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A House Deconstructed

Office of Uncertainty Research

Updated Feb. 15, 2022

Transcript

ONE HOUSE

MANY WORLDS

The Back Story

USER'S GUIDE

1119 25th Avenue East, Seattle WA

A project like this does not intend to be a complete ‘map’ of reality. In fact, it tries to highlight the vast quantities of ‘unknown’ that circulate around a house. There are various structures that hinder us from knowing more, legal, professional and practical. Research can only go so far, but the issue is not that ‘if only we knew more’. We know plenty as it is.

We want to emphasize:

the indeterminate status of the

architectural object.

the positive impossibility of comprehension across scales.

proximate and unproximate relationships.

INTRO

We want to slice the house along four registers, each a type of ‘consciousness’ that is silenced once the owners get the key to the house.

Atomic Consciousness that dates back to the Big Bang and the earliest Super Novas.

Production Consciousness in which a vast array of Ingredients are combined to make architectural products.

Labor Consciousness that is multilayered and fully global in its reach.

Source Consciousness that digs and cuts into the earth and chops the forests.

Each of these has powerful stories to tell.

What then is the back story of this house completed in 2018? Most architects might think they know to the answers, but in truth, they are just as ignorant as the general population.

INTRO

PAGE 3

How is one to measure the full impact of architecture? While the various metrices that measure the carbon impact of buildings have significantly sharpened our understanding of the broad impact of construction and construction materials, these measures are designed to generate practicable metrics, useful for comparing one building to another, oranges to oranges. While this is of course very useful and important, a more detailed examination of the ultimate sources and locations of architecture, of the detailed origins, labors and distances of materials poses a formidable challenge and can generate complexities and distances that boggle the mind.

The last twenty years construction materials across the board have undergone an Additive Revolution. Additives have made materials stronger, more durable, and cheaper, in various combinations. This chemicalization of materials has, however, opened up a host of problems completely invisible to the public and even to the architect regarding planetary exploitation.

Structural steel for instance, is an alloy of over 16 metals, each with its own history and sources that involves multiple mines, transports and labors that are spread across distant nations and economic entities. Just the thin casing that covers a standard metal rod, for instance, is a petroleum product that can originate in the Middle East, be manufactured in central United States, shipped to Australia, where it is applied to the manufactured steel rods, before those rods are shipped back to Los Angeles, from where they are trucked to Seattle for installation.

INTRO PAGE 4

The sheer globality of this enterprise becomes mind-bending when we try to index the deep sources of materials. Wood for instance can be just about twenty years old, and locally harvested. But iron, like other heavy metals, is mostly produced in stars, that distribute it out into deep space when they collapse and go supernova, which then make their way to distant places like the earth, mostly during the early part of our planets 5 billion year old history.

Thus, what is the real backstory of a house? Even the architects themselves cannot begin know.

A house is like a Black Hole. It sucks a huge amount of energy, creativity, materials, labor and molecules into its orbit. But in the end what does the house tell us about all of that?

Nothing.

The European enlightenment separated the arts vertically with poetry and painting at the top and architecture at the bottom. Architecture received its lowly status because of its association with economy. We not only embrace that association, but want to use it as a portal to better envision our place on the earth. Today, a single modern house reaches around the world in dimensions that are social, economic, ecological and political. It reaches even beyond the framework of the human into the atomic scale of the cosmos. The house speaks not just of us as humans and as people living on the planet, but also as atomic crystallizations of matter. If today we were to rank all of the arts, we would place architecture at the apex since there is better way to ask philosophical questions about the interpenetration of mind and matter than with a house. What does it mean to relate the house to the Big Bang?

INTRO PAGE 2

INTRO

PAGE 3

Thus, what is the real backstory of a house? Even the architects themselves cannot begin know.

INTRO PAGE 4

Habitation in today’s world is shot through with unavoidable distances and indifferences; yet it does not thereby cease to be a mode of belonging. The question is: How do we define/measure our response/responsibility?

INTRO PAGE 5

Michael Burawoy is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been a participant observer of industrial workplaces in Zambia, United States, Hungary and Russia. In his different projects he analyzes postcolonialism, capitalism, class consciousness and work organizations developing a methodology that is advanced in Global Ethnography, a book coauthored with 9 graduate students, that shows how globalization can be studied "from below" through participating in the lives of those who experience it.

MICHAEL BURAWOY

Thoughts:

Michael Buroway

"We begin with global forces. We draw on all sorts of secondary constructions to create a picture of the "global" economy, polity, and culture as composed of forces constituted beyond our sites. The global force makes itself felt through mediators that transmit it as their interest or as the subjective internalization of values or beliefs. The locality in turn can fight back, adapt, or simply be destroyed….[Global] movement is manifold and multiple, combined and reversible, uneven and unpredictable. We, therefore, work … ascending from the local to the global by stitching together our ethnographies. But this has its problems too. It cannot be done tabula rasa. We needed an orienting map that is attentive to both global and local simultaneously, that would allow us to compose the global from below. It had to be a vision that identified what was new about globalization against the skeptics, but without surrendering to the totalizing mode of the radicals.”

Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World by Michæl Burawoy, Joseph A. Blum, Sheba Mariam George, Zsuzsa Gille, Millie Thayer (Berkeley University Pres 2000)

INTRO PAGE 5

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

STATEMENT 1:

Deconstructing the architectural object is akin to quantum research. The closer you look things become uncertain, not because your instruments aren’t strong enough or calibrated enough, but because things themselves are indeterminate, uncertain. Holistically speaking, knowledge tends to the indeterminate, constitutively entangled with our modality of looking. This is certainly true of sub-atomic particles, of which all architecture is ultimately made, but it is also true of the geographic sources of things, the process that manufacture materials and the labors that are engaged in the production of work.

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY: 1

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

STATEMENT 2:

(Un)certainty is not opposed to certainty. (Un)certainty is the nature of certainty, the quality of knowledge.

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY 2:

Low-level Industrialized

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

Before WWII and well into the 1980s, a modern-styled house would have had little steel and almost no plastic. The plumbing would have been out of cast iron and copper tubing. Single pane windows did not require glazing and there was limited use off caulking. The prime use of oil was in the form of asphalt shingles which made their appearance in the 1920s and 30s. Since the 1980s, the Ingredient List for a standard modern house has grown dramatically.

The list contains elements that can be almost immediately transmutationed into building components, like wood or silica. It also contains some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet, as well as chemicals that are at the apex of the industrial production system, especially those involved in the making of plastic. On the left-hand side of the graph we list the conventional designations: Wood , Concrete, Plastic, Steel etc.. How an ingredient gets from being a chemical -as listed on the right hand side - to become a dull semiotic is a large part of the magic on the construction industry (for better and worse). A ton of “concrete” is more than just sand, gravel and mortar, but also has a host of additives, most of which are unknown to anyone but specialists in the field. Additives - which have become increasingly numerous in the last twenty years - have extended the reach of building materials into the vastness of global, capitalist geography through sourcing and production.

Highly Industrialized

Concrete

concrete

52.3 tonnes of concrete were used in the 1119 25th Avenue house, primarily in the ground floor slab, connections to the adjacent house, and structural systems such as the foundation and retaining wall. The concrete was a mix composed of 42% portland cement, 11% gravel, 11% sand, 14% fly ash, and 23% water. MasterPolyheed 997, a water-reducing admixture, and Masterset AC 534, an accelerating admixture, were also added to the concrete.

The first “proto” portland cement was pioneered by bricklayer Joseph Aspdin in Leeds, England in 1824, when he filed a patent for a mixture of synthesized limestone and clay, citing its resemblance to portland stone. What began as an experimental venture laid the groundwork for nearly three decades of development around hydraulic, lime-based mixtures, culminating in a prototype of the portland cement we know today by Isaac Charles Johnson in 1850. Worldwide, over ten billion tons of concrete are being produced each year.

In the United States, about 370 million cubic yards of concrete are produced per year, with nearly 40 percent of it going into commercial real estate. That equals just over one cubic yard per person in the US per year.

Portland Cement

Portland

Cement

Portland cement is composed primarily of lime (a product of processing limestone), clay, and silica, along with smaller quantities of other compounds such as aluminum oxide, iron oxide, and magnesium oxide.

In order to produce portland cement, limestone and clay are quarried. In the case of the Seattle house, this occurred at the Lafarge Quarry and the Sumas Mountain, respectively. The raw materials are then crushed to pieces that are 3 inches or less in diameter, and ground with other ingredients such as iron ore, silica fume, and aluminum oxide. All of this is fed into a kiln, which heats the finely ground material to 2,700˚F (1482˚C). While some compounds, such as carbon dioxide, are driven off in the form of gases during the heating process, the remaining materials form a new substance called clinker. Once the clinker has cooled, it is ground even further, and small amounts of gypsum are added to control the hardening rate of the final cementitious product. At the end of the manufacturing process, cement particles have an average diameter of 15 microns.

Portland cement is classified as hydraulic, meaning that it hardens through a chemical reaction with water, or through hydration. During hydration, a node forms on the surface of each cement particle. The node expands until it links with nodes from other cement particles, or adheres to pieces of aggregate. Approximately 842kg of hot water was added to the concrete mix for the construction of the house.

Gypsum

Gypsum, also known as hydrous calcium sulfate, is a soft mineral whose formation began during the Paleozoic Era (600-230 million years ago). The evaporation of calcium-rich seawater, and subsequent chemical reactions of the calcium with organic matter, produced the compound we now know as gypsum. The formation of gypsum and limestone are both closely tied to the evaporation of seawater, and the precipitation of minerals dissolved in it. Gypsum is therefore often found embedded between, and therefore extracted alongside, large beds of limestone.

The primary purpose of gypsum in portland cement is to regulate its set time. Gypsum acts as a retardant by reacting with the tricalcium aluminates present in cement to produce a colloidal gel, which prevents flash setting and allows for mixing, transportation, and pouring time.

Iron Oxide

There are various conventional sources for the iron oxide used in cement, including iron ore, scrap iron, and fly ash. The ferrous compound makes up 0.5% to 6% of portland cement. Despite the small amount, iron oxide’s role in cement is tripartite: not only does it increase the compressive strength of cement by reacting with aluminum and calcium to produce tricalcium aluminoferrite, it acts as a fluxing agent, which lowers the melting point of silica from 3,000˚F to 2600˚F during the production of clinker. Various types of iron oxide can also be used to pigment cement.

Silica Fume

Silica

Fume

Silica fume is a by-product of the chemical extraction process of silicon from quartz. When quartz is heated in electric arc furnaces at 2000°C, silicon dioxide vapor is released, which is then allowed to oxidize and condense at low temperatures to produce silica fume—extremely fine particles composed predominantly of silicon dioxide.

Silica fume is not a cementitious compound in itself, but rather possesses pozzolanic properties. This means that, much like fly ash, it reacts chemically with calcium hydroxide (which is produced when portland cement is mixed with water) to form calcium silicate hydrate, which is cementitious. The calcium silicate hydrate adds compressive and flexural strength to concrete on a chemical level, while simultaneously reducing its porosity, and hence its susceptibility to erosion in the presence of chloride, by physically filling in the gaps between cement particles.

Bauxite Residue

Bauxite residue is a waste product composed primarily of iron oxide, which is generated during the Bayer Process, i.e. the process of extracting alumina (which is then processed to produce pure aluminum) from bauxite. Bauxite residue in the production of portland cement can be added either before the limestone is heated, so that it becomes a component of clinker, or after the clinker has been ground into cement, as a supplementary cementitious material. In both cases, the cement benefits from the pozzolanic properties of the aluminum and iron present within bauxite residue.

Fly Ash

Fly ash is an industrial byproduct of coal-fired electricity- and steam-generating plants. It is classified, along with bottom ash, boiler slag, and gypsum, as a Coal Combustion Product (CCP) by the American Coal Ash Association. During the combustion process, impurities present in the pulverized coal produce a molten mineral residue. This residue hardens to form two types of coal ash particulates, differentiated based on particle size: bottom ash, which settles at the base of the power plant’s boiler, and fly ash, which is airborne, and rises into the plant’s exhaust stacks. The addition of fly ash to the cement mixture serves a similar purpose to that of silica fume—as a pozzolan rich in siliceous and aluminum compounds, it reacts chemically with calcium hydroxide in the presence of water to form compounds possessing cementitious properties.

Aggregate

The convention of adding large amounts of aggregate to an otherwise cementitious mix to produce concrete can be attributed to ancient Roman technologies. In contrast to today’s concrete, however, which specifically requires the use of inert, non-reactive substances as aggregate, Roman concrete used volcanic rock, which contained pozzolanic compounds, instead. The volcanic rock reacted with compounds in the cement, increasing the concrete’s strength over time. Furthermore, Roman concrete employed seawater as its liquid component, rather than freshwater—another far cry from today’s concrete industry conventions, where seawater is avoided at all costs due to the risk of chloride and sulfur erosion. It was found that seawater reacted with the volcanic ash in Roman cement, and induced the formation of new minerals such as Al-tobermorite and phillipsite, which actually increased the concrete’s resistance to fracture.

The aggregate used in concrete today is composed primarily of gravel and sand. The latter is most commonly dredged from riverbeds or, in the case of the Seattle house, dug from an open-pit sandstone mine. Upon extraction, the sandstone is crushed, filtered through perforated screens to separate different sized particles, washed of silt and clay residue, and in some cases, crushed further to obtain specific morphologies. Though inert, properties of the chosen aggregate (such as moisture content, abrasiveness/texture, size) significantly impact the workability and compressive strength of the final concrete mixture.

Admixtures

One of the defining characteristics of 21st century concrete is the prevalent use of additives, or admixtures, used to alter its chemical properties. There are five distinct categories of admixture: air-entraining, water-reducing, retarding, accelerating, and plasticizing. The presence of chemical additives has allowed for the use of secondary industrial materials in cementitious mixtures (such as slag and fly ash), thus reducing the need for virgin material extraction.

Several admixtures, sourced from BASF, were added to the concrete used for the house. MasterPolyheed 997 was used to reduce the water needed in the mix, which also increased the post-hydration strength of the concrete. Masterset AC 534 was used to accelerate its set time.

Water-Reducers

Water-reducing admixtures, as the name suggests, decrease the amount of water required for a concrete mixture to achieve a certain slump, usually by 5-10%. Because less water is used during the mixing stage, the cement-water ratio is increased, and the hardened concrete has comparatively higher compressive strength.

Accelerators

Accelerators decrease the setting time of concrete, and thus increase the rate of its strength development. While this may seem counterintuitive, accelerators are often used when concrete is being poured in cold weather, when environmental factors could potentially freeze the concrete before it is properly set. This is likely why an accelerating admixture was used in the construction of the Seattle house.

Air-Entrainers

Air-Entrainers create millions of microscopic air pockets within the concrete mixture, to allow for the expansion of water under freezing conditions and therefore prevent cracking cracks in the concrete. Similar to accelerating admixtures, air-entrainers are beneficial when concrete is being cast in cold weather. However, air-entrainment comes at a cost—for every one percent of entrained air, the compressive strength of the concrete is reduced by approximately five percent.

Retarders

Retarders are used to prolong the set time of concrete, usually in hot environments that may have an accelerating effect on the mixture. Retardation is particularly beneficial when several separate batches of concrete are to be used, such as during pavement construction. Retarders prevent the first batch of concrete from setting before the subsequent batch is poured, thus eliminating cold joints that create points of weakness. Retarders often have water-reducing properties as well.

Plasticizers

Plasticizers can be added to low-slump concrete to make it into a high-slump mixture, while simultaneously improving workability and reducing water content by up to 30 per cent. The plasticized concrete can thus be cast with little-to-no need for compaction or vibration. Fly ash, while not strictly an admixture, has somewhat of a plasticizing effect on concrete due to its smooth and spherical form, which can be analogized to ball bearings at the microscopic scale.

The United States consumes approximately 110 million tons of steel each year. More than 40 million tons is used in the construction industry.

Steel

(More to come)

steel

Helium

for welding

Total global helium production in 2011 reached approximately 184 million cubic meters. Helium demand in the US is expected to total 51.5 million cubic meters in 2016. Among the leading suppliers of helium to the US market in 2011 were Air Products and Chemicals, Linde (Germany), and Praxair.13% of helium produced is needed for welding – ca. 10 million cubic meters.

Glass

glass

1119 25th Avenue East features 316 square feet of glass in both existing as well as new windows and doors. As with most buildings, the glass used is categorized as soda-lime glass. As its name might suggest, the key ingredients of this glass, in addition to sand (SiO2), are soda, or sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), and lime, also known as calcium oxide(CaO). These are typically mixed in at specific ratios depending on the qualities of glass desired, but glass roughly consists of 67% silicon dioxide / sand, 12% sodium oxide and 10% calcium oxide by mass.

The three basic ingredients for glass have remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years, with the earliest known examples dating back to ancient Egypt (at around 3000 BC), and clear instructions for its manufacture recorded by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC. Today’s glass is much more precise in the proportioning of these ingredients, but also adds to it a host of new fluxes, stabilizers, and opacifiers. These are added to the glass mixture to increase its chemical resistance, alter its mechanical properties and to adjust its optical qualities, such as opacity or amount of refraction. Sulphates, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, iron and lead oxides are but some of the common chemicals added to modern glass. All these ingredients are mixed together in what is called a “batch”, and melted in an industrial furnace at temperatures of over 2900 °F (1600°C).

SAND

Sand

Roughly 70% glass, by mass, is essentially sand, or more specifically, silicon dioxide. Unlike the sand used in mixtures of concrete or asphalt paving, the sand required for flat glass needs to be upwards of 95% pure silicon dioxide and ideally consist of grains that are uniform in size and between 0.075mm and 1.18mm in diameter. This particular category of sand is generally referred to as industrial sand.

The industrial sand used for glass making must be of sufficient purity and of specific morphologies. The sand must contain only around 0.1% of iron oxide by mass, as any more glass would produce a greenish tint in the glass. For glass of higher optical specification than common pane glass, the iron content must be a tenth or even a hundredth less than this. Other metallic oxides in the sand might also produce other colored tints in the glass, and as such, even with purer sand, it is usually chemically washed before glass manufacture.

