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Title The future of copper in China-A perspective based on analysis of copper flows and stocks
ID_Doc 25764
Authors Zhang, L; Cai, ZJ; Yang, JM; Yuan, ZW; Chen, Y
Title The future of copper in China-A perspective based on analysis of copper flows and stocks
Year 2015
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.021
Abstract This study attempts to speculate on the future of copper metabolismin China based on dynamic substance flow analysis. Based on tremendous growth of copper consumption over the past 63 years, China will depict a substantially increasing trend of copper in-use stocks for the next 30 years. The highest peak will be possibly achieved in 2050, with the maximum ranging between 163 Mt and 171 Mt. After that, total stocks are expected to slowly decline 147-154 Mt by the year 2080. Owing to the increasing demand of in-use stocks, China will continue to have a profound impact on global copper consumption with its high import dependence until around 2020, and the peak demand for imported copper are expected to approach 5.5 Mt/year. Thereafter, old scrap generated by domestic society will occupy an increasingly important role in copper supply. In around 2060, approximately 80% of copper resources could come from domestic recycling of old scrap, implying a major shift from primary production to secondary production. With regard to the effect of lifetime distribution uncertainties in different end-use sectors of copper stocks on the predict results, uncertainty evaluation was performed and found the model was relatively robust to these changes. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Author Keywords Copper; Substance flow analysis; Flows and stocks; Circular economy; Environmental management
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000361189800017
WoS Category Environmental Sciences
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology
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