â 4.5Ă current world production, which relies predominantly on energy-intensive thermal reduction processes with a carbon footprint of 25â35 t COâ per tonne. HCTGS brine extraction reduces this carbon footprint by 70â85% and production cost by 40â60%, because magnesium is recovered as a Tier 3 co-product of gravity-driven water and lithium processing â not mined as a standalone commodity. Six application pillars are developed in technical depth: (1) Packaging â Bio-Magnesium (unalloyed Mg-Ca) for single-use items that biodegrade into soil nutrients (Mg(OH)â) within months, replacing 140 million tonnes/year of plastic waste; (2) Medicine â bioresorbable Mg-Ca and Mg-Zn-Ca orthopaedic implants (MAGNEZIXÂź CE-marked 2013, magnesium phosphate cement FDA-approved 2021) that eliminate ~6 million second surgeries per year globally; (3) Transportation â magnesium body structures (AZ91, AM60) reducing EV mass by 30â40%, breaking the mass-battery-mass spiral; (4) Electronics â EMI shielding without halogenated compounds, eliminating dioxin release from e-waste incineration; (5) Construction â historically validated magnesium cements (Sorel 1867, Ming Dynasty oxychloride mortars 14th c., Persian Mg(OH)â waterproofing 2,500 years continuous service, Tibetan MgKPOâ plasters 15th c.) that match or exceed Portland cement strength while absorbing 0.5 kg COâ/kg instead of emitting 0.9 kg COâ/kg; (6) Bio-composites â Mg-Hemp, Mg-Algae, Mg-Chitosan materials that participate in ecosystems rather than contaminating them. (7) Fuel â A thermal cascade closes the last external dependency: Mg-powder from the trichter combusts at 2,500°C driving MgClâ calcination (producing MgO for Sorel cement). Exhaust heat at 300â500°C pre-heats brine to within 6â16°C of the altitude-adjusted boiling point. Solar closes the final gap. One combustion event, three outputs: cement feedstock, process heat, and steam for desalination. The fuel is the product. The fuel's waste is the construction material. The fuel's exhaust is the process energy. Zero fossil input. Zero COâ. Zero import. A dual-track national strategy (60% export, 40% domestic absorption) prevents Dutch disease while building material sovereignty. At full deployment across ten major salt lakes: 18 billion mÂł fresh water/year (50 million people), 180 GW gravity baseload, 500,000 t Mg/year, and 50 million t COâ avoided over 20 years â not through offsets, but through material substitution. The document revives empirical knowledge from Ming Dynasty engineering manuals (ăè„é æłćŒă), Tibetan monastic oral traditions, Sorel's original 1867 patents, and Persian qanat construction, reconnecting them with modern salt lake chemistry through the HCTGS supply chain.
The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) plays a critical role in reducing global carbon emissions. However, the end-of-life management of electric vehicle batteries (EVBs) presents significant sustainability and operational challenges. This study proposes a blockchain-based framework that enables full lifecycle tracking of EVBs, from production to disposal or reuse, while addressing issues of transparency, efficiency, and regulatory compliance. The framework incorporates a multi-criteria decision model to guide data-driven end-of-life routingâwhether for second-life reuse or direct recyclingâbased on technical, environmental, and economic indicators. By integrating smart contracts with a hybrid web/mobile platform, the system ensures tamper-proof documentation, stakeholder accountability, and compliance with the EU battery passport regulation. A detailed cost analysis of deploying the framework on Ethereum is also presented. The proposed solution aims to enhance the sustainability of EVB management, reduce environmental impact, and promote circular economy practices within the EV industry.
Karim Moawad, Ahmad Musamih, Assia Chadly, Ahmad Mayyas · 8 authors
The urgency to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions has led to increased global demand for Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Such batteries are widely used in portable electronics and electric vehicles. However, their adoption encounters challenges related to mining ethics, supply chain transparency, sustainability, and waste management. This paper proposes a blockchain-based solution that addresses these challenges in the Li-ion battery supply chain. Using the ERC-721 standard for Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), we tokenize all items/materials in the supply chain, ensuring data management, transparency, and ownership control. We integrate the Ethereum blockchain with the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) to handle NFT metadata and large-sized files, reducing storage costs and network congestion. We develop ten smart contracts (SCs) to facilitate various Li-ion supply chain functionalities, managing items/materials data and ownership. By leveraging NFTs, our solution promotes circular economy principles by facilitating secondary market trading, asset reuse, and sustainable recycling practices. We introduce a structured decision framework that empowers stakeholders to navigate operational and ethical challenges effectively. The effectiveness and practicality of the solution are demonstrated through system architecture, sequence diagrams, algorithms, and testing results. Furthermore, we assess our proposed solutionâs affordability, efficiency, security, and generalizability across different industries.
Karim Moawad, Ammar Hummieda, Ahmad Musamih, Khaled Salah · 5 authors
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a cornerstone of modern technology, where they serve as the power source for a wide range of applications, including electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems. However, rapid production growth has introduced challenges regarding end-of-life management, particularly with waste disposal, resource recovery, and environmental sustainability. Inefficient recycling often leads to valuable materials like cobalt, lithium, and nickel being discarded in landfills, which exacerbates resource scarcity and poses environmental and health risks. To address these issues, there is a critical need for more efficient, transparent, and accountable systems for the collection, recovery, and recycling of LIBs. In this paper,A blockchain and Non-Fungible Token (NFT)-based solution is proposed to enable circular recycling and material recovery. This system improves transparency, traceability, and accountability throughout the battery lifecycle. The smart contracts (SCs) source code is made publicly available on GitHub.
This paper examines the use of blockchain technology in power battery echelon recycling. The technology helps to improve battery capacity identification and market transaction trust. The study focuses on power battery manufacturers and recycling participants. Two recycling modes are constructed using the Stackelberg game method, and the optimal decision-making of the participating subjects in the two modes of power battery echelon recycling under the embedding of blockchain technology is compared. The influence of each parameter on the optimal decision-making is analyzed. The research findings indicate that the degree of blockchain technology integration rises as the preference coefficient for traceability information increases. When recycling competition is intense and the sensitivity of recycling prices is low, the optimal recycling model for the number of spent power batteries (SPBs) to be recycled is the model in which echelon utilizers do not participate in recycling if the level of cost optimization coefficient embedded in blockchain technology is high, otherwise, it is the model in which echelon utilizers participate in recycling. The profit of power battery manufacturers and echelon utilizers decreases with the increase of the intensity of power battery recycling competition, the cost optimization coefficient of echelon utilizers and the cost optimization coefficient of manufacturers.
Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) represents a pivotal challenge within the Ethereum ecosystem; it impacts the fairness, security, and efficiency of both Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) networks. MEV arises when miners or validators manipulate transaction ordering (e.g., front-running) to extract additional value, often at the expense of other network participants. This not only affects user experience by introducing unpredictability and potential financial losses but also threatens the underlying principles of decentralization and trust. Given the growing complexity of blockchain applications, particularly with the increase of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols, it is crucial to address the issue and reduce the impact of MEV. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of MEV mitigation techniques as applied to both Ethereumâs L1 and various L2 solutions. We provide a novel categorization of mitigation strategies. We also describe the challenges, ranging from transaction sequencing and cryptographic methods to reconfiguring decentralized applications (DApps) to reduce front-running opportunities. We investigate their effectiveness, implementation challenges, and impact on network performance. By synthesizing current research, real-world applications, and emerging trends, this paper aims to provide a detailed roadmap for researchers, developers, and policymakers to understand and combat MEV in an evolving blockchain landscape.
Assia Chadly, Haya R. Hasan, Karim Moawad, Khaled Salah · 6 authors
The supply chain of rare earth metals plays a crucial role in producing thin-film solar photovoltaics (PVs), which are vital for renewable energy generation. However, this supply chain is often characterized by opacity, inefficiencies, and security concerns especially since those rare earth metals come from mainly one supplier, China. Also, the solar PVsâ certificates are purely technical and fail to consider the ethical sourcing and sustainable supply chain management conditions of mining. The working conditions of the miners are often neglected and are least prioritized. In this paper, a blockchain-based solution was proposed to leverage the intrinsic decentralized blockchain features including traceability, transparency, non-repudiation, and accountability in the supply chain of thin-film solar PVs, to safeguard not only the technical conditions of the mined products but also the ethical conditions of the workers during mining. Ethical mines must uphold good safety standards, pay their workers a fair wage, adhere to working hours, and legal working age. The solution paves the way to ethical mining where the certification of the PVs is not granted unless both technical and ethical conditions are met. The supply chain of thin-film PVs that goes from mining the rare earth metals in China, where more than 70% of the rare earth metals used are extracted from, to the disposal at the end-of-life (EOL) of the PVs was presented. Smart contracts to enable the on-chain traceability of the registration, manufacturing, assessment, delivery, and disposal of PVs were developed. The solution exploits the tamper-proof logs of the distributed ledger to ensure accountability and record transactions as part of the data provenance. The proposed solution includes a system design with sequence diagrams, smart contracts with algorithms, and a testing and analysis section.
Blockchain technology has recently become the go-to solution for companies and industries that seek to enhance value chain traceability of their products, and transparency in their supply chains. Because of these benefits, itâs been proposed for monitoring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and compliance in industries that have weak regulatory and formal structures. The cobalt mining industry especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the worldâs biggest producer of cobalt ore used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, is one such environment thatâs characterized by conflict, and serious human rights abuses. The key actors in the cobalt supply chain, therefore, face the tradeoff involving maintaining long-term supply versus reducing the risks associated with cobalt sourced from locations with poor environmental and human rights records. Most of such problems emerge from Artisanal and small-scale mining. This paper presents an attempt to tightly link existing blockchain technology frameworks in the cobalt industry with ESG performance of companies to enable them to audit the chain of custody journeys for their components and ultimately sustainability performance. We present a responsible sourcing framework to connect blockchain source data needs to ESG metrics to help companies build interoperable but understandable blockchain architectures.