FLUXES

Fluxes

In general, fluxes are added to ceramic, glass or metal production to lower the melting point of the ingredients as a whole. Soda, potash, lithia and boric oxide are some of the common fluxes used in glass production to bring the melting point of the glass batch down from around 1700 °C to a much more workable 800 - 1000°C. For soda-lime glass, which includes most construction glass, the main fluxes are soda (sodium carbonate) and potash (potassium oxide).

SODA

Soda / Sodium Carbonate

Soda, also known as soda ash or sodium carbonate, serves as a fluxing agent, to lower the melting point of sand. The white, powdery substance is also used in the treatment of water, but also in an everyday household product; baking soda! Soda is typically industrially produced in the Solvay process with the reaction of concentrated brine (NaCl aq.) and ammonia, although the discovery of trona in the mid-20th century has provided a naturally occurring mineral from which to process sodium carbonate. Prior to the Solvay process, and the preceding LeBlanc process, soda, from the Arabic, was primarily produced from the boiling of ash from specific land plants or seaweed. In other words, industrial glass as we know it today would not be possible without the quantities of sodium carbonate that can be produced with the Solvay process.

POTASH

Potash

One flux commonly used in the production of glass is potash, a term that refers to several potassium compounds, though it is usually potassium carbonate that is added to glass mixtures. Whilst lesser potash is added to the glass batch than sodium, its addition can also be used to strengthen glass. With “chemically-strengthened” glass in particular, regular sodium-lime glass can be heated to an extent where it encourages ion exchange, but does not lose its molecular structure. The larger potassium ions are then able to replace the smaller sodium ions, creating compressive stress on the glass structure, thus increasing its strength.

STABILIZERS

Stabilizers

In addition to fluxes, stabilizers are added to the glass batch so as to adjust its viscosity, physical hardness and chemical resistance. Lime is the most common of stabilizers and has been in use for glass production as far back as 3500 BC.

Whilst most construction glass is soda-lime glass, there are more specialized types of glass that we might already be familiar with. Lead glass (think "crystal") and borosilicate glass (like Pyrex) both work by substituting lead and boric acid for silicon, resulting in different physical and chemical properties.

LIME

Lime

Calcium oxide is the third basic ingredient of glass and is added to increase the hardness and chemical resistance of the material. It is thought that the first pieces of man-made glass came about as a by-product of ceramics, a process which also made use of calcium carbonate in the form of ground limestone. Limestone and dolomite are the most common sources of lime, and when melted into the glass batch, release carbon dioxide to leave calcium oxide in the glass.

ALUMINUM OXIDE

Aluminum Oxide

Aluminum oxide is a stabilizer that adjusts the chemical properties of glass. When added to the batch, the aluminum oxide groupings essentially fill in the gaps in the silicon crystalline structure, leading to better chemical resistance whilst also having the benefit of increasing the viscosity of the glass at lower temperatures.

MAGNESIUM OXIDE

Often added together with lime in the form of dolomite, magnesium oxide is yet another common stabilizer added to glass. It performs a similar function to lime, with the added benefit of increasing thermal stability and melt viscosity

Magnesium Oxide

BORON OXIDE

Boron Oxide

Although primarily used in the production of optical glass, boron oxide is another stabilizer that is often added to the basic glass batch. As the number of borate producers in the United States is limited, most of the trade data related to borates is withheld to prevent loss of proprietary data. We do know, however, that most of the borate products in the United States are manufactured locally, and the two largest producers are located in Southern California.

LEAD OXIDE

Lead oxide is another compound commonly added to glass, although in carefully controlled amounts. The compound can increase the chemical resistance of glass, but too much lead lowers the melting temperature and decreases its hardness. Historically, it has seen more significant use in glass for decorative purposes, and in tableware.

Lead

Oxide

OPACIFIERS & COLORANTS

Opacifiers

Examples:

Copper Chromium Manganese Iron

Cobalt

Nickel Vanadium

Whilst not essential to the manufacture of glass, colorants or opacifiers are often added to the glass batch to produce glass of specific visual appearance. Colorants come mostly in the form of pure chemicals, more specifically the oxides of transition metals or even rare metals. These are usually added in relatively small amounts to stain the glass in hues specific to each element. Chromium and copper produce green and blue tints, whilst titanium and manganese may result in violet hues. Opacifiers adjust the transparency of the glass with fluorine or phosphate compounds. These compounds essentially form small crystals in the glass, making it appear cloudy or more opaque.

CULLET

Cullet

One important component also included in the batch is cullet, or recycled glass. Having glass of similar, or identical properties as the intended glass produced, actually reduces the energy needed to melt the batch, whilst also reducing the raw materials needed. Having cullet of similar physical and chemical properties to the intended glass also reduces physical defects during production.

This need to sort and match the optical qualities of the cullet to the right production lines, however, means that recycling for building glass is not as straightforward as that for glass bottles or other household glass.

ASSEMBLY & COATINGS

Assembly

&

Coatings

Each window is an assembly of two (or more) panes of flat glass, assembled together in what is commonly known as an Insulated Glass Unit (IGU). In manufacturing this for specific uses and performance targets, a number of specialized materials are essential.

COATINGS

Coatings

With more recent expectations for glass to perform to specific environmental standards and meet certain performance goals, these last steps are becoming increasingly complex. Sputtered layers of Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs), such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), may be applied to alter the light emissivity of the glass, or specially designed catalysts, like titanium dioxide (TiO2), might be applied to render the glass hydrophobic, and even help to break down accumulated organic matter on the glass surface.

Indium Tin Oxide

Whilst ITO is manufactured in a number of places within the United States, the majority of the raw Indium ore needed for this is imported from China. Much of this ore probably originates in Guangxi, China, where we might find the nation’s largest formation of Indium-rich ore, as well as the world’s largest processing facility (by metric weight) for Indium. In 2019, this single facility had a production capacity equals to nearly a quarter of the world’s refinery capacity for virgin indium.

Frame Assembly

In each window assembly, an insulating layer of 90% pure Argon gas is usually sandwiched between the glass panes, with a subframe of aluminum, and a frame made either of wood, vinyl, aluminum or fiberglass. Crucial to this assembly are also small amounts of specific ingredients; a system of angstrom scale desiccants (that is, to one-hundred-millionth of a centimeter) is used to remove water vapor from the insulating air layer, and the assembly is typically sealed together with either a silicon-based compound or polyisobutylene, a synthetic rubber.

FLOAT GLASS

Float Glass

Creating float or raw glass is the first step in creating the windows that end up in our house. In this process, a dry mixture of silicon dioxide, lime, soda, and other fluxes and stabilizers is created; this is often referred to as a "batch".

This glass batch is melted in an oven at temperatures of around 1650°C / 3000°F and subsequently floated over a molten tin bath, thus the name, "float glass". The molten tin is denser than the molten glass, and allows the glass to float seamlessly over its surface, creating a smooth, flat sheet.

The resultant sheet is stretched our as a ribbon and slowly cooled at controlled temperatures. Following this, the sheet is scored and cut by an automated process, allowing manufacturers like Cardinal Glass to produce a wide variety of glass sizes with a quick turnaround.

The float glass is either passed down the line for further processing, or sometimes even sold directly to a window manufacturer.

Tin

Whilst tin is not an ingredient in the manufacturing of glass, it is a vital material when production methods are considered as well. A fundamental process in the production of glass, described in a subsequent section, involves floating molten glass over a bed of molten tin. It is this process that allows us to create now ubiquitous flat panes of glass. As tin is one of the only known, economically viable materials that is denser than glass when both are in their liquid form, there is virtually no substitute for it.

TEMPERING

Tempering

In the tempering process, raw glass is reheated and cooled to strengthen it. This process is particularly important for high-performance glass or glass made for specific environments, like tornado resistant glass.

With the Cardinal Glass plant in Tomah, Wisconsin, the glass first has its edges ground down and cleaned, and each pane is laser marked for tracking. The glass is fed into one of the largest furnaces in the world (there are two at Tomah!), where it is heated and air-quenched in stages. Subsequently, the glass is laser-checked for visual consistency.

COATING

Coating

Specially engineered glass coatings are becoming increasingly common with construction glass. Some coatings allow us to alter the optical and thermal properties of glass, whilst others improve its durability.

There are many different methods used to coat glass, depending on the compound applied, but one common method is that of sputtering. Here, ionized plasma is shot onto the glass surface, depositing the desired compound onto it, after which, the glass is cut to size.

Insulating Glass

With double-, and even triple-, pane glass becoming commonplace and the standard for residential construction, most windows actually consist of a multi-layered subassembly of glass that allows for insulating layers of air.

To create an insulated glass unit (IGU), the glass is first cleaned, dried and then coated with the right sequence of compounds. Next, it is wrapped into a stainless steel or aluminum frame and bonded in place with silicon or polyisobutylene. As it is sealed, the cavity in between the glass panes is filled with an Argon or inert air mixture. The thermal performance of this insulating layer is ensured with a system of desiccants built into the subassembly.

Plastic

How much plastic is in the house?

plastic

There are many types of synthetic plastic polymers that can be found in the 1119 25th Avenue house, including: 218 cubic feet of building insulation (polyurethane), 20 feet of ABS piping (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene), 100 feet of PEX tubing (cross-linked polyethylene) and 1000 square feet of PVDF resin coating (fluoropolymer).

Plastification of Architecture

Plastics in Building and Construction

Today, petrochemical plastics are omnipresent in buildings. The construction sector, the second largest consumer of plastics behind packaging, accounts for 16 percent of plastic's total global consumption.

Plastics are now commonly used in buildings, they are typically applied skeuomorphically—or, to imitate products made from other materials. Take, for example, vinyl siding and vinyl window frames designed to resemble wood construction, or composite plastic roof tiles that mimic slate shingles. In the Seattle house the plastic tubing and pipping are an alternative to copper piping. Where as the PVDF resin coating enables the exterior sheet metal to last longer and the polyurethane foam insulation insulates the foam efficiently.

Plastics in Building and Construction

pt. 2

Plastics and plastic derivatives are finding a steadily increasing number of uses that make houses, businesses and factories more airtight, durable, water resistant and less expensive to construct, maintain and operate. Examples of plastic utility in construction include:

Roofing—Reflective, light colored roofing membranes made of vinyl or thermoplastic olefin (TPO) single-ply membranes combined with rigid polyiso board or spray polyure-thane foam underneath—offers energy savings, durability and moisture control, especially for commercial buildings in southern climates. Studies show that the surface temperature of a light covered roof is much lower than a darker one. The cooler the building, the less air conditioning is required, and therefore less energy is consumed.
Insulation—Whether it is spray polyurethane foam (SPF) in the attic or rigid foam polyiso board in the walls, polyurethane based systems offer durability, energy savings and moisture control. When used for retrofit, situations they also help reduce the amount of building waste sent to landfills. In walls, behind walls and under floors, the use of polystyrene foams can provide significant energy efficiency. For example, rigid extruded polystyrene (XPS) is a builder favorite because it can be installed easily and effectively. Structural insulated panels (SIPs) made with expanded polystyrene (EPS) can help homeowners save hundreds of dollars annually on heating and cooling bills. Savings vary by material and products.
Wall coverings—Vinyl-based materials are commonly used for durable, easy-toclean hospitality and health care facilities. Vinyl requires only half as much energy to manufacture as the same amount of paper wall coverings.
Windows—Plastics are used in some surprising ways. Polycarbonate—a material also found in eyeglasses—is used for window panes. These clear, lightweight, shatter-resistant plastic products have low thermal conductivity which can help reduce heating and cooling costs. Vinyl window frames are inherently energy efficient and save the U.S. nearly two trillion thermal units of energy per year, helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy generation—and at the same time reducing maintenance time, materials and other costs.
Piping—Plastic pipe and fittings are relatively easy to install, durable and will not rust or corrode over time. Several types of plastics are used for piping depending on the properties and performance required. Whether they are polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), they each offer excellent fusion integrity when joined properly, in turn helping to eliminate potential leak points where water could be wasted. In home building, flexible blue and red cross-linked polyethylene piping (PEX) has become a favorite of many builders for hot and cold water delivery, all managed and hooked into a central and effective manifold system. The flexibility, lightness and ease of installation allow multiple feed lines throughout a house, bringing hot water more quickly to a sink or shower and saving water.
Composite “lumber” planks and rails—Recycled plastics or plastic-wood composites are carefully engineered to virtually eliminate warpage and knots. They can outlast traditional materials, often require less maintenance and are resistant topeeling, cracking, splintering or fading. They are also eco-friendly

The US produces about 234lb (106.2kg) of plastic waste per person per year. (one barrel of oil weighs approximately 275 lbs.)

Plastic Waste

The invention of Plastic: from naturally derived to synthetic

History

While humans have been using naturally derived plastics for far longer than you may imagine. For example, medieval craftsmen made lantern windows out of translucent slices of animal horn. Horn is made of keratin - a mixed carbon-nitrogen polymer - the same stuff that skin and hair, including wool, is made of. But the history goes back further.

A millennium and a half before Christ, the Olmecs in Mexico played with balls made of another natural polymer - rubber. It was not until the 18th Century that the first European, French explorer Charles-Marie de La Condamine, stumbled upon the rubber tree in the Amazon basin.

And it was only in the 1840s that the American Charles Goodyear and the British Thomas Hancock took out patents on either side of the Atlantic for "vulcanised" rubber - treated with sulphur to make it more durable. Vulcanisation made possible the rubber tyre for the bicycle, and later the motor car (hence the Goodyear tyre company). Thomas Hancock, meanwhile, collaborated with Charles Mackintosh to make water-resistant clothing. But the story of plastics goes back earlier even than the Olmecs, in fact as long as man has been using wood. That's because about half of your average piece of wood is cellulose - a polymer that provides the tough walls of plant cells, and wood its stiffness and durability. It is the long strands of cellulose that are separated by the pulping industry, and that give paper its strength.

It was also cellulose that provided the raw material for the next great breakthrough in modern plastics - the material "Parkesine", modestly named by the British inventor Alexander Parkes, who put it on display at the 1862 international exhibition in London.

However it wasn't until 1869 that The first synthetic polymer was invented by John Wesley Hyatt, who was inspired by a New York firm’s offer of $10,000 for anyone who could provide a substitute for ivory. The growing popularity of billiards had put a strain on the supply of natural ivory, obtained through the slaughter of wild elephants. By treating cellulose, derived from cotton fiber, with camphor, Hyatt discovered a plastic that could be crafted into a variety of shapes and made to imitate natural substances like tortoiseshell, horn, linen, and ivory.

What is plastic?

Background

Plastic is derived from the Latin word plasticus and the Greek word plastikos, both meaning ‘able to be molded, pertaining to molding’. It has only recently become the term to categorize a type of synthetic or semi-synthetic material made up of organic compounds. Polymer means “of many parts,” and plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass. Plastics are mostly commonly derived from petrochemicals.

Polymers occur biologically in nature. For example, cellulose, the material that makes up the cell walls of plants, is a very common natural polymer. Over the last century and a half humans have learned how to make synthetic polymers, sometimes using natural substances like cellulose, but more often using the plentiful carbon atoms provided by petroleum and other fossil fuels. Synthetic polymers are made up of long chains of atoms, arranged in repeating units, often much longer than those found in nature. It is the length of these chains, and the patterns in which they are arrayed, that make polymers strong, lightweight, and flexible.

Fossil Fuel

Fossil fuels

Plastics are made from fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. Virtually all (over 99%) of plastics are produced from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels. While there is a wide variety in types of plastic, five kinds of plastic constitute over 90% (by weight) of all plastic produced:

• polyethylene (34.4%),

• polypropylene (24.2%),

• polyvinyl chloride (16.5%),

• polyethylene terephthalate (7.7%)

• polystyrene (7.3%).1

Ethylene is a critical feedstock for the production of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene, which combined represent approximately 65% of global plastics production by weight. Propylene is the platform chemical for polypropylene. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of plastics can be traced to the product streams of just two industrial chemicals: ethylene and propylene.

https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Fueling-Plastics-Fossils-Plastics-Petrochemical-Feedstocks.pdf

Crude Oil

Synthetic plastic comes from petrochemicals. When the source of oil beneath the surface of the Earth is identified, holes are drilled through the rocks in the ground to extract oil.

Extraction of oil - Oil is pumped from underground to the surface where tankers are used to transport the oil to the shore. Oil drilling can also take place under the ocean using support from platforms. Different size pumps can produce between 5 - 40 liters of oil per stroke.

Refining of oil - Oil is pumped through a pipeline that can be thousands of miles long and transported to an oil refiner. Spillage of oil from the pipeline during transfer can have both immediate and long-term environmental consequences but safety measures are in place to prevent and minimize this risk.

Distillation of crude oil and production of petrochemicals - Crude oil is a mixture of hundreds of hydrocarbons that also contains some solids and some gaseous hydrocarbons dissolved in it from the alkane family (mainly it is CH4 and C2H6, but it can be C3H8 or C4H10). Crude oil is first heated into a furnace then the resultant mixture is fed as a vapor to the fractional distillation tower. The fractional distillation column separates the mixture into different compartments called fractions. There exists a temperature gradient in the distillation tower where the top is cooler than the base. The mixture of liquid and vapor fractions gets separated in the tower depending on their weight and boiling point (boiling point is the temperature at which the liquid phase changes into gaseous). When the vapors evaporate and meet a liquid fraction whose temperature is below the boiling point of vapor, it partly condenses. These vapors of evaporating crude oil condense at different temperature in the tower. Vapors (gases) of the lightest fractions (gasoline and petroleum gas), flow to the top of the tower, intermediate weight liquid fractions (kerosene and diesel oil distillates), lingers in the middle, heavier liquids (called gas oils) separate lower down, while the heaviest fractions (solids) with the highest boiling points remain at the base of the tower. Each fraction in the column contains hydrocarbons with a similar number of carbon atoms, smaller molecules are towards the top and longer molecules nearer the bottom of the column. In this way, petroleum is decomposed into petroleum gas, gasoline, paraffin (kerosene), naphtha, light oil, heavy oil, etc.

After the distillation step, the obtained long chain hydrocarbons are converted into hydrocarbons that can then be turned into many important chemicals which we use for the preparation of a wide range of products applicable from plastic to pharmaceuticals.

Cracking of hydrocarbon is the main process that breaks down the mixture of complex hydrocarbons into simpler low relative molecular mass alkenes/alkanes (plus by-products) by the means of high temperature and pressure.

Cracking can be performed into two ways: Steam cracking and catalytic cracking.

Steam cracking uses high temperature and pressure to break the hydrocarbons long chains without a catalyst, whilst catalytic cracking adds a catalyst which allows the process to occur at lower temperatures and pressures.

The raw material used by the petrochemical industry is mainly naphtha and natural gas from oil refining operation in the petrochemical feedstock. Steam cracking uses the feedstocks from hydrocarbons mixture from various fractions such as reactant gases (ethane, propane or butane) from natural gas, or liquids (naphtha or gas oil).

https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/how-is-plastic-made.aspx

What is Naphtha?

Naphtha

There are different types of naphtha. It is a term used to describe a group of volatile mixtures of liquid hydrocarbons, obtained by the distillation of crude oil. It is a mixture of C5 to C10 hydrocarbons.

Naphtha is decomposed thermally at high temperature (~800 °C) in a steam cracker in presence of water vapor where it splits into light hydrocarbons known as major intermediaries. These are olefins and aromatics. Among the olefins, there is C2 (ethylene), C3 (propylene), C4 (butane and butadiene). The aromatics consist of benzene, toluene and xylene. These small molecules are linked together by into long molecular chains called polymers. When a polymer comes out of the chemical factory they it is still not in the form of plastic – they are in the form of granules or powders (or liquids). Before they can become an everyday use plastic they need to undergo a series of transformations. They are kneaded, heated, melted, and cooled into objects of various shape, size colour with precise properties according to the processing tubes.

For instance, for polymerisation of ethylene into polyethylene (PE), initiators are added to start the chain reaction, only after the formation of PE, it is sent for processing by addition of some chemicals (antioxidants and stabilisers). After which an extruder convertsn PE into strings, thereafter grinders convert it into PE pellets. Factories then melt them into final products.

https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/how-is-plastic-made.aspx

Natural Gas

Natural gas deposits are often found near oil deposits. Deposits of natural gas close to the Earth’s surface are usually dwarfed by nearby oil deposits. Deeper deposits—formed at higher temperatures and under more pressure—have more natural gas than oil. The deepest deposits can be made up of pure natural gas.

Natural gas does not have to be formed deep underground, however. It can also be formed by tiny microorganisms called methanogens. Methanogens live in the intestines of animals (including humans) and in low-oxygen areas near the surface of the Earth. Landfills, for example, are full of decomposing matter that methanogens break down into a type of methane called biogenic methane. The process of methanogens creating natural gas (methane) is called methanogenesis.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID CUPP

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/natural-gas/

Coal

World Petroleum Consumption

In 2019, the United States consumed an average of about 20.46 million barrels of petroleum per day, or a total of about 7.47 billion barrels of petroleum products. (About 22 barrels per person per year)

Plastics production accounts for about 4 percent of global oil production. That’s according to figures for 2012 (~1 barrel of oil per person per year in the production of plastic). If trends in oil consumption and plastic production continue as expected, the consumption of oil by the entire plastics sector will account for 20% of the total consumption by 2050.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=34&t=6#:~:text=Plastics%20are%20produced%20from%20natural,derived%20from%20crude%20oil%20refining.&text=Petrochemical%20feedstock%20naphtha%20and%20other,building%20blocks%20for%20making%20plastics.

Polyurethane

What is Polyurethane?

Background

Applications: Polyurethanes can be found in liquid coatings and paints, tough elastomers such as roller blade wheels, rigid insulation, soft flexible foam, elastic fiber or as an integral skin.

History and Invention: Prof. Dr. Otto Bayer (1002-1982) is recognized as the “father” of the polyurethanes industry for his invention of the basic diisocyanate polyaddition process. The origin of polyurethane dates back to the beginning of World War II, when it was first developed as a replacement for rubber. By the end of the war, polyurethane coatings were being manufactured and used on an industrial scale and could be custom formulated for specific applications.

https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/History/

How is it made?

Polyurethanes are formed by reacting a polyol (an alcohol with more than two reactive hydroxyl groups per molecule) with a diisocyanate or a polymeric isocyanate in the presence of suitable catalysts and additives. Because a variety of diisocyanates and a wide range of polyols can be used to produce polyurethane, a broad spectrum of materials can be produced to meet the needs for specific applications.

https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/How-Polyurethane-is-Made/

How is it made?

A diagram depicting the manufacturing processes used to create rigid polyurethane foam insulation.

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Polyurethane.html#ixzz6RQ7lRNdP

Polyurethane in Building and Construction

Building and Construction

Today's homes demand high-performance materials that are strong, yet lightweight; perform well, yet are easily installed; and are durable, but also versatile. Polyurethane helps conserve natural resources and helps preserve the environment by reducing energy usage. With its excellent strength-to-weight ratio, insulation properties, durability and versatility, polyurethane is frequently used in building and construction applications. Both the affordability of these versatile materials and the comfort they provide homeowners have made polyurethane components part of homes everywhere.

Polyurethane is used all over the house. In floors, flexible foam padding cushions your carpet. In the roof, reflective plastic coverings over polyurethane foam can bounce sunlight and heat away, helping the house stay cool while helping reduce energy consumption. Polyurethane building materials add design flexibility to new homes and remodeling projects. Foam-core panels offer a wide variety of colors and profiles for walls and roofs, while foam-cored entry doors and garage doors are available in different finishes and styles.

https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/Applications/

Rigid Polyurethane Foam

In the House

Rigid polyurethane and polyisocyanurate (polyiso) foams create one of the world's most popular, energy-efficient and versatile insulations. These foams can significantly cut energy costs while making commercial and residential properties more efficient and comfortable.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heating and cooling account for about 56 percent of the energy use in a typical U.S. home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes. To maintain uniform temperature and lower noise levels in homes and commercial properties, builders turn to rigid polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foam. These foams are effective insulation materials that can be used in roof and wall insulation, insulated windows, doors and air barrier sealants.

https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/Applications/

SPRAYTITE 158 Building Envelope Insulation

SPRAYTITE 158 is a two-component closed-cell spray polyurethane foam system utilizing an EPA-approved, zero ozone-depleting blowing agent. It is designed for use in residential construction insulation system applications. There is 350 SF x 7.5 inches thick of this product in the house.

SPRAYTITE 158 Building Envelope Insulation

Specs

PVDF

-(C2H2F2)n-

PVDF

What is PVDF?

Background

Applications: PVDF is a thermoplastic that expresses versatility for applications similar to other thermoplastics, particularly fluoropolymers. PVDF resin is heated and handled for use in extrusion and injection molding to produce PVDF pipes, sheets, coatings, films, and molded PVDF products, such as bulk containers.

History and Invention: DuPont Corporation invented and patented polyvinyl fluoride film in 1948. Pennwalt Chemicals acquired the rights and developed the licensing program that allowed the first widespread commercial use as a pigmented liquid coating. This coating was sold under the Kynar 500® trade name in the

mid 60’s. In the 80’s Pennwalt was acquired by Elf Atochem (now called Arkema). The Federal Trade Commission mandated that Elf divest one of its production facilities. Ausimont, USA (now Solvay Solexis) acquired it and became the second major supplier of PVDF coatings (under the trade name Hylar® 5000). Today, polyvinylidene fluoride is acknowledged as the premium resin for

exterior metal coating.

https://www.raremanufacturing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Rare-Manufacturing-What-is-PVDF.pdf

How is it produced?

How is it made?

PVDF (homopolymers and copolymers) is generally synthesized by the free radical polymerization of 1,1-difluoroethylene (CH2=CF2). The polymerization takes place in the suspension or emulsion from 10-150°C and pressure of 10-300 atm. The material obtained is then processed into film or sheets.

https://omnexus.specialchem.com/selection-guide/polyvinylidene-fluoride-pvdf-plastic#:~:text=PVDF%20(homopolymers%20and%20copolymers)%20is,processed%20into%20film%20or%20sheets.

PVDF in Building and Construction

For 50 years, 70 percent PVDF resin-based coatings have both literally and figuratively stood the test of time. Originally introduced to the market in 1965, 70 percent PVDF coatings have steadily grown to be one of the most sought after and recognized coil and extrusion coatings available. Continuous improvements to the PVDF technology have contributed to the coating’s longevity, and resulted in additional PVDF coatings, formulations and uses.

https://www.buildingenclosureonline.com/articles/85427-the-history-of-pvdf-coatings

Building and Construction

PVDF resins for coating

In the House

Introduced in 1965, 70 percent PVDF coatings have grown to be one of the most sought after coil and extrusion coatings available. Architectural coatings from different manufacturers contain similar PVDF resins, but the application and performance of the coating systems vary widely. Different coating manufacturers use different proprietary formulations. Solexis and Kynar by Arkema are two of the most recognized brands. External metal paneling all throughout the world is clad with PVDF coating.

http://www.raremanufacturing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Rare-Manufacturing-What-is-PVDF.pdf

Kynar 500 PVDF Resin

Kynar 500

PVDF Resin

Kynar 500® FSF® resin is a special grade of PVDF resin used by licensed industrial paint manufacturers as the base resin in long-life coatings for aluminum, galvanized steel, and aluminized steel. Applications include metal roofing and siding, window and door frames, curtain wall and other miscellaneous metal trim and components. There is approximately 1,000 SF of this resin coated sheet metal trim, mullion, flashing, and casing.

https://www.kynar500.com/en/product-information/kynar-500-fsf-pvdf/

Specs

https://www.kynar500.com/en/product-information/kynar-500-fsf-pvdf/specifications/

ABS

(C8H8·C4H6·C3H3N)n

ABS

What is ABS?

Background

Applications: ABS's light weight and ability to be injection molded and extruded make it useful in manufacturing products such as drain-waste-vent (DWV) pipe systems, musical instruments (recorders, plastic oboes and clarinets, and piano movements), golf club heads (because of its good shock absorbance), automotive trim components, automotive bumper bars, inhalers, nebulizers, non-absorbable sutures, tendon prostheses, drug-delivery systems tracheal tubes, enclosures for electrical and electronic assemblies, protective headgear, whitewater canoes, buffer edging for furniture and joinery panels, luggage and protective carrying cases, pen housing, small kitchen appliances, and toys, including Lego and Kre-O bricks.

History and Invention: Styrene Acrylonitrile copolymers have been available since the 1940’s and while its increased toughness over styrene made it suitable for many applications, its limitations led to the introduction of a rubber (butadiene) as a third monomer and hence was born the range of materials popularly referred to as ABS plastics. ABS was patented in 1948 and introduced to commercial markets by the Borg-Warner Corporation in 1954.

https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/polymers/ABS_and_Other_Specialist_Styrenics.aspx

https://www.britannica.com/science/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-copolymer

How is it produced?

How is it made?

ABS stands for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. ABS is an impact-resistant engineering thermoplastic & amorphous polymer. ABS is made up of three monomers: acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene:

Acrylonitrile: It is a synthetic monomer produced from propylene and ammonia. This component contributes to ABS chemical resistance & heat stability

Butadiene: It is produced as a by-product of ethylene production from steam crackers. This component delivers toughness & impact strength to ABS polymer

Styrene: It is manufactured by dehydrogenation of ethyl benzene. It provides rigidity & processability to ABS plastic

https://omnexus.specialchem.com/selection-guide/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs-plastic#production

ABS-DWV (drain-waste-vent)

ABS pipe and fittings were originally developed in the early 1950s for use in oil fields and the chemical industry. In 1959, John F. Long, a prominent Arizona builder, used ABS pipe in an experimental residence. Twenty-five years later, an independent research firm dug up and analyzed a section of the drain pipe. The result: no evidence of rot, rust or corrosion. ASTM standard for ABS-DWV pipe and fittings was originally approved in 1967. There is approximately 200 ftof 4 in diamter pipe in the house.

https://www.ppfahome.org/page/abs

In the House

Charlotte

Pipe

PEX (Cross-linked polyethylene)

PEX

What is PEX?

Background

Applications: Cross-linked polyethylene, commonly abbreviated PEX, XPE or XLPE, is a form of polyethylene with cross-links. It is used predominantly in building services pipework systems, hydronic radiant heating and cooling systems, domestic water piping, and insulation for high tension (high voltage) electrical cables. It is also used for natural gas and offshore oil applications, chemical transportation, and transportation of sewage and slurries. PEX is an alternative to polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) or copper tubing for use as residential water pipes.

History and Invention: PEX is polyethylene molecules chemically linked with each other to form a network. Engineers at BASF in Germany were experimenting making PEX both through use of peroxides and by exposing PE samples to radiation in the early 1960's. Thomas Engel is credited to start the first production of PEX tubing in the late 1960's.

https://www.pmmag.com/articles/102114-tech-topic-pex

How is it produced?

How is it made?

PEX tubing is made from crosslinked HDPE (high density polyethylene) polymer. The HDPE is melted and continuously extruded into tube. The crosslinking of the HDPE is accomplished in one of three different methods.

Crosslinking is a chemical reaction that occurs between polyethylene polymer chains. Crosslinking causes the HDPE to become stronger and resistant to cold temperature cracking or brittleness on impact while retaining its flexibility. The three methods of crosslinking HDPE are the Engels method (PEX-a), the Silane Method (PEX-b), and the Radiation method (PEX-c). Several industry participants claim that the PEX-a method yield more flexible tubing than the other methods. All three types of PEX tubing meet the ASTM, NSF and CSA standards.

http://www.pexinfo.com/

PEX Plumbing

In the House

PEX (or crosslinked polyethylene) is part of a water supply piping system that has several advantages over metal pipe (copper, iron, lead) or rigid plastic pipe (PVC, CPVC, ABS) systems. It is flexible, resistant to scale and chlorine, doesn't corrode or develop pinholes, is faster to install than metal or rigid plastic, and has fewer connections and fittings.

PEX plumbing has been in use in Europe since about 1970, and was introduced in the U.S. around 1980. The use of PEX has been increasing ever since, replacing copper pipe in many applications, especially radiant heating systems installed in the slab under floors or walkways. Interest in PEX for hot and cold water plumbing has increased recently in the United States.

http://www.pexinfo.com/

Plumber's Choice

Wood

wood

Wood is a primary ingredient of the Deconstructed House. It made its way to the house in three forms, lumber in the house structure, plywood in its partitions, and aggregated in its parquet flooring.

The lumber and plywood are mainly made of Douglas Fir coming from Washington State, while the parquet White Oak is sourced in Germany and processed in Indonesia.

Parquet

Parquet is derived from the French term “parquetry,” meaning “small pieces, small compartment.” Timber contrasting in color and grain, such as oak, walnut, cherry, maple, etc. are often employed to enhance the designs.

parquet

Parquet Composition

Wood | Parquet | Flooring

parquet composition

Historically, parquet floors consisted of pieces of plain wood that were installed on concrete or hot bitumen and then hand-leveled by artisans on-site. Improvements in wood product manufacturing and discoveries in resins and polymer adhesive allowed for greater standardization of the wood pieces and more efficient assembling techniques. As labor cost increased in the West, such pre-manufactured pieces allowed for a sharp reduction in on-site work. Nowadays, due to the explosion of parquet demand, the rarity of precious hardwoods and to prevent further deforestation, it is rare to find parquet floors assembled from plain wood pieces. Instead, as it is the case in the Deconstructed House, the top -white oak- layer represents only 10% of the parquet thickness. The rest is a filling composed of crushed wood coming from fast-growing trees such as Sengon or Rubberwood.

The white oak is sourced in Germany, shipped to Indonesia where the filling wood is grown, the parquet manufactured, and shipped to the US.

Parquet History

parquet history

Parquet floors were first developed in France in the 1600s as an alternative to the expensive and hard to maintain marble flooring. Stone finished floors indeed required recurrent water treatment that tended to rot the underlying wood framework joins.

Parquet became the epitome of elegance in institutions buildings and manor houses in the 1680s when Louis the XIV installed exceptional parquet designs in his Versailles palace. That, indeed, sparked a trend in Europe and beyond, and for centuries onwards, parquet, representing excellent and careful craftsmanship, remained a true symbol of luxury and opulence.

With the garment boom of the 1930s, however, and subsequent industrialization of carpet flooring, parquet fell out of vogue and went into sharp decline. Many got covered-up, hidden, forgotten, until the end of the last century marked a turning point in which a plethora of parquet floors was unveiled and restored, and regained their popularity as a vintage and timeless flooring option.

Les Raboteurs de Parquet - Gustave Caillebotte (1876)

Platform Frame

lumber

The Platform-Framing method used in the Deconstructed House descended from its older sister, the Balloon-Framing, who was first introduced in the 1830s in the region of Chicago, Illinois. The latter requires a large number of thin wood elements, generally standard 2x4 lumber, but promises a straightforward assembly process. This method boomed in areas rich in softwood forests such as the United States or Canada, but that yet lacked a critical mass of skilled builders to house its new settlers.

Once widespread, when long lumber was plentiful, Balloon-Framing has been largely replaced by Platform-Framing. Based on the same principle of “studs” nailed together to form a sturdy, light skeleton, Platform-Framing requires shorter elements as each only run from the sill plate to the top plate, with intermediate floor structures let into and nailed to them.

Plywood

plywood

Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneers that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. Such an assembly process makes plywood stiff enough to replace plain wood sheets that are sturdier but harder to source.

Every year, the US produces ca. 750 million cubic feet of Plywood. Reported to a height of one foot, that equals 27 square miles, or the size of a small city.

Wood | Plywood | Wall Partition

Plywood Composition

plywood composition

If plywood can be made from hardwoods, softwoods, or a combination of the two, in the United States, it is most commonly assembled from Douglas fir. Such softwood trees, growing mostly in the Western part of the continent, from Canada to the Mountain of Mexico, are by far the most common species in the USA by volume: accounting for 12.8% of the total volume (2002), nearly twice as much as any other species. A significant reason is the Douglas fir rapid growth, with full growth in 50 to 80 years, out producing most other species in North America.

The thin layers of wood are then glued together with a resin, often urea-formaldehyde (UF), produced from urea, an organic compound found in mammals' urine, and formaldehyde, which is a naturally occurring gas. Their combination produces UF, a non-transparent polymer that accounts for up to 80% of thermosetting resins produced globally.

Wood | Plywood | Wall Partition

Plywood History

plywood history

If plywood has a rather recent history, the use of such thin layers of wood as a means of fabrication dates back to fine furniture craftsmanship in Ancient Egypt (1500 B.C). Greeks and Romans decorative arts also refined the same technique until it was eventually coined veneering in the 1600s.

Plywood, as load-bearing and standalone material, was invented in 1797 by engineer Sir Samuel Bentham. Mainly recognized for developing machines to produce veneers industrially, Bentham is also acknowledged to describe the process of laminating several layers of veneer with glue to form a thicker and more robust piece.

Nevertheless, plywood continued to be used solely in furniture-making until the transportation boom of the 1890s and its applications in doors-production for railroad cars, buses, and airplanes. However, being considered a cheap material and referred to as "pasted wood" by the craftsmanship world, its applications in the decorative arts diminished, and new potentials for the materials were explored.

In 1928, the first standard-sized 4 ft by 8 ft (1.2 m by 2.4 m) plywood sheets were introduced in the United States for use as a general building material. In the following decades, improved adhesives and new methods of production allowed plywood to be used for a wide variety of applications. Today, plywood has replaced cut lumber for many construction purposes, has become a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry, and its standard 4ftx8ft measurement now dictates the size and dimensions of many houses produced today.

Wood Veneer used in Ancien Egypt

Ceramic (Tile)

sheetrock

+ ceramic

The list of chemical compounds that constitutes “ceramic” is quite similar to that of portland cement, although the ratios of each ingredient vary significantly. Ceramic is composed primarily of silicon dioxide from clay (66%), with smaller amounts of calcium oxide (lime) and aluminum oxide, as well as under 4% each of iron oxide, magnesium oxide, and potassium oxide. The manufacturing process of tile is as follows:

1. Batching - This involves determining the exact body composition of the tile (the color will change accordingly

2. Mixing and grinding - Using a ribbon/shell/cylindrical mixer, the particles are mixed together to produce a fine grain-like composition (dry milling). In the case of wet milling, water is added to the mixture to allow for an even finer grain, which produces a mixture called slip/slurry. Water is subsequently removed through filter pressing.

3. Spray drying - If the mixture is dry, the next step is granulation, which uses a machine to mix dry-ground material with water, which again forms a powder ready for forming. If the mixture is wet, then an atomizer is used to dry the slip through a rising hot air column, which forms small, free flowing granules.

4. Forming - Dry-pressing is used to compress the free-flowing powder in a steel cavity by steel plungers.

5. Drying - Drying can take days, and can be accomplished through several methods, depending on the morphology of the desired tile, e.g. infrared drying (thin tile), microwave drying (thicker tile), or impulse drying.

6. Glazing - There are also various glazing methods: centrifugal, spray-on, dry-glazing, etc.

7. Firing - During this final stage, the tile must be heated intensely to strengthen it and give it the desired porosity. Firing takes place in a kiln, which takes 2-3 days at a temperature of roughly 1,300 degrees °C.

Sheetrock

Sheetrock, or drywall, as it is more generally known, is a gypsum-based panel often used to face interior walls and ceilings. While the exact quantity of drywall used in the Seattle house is unknown, it can be reasonably assumed that drywall covers every interior surface, given that the house employs wood-frame construction.

Upon extraction, raw gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) is transported to a manufacturing facility and combined with starch, paper pulp, thickening agents, and water. Other additives, such as accelerators, retarders, and agents to increase fire resistance, are added at this stage as well. The mixture is then blended to create a plaster-like substance, and sandwiched between two sheets of stiff paper. It is then dried in a heated drying chamber until stiff enough to use as a construction material.

ISSUES

Fly Ash

The lightweight nature of fly ash particulates makes them highly conducive to becoming air pollutants, and requires fly ash to be disposed of in a specific manner. Coal ash containment ponds are a type of landfill used to prevent coal ash, classified as a Coal Combustion Residual (CCR), from polluting the air. The ash is mixed with water to minimize its release into the atmosphere. The United States currently has 1400 ash dumps—a combination of landfills and ponds—all over the country. Several disastrous ash spills have occurred as a result of this disposal method, such as the 2014 spill into the Dan River from a nearby Duke Energy facility. 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of wastewater were released into the Dan River due to a burst drainage pipe at the plant’s containment pond.

Fly Ash

Concrete Industry

The concrete industry is responsible for 6-10% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, the majority of which occur during the portland cement manufacturing process. Around 40% of these emissions are produced due to the burning of fossil fuels required to operate cement plants, while 60% are the product of chemical reactions during the manufacturing process, such as the heating of limestone to produce lime. For every tonne of cement produced today, approximately 900kg of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

Ironically, while the majority of concrete’s carbon emissions occur during the processing stage, most of the monetary cost of concrete comes from the transportation of raw ingredients from the sites of extraction/processing to the sites of retail/consumption, given their status as low-value, high-volume commodities.

Bauxite Residue

https://aluminiuminsider.com/red-mud-addressing-the-problem/

Fracking Sand

Frac Sand

In hydraulic fracturing, a mixture of sand, water and chemicals is injected into horizontal channels drilled deep underground. This mixture is forced into existing fissures, forcing oil up to the surface, with the sand holding open these fissures in the shale. The rigor of this process puts exacting demands on the sand used, with the sand needing to be of a certain coarseness, toughness and shape; it is considerably rarer than common construction sand.

To extract this sand, companies must first remove the “overburden”, or the topsoil over the sand deposit, before proceeding with a combination of machinery and blasting. The sand then needs to be washed, dried and sorted, before it is stockpiled in large heaps to await transport. The pace of this extraction has largely been in pace with the demand for oil and increased frac mining, often bringing into conflict the companies that are on the search for new lands to mine and the existing farming communities that rely upon the land.

One of the prominent environmental risks that come from frac sand mining is the enormous amounts of silica dust kicked up into the air in this process. Whilst facilities often have strict air standards within areas of operation, the issue of silica dust drifting off onto nearby farmland and into nearby homes have raised concerns about its impact on crops as well as public health.

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/fracking-rural-wisconsin/

SAND

Industrial Sand

(C31H34O11)n.

(ligin)

Petroleum

Petroleum’s chemical composition is based on hydrocarbons. The ingredients found in petroleum are 13% (weight) of hydrogen, 85% (weight) carbon, 0.5% of nitrogen, 0.5% sulfur, 1% of oxygen and metals such as nickel, copper and iron. All these components are also found in the original composition of algae, plants and bacteria. However, the chemical composition of artificially extracted oil can have a larger variation of its ingredients. Light oils may be composed of 97% hydrocarbons, while heavy oils may contain up to 50 % hydrocarbons. Process of refining the oil is inevitable in order to make any petroleum based products.

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

(https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/petroleum/#:~:text=Petroleum%2C%20also%20called%20crude%20oil,plants%2C%20algae%2C%20and%20bacteria)

C8H18,

Oil

Limestone

The majority of the world’s surface seawater is supersaturated with calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which is extracted by ocean-dwelling organisms, including corals, cephalopods, and sponges, to construct calcareous shells and exoskeletons. In some cases, calcium carbonate is also precipitated as a result of metabolic and excretive processes. Both instances of CaCO3 accumulate at the bottom of shallow, non-turbulent marine waters, such as those off the coast of Texada Island, and these deposits are compacted over the course of hundreds of millions of years under their own accumulated weight. Cement crystals, either calcite or aragonite, further precipitate within the pore spaces of the compacted calcium carbonate, lithifying the calcareous sediment into limestone. The limestone deposits found within Texada Island’s Blubber Bay quarry can be traced back 237-247 million years to the middle Triassic era. These deposits constitute over 99% calcium carbonate, making them ideal for cement production.

Clay

Clay, like limestone, is a sedimentary rock, however it is defined primarily by its particle size (<2 microns) rather than its chemical composition. Clay is formed through a gradual chemical weathering of silicate-bearing rocks by low concentrations of carbonic acid present in rain, river water, or sea water. The lightweight sediment particles are carried by water currents and deposited onto continental slopes. An instance of this is the Sumas Mountain on the west coast of Canada, which has been identified as the probable source for clay used in the Seattle house.

Gypsum

Sand and Gravel

Sand + Gravel

Sand and gravel are the primary aggregates in the concrete used for the house. Some sand, such as the quartz-based sand which constitutes most North American beaches, is formed when rocks break down from weathering and eroding over thousands, or even millions, of years. The rocks travel down rivers and streams, breaking down along the way. Upon reaching the ocean, they are further eroded through the movement of waves and tides. The sand used in the house, however, is likely found in the Cascade Quarry in the form of sandstone. Sandstone is formed when sand resulting from the aforementioned erosion process is compacted by the pressure of overlying deposits, and becomes cemented by the precipitation of minerals such as clay and silica in the spaces between sand grains.

Similar to sand, gravel is formed from rocks as a consequence of the erosive action of rivers, whose movement leads to the accumulation of these eroded rocks into large piles, often found in streams and riverbeds. Naturally-formed gravel, however, makes up only a small fraction of that which is used across the United States. The majority of US gravel, most likely including the gravel used in the house, is artificially formed through the crushing of quarried stone such as sandstone, limestone, or basalt.

Mireille Mazard is discussing n Nusu animism as practiced in villages in southwest China. See: Mireille Mazard, “The Algebra of Souls: Ontological Multiplicity and the Transformation of Animism in Southwest China,” Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 60, No. 1, (2016), pp. 18-36. Mazard received her doctorate in anthropology in 2011 from the University of Cambridge. Since then she has taught anthropology and gender studies in Pnom Penh, Cambodia, and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mireille Mazard

Thoughts:

Mireille Mazard

“Rather than being a [normative] monadic individual, or even a relational dividual, a person can, under certain conditions, evince different aspects of the self, with multiple ontological identities. Seen from another perspective, ontologically different persons can converge into one identity. …An algebraic equation, static on the page, illustrates the movement and transformation of terms. Nusu personhood is reckoned complexly, as in algebra. Some of its attributes remain unknown or possibly in flux, while ontological shifts may bring unresolved elements to the fore.”

"The 'algebra of souls' describes a socio-cosmic order in which personhood is subject to plurality and fragmentation. Unknown aspects continuously emerge from and propel the person throughout her or his lifetime, engaging visible and invisible aspects of self."

WHAT IF ONE REPLACED 'PERSONHOOD' WITH 'CHEMICALHOOD'

The 'algebra of souls' describes a socio-cosmic order in which chemicalhood is subject to plurality and fragmentation. Unknown aspects continuously emerge from and propel the 'chemical' throughout its lifetime, engaging visible and invisible aspects of self.

Ovid

Thoughts:

Ovid

“There is nothing in all the world that keeps its form. All things are in a state of flux, and everything is brought into being with a changing nature."

Ovid, Metamorphosis (Ca. 100 BCE – 1 AD)

Indium

Labor

LABORS

Even a small building like this places a huge amount of human bodies into motion.

The composition and embodied energy of the house is as much its material as it is its labor. Behind every material there are several processes. And behind every process, there are bodies. Labor. Workers. Legal. Illegal.

Here, we show that the work undertaken to build a house consists of much more than just the architect sitting behind their desk at an office and the construction workers at the site. Labor begins much before the architect draws the first line - it begins with the extraction of the raw materials used to manufacture the products that will eventually create the house. The harvesting of timber, the mining of aggregate, the drilling of oil, the extraction of sand. After the extraction of raw materials, the complexity of labor practices multiplies amongst the transportation and manufacturing processes required to transform raw earthen ingredients into the finished product to be used in the building. At some point along these practices, the architect enters the timeline, collapsing the labor output of thousands into a single design, a house for two. The labor of architectural design takes many months, and the product of this labor is less physical than that produced by the labor processes that come before and after the architect.

Recent changes that have had a profound impact - and empowered - a small firm like this are:

The architect's office of 4 people stands in stark contrast to the pluralities of labor that make the design even possible. Because of computers, and the global neworking of almost all facests of the contruction industry, the small office can achieve a much high degree of efficiency than it could even ten years ago.

Construction labor: prepares the building for occupancy, starting with the land surveyor and ending with the landscaper.

Design labor: interfaces between the building industries, the client, the city, and the construction people.

The introduction of CAD in the small architectural offices beginning the 1990s has made the house possible.

Transportation labor: A simple house like this requires a vast transportation network that moves and ships, flies, trucks material from various parts of the world to the factories and ultimately to the house.

The emergence of the shipping industry beginning in the 1980s has made this house possible.

Off-site labor: a) custom-ordered material needed for this specific job. Different industries require different number of bodies

b) pre-made, pre-assembled or manufactured goods that are available for use.

In the last decades, the reduction of bodies in factories has made the house possible

Background labor: the foundation of much of the labor involved in the house is invisible to even the construction industry. It includes miners, undocumented laborers and support labor of all sorts.

The cheapening of labor around the globe has made this house possible

Proportions

of Labor

Extraction Labor

Material Sourcing and Extraction

extraction

The beginning of the story is always the part we know least about. We understand where the raw materials come from, but how exactly are they extracted from their sources? How many people does it take to harvest the amount of sand and aggregate required for a concrete foundation? What are the lives of these laborers? The extraction stage of the material lifespan is the most hidden when it comes to labor stories. We don’t know, not because we don’t care, but because it is most internally obscure.

Wood

The sourcing of the wood for this house involved the harvesting of douglas fir and white oak trees, in forests in Washington State and Germany, respectively. This labor process involves the marking of the trees, cutting them down, and transferring them to the lumber yard.

The lamination of the plywood also required the use of glue, which is a material sourced through the extraction of crude oil. The number of laborers required for the extraction of crude oil is approximately 500.

Wood

Wood Labor

Wood

Labor

Forestry practices and wood uses are as old as Homo Sapien's cognitive revolution, tens of thousands of years ago. Techniques and labor associated with wood significantly differ depending on which purpose the material is used for, when in time does the story occur, and where it is situated. In that sense, no single story of wood labor and practices can pretend to encompass millennia of cultures and craftsmanship.

In this study, we will mainly detail the ways in which humans and machines work together in the late-capitalist economy that harvested, manufactured, and shipped wood products, to give birth to the deconstructed house.

Germany

XYZ

N/A

Washington State

It is a rather lengthy process, and a multi-disciplinary effort that brings the wood from a standing tree at the logging site to a finished wood lumber. In Washington State, these steps can usually be broken down as follows.

On the ground, it often starts with a forester identifying and marking trees that are selected for harvest. An arborist then takes care of bringing them down, using primarily manual chainsaws. Most often, a bulldozer operator is called to create an access road so that a tractor driver can extract the trees.

After being trucked to the processing facilities, the trunks are first debarked, using water jets. Preliminary cuts are perpetuated on a chain conveyor and secondary ones with bucking saws. More refined operations are then carried with head-rig saws and band-saws. Once cut, the wood is fast dried using kiln baths and presses, after which final finishing operations are perpetrated with planar tools. Ultimately, lumbers are visually and laser checked for any errors, in order to qualify for grade-stamping, which is the final step before being shipped either to construction sites or engineered-wood facilities.

TEKA Parquet

Teka is a manufacturer of engineered wood flooring located on the Island of Java in Indonesia, led by the engineer, Daniel Handoyo.

In flooring production, handcrafting is an essential element, and Javanese people are very dextrous. Almost all the workforce lives locally, and most are long-term employees making training more effective and worthwhile.

Indonesia

Indigenous Peoples Losing Their Forests In Indonesia

Issues

The Indonesian government is failing to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples who have lost their traditional forests and livelihoods to deforestation in West Kalimantan and Jambi provinces. Loss of forest occurs on a massive scale and not only harms local Indigenous peoples but is also associated with global climate change.

A complex web of domestic and international companies is involved in manufacturing ingredients, and finally using these ingredients to produce consumer products sold around the globe –everything from biodiesel blends to frozen pizzas, chocolate and hazelnut spreads, cookies, and margarine, to the manufacturing of numerous wood products, lotions and creams, soaps, makeup, candles, and detergent.

Deforestation in Indonesia has had a devastating impact on the rights of two Indigenous peoples: the Ibans, a subgroup of the Dayak peoples indigenous to Borneo (Kalimantan), and the Orang Rimba, a semi-nomadic, forest-dependent Indigenous people in central Sumatra. In both communities, women experienced distinct losses in passing on intergenerational knowledge and skills, such as weaving mats and baskets made from forest products. Several Indigenous women also said they had lost sources of supplemental income.

Deforestation on such a massive scale threatens not only the wellbeing and culture of the Indigenous populations but also has global significance associated with climate change.

Concrete

The materials used to produce concrete are harvested by open pit mining. The sand and small aggregate used to produce the concrete for this project were sourced by CalPortland Cascade Quarry in Gold Bar, Washington. The quarry itself is situated on 128 acres estimated to contain more than 50 million tons of aggregate reserves. While the total number of laborers employed by CalPortland is reportedly between 1,000-5,000, the number of laborers required for the mining extraction processes is obscure.

Glass

The sourcing and labor related to glass production is centered around the operations of Cardinal Glass in Wisconsin. Most of the primary ingredients are available from mines either in the state, or within an accessible distance by rail or road.

The industrial sand used in the house was sourced from the Fairmount and Cardinal Glass mine in Menomenie, Wisconsin. Fairmount Santrol employs over 135 people in Wisconsin alone, with an estimated 26 employees at the Menomenie site. At this open pit site, workers use a mix of drilling, blasting and mechanical mining to remove sand from surface deposit for processing. Technicians operate a series of attrition scrubbers and sifters to control for sand quality, whilst industrial magnets are used to remove iron in the sorting process. The sand is then moved to the nearby Union Pacific Railroad for transportation, or in the case of Cardinal Glass, probably straight to the factory in Menomenie.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

Ceramic

Plastic

crude oil extraction labor

Plastic

The plastic used in the house originated from fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. Tracing the source of the raw materials that go into plastic is very opaque. The petroleum oil used in the 1119 25th Avenue house could have come from all over the world, and was likely to come from any combination of three primary sources of the oil: Brent Crude, West Texas Intermediate and Dubai-Oman. Each of these companies employ thousands of people all over the world.

We know, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that in 2018, 145k people across the US were employed in oil and gas extraction Industry. We do not know how many are employed by the industry on a global scale.

Of the total oil supply, only about 8-10% is currently used to produce plastic.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee age is 43.7. It is a male dominant with 99.4k male workforce and 27.9k female workforce. The estimated job growth (10 years projection) is measured to be -1.2%.

https://datausa.io/profile/naics/oil-gas-extraction#growth

https://www.oilfieldjobshop.com/articles/different-types-oilfield-jobs-oil-rig-hierarchy/

untold stories oil rig labor

Labor on an oil rig is extremely hierarchical. The offshore installation manager is at the top, with 3 supervisors under them, and 4 leads under them. Then a series of workers organized by levels 2-5, 5 being the lowest. These hierarchies are also evidenced to be racialized. Take the story of Eugenio, an Equatoguinean oil rig worker kept indefinitely at the level of “trainee.” When a new (white) South African worker joined the crew, Eugenio was the one to train the new arrival. Six months later, the South African became Eugenio’s boss, while Eugenio maintained his status as "trainee."

“Even when two workers do the same job, they are often categorized, paid and scheduled according to their nationality.”

Licit Life of Capitalism: US Oil in Equatorial Guinea, Hannah Appel

Steel

Manufacturing Labor

Raw material to final product

manufacturing

The manufacturing phase of the labor story is also opaque. We know that after the raw materials have been extracted from the earth, they are transported to manufacturing plants to be processed into finished goods. The labor behind these processes is extremely varied and is scattered across skill and education levels. It takes on a variety of appearances, from laboratory research, to robotic operation, to heavy lifting. How many different kinds of labor does it take for a material to go from raw substance to final product? How many laborers are at each stage of the process? What are their stories? Manufacturing labor covers such a broad range of work, the stories easily remain uncovered in such a large field.

Wood

The labor involved in the processing of wood to become dimensional lumber and flooring planks involves many steps, and includes both manual labor and machining. First, the tree must be debarked using a water jet. The wood is then softened in a hot bath, then peeled with a lathe, screened for optimal quality, and dried with a high-velocity heated air dryer. To make plywood, thin sheets are glued together in a semi-automatic gluing process, pressed on a multiple-opening hot press, given a final sawing and sanding on belt sanders, and stamped and stored. The douglas fir plywood used in the house was manufactured in the Plywood Supply INC lumber yard, which employs a total of about 100 laborers.

Concrete

Glass

There are five different manufacturing groups involved in the production of all the glass products used in the 1119 25th Avenue house. First, the industrial sand mined in Menomenie, Wisconsin is then moved to the factory in Menomenie for the production of float glass, which is the basic glass used in all glass assemblies. From there, the float glass is taken to coating and insulated glass facilities. Once coated and/or insulated, the glass sheets are distributed to window, door, and skylight assembly facilities to produce the final products that go into the house.

Glass

flow of labor

Float Glass: Cardinal Glass

The Float Glass facility in Menomenie is one of around three in the country owned by Cardinal Glass, and employs just over 200 staff in a range of jobs, including glass and production technicians, inventory coordinators and administrative staff. The process begins with large, natural gas-fired furnaces, where workers feed in the glass batch for it to be melted and made into large flat sheets of glass. Following this, the workers on the production line work in tandem with highly automated machinery to cut the raw glass down to the required size before packing and shipping it out to window manufacturers or down the line for further processing. Whilst the factory is in production during the week, the furnaces are actually run 24/7 as it is more economical and practical to keep them running at operational temperatures. Hourly wages start at around $16.25, with expected wages anywhere between $22,000 - $44,000 a year for most non-management jobs.

float glass

Ceramic

Plastic

Steel

Design & Construction

design & construction

We now enter the final (and perhaps most known) phase of the human labor story: design & construction. This is where the “architect” comes in. But also 39 other workers that are often forgotten. In 13 months, the house went from design to completion. Here, you can see that the architects and contractor are the first people to enter the story. For the first 6 months, these two entities work hand in hand, trying to find the right fabricators and workers for the job.

After 6 months of drawing, re-drawing, and surveying the site, construction begins. In this story, construction lasted a mere 7 months, with many workers coming and going along the way. Towards the end, the landscaper, carpenter, architect and contractor are the last ones on the site. And in May 2019, the residential renovation was finally completed.

Design

design

Design represents the total work that was conducted prior to construction, and consists of 18% of the total number of hours works on this house. While architects are generally thought of as the largest players, there are many other people involved that begin to have influence over the project long before construction has started. Surveyors analyze the topography, and the geotech inspector assesses the integrity of the soil. During this time, the architects are continuously working on drawings and details, obtaining permits with the city of Seattle, and working towards a finished design that can being construction.

Architects

Number of people: 4

Number of people: 2

Time spent: 160 hours

Location: On-site

The landscaper is one of the last people to complete their job on construction. In order to complete their job, the construction site must be cleared.

THE CAD REVOLUTION

CAD

Virtually no building product, electronic component or system is designed today in the US without the use of CAD systems. The decade of the 1980s was perhaps the most significant period regarding the evolution of the CAD industry. Back then a CAD systems sold for about $125,000 or the equivalent to over $300,000 today. Today Autodesk’s Inventor Professional software for PC sells for less than $10,000. This has allowed small firms to be more competitive, but also allows them to cut down on thir own labor costs

POST 1980S TRANSPORTATION CONSOLIDATION

Transportation

In June 1980, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Motor Carrier Act. Operating authority was deregulated, and carriers could serve any area in the United States. Prior to deregulation, the percentage of transportation cost to the total cost of manufacturing and delivering goods was much higher than it is today—perhaps 50 to 75 percent higher. As in other industries, here too there was a consolidation of firms into large global networks. The integration of land, sea and air with digital technologies as with UPS created an ever small planet.

https://www.strategicsourceror.com/2019/06/logistics-series-blog-2-global-economy.html

ROBOTS AND THE CRISIS OF LABOR

Robotic labor

https://www.robotics.org/blog-article.cfm/Construction-Robots-Will-Change-the-Industry-Forever/93

CONSOLIDATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES

Construction Industry

Consolidation

One of the least discussed and researched aspect of architecture since the 1980s is the consolidation of the construction industries.

Concrete, steel, paint, but also the chemical industry came to be dominated by fewer and few corporations. The benefits were greater emphasis on research and development as well as cheaper products. But given the emphasis on profit, environmental questions were suppressed or ignored..

Regarding the steel sector, it was estimated that the top ten steel producers represented about 30% of global production. Only three to four players produce more than 80 million tons, and rest five or six produce between 40 to 50 million tons.

[https://www.thecasecentre.org/main/products/view?id=84008]

Jason W. Moore

Jason W. Moore teaches world-ecology at Binghamton University, where he is professor of sociology. He is the author or editor of Capitalism in the Web of Life (2015) and A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things (2017) with Raj Patel.

“Capitalism makes nature and the web of life makes capitalism.”

"Capitalism works, not because it does terrible things to natures (it does), but because it has been successful at mobilising and appropriating manifold natures for free or low cost."

“Cheap Nature has never been a bargain. Cheapness is violence; it grows from the barrel of a gun. It’s an utterly irrational system of rationality, one premised on mobilising the work of all natures – humans included – for free, or for as close to free as possible. That’s crucial because capitalism is everything that an efficient system is not. Capitalism’s prodigious waste

of life and limb is fundamental to its logic.”

“How do the practical matters of domination facilitate the practical matters of exploitation, and vice versa?”

Thoughts by

Jason Moore

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

STATEMENT 3:

We have not strived to maximize the information that is available, which is infinite, but to assemble a slice of that information that is wide enough to challenge narrowly defined disciplinary limits, but not too large as to be lost into the abyss of an encyclopedia. Our objective is to defamiliarize the house, not to over-code it with information.

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY: 3

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY: 4

STATEMENT 4:

We think we are designers, authors of note, with agency. But our agency is truly circumscribed, emplaced and enabled by a complex pre-history that stretches millions of years, engages a quadrivium of industrial processes, complex social and civilizational forces and puts the earth into play in ways that are well beyond our comprehension. Architectural agency is very circumscribed chimera, powerful in some respects, and deeply indebted and weighted in others.

Atoms

PHOTOSYNTHESIS HORIZON

VOLCANIC EARTH HORIZON

ATOMS

Long before compounds are manufactured into things useable by the humans, all the atoms and their associated compounds were manufactured in three places:

ON THE PHOTOSYNTHETIC SURFACE OF THE EARTH (BOTANY): The first land plants appeared around 470 million years ago. This is source of the various rubbers, but also of the woods that were used in the house.

(0 - 150 years: 470 million years ago)

ON EARTH (BIO-GEOLOGY): This is source of various compounds created through heat and compression: like magnesium ore, silicone, and oil. Most of the components of steel, glass and concrete were fabricated in this time-space continuum.

(0- 4.5 billion years ago)

IN THE UNIVERSE (ASTROPHYSICS): .The Big Bang is 13.7 billion years ago. The source of all metal in the house happened a billion years later with the first super nova explosion. All steel carries with it the memory of a supernova explosion somewhere in the universe.

(4.5 billion to 12 billion years ago)

SUPERNOVA HORIZON

BIG BANG

Thoughts:Karen Barad

Karen Barad's theory of agential realism holds that the universe comprises phenomena, which are "the ontological inseparability of intra-acting agencies.” Along similar lines, architecture is not separated from humans and non-humans, ‘organic’ material (like wood) from ‘inorganic material (like metal) but part of a field that is 'material-discursive'. Barad takes her inspiration from physicist Niels Bohr, one of the founders of quantum physics. Barad's agential realism is at once an epistemology (theory of knowing), an ontology (theory of being), and an ethics. For this, Barad employs the term onto-epistemology. Because specific practices of mattering have ethical consequences, excluding other kinds of mattering, onto-epistemological practices are always in turn onto-ethico-epistemological.

Karen Barad. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press 2007).

The beginnings of

the universe

THE UNIVERSE

In the early minutes of the universe, the only atoms present were hydrogen, helium and some lithium. This minority of elements lasted until 400000 years after the Big Bang where radiation was too high for atoms to stabilize. At this point the three elements could produce High-Mass stars that could synthesize heavier elements. Today only 2% of the universe’s known chemistry has been transformed into 118 elements of our current table. Stellar nucleosynthesis took place over the 14 billion years of the universe at varying rates and forms producing the “metals” of the periodic table through 7 known processes:

Big Bang Fusion

In the Big Bang Fusion, protons and electrons collide to produce neutrons which fuse into Hydrogen, Helium and some Lithium following the cooling of the universe due to a diminition of radiation and stabilization of matter and antimatter ratios.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/474?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-01-31&et_rid=34836726&et_cid=2630297

Helium

He

Helium

2 H

Hydrogen

1 Li

Lithium

3 Cosmic Ray Fission

The resulting radiation of a supernovae explosion releases a wave of energy, particles and radiation that may break apart heavy metals into lighter elements.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/474?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-01-31&et_rid=34836726&et_cid=2630297

Cosmic Ray Fission

Be

Beryllium

4 Boron

Boron is crucial in plants, the nuclear industry and the main ingredient for a bizarre fluid called oobleck. It is suspected to be crucial in the appearance of life on earth through its role in the formation of DNA. It is a metalloid having both metallic and non-metallic abilities. Boron is described as an inconspicuous element hiding many characteristics, like a dull looking swiss-knife. It composes 0.00086% of the earth’s crust and 1×10-7% of the Universe. It is a brown amorphous solid that becomes interesting through its compounds. Nitride for example is able to produce diamond or graphite like structures similar to carbon. Or trifluoride is a very useful acid with the ability to catalyse many reactions. It is so important its origins trace back thousands of years to the eight century A.D. where it was first extracted in Tibetan lake beds along the Silk Road for use by Arabic goldsmiths and silversmiths or used to make ceramic glazes in China. Those uses are tied to the early name of borax coming from the Arabic ‘buraq’ meaning white. Yet Boron was not extracted until 1808 according to the RSC in the UK, yet the isolated 99% pure element wasn’t achieved until 1909 by Ezekiel Weintraub.

Thanks to Boron’s ability to form multiple types of bonds and acquire and lose charges easily it can change its covalence very easily depending on surrounding elements. More importantly trihydride of boron, considered chemically impossible until Christopher Longuet-Higgins described it; if mixed with an alkene and some alkaline hydrogen peroxide and the oxygen will first attach to the boron and then switch to the carbon thanks to the valence of Boron. This property of boron is extremely useful to help balance reactions and facilitate exchanges and changes in molecules. Boron earned its name from the salt Borax from the boric acid. It's a soft acidic antiseptic capable of coupling to many aryl halides using palladium catalysis, a process highly sought after until it’s discovery by Suzuki.

B

Boron

5

Source

Due to the way Boron is formed via cosmic ray spallation that splits atoms apart, it is found in trace amounts nearing the Big Bang and in Stars leading to low amounts across the universe and on earth. It can be found in stars or uncombined in cosmic dust and meteoroids. On Earth due to oxygen’s abundance Boron is usually always oxidized as borate and does not exist in elemental form. Despite its rareness it can be found in high concentrations in waters due to its ability to form boric acid. Around 100 materials containing boron are known and the economically important forms are colemanite, rasorite, ulexite and tincal. Those major minerals constitute 90% of mined boron sources. Turkey and the US being the world's largest deposits of Boron, Turkey has been coveted for its untapped sources in Eskisehir, Kutahya and Balikesir. Global output exceeds 1 Billion tonnes with a yearly production of 4 million tonnes. A company in Turkey called Eti Mine Works holds a government monopoly on the mining of borate minerals able to exploit the known 72% of the worlds deposits of Boron. Its main competitor is the Rio Tinto Group which is responsible for 23% of all Boron production despite it not being in elemental form on earth. The primary source for the element is kernite which is in majority present in California’s Mojave Desert. 99.9999% pure Boron can be achieved and commercialized by the process of vapor phase reduction of boron trichloride or boron tribromide with hydrogen on electrically heated filaments. Boron trioxide heated with magnesium powder can produce impure or amorphous boron, forming a brownish-black powder. Boron is present in nature through natural weathering due to its solubility.

Ingredients

Borax or sodium tetraborate decahydrate is used in the production of insulating fiberglass and sodium perborate bleach. It is also important in textile products and bamboo construction as an antiseptic and treating agent. Boron compounds are used in organic synthesis, glass manufacture and as wood preservatives. Boron filaments are used for advanced aerospace structures, due to their high-strength and light weight. An early use of borax was to make perborate, once a popular detergent. The compounds were also used as preservatives in margarine and fish.

It's also essential for the production of goop oobleck, a fun liquid with very strange properties. A mixture of borax solution and liquid glue creates a substance that is liquid when it is poured but solid when it is under pressure.

Ingredients

Labor

Boron is essential for the nuclear industry as Boron-10 is excellent at absorbing neutrons. This makes it essential to help knock uranium atoms apart in fission processes. It helps balance the amount of decay an unstable element will go through and prevent unstable states and supercritical reactions. Control rods in nuclear reactors are therefore often made of boron, absorbing excess neutrons that would fly into uranium atoms and increase their decay rate.

It also appears that Boron may have been essential in the development of life on Earth as it stabilizes the ribose in RNA, the base for DNA production. Boron is also present in some of the oldest rocks on earth dating back to 3.8 Billion years showing how ideal earth was to develop life from the beginning. It could also be that the RNA received its boron from a Martian meteorite that crashed in Antarctica and contained 10 times the boron of any extraterrestrial object previously known to this 2013 Study.

Sodium

Sodium is the sixth most abundant element in The Earth’s crust, 2.6% of the crust by weight. In seawater, sodium is the second most abundant element after chloride. The most important forms of sodium salts in nature are in the form sodium chloride (halite, or rock salt), sodium carbonate (soda), sodium borat (borax), sodium nitrate and sodium sulfate. Sodium salts are also found in salty lakes, alkaline lakes and mineral spring water.

Sodium affects stars' behaviors. Researchers have found that the last years of stars are likely shaped by their sodium levels. Sodium-rich sunlike stars ultimately die faster, and they might directly evolve into white dwarfs that cool over billions of years.

Sodium levels also affect the color of stars. WD J2356-209 is a white dwarf with surface sodium level enough to fill all the Great Lakes to the brim. Sodium is known to absorb orange light so efficiently that WD J2356-209 seems bluish, yet some stars that visibly seem yellow are known to be caused by sodium atoms in a high-energy state, similar to how sodium street lamps shine yellowish light.

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/na.htm

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/5/130529-how-stars-die-sodium-space-astronomy-science/#close

http://www.exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/too-much-sodium-turns-a-star-blue/?lang=en

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/podcast/11/sodium

Na

Sodium

11

“Most sodium is obtained by electrolysis of molten mineral sodium chloride (halite). Some is obtained from trona and soda ash. It occurs in many other minerals as well, including amphibole, zeolite and cryolite. Halite is mined in the USA, China, Germany, Russia and Canada. Trona and soda ash are mined in the USA (Wyoming and California), Kenya, Mexico and Botswana.”

“The production of salt is around 200 million tonnes per year; this huge amount is mainly extracted from salt deposits by pumping water down bore holes to dissolve it and pumping up brine.”

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/na.htm

https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/elements/sodium/

Source

“The production of salt is around 200 million tonnes per year; this huge amount is mainly extracted from salt deposits by pumping water down bore holes to dissolve it and pumping up brine.”

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/na.htm

https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/elements/sodium/

Source

Ingredients

In Ancient Egypt, sodium carbonate was used in soap, and the process of mummification due to its water absorbing and bacteria killing pH control properties. In medieval Europe, sodium carbonate was used as a cure for headaches.

Today, sodium has many everyday uses; as common salt, baking soda, in soap, in combination with fatty acids, in sodium vapor lamps, and many others. It is also vital for the body, as sodium ions are used to build up electrical gradients in the firing of neurons in the brain. Sodium is used to cool nuclear reactors. Sodium hydroxide can be used to remove sulfur from petrol and diesel, although its toxic byproduct makes it illegal in most countries. Sodium hydroxide is used in biodiesel to remove blockage from drains.

In sprayed concrete, added sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate can accelerate setting times and add strength. In glass production, heavy sodium carbonate is used as a solid flux in the melting of silica (sand). Sodium compounds are also used to purify molten metals and to improve the strength of some alloyed metals.

Yellow butterflies search for sodium granules and gradually collect it to present to their mates.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/podcast/11/sodium

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6479488/

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/na.htm

Labor

Sodium is extracted from its compounds using high-temperature reduction, and some of these are patented. Du Pont patented sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide reduction using coal, passing the formed gases through molten tin, which absorbs the sodium vapor. Sodium is recovered using an additional process. Pechiney S. A. patented a process of reducing NaCl vapor using calcium carbide at a high temperature of 800 – 1000 °C. The sodium formed is collected in oil. In a Dow Chemical Co. process, sodium carbonate is reduced with coal at more than 1200 °C. The sodium vapor formed is condensed in liquid sodium.

Other than high temperature reduction, sodium can be obtained by direct electrolysis of molten sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/14356007.a24_277

Labor

Copper

Studies in stellar nucleosynthesis have debated whether copper originated from massive stars or in Type Ia supernovae. A study done by Romano and Matteucci contrasts copper evolution in Omega Centauri and the Milky Way. Omega Centauri is a globular cluster in which may be the nucleus of a small galaxy that smashed into the Milky Way. Omega Centauri has an unusually low copper-to-iron ratio. The study concludes that massive stars are the major responsible factor for copper production in Omega Centauri and the Galactic disc. In particular, a study proposes that most of the copper used on Earth arose from supergiant stars such as Rigel and Betelgeuse, which exploded and cast copper into space.

On Earth’s crust, copper is found mostly in bodies known as porphyry copper deposits (PCD). These deposits form when metal-bearing fluids filter up towards Earth’s crust. As magma cooled and crystals formed, the copper remained concentrated in the molten parts. Eventually, the crystals crack open, releasing the copper rich fluid into the cracks, where it settles and hardens. Over millions of years, the rocks erode and copper deposits surface. Other studies suggest a more intricate condition of sulfur presence, in addition to copper, in the formation of PCDs. Yet in volcanic settings, fluids rich in copper and sulfur are difficult to form. Another study suggests that these PCDs may actually form as a result of both processes subduction (tectonic plates converge one over another, causing one to sink due to strong gravitational pull) and then collision. The copper got trapped at the base of the crust instead of rising, due to low oxygen content in the magma.

https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/378/1/L59/1061154

http://kencroswell.com/Copper.html

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/copper

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/studies-re-examine-how-major-copper-deposits-form

Cu

Copper

29

Source

About nine-tenths of the world’s reserves of copper are found in just four areas: the great Basin of the western United States, central Canada, the Andes regions of Peru, Chile, Zambia and Australia. In most cases, copper is extracted through double processing of mined low-grade ores. Because this process is laborious, copper is reused as much as possible, especially in most industrial countries.

https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/detailed-rocks-and-minerals-articles/copper

Ingredients

“An average family home contains more than 90 kilograms of copper: 40 kg of electrical wire, 30 kg of plumbing, 15 kg of builder’s hardware, 9 kg inside electrical appliances and 5 kg of brass goods. A Boeing 747-200 jet plane contains about 1.8 tonnes of copper. The Statue of Liberty in New York contains more than 27 tonnes of copper.”

Copper is easily mixed with other metals to form alloys such as bronze and brass. Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper. Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.Due to the malleable, ductile nature of copper, they are easily recycled. An estimate of 70% of the copper now in use has been recycled at least once. Copper is an excellent conductive material, and is resistant to corrosion.

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/copper

Labor

Due to its malleable and ductile properties, as well as being an excellent heat and electricity conductor, copper has various electrical applications. As a result, the expansion of the copper industry is corollary to the increasing use of electricity. For example, the electric telegraph patented in 1837, Bell’s telephone in 1876, and Edison’s electric light all depended on copper as current conductor. Following these inventions, there was an increase in mining and extraction of copper.

The extraction of copper begins with mining. Most ores are mined using the open pit method, and surface ores are quarried after the removal of some upper layers. At this stage, the ores contain only about 0.2% of copper. The ore is crushed into powder, and enriched using the froth flotation process. Unwanted materials, also called gangue, sink to the bottom. The enriched ore is heated in high temperature of 500°C and 700°C to remove sulphur and dry the ore, also called solid calcine. Smelting is the next step, in which solid calcine is melted at 1200°C. A matte is formed, and air is blown to form blister copper, which can be casted into anodes for electrolysis. Electrolysis further removes the impurities of the casted copper, making it 99% pure.

Solvent extraction or electrowinning is an alternative to copper extraction from ores. In this process, dilute sulphuric acid is poured over the ore, and over months the copper dissolves to form copper sulphate. Copper is recovered and purified further through electrolysis. This process uses much less energy and produces less waste gases. It can be done in a small scale, which reduces capital investment of copper extraction. Purified copper is ready to use for production of goods, and at the end of its life cycle it gets recycled. Recycling takes place both at smelters for copper production and at fabricators for production of semi-finished products. Around 50% of copper demand in Europe is met through recycling.

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/copper

https://copperalliance.eu/about-copper/copper-and-its-alloys/processes/

https://sustainablecopper.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ICA-EnvironmentalProfileHESD-201803-FINAL-LOWRES.pdf

Argon

Argon is the third most abundant gas in earth’s atmosphere and composes 0.00015% of earth’s crust. In the universe it composes 0.02% making it quite abundant as it is usually produced in super massive star explosions and neutron star collisions. In the atmosphere Ar-39 is the product of cosmic ray activity. It is also produced through neutron capture by K-39 or by the alpha emission of calcium. Argon-37 is the result of calcium-40’s decay in subsurface nuclear explosions on earth. Argon is considered a very stable element and is so stable it was thought to be unreactive. It’s name is even a reference to laziness, from the greek argos. In 2000 argon was combined with hydrogen and fluoride to produce argon fluorohydride. The only reaction that ever allowed argon to react was this one and no other has been found since, confirming its useful laziness. Almost all the 50 trillion tonnes of argon on earth comes from the decay of radioactive isotope potassium 40 (12.7 billion years half life).

Argon was first isolated in 1785 by Henry Cavendish in London who didn't understand why 1% of air didn’t react to an electric current. Most argon is used for making steel where it is blown with oxygen to remove the carbon in steel. Welding aluminium requires the blowing of argon. Argon is also principally used in insulation for windows as it is a very poor conductor of heat. Despite its presence at 0.93% of the atmosphere it was not identified until 1894 by Rayleigh and Ramsay. Nitrogen in the air seemed to have a different density than if it were extracted from Ammonia, until all Nitrogen was removed and the new element was isolated from the air including other noble gasses.

Ar

Argon

18

Source

Argon is widely present in the air and can be directly extracted from it however it is widely found in space dating back from its early years in the crab nebula. Argon shouldn’t exist in molecules, at least this is what we believed as noble gasses have never been observed to bond in molecules with other atoms. Yet last year molecules containing argon have been observed in space. Begging the question of the conditions that allow for it to react with other elements as we are unaware of how this may be possible. Such noble gasses were observed as dating back from the early stages of the universe and produced molecules before the first stars ever formed. It therefore shocked scientists when they discovered argonium ArH+ an unlikely molecule that may have formed in the early stages of the universe, blurring the chemistry of the early universe and formation of complex elements in the universe. The earliest origins of argon can be traced back to the Crab Nebula where the molecule was observed as part of a rich argon gas cloud resulting from the supernova of the ancient star it once was.

Source

Ingredients

Argon is usually isolated by fractional distillation of liquid air. Its main applications are electric light-bulbs, radio tubes, and geiger counters. It is also used in welding for steel and aluminum, or in the production of titanium, zirconium and uranium. It is important in the production of semiconductors such as silicon and germanium. Argon condenses at -185.8C and forms a crystalline solid at -189.4C.

Ingredients

Labor

Argon is mainly used in the steel industry where it is blown through molten iron along with oxygen. The argon stirs while the oxygen removes carbon. This is also why it is used in welding to prevent oxidation by excluding oxygen from the reaction. Atomic energy fuel elements are protected with an argon atmosphere during refining and reprocessing. Charged argon can reach temperatures of 10000C to remove toxic particles and prevent them from entering the environment as it turns them into molten scrap. It’s laziness makes it highly useful through its absence of reactivity. The thermal conductivity of argon at room temperature (300 K) is 17.72 mW m-1K-1 (milliWatts per metre per degree) whereas for air it is 26 mW m-1K-1.making it ideal to insulate between two window panes. It is the same reason argon is used to inflate diving suits and protect old documents from oxidation. Blue argon lasers are used in surgery to weld arteries, destroy tumors and correct eye defects. Its absence of reactivity makes it ideal to be heated in light bulbs to emit light when it is excited and does not bond to the hot filament.

The most exotic use of argon is in the tyres of luxury cars. Not only does it protect the rubber from attack by oxygen, but it ensures less tyre noise when the car is moving at speed. Laziness can prove useful in the case of this element. Its high tech uses range from double glazing and laser eye surgery to putting your name in lights.

Labor

Issues

The discovery of the potential first molecule of the universe being argonium was a shock for the scientific community. It is beyond useful for dating back molecules in gaz clouds where it is hard to differentiate atomic clouds from molecular ones. "Because cosmic rays lead to the creation of argonium, its abundance in interstellar space has also helped nail down the number of cosmic rays darting through the galaxy. “There are more cosmic rays than we thought before,” Gerin says. That’s important not only for future Captain Kirks wishing to minimize their exposure to the destructive radiation as they travel between star systems, but also to scientists studying the chemistry of the interstellar medium, because cosmic rays are the first step in the creation of other molecules as well."

Argon is also being explored a s treatment for brain injuries : "One review published in the journal Medical Gas Research in February 2014 found that in most cases, argon treatment reduces brain cell death by significant amounts — 15 to 25 percent, said Derek Nowrangi, one of the paper's authors and a doctoral student at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California. " Little is understood on this effect but the hypothesisis lies on the impact on neurotransmitters after a trauma. Treatment by argon is still being debated as results are still contradictory.

Magnesium,

Magnesium Oxide

Magnesium is created from the fusion of helium and neon in extreme temperatures in stars. Magnesium is the eight most abundant element in the universe, and the third most abundant element in seawater, but on Earth it is more commonly found as a compound with other elements such as carbon, calcium, and oxygen.

Magnesium oxide, also known as magnesia, is produced through the calcination of magnesium carbonate or magnesium hydroxide. While MgO can come from seawater, this only accounts for a small percentage globally. According to Al-Tabbaa, the principal phases of magnesium in seawater are chlorides and sulphates and the production process is initiated by the addition of a strong base to facilitate the precipitation of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH2)), followed by thermal decomposition, which then undergo calcination to produce MgO.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Magnesium-oxide

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780857094247500190

https://www.livescience.com/28862-magnesium.html

Mg

Magnesium

12

Source

The largest mineral deposits of magnesite ores are found in China, North Korea and Russia. As for magnesium oxide is produced, consumed, and exported largely in and from China. According to IHS Markit’s Chemical Economics Handbook, 83% of Chinese magnesium oxide exports are used in steel manufacture and cement production, and 17% are calcined magnesium oxide for environmental, construction and agricultural use. According to a 2012 USGS report, the annual global production of magnesia reaches 14 million tonnes. Al-Tabbaa compared this production to Portland cement, which is over 2.6 billion tonnes.

https://ihsmarkit.com/products/magnesium-oxide-chemical-economics-handbook.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780857094247500190

Ingredients

Magnesium in itself burns easily to be used in itself for buildings, but when it is alloyed with other materials such as aluminum it creates a strong and light metal for cans and vehicles. In fact, magnesium oxide is used for fireproofing in buildings. Magnesium oxide is a major fireproofing ingredient in construction materials. Magnesium oxide wallboards are thin cement panels that are commonly used in residential and commercial buildings in alternative to gypsum boards . Due to its strength and resistance to fire, termite, moisture and mold, it is widely used as interior and exterior walls, ceiling boards, sheathing, backer board, and substrates for insulated systems.

Magnesia has been used as an additive in concrete since the mid 1800s, and it is one of the main ingredients of Portland cement, the most common type of cement for general use and the basic ingredient of concrete. The magnesium oxide content in Portland cement reaches 5% by mass. Reactive MgO cements, blends of light burned MgO and Portland cement, is considered as a more sustainable and better performing alternative to conventional Portland cement.

Magnesia is also used to make other building materials in combination with plant fibers, wood chips or fine fillers and aggregate to make xylolite flooring material, wood-cement board, grindstone flooring. Similar to magnesium oxide wallboard, these flooring materials are fire resistant, as they are also wear resistant and elastic. In addition to that, reinforced magnesia can be used as construction elements such as pads and columns. When added foaming agents, magnesia can be made into a thermal insulating material. In metal processing, magnesia is regarded as one of the most effective metal stabilization compounds due to its buffering capacity, cost, and handling safety.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780857094247500190

Labor

Magnesite is commonly obtained using the open-pit mining method. Before being carried to processing plants, the typical mining phase consists of removal of soil and rock between the surface and the ore body, using drilling and blasting.

In processing plants, magnesites are crushed, screened and sorted. Unusable ore is removed and collected to waste sites, while the usable ones are crushed. Chemical analysis is performed to sort out inferior parts, while sizing is also important to ensure grinding efficiency. This step can be done using sifter screens, or gravity concentration methods in a fluid medium. Sorted magnesites are further crushed before undergoing calcination to produce magnesium oxide.

Calcination begins with preheating between 700 to 900°C in kiln gases. When magnesite reaches 750°C and further rises, the surface layer of the ore begins to decompose. Once the temperature of the magnesite has exceeded the decomposition temperature, dissociation starts. Dissociation happens when the heat causes magnesium carbonate (MgCO3) into magnesia (MgO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The resulting carbon dioxide moves out through the porous calcined layer at the same time it is being heated to reach the same temperature as the particle surface, and diffuses away into the kiln gases. If all of the magnesite has decomposed to magnesium oxide before it leaves the calcination zone, then the process of sintering begins. Finally, the calcined magnesite leaves the calcination zone and starts cooling.

Calcination at different temperatures will result in different burns of magnesia, which subsequently have different reactivity and uses. Post-calcination, the resulting magnesium oxide may be further screened and grinded to improve product purity, depending on how the magnesite disintegrates in the kiln.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/magnesium-oxide

Shand, M. A. (2006). The chemistry and technology of magnesia. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley.

Issues

The demand for magnesium oxide is tightly connected with the demand for cement. According to IHS Markit, the consumption of refractory magnesia has declined since 2013. Cement production has been halted from 2014-2017, which also contributes to the decline in the demand for magnesium oxide. Cheaper fused magnesia and deadburned magnesia has been exported by China, a tough competitor to beat by the United States, Russia and producers in Europe.

Magnesium oxide is generally non toxic, although some cases link its exposure to liver, kidney and lung injury. According to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, exposure to magnesium oxide can cause “metal fume fever,” a temporary flu-like illness with symptoms such as metallic taste in the mouth, headache, fever, chills, aches, chest tightness and cough.

https://ihsmarkit.com/products/magnesium-oxide-chemical-economics-handbook.html

https://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1144.pdf

K

Potassium

19 Calcium

Elemental calcium isn’t found in nature and can be made into a soft silvery-white alkaline earth metal. Alkaline earth metals are reactive and therefore oxidise rapidly in air or water. It’s brittle structure makes it malleable when combined with air or water. It is the 5th most abundant element in Earth’s crust at 5-3% and 0.007% in the Universe. Among metals it is only surpassed by Iron and Aluminum. The moon is also a large calcium deposit and it exists at 70 parts per million in the solar system with a total of 6 isotopes and calcium-40 being the most abundant at 97%. The name calcium comes from the Latin root for Lime being a common occurrence of calcium on earth. It usually occurs on earth as Gypsum or Fluorite. The role of calcium has been known since 14000 B.C. as part of a concrete-like putty used for statues or to reinforce homes and act as a protective layer. Statues using lime plaster were found in ‘Ain Ghazal dating back to 7000 B.C. or in lime kilns in Khafajah from 2500BC. It was also used in mortar for temples and flooring systems. The most well known use dates back to the calcium oxide combined to pozzolanic cement by Romans to produce early forms of concrete. Calcium based products are available as calcium carbonate deposits such as limestone, chalk, marble, dolomite, gypsum, fluorite and apatite. Despite its ancient use by early humans it was first isolated in 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy of England.

Ca

Calcium

20

Source

Calcium-40 is the most abundant isotope of Calcium and results from the decay of Potassium-40 along with Argon-40. Ca-40 is the heaviest stable isotope of any element with equal amounts of protons and neutrons. Calcium in the universe appears after supernova explosions when carbon reacts with alpha particles until calcium has been synthesized. Calcium is present in water as calcium ions leading to hard water. It is also said that beer in order to have a better taste must contain harder water with high calcium/magnesium content. On earth calcium occurs mostly as sedimentary rocks in calcite, dolomite and gypsum. It also occurs in igneous and metamorphic rocks such as plagioclases, amphiboles, pyroxenes and garnets. Calcium is essential to tectonic activity, the climate and the carbon cycle. Mountains rising expose Calcium containing rocks releasing Calcium ions in the water as they weather. The ions are then transported to the ocean where it reacts with airborne CO2 and forms limestone. The new stone settles into the ocean bed captured during millions of years and perpetuating the cycle. This process acts as a strong long-term storing system for CO2 excess in the atmosphere. Weathering of limestone however releases Calcium ions and CO2, however silicate rocks like granite act as a CO2 sink releasing more Calcium ions than CO2.

Ingredients

Calcium is used in cement, cheese, alloy enhancement or as a reducing agent. Pure calcium can have exothermic reactions when interacting with water or acids also causing irritation or chemical burns. Calcium is also essential for plant nutrition, skeletal systems, cell signaling and moderating muscle action. It is also the most abundant metal in the human body but humans are not the only ones to use it in their body, like snails or shellfish that accumulate calcium carbonate to construct shells through biomineralization. Hermit crabs have the ability to detect minute levels of calcium in shells up to 4ppm distinguishing a real shell from a copy allowing them to find the most suitable home. In the human body calcium works in tandem with Vitamin D to facilitate renal functions and avoid hypercalcemia. Doses of calcium are advised to remain around 10g of calcium carbonate a day although symptoms may occur at 2.5g a day.Excessive calcium intake has been linked to kidney stone formation and artery calcification. Calcium phosphate is the mineral component in bones resulting from the natural formation of composite structural material, calcium content and organic components will impact the stiffness of bones.

Calcium ions are essential for intracellular messaging in higher organisms. Calcium is also very important in helping blood to clot. Calcium, vitamin K, and a protein called fibrinogen help the platelets to form a clot.

Labor

Calcium is the fourth most abundant element in the lunar highlands. On earth sedimentary calcium carbonate deposits are abundant on earth’s surface as remnants of past marine life as rhombohedral calcite or orthorhombic aragonite. This ties calcium directly to water deposits and is often tied to theories of how life first arose through mineral rich locations with fluctuations in water content and state. Minerals such as limestone, dolomite, marble, chalk and iceland spar are the main sources of calcium. Aragonite beds are present in the Bahamas, Florida Keys and red sea basins. Additionally corals, sea shells and pearls are mainly made of calcium carbonate. The world's major producers of calcium are China (10000 to 12000 tonnes), Russia (6000-8000), United States(2000 to 4000), Canada and France. Half of the world’s calcium is used by China and the United States, especially caused by the construction industry in the formation of concrete via portland cement and CSA Concrete. China and Russia still use electrolytic processes to produce elemental calcium from molten calcium chloride. In the US and Canada Calcium is produced by reducing lime with aluminum at high temperatures.

Labor

Issues

Given calcium’s essential role in the production of concrete or CSH, Calcium Silicate Hydrate, it has an enormous need for water consuming a 10th of the world's water as concrete is the second most used material on earth making calcium along with its agricultural use an essential element of modern life. This hyperconsumption leads to droughts in many regions of the world as 75% of concrete applications is in regions with water scarcity. The concrete market tied to portland cement across the world is not always a sign of growth and positive development as it is “the primary vehicle for super-charged national building, the construction industry is also the widest channel for bribes. In many countries, the correlation is so strong, people see it as an index: the more concrete, the more corruption.”

Issues

Silicon

Silicon is a nonmetallic element and second most abundant element in Earth’s crust at 27.7%. It is the 7th most abundant material in the Universe and a direct byproduct of star formation. It composes most star cores and is produced by fusion as stars form. It is essential to the formation of Earth and its magnetic core. It is present in most life forms as an essential element and was first described in 1824. “Silicon is believed to be a cosmic product of alpha-particle absorption, at a temperature of about 109 K, by the nuclei of carbon-12, oxygen-16, and neon-20.”

SIlicon is a hard crystalline solid used as a semiconductor. It is relatively unreactive but has a melting and boiling point of 1414C and 3265C with second highest melting point among metalloids and nonmetals. It can be found on earth in the form of silicates such as Olivine, Aluminosilicates and more. It’s main use in the modern industry as a highly purified element is in the computing industry or in more impure forms in construction and farming. Pheonicians and Egyptians had discovered the properties of Silicone Dioxide in the manufacture of glass as early as 1500 BCE but was mainly used as part of mortar production. Silicon can be found in nature in almost any rock, sand clay and soil. It is usually found as silicon dioxide or silicates. The various compounds of Silicone exist in water, the atmosphere, plants, skeletons, tissues and bodily fluids of animals.

Silica sand is used in the construction industry in portland cement, concrete, mortar and sandstone in the form of sand. It can also be used to polish glass, stone or in foundry molds. It is also used for the manufacture of glass, ceramics, and other chemical compounds used for refractory purposes.

Si

Silicon

14

Source

China, Russia, Norway, and Brazil are the largest producers of silicon minerals. Elemental Silicone is achieved by combining SIlica and Coke in an electric furnace which is then refined. It can also be achieved by reduction with Aluminum. Nearly pure silicone is achieved by reducing silicon tetrachloride or trichlorosilane. Electronic grade silicon is produced by growing crystals extracted from molten silicon. Pure silicon is a hard dark gray solid with geometric arrangements achieving properties similar to those of carbon and diamond.

Source

Ingredients

Silicon is essential as a semiconductor, with the addition of boron electrons can be exchanged in order to achieve semi-conduction. Boron can be substituted with Arsenic to achieve another form of semi-conduction. The result is used in computer chips, transistors, silicon diodes, LCD and more. Solar cells take advantage of the two types of electron transfer of semiconductors to absorb energy and produce electricity via photon absorption.

In its majority Silicon is used in its impure form especially in construction. Most forms of silicon in the earth’s crust find direct commercial uses. Silicon with more impurities is usually used in metallurgy for alloys and reducing agents. It is also used in construction as sand and clay for concrete, stucco (calcium silicates), mortar, sand, gravel (silicates such as granite) and brick production (natural aluminium phyllosilicates). It can also be used as quartz to produce glassware (silica-based soda-lime glass) or silicates for ceramics (natural aluminium phyllosilicates) and porcelain (kaolinite). Silicone compounds can also be used for high-tech abrasives, high strength ceramics using silicon carbide and superalloys. Glass for optical fiber or reinforcement fiberglass and insulation are produced with more special refined forms of silica. SIlicones can be used for waterproofing, molding compounds, mold-release agents, mechanical seals, high temperature grease, wax and caulking compounds. It is also used for breast implants, contact lenses, explosives and pyrotechnics. Naturally occurring and synthetic silicates are essential to the building industry. Silicones however are synthetic elements composed of silicon oxygen carbon and hydrogen and are usually used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, waterproofing, varnishes or enamels as they are inert and resist high temperatures. It turns out R. Muller and E.G. Rochow developed new methods of synthesis on an industrial scale. Simultaneously Corning Glass produces the first commercial silicone as a resin for glass to insulate it.

Labor

The elemental form is added to molten cast iron in the form of ferrosilicon or silicocalcium to improve casting precision of thin sections and prevent the formation of cementite when producing steel. Silicon in molten iron is an oxygen sink to help maintain the carbon content of steel in a narrow window. Ferrosilicon in the steel industry represents 80% of the world's use of free impure silicon. It is also essential in the production of electrical steel to improve its quality and conduction. Silicon can be used to modify alloys such as aluminum-silicon for casts for the automotive industry. This use represents 55% of metallurgical grade silicon. The presence of silicon in aluminum is essential (12%) and helps improve its hardness and durability. However elemental silicon on 20% is refined to metallurgical grade (1.3-1.5 E6 mT/y). Then 15% of the metallurgical grade is refined for semiconductor production to achieve 99.999999% purity also known as “nine-9” silicon which is nearly pure and crystalline.

Labor

Issues

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Aluminum

Aluminum's sheer bulk — some 8 percent of the Earth's crust by weight, according to the University of Wisconsin — makes it easy to take this metal for granted. But aluminum is lightweight (a third the weight of steel or copper, according to the U.S. Geological Survey) and easy to mold, fold and recycle. It resists corrosion and stands up to repeated use. The metal oxidizes, or loses electrons, easily, the same type of reaction that causes iron to rust. However, unlike iron oxide that flakes away, the product of this reaction, aluminum oxide, sticks to the original metal, shielding it from further decay.

Aluminum forms in stars in a fusion reaction in which magnesium picks up an extra proton, according to Chemicool, a chemistry website created by David D. Hsu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After making its way to the earth, because of its chemical activity, aluminum never occurs in the metallic form in nature, but in various compounds that are present to a greater or lesser extent in almost all rocks, vegetation, and animals. Aluminum is concentrated in the outer 10 miles (16 km) of Earth’s crust, of which it constitutes about 8 percent by weight; it is exceeded in amount only by oxygen and silicon. Its status as a metal was only developed in the 19th century. Before then it was used in its compound condition, mostly as potassium alum which occurs as a sulfate mineral called alum-(K), typically as encrustations on rocks in areas of weathering and oxidation of sulfide minerals and potassium-bearing minerals. In the past, potassium alum was mined from sulfur-containing volcanic sediments. The ancient Egyptians obtained potassium alum from evaporites in the desert and reportedly used it as early as 1500 BCE as a dye fixer (or mordant). Pliny lists several uses for it noting that “Liquid alumen is naturally astringent, indurative, and corrosive: used in combination with honey, it heals ulcerations of the mouth, pimples, and pruriginous eruptions. The remedy, when thus used, is employed in the bath, the proportions being two parts of honey to one of alumen.” (The Natural History 52)

Al

Aluminum

13

Source

Aluminum is hidden in an ore called Bauxite. It’s a red dirt and clay mixture commonly found in Australia, Brazil, and India. If you’re looking for shining bits of silver in the ground, though, you won’t find it. Aluminum as we know it has gone through a lot to get to our supermarket shelves. Bauxite is collected from the ground in open-pit mining operations. It doesn’t sit very deeply in the earth’s crust, so some energy can be saved on drilling. However, to recover all the aluminum in an area, swaths of land must be bull-dozed to reveal the dirt and ore underneath. As you have probably noticed, turning Bauxite into Aluminum requires a lot of energy and has a variety of environmental impacts. Both open and underground mines affect the plant and animal life immediately surrounding an area and beyond for multiple generations. Clear-cutting trees and grasslands contributes to biodiversity loss, habitat loss, carbon emissions, and erosion. However, it can be easily recycled. In fact, almost 75% of all the aluminum ever produced in the US is still in use today.

An average of 80 percent of the land mined for bauxite is returned to its native ecosystem. Topsoil from the mining site is stored so it can be replaced during the rehabilitation process. Although demand for aluminum is increasing rapidly, bauxite reserves, currently estimated at 40 to 75 billion metric tons, are projected to last for centuries. Guinea and Australia have the two largest proven reserves. In November 2010, the prime minister of Vietnam announced the country’s bauxite reserves may total up to 11 billion tons.

Ingredients

"Aluminium is used in a huge variety of products including cans, foils, kitchen utensils, window frames, beer kegs and aeroplane parts. This is because of its particular properties. It has low density, is non-toxic, has a high thermal conductivity, has excellent corrosion resistance and can be easily cast, machined and formed. It is also non-magnetic and non-sparking. It is the second most malleable metal and the sixth most ductile.

It is often used as an alloy because aluminium itself is not particularly strong. Alloys with copper, manganese, magnesium and silicon are lightweight but strong. They are very important in the construction of aeroplanes and other forms of transport.

Aluminium is a good electrical conductor and is often used in electrical transmission lines. It is cheaper than copper and weight for weight is almost twice as good a conductor.

When evaporated in a vacuum, aluminium forms a highly reflective coating for both light and heat. It does not deteriorate, like a silver coating would. These aluminium coatings have many uses, including telescope mirrors, decorative paper, packages and toys."

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/13/aluminium

Labor

The consumption of aluminum in the United States totaled 3.4 million metric tons in 2019. [ca. 2.5 lbs /person/year] Transportation applications accounted for about 39 percent of domestic consumption, with the remainder being mostly used for packaging, building, and electrical purposes.

“For years, the US has produced less than 1% of the bauxite used to make aluminum. The US also imported 33 percent of the aluminum metal that was used in 2014. Of the imported aluminum, 63% came from Canada.”

The following are top Bauxite Mining companies: ALCOA (Alcoa Worldwide Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), Rio Tinto, Hydro, The Aluminium Corporation of China, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinea (CBG).

Labor

Issues

Sulfur

Sulfur is predominantly formed in massive stars by oxygen burning, and is ejected into the interstellar medium during Type II supernovae explosions. Researches have examined the chemical isotopes of the 4.6 billion meteorite Murchison. They found sulfur compounds such as silica sulfide, which possibly was formed in the innermost zones in the ejecta of a supernova. This finding indicates that sulfur is central to planetary processes and emergence of life on earth.

Venus has sulfuric acid aerosol in its atmosphere. The rings of Jupiter and Saturn contain sulfur. The bedrocks of Mars and presumably its core are also rich in sulfur.

Earth’s core is believed to be predominantly iron, with minor alloyed nickel and up to 15% sulfur, and this is where the Earth’s total sulfur inventory is sequestered. On Earth’s crust, sulfur is the 16th most abundant element. The largest concentrations of sulfur are found in sulfide ore mineral deposits, salt domes, and released by living organisms in the ocean. Some formations develop with volcanic activities, hot springs, and the weathering of sulfate and sulfide minerals.

https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2013/11/aa22317-13/aa22317-13.html

https://www.mpg.de/4992099/meteorite_murchison_supernova

https://history.nasa.gov/CP-2156/ch1.3.htm

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mineral-resource-month-sulfur

S

Sulfur

16

Source

According to 2016 USGS data, global annual production of sulfur reaches 70 million tonnes. Its main producer is China, US, and Russia, with 11 million, 9 million and 7 million tonnes respectively. Sulfuric acid is the most commonly manufactured chemical in the world and the most produced chemical in the US.

https://enviroliteracy.org/special-features/its-element-ary/sulfur/

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mineral-resource-month-sulfur

Source

Ingredients

When water reacts with sulfur trioxide, an oxidized sulfur dioxide (a byproduct of burning oil and coal), they form sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid has increasingly been used since the industrial revolution, mainly for the production of phosphate fertilizer.

It is also used in metal finishing, oil refining, ore processing. It is also used in the production of plastics, paint, rubber, steel, medicines and storage batteries.

The adding of sulfur in concrete produces a smoother, stronger, acid and salt water resistant concrete, making it suitable for infrastructural use such as sea barriers and dams.

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mineral-resource-month-sulfur

https://enviroliteracy.org/special-features/its-element-ary/sulfur/

https://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/chemicals/sulfur.html

Ingredients

Labor

It used to be that the main method of obtaining sulfur was to scrape the walls of volcanic vents. Modern extraction is much safer, and sulfur can also be produced industrially.

Elemental sulfur can be extracted without mining using the Frasch process. Superheated water and compressed air are pumped into deep underground deposits, and the resulting mixture that is pumped up is liquid sulfur. This is possible because sulfur has a low melting point of 112°C.

Industrially, sulfur is recovered from the processing of natural gas and oil. They contain hydrogen sulfide, which can turn into sulfur dioxide when burned. Sulfur dioxide is a dangerous pollutant when released into the atmosphere. Hydrogen sulfide is dissolved in an organic base solution, and the chemical reaction that follows turns it into sulfur dioxide and separates some sulfur. Sulfur dioxide is further reacted with alumina catalyst to recover more sulfur. When this process is repeated in three separate cycles, 95% recovery of sulfur is achieved. Some of these elemental sulfur are heated, molten, and piped into molds to solidify. It then can be stored to make sulfuric acid.

https://enviroliteracy.org/special-features/its-element-ary/sulfur/

https://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/chemicals/sulfur.html

Issues

In the early 20th century, most production was from mining, but more recently, most sulfur comes from emission controls. Man-made emissions of sulfur have roughly tripled since 1900. When fossil fuels are burned at power plants and other industrial combustion, sulfur dioxide causes acid depositions in the atmosphere, oxidized to sulfuric acid, and causes acid rain.

https://enviroliteracy.org/special-features/its-element-ary/sulfur/

Issues

O

Oxygen

8 Exploding White Dwarfs

White dwarfs resulting from close binary systems can become the site of additional nucleosynthesis. Their evolution has been halted by electron degeneracy pressure, preventing enough gravitational energy from compressing the gas sufficiently and igniting further burning. If the star finds energy in its binary companion however, it can explosively burn up to the iron peak. Various hypotheses exists as to how this detonation may be triggered. Below is an image taken by the Hubble showing the aftermath of an exploding star that was located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/474?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-01-31&et_rid=34836726&et_cid=2630297

Exploding White Dwarfs

Titanium

Titanium is a silvery gray metal. It is a lightweight, strong, structural metal with low-corrosion capacity and can be used as an alloy for aircraft production. A titanium oxygen compound was discovered in 1791 by William Gregor and isolated by Matthew A Hunter in 1910 by reducing titanium tetrachloride with sodium. It was named after the mythological Titans by Klaproth. It is widely distributed and represents 0.44 percent of Earth’s crust making it the 9th most abundant. It is found in nearly all rocks, sands, clays and soils. It is present in plants, animals, waters, deep-sea dredgings, meteorites and stars. The prime minerals it is extracted from are ilmenite and rutile. When pure it is ductile and half the density of iron and nearly 2 times denser than aluminum. It has a low conductivity and is paramagnetic.

Early processes of isolation of titanium prompted William Kroll to experiment with new methods and establish the Kroll process by reduction with magnesium in 1937 which is the primary process used today. Its first commercial use was achieved in 1940s in the form of wires, sheets and rods. In 1948 after efforts of industrialization of production were achieved DuPont opened the first large scale manufacture of Titanium. This allowed the use of the material for structural purposes. It was primarily used by the aerospace industry at the time. Its superiority to steel allowed the industry to grow rapidly and reached 2million pounds by 1953 with the US Military as its prime customer. This fluctuated in the following years as the shift from the aerospace industry and weaponization of the material changes. Nonetheless 80% of its production is still used for the aerospace industry today.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-elements/titanium

https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium

Ti

Titanium

22

Source

Titanium remains expensive due to its difficult isolation process despite sufficient amounts of material on earth. Its main producers are China(100K mT), Russia(45K), Japan(40K), Kazakhstan(27K), Ukraine(10K), India(500), Norway, South Africa, Australia and Canada. The primary states of US production are Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. The primary ores for production such as Ilmenite with 53% titanium dioxide and Leucoxene has 90% titanium dioxide. Both are usually found in rock deposits, beaches and alluvial sands. Rutile out of all is mostly pure Titanium dioxide. Anatase is another ore with crystalline titanium dioxide and the two ores are also found in beach and sand deposits. India is home to major Rutile deposits however they contain a lower grade of titanium concentrates. Kazakhstan has newly found large deposits and has attracted international attention, in 2010 POSCO (South Korea) announced a combined effort with UKTMP(Kazakhstan) to increase productions. Japan extracts most of its titanium from the Kabasawa mine in Sendai and its major producer, Osaka Titanium Technologies is the world’s secod producer of the metal. The worlds largest producer VSMPO-AVISMA in Russia exploits three mines: the Pudozhsky mine in the Republic of Karelia, the Ruchar mine in the Far Eastern Federal District and the Yugo-Vostochnaya Gremyakha mine in the Murmansk Oblast. This is made possible by the creation of an SEZ called the Titanium valley dedicated to increasing the metal production and leading the world’s titanium industry. Finally China is the largest producer of the raw element outputs from 108 mine fields in 21 provinces, regions and municipalities with Sichuan as its leader mainly comming from Ilmenite.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-titanium-producing-countries.html

https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-elements/titanium

Ingredients

Of Titanium output only 5% is used to produce metal. The rest is used in the production of Titanium Dioxide, a nontoxic white powder used for pigment production and brightness enhancer or structural enhancement of metals such as Apple computer frames. It is found naturally in brookite, octahedrite, anatase and rutile. Almost 65% of Ti production is for marine equipment and aircrafts due to its lightweight, low corrosion and strength combination making it a rival for aluminium in such products. Titanium’s corrosion resistance is achieved by the formation of a passive oxide surface film. This allows it to resist sea-water beyond three years. It is similar to iron and nickel as a hard refractory metal. Titanium can also be used as a deoxidizer in steel and alloy addition to reduce grain size. It reduces carbon content in stainless steel, refined grain size in aluminium, and hardens copper. This allows it to be used in biological implants and makes it popular for jewelry and sportscar enhancement. Various alloys have been developed and divided into four categories: alpha, alpha-plus-beta, near-alpha, beta phase alloys. Chemical compounds for alloy formation include aluminum, molybdenum, cobalt, zirconium, tin, and vanadium. Alpha phase alloys have the lowest strength but are formable and weldable. Alpha plus beta alloys have high strength. Near alpha alloys have medium strength but have good creep resistance. Beta phase alloys have the highest strength of any titanium alloys but they also lack ductility. TiO2 can be found thanks to its high brightness in paints, plastics, paper, pharmaceuticals, sunscreen and food. Titanium dioxide can also be added to paints, cements, windows and tiles in order to reduce its environmental impact as a photocatalyst. The white pigment is an essential raw material for paints and coatings. The DIY market accounts for €3.5 billion alone. It is used for compressor blades, casings, engine cowlings and heat shields. It is essential for the finishing industry due to its properties and protective capacity for heat exchanger coils, jigs, and linings. Ti’s chlorine and acid resistance make it important in chemical processing. It is used for pumps, valves and heat exchangers. Oil refineries employ it for condenser tubes and other industries use it for desalination. A notable use of titanium is in the production of artificial human hearts first implanted in 2001. Other uses are in hip replacements, pacemakers, defibrillators, elbow and hip joints.

Labor

Extraction

1 After titanium concentrates arrive from the mine, rutile can be used as is and ilmenite is processed to achieve 85% titanium dioxide content. They are put in a fluidized-bed reactor along with chlorine gas and carbon. The material is heated to 1,652°F (900°C) and the resulting reaction creates impure titanium tetrachloride and carbon monoxide. Any extra impurities are removed.

Purification

2 The resulting metal is placed in large heated distillation tanks. Here impurities are separated by fractional distillation and precipitation. This removes metal chlorides including from iron, vanadium, zirconium, silicon, and magnesium.

Production of the sponge

3 The purified titanium tetrachloride is transferred as a liquid to a stainless steel reactor vessel. Magnesium is added and the container heated to 1,100°C. Argon is added to the container to remove air and prevent oxygen or nitrogen contamination. The magnesium and chlorine react, producing liquid magnesium chloride. This produces pure titanium solid since titanium’s melting point is higher than the reaction itself.

4 The titanium solid is removed by boring and treated with water and hydrochloric acid to remove excess magnesium and magnesium chloride. The resulting solid is a porous metal called a sponge.

Alloy creation

5 The sponge is transformed into a usable alloy via a consumable-electrode arc furnace. Here, the sponge is added to alloys and scrap metal. This mass is compressed into compacts and welded together, to create a sponge electrode.

6 The sponge electrode is placed in a vacuum arc furnace for melting. In this water-cooled, copper container, an electric arc is used to melt the sponge electrode to form an ingot. The air in the container is removed or the atmosphere is filled with argon to prevent contamination. Typically, the ingot is remelted to achieve a commercially acceptable product.

7 Once the ingot is made and inspected for defects, the surface can be conditioned for the customer ready for industrial shaping.

Byproducts/Waste

During the production a large amount of magnesium chloride is produced. This is recycled in a recycling cell immediately after it is produced. The recycling cell separates the magnesium metal then the chlorine gas is collected and reused.

https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium

https://tdma.info/what-is-titanium-dioxide/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-elements/titanium

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Titanium.html#ixzz6QBtBYDex

https://titanium.com/the-most-fascinating-titanium-uses/

https://ezinearticles.com/?Where-Does-Titanium-Come-From?&id=4265802

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-elements/titanium

Issues

Manganese mining has the potential to increase manganese concentration in levels above human and environment tolerance. Overexposure of manganese leads to neurotoxicity in humans. Without proper equipment, mine and processing facility workers may inhale manganese-rich fine particles and develop manganism, which is a permanent neurological disorder with tremors, difficulty walking, facial spasm and hallucination, as its symptoms.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/l/pp1802l.pdf

Vanadium

Vanadium in native form is rare in nature. It is the 20th most abundant element in the earth crust with 0.019% and it makes up 0.0001% in the universe. It is corrosion resistant and sometimes used to make special tubes and pipes for the chemical industry. Vanadium does not absorb neutrons easily and has some applications in the nuclear power industry. A thin layer of the element can be used to bond titanium to steel. It was originally discovered by Andrés Manuel del Rio, a Spanish chemist, in 1801 who was unrightfully discredited by Paris at the time of discovery leading to a rediscovery by Nils Gabriel Sefstrôm, a Swedish chemist, in 1830 while analyzing samples of iron from a mine in Sweden. Vanadium was isolated by Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe in 1867 by combining vanadium trichloride with hydrogen gas. Today, vanadium is primarily obtained from the minerals vanadinite and carnotite and titaniferous magnetite by heating crushed ore in the presence of carbon and chlorine to produce vanadium trichloride. The vanadium trichloride is then heated with magnesium in an argon atmosphere. Nearly 80% of the vanadium produced is used to make ferrovanadium or as an additive to steel. Ferrovanadium is a strong, shock resistant and corrosion resistant alloy of iron containing between 1% and 6% vanadium. Ferrovanadium and vanadium-steel alloys are used to make such things as axles, crankshafts and gears for cars, parts of jet engines, springs and cutting tools.Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) is perhaps vanadium's most useful compound. It is used as a mordant, a material which permanently fixes dyes to fabrics. Vanadium pentoxide is also used as a catalyst in certain chemical reactions and in the manufacture of ceramics. Vanadium pentoxide can also be mixed with gallium to form superconductive magnets.

https://www.britannica.com/science/vanadium

https://periodic-table.com/vanadium/

https://www.energyfuels.com/vanadium-production

http://vanitec.org/vanadium/making-vanadium

V

Vanadium

23

Source

Vanadium is present in crude oil, coal, oil shale (sedimentary rock) and tar sands deposits. Hitherto, an estimated 110,000 tonnes of vanadium are released by fossil fuel extraction. Vanadium has been detected spectroscopically in sunlight and in the light from other stars, with studies showing it may be abundant in early stars in the universe. Vanadium compounds occur naturally and their main mining locations are South Africa, North West China and Eastern Russia. The primary mined source of vanadium is from titaniferous magnetite ores which account for about 26% of global vanadium production and 85% of the current world V2O5 production. Recycling and coproduct steelmaking slag, however, supports about 59% of global vanadium. During the refining or burning of these energy sources a vanadium bearing ash, slag, spent catalyst or residue is generated which can be processed for vanadium recovery. Secondary sources supply about 15% of today’s vanadium production. Vanadium in sea water as vanadyl ions and in some mineral waters in high concentration. It also occurs naturally in many uranium mines. World vanadium reserves that meat necessary standards are estimated at about 15 million metric tons meeting industrial needs for the coming century. More than 95% of global Reserves are in China, Russia, South Africa and Australia. This iron ore typically contains 1.0% to 1.5% V2O5. Titaniferous magnetite ore is mined in South Africa and China and processed for vanadium extraction. Vanadium is present in crude oil in the Caribbean basin, parts of the Middle East and Russia, as well as in tar sands in western Canada. Coal in parts of China and the USA contains vanadium.

Ingredients

Vanadium is in the U.S. Government’s list of “Critical Minerals.” due to over-reliance on high-strength steel, titanium, aluminum and other alloys, along with certain applications in the chemical industry. High-purity vanadium is also seeing considerable interest in battery technologies, primarily as a catalyst used in high-capacity batteries used with renewable energy systems. In the chemical industry, vanadium metal sheets, wires and tubes are widely used. Vanadium pentoxide is also used in ceramics. Vanadium foil is used in cladding of titanium to steel as it has compatibility with both iron and titanium. 51V isotopes is used for NMR spectroscopy. Vanadium in the form of supplement is used in pharmaceutical applications. Vanadium based catalysis is used in the contact process for manufacturing sulfuric acid; as oxidation catalysts in the syntheses of phthalic and maleic anhydrides; in the manufacture of polyamides such as nylon; and in the oxidation of such organic substances as ethanol to acetaldehyde, sugar to oxalic acid and anthracene to anthraquinone. Vanadium (added in amounts between 0.1 and 5.0 percent) has two effects upon steel: it refines the grain of the steel matrix, and with the carbon present it forms carbides. Thus, vanadium steel is especially strong and hard, with improved resistance to shock. When the very pure metal is required, it may be obtained by processes similar to those for titanium. Very pure vanadium metal resembles titanium in being quite corrosion resistant, hard, and steel gray in colour.

Labor

Most vanadium is used as an alloy called ferrovanadium as an additive to improve steels. Ferrovanadium is produced directly by reducing a mixture of vanadium oxide, iron oxides and iron in an electric furnace. The vanadium ends up in pig iron produced from vanadium bearing magnetite. Depending on the ore used, the slag contains up to 25% of vanadium. Vanadium metal is obtained via a multistep process that begins with the roasting of crushed ore with NaCl or Na2CO3 at about 850 °C to give sodium metavanadate (NaVO3). An aqueous extract of this solid is acidified to give "red cake", a polyvanadate salt, which is reduced with calcium metal. As an alternative for small-scale production, vanadium pentoxide is reduced with hydrogen or magnesium. Many other methods are also in use, in all of which vanadium is produced as a byproduct of other processes.[32] Purification of vanadium is possible by the crystal bar process developed by Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer in 1925. It involves the formation of the metal iodide, in this example vanadium(III) iodide, and the subsequent decomposition to yield pure metal.

Labor

Manganese

Spectrometer devices can help detect the concentration of manganese in chondrite falls, which typically has the average of 0.26 percent of the meteorite’s weight. In a study done by Moore and Brown, the chondrite samples have differences in the concentration of manganese and titanium, which in turn indicates the “high” iron group and “low” iron-group chondritic falls.

Being the 12th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, manganese can be found in soil, water, plants, and animals. On Earth, the formation of manganese ores occurs when a specific geologic condition aligns to concentrate the atoms into a cluster. These atoms can then react with oxygen, carbon, as well as silicon to create many compounds. At formation, these ores require specific geologic conditions on seabeds to concentrate manganese at a significantly higher potency than its crustal condition. They become part of continents due to uplift and continental accretion. These ores can contain 25-45% manganese, mostly in the oxide and carbonate minerals. These ores can most often be found in ancient marine sedimentary rocks and the seabed and are still forming through complex interactions of marine microorganisms and other chemical processes on the seabed. Pyrolucite, an ore containing manganese dioxide, was use by cave painters of France 30,000 years ago.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0016703762900959

https://www.nature.com/articles/201809a0

https://geology.com/usgs/manganese/

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/l/pp1802l.pdf

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp151-c6.pdf

Mn

Manganese

25

Source

According to 2011 USGS data, 70 percent of world manganese ore was produced by just four countries: South Africa, Australia, China, and Gabon. The reserves available in Mexico, Brazil, and Ukraine make up 90 percent in total. The largest deposits on land include the Kalahari manganese field in Northern Cape, South Africa, which covers approximately 400 km2 and the Molango mining district in Hidalgo, Mexico, which covers 180 km2.

The United States and most countries in Europe have no manganese reserves. The United States has two low-grade manganese content mines in South Carolina. Their extracted manganese are used as brick colorants. Other than that, the US imports most of its manganese from Gabon, Australia, South Africa and Brazil.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3087/pdf/fs2014-3087.pdf

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/l/pp1802l.pdf

Ingredients

Manganese(II) oxide and Manganese(IV) oxide are used to remove the pale greenish tint of natural glass. When added in small amounts, it helps remove the green tint given by iron. When put in higher concentrations, it provides an amethyst with color to the glass instead.

There would be no steel without manganese. Ninety percent of manganese production, roughly about 500,000 metric tons yearly, is used by the steel industry as an important ingredient to remove sulfur and oxygen in the purification process of iron ore and to alloy with for the final steel product. Manganese is also used to create alloy compounds with copper or aluminum, making aluminum cans.

Manganese is also used to make battery cathodes, electronics parts, fertilizers, and black-brown pigments in paint.

https://mineralmilling.com/soda-lime-glass-production-and-glass-colour/

https://www.livescience.com/29247-manganese.html

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/25/manganese

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3087/pdf/fs2014-3087.pdf

Labor

Manganese ores are commonly procured through open pit mining. Although there are some reserves on seabeds, retrieving them requires more economic investment in comparison to open pit mining. Mined manganese rich ores are collected for processing first by washing, and smaller ones are aggregated through a sintering process. Pure manganese is extracted using hydrometallurgy and electrolysis methods. Leaching and roasting processes using black charcoal as reductant are used to process ores with high iron and manganese oxide. A study by Liu and Lin experimented on the optimum temperature of 650°C, to produce leaching efficiency of 82.3% manganese. Ferromanganese and silicomanganese are produced by smelting ores in high temperatures, using limestone such as a flux. Using a flux will produce slag that will need to be further purified to extract more manganese by using gravity separation methods.

Zhang et al from Journal of Central South University investigated the specifics to further utilize low-grade manganese ore efficiently, using hydrometallurgical process using dilute sulphuric acid without reducants. Grinding fineness, sulfuric acid concentration, liquid to solid ratio, and leaching time all influence the efficiency of processing. In optimal conditions, manganese are able to be extracted at 96%, and iron at 13%

https://www.britannica.com/technology/manganese-processing

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/manganese-statistics-and-information

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11771-015-2780-7

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095268614000950#f0020

Issues

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/l/pp1802l.pdf

Iron

A star spends its life fusing hydrogen into helium. It then starts to fuse elements that are a bit heavier, leading up iron. Starting from the outermost to the innermost, helium, hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and silicon are within different shells in the star. Silicon fuses to iron, and iron cannot be fused into anything heavier because of the extreme amounts of energy and force required to fuse iron atoms. This energy process is no longer exothermic but endothermic, hence it's no longer able to sustain equilibrium, so its core collapses on itself and explodes.

On Earth's crust, iron is the fourth most abundant element by mass. The core of the Earth is thought to be largely composed of iron with nickel and sulfur. The most common iron-containing ore is haematite, but iron is found widely distributed in other minerals such as magnetite and taconite.

“For the human brain, iron is essential yet deadly. It exists on Earth mainly in two oxidation states - Fe II and Fe III. Fe III is predominant within a few meters of the atmosphere which about two billion years ago turned 20% oxygen - oxidizing this iron to the plus three state which is virtually insoluble in water. This change from the relatively plentiful and soluble Fe II, took a heavy toil on almost everything alive at the time.”

https://futurism.com/what-happens-when-stars-produce-iron

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/26/iron

Fe

Iron

26

Source

The most common iron-containing ore is haematite, but iron is found widely distributed in other minerals such as magnetite and taconite.

Iron ore is found as rust-red layers in sedimentary rocks, its striking appearance perhaps belying its incredible value to society. It is the world’s second-largest commodity by market value, after oil, for iron makes up 98-99% of all steel. Yet mining is challenging, and when we mine iron, we follow in one of the oldest traditions in the world.

The largest producers of iron are China, Australia, and Brazil. The largest iron reserves are in Australia, Brazil, and Russia. The picture below is of the Koolanooka iron mine in Australia.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/26/iron

Source

Ingredients

“Iron rusts easily, yet it is the most important of all metals. 90% of all metal that is refined today is iron. Most is used to manufacture steel, used in civil engineering (reinforced concrete, girders etc) and in manufacturing.

There are many different types of steel with different properties and uses. Ordinary carbon steel is an alloy of iron with carbon (from 0.1% for mild steel up to 2% for high carbon steels), with small amounts of other elements. Alloy steels are carbon steels with other additives such as nickel, chromium, vanadium, tungsten and manganese. These are stronger and tougher