Massimo Pizzol, Romain Sacchi, Susanne Köhler, Annika Anderson Erjavec
Given a fixed product system model, with the current computational framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) the potential environmental impacts associated to demanding one thousand units of a product will be one thousand times larger than what results from demanding 1 unit only â a linear relationship. However, due to economies of scale, industrial synergies, efficiency gains, and system design, activities at different scales will perform differently in terms of life cycle impact â in a non-linear way. This study addresses the issue of using the linear framework of LCA to study scalable and emerging technologies, by looking at different examples where technology scale up reflects non-linearly on the impact of a product. First, a computer simulation applied to an entire database is used to quantitatively estimate the effect of assuming activities in a product system are subject to improvements in efficiency. This provides a theoretical but indicative idea of how much uncertainty can be introduced by non-linear relationships between input values and results at the database level. Then the non-linear relations between the environmental burden per tkm of transport on one end, and the cargo mass and range autonomy on the other end is highlighted using a parametrized LCA model for heavy goods vehicles combined with learning scenarios that reflect different load factors and improvement in battery technology. Finally, a last example explores the case of activities related to the mining of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, an emerging technology, and how the impact of scaling the Bitcoin mining production is affected non-linearly by factors such as increase in mining efficiency and geographical distribution of miners. The paper concludes by discussing the relation between non-linearity and uncertainty and by providing recommendations for accounting for non-linearity in prospective LCA studies.
The well-being of the society depends on a number of metals, including base metals, precious metals and increasingly rare earth elements (REE). The usage of these metals increased in numerous applications, including electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), and their interrupted supply is at stake. There is an increasing interest in the secondary sources of these metals, particularly waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in order to compensate their potential supply deficit. This PhD thesis demonstrates the advantages and bottlenecks of biological and chemical approaches, as well as the advances and perspectives in the development of sustainable processes for metal recovery from WEEE. Furthermore, a novel process for the recovery of metals from WEEE is described, and a techno-economic assessment is given.\nDiscarded printed circuit boards (PCB) from personal computers (PC), laptops, mobile phones and telecom servers were studied. Following an extensive literature review, a novel characterization and total metal assay method was introduced and applied to waste board materials. Discarded PCB contained metals in the range of (%, by weight): copper (Cu) 17.6 - 39.0, iron (Fe) 0.7 - 7.5, aluminum (Al) 1.0 - 5.5, nickel (Ni) 0.2 - 1.1, zinc (Zn) 0.3 - 1.2, as well as gold (Au) (in ppm) 21 - 320. In addition, multi-criteria analysis (MCA) using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) methodology was applied for selection of the best-suited technology. A proof-of-concept for a two-step bioleaching extraction is given, in which 98.4% and 44.0% of the Cu and Au, respectively, were extracted. The two-step extraction procedure was applied to the chemical leaching of metals from PCB. Cu leaching was carried in an acidic oxidative mixture of H2SO4 and H2O2, whereas Au was leached by S2O32â in a NH4+medium, catalyzed by CuSO4. Under the optimized conditions, 99.2% and 92.2% of Cu and Au, respectively, were extracted from the board material. Selective recovery of Cu from the bioleaching leachate using sulfidic precipitation and electrowinning is studied. Cu was selectively recovered on the cathode electrode at a 50 mA current density in 50 minutes, with a 97.8% efficiency and 65.0% purity. The techno-economic analysis and environmental sustainability assessment of the new technology at an early stage of development was investigated.
Among the greatest obstacles in the postwar recovery of steel industry in Japan were. counted the shortage of coal, the removal of subvention to the iron and steelprices and -decentralization of large steel firms. A tragic atmosphere thus clouded was pushed away by the breakout of the Korean Incident (June 1950). Again the prices became enhanced. The export was extended and the production increased. Thence came a chance of modernization of iron and steel industry in Japan. The scheme of this plan that had been plotted by the Rationalization Council in the first half of 1951 was encouraged in the second half by establishment of Japan Development Bank, institution of special overeas credit by the Bank of Japan and the favorable development in Capital market.Capital development and production increase of steel firms in Japan was suceessively realized -during the year of 1951. However, towards 1952 the period of reaction began so that an intensification of the sales competition gradually invited a drop in the steel prices, notwith-standing a temporary short boom due to a steel strike in the United States.In April 1952, the industrial control of the Occupation Forces ended and Japan was again allowed to enter an international economic circles.At this moment, owing to establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community, progress of modernization progress in several countries and recovery of the West-Germany iron and steel industry, the steel industry of Japan too was obliged to be entangled with the international contest.In 1953, the steel market again tended to a slight boom due to domestic investment and consumption but at the end of the same year decrease in bath munition demands and steel export again occurred. Without finding domestic demands, the steel products of Japan began to flow out overseas. At this time happily owing to a shortage of steel export from Europe Japanese products filled the markets of South America and India and enjoyed higher prices. It was also evident at the end of 1954 that the iron and steel industry in rapan again inclined to an expansive production.After such historical introduction, the author described in detail (1) the process of rationalization and financing concerned; (2) trends in the situations of raw materials for iron and steel; (3) domestic market and export; (4) some tendencies in special steels; and (5) future prospects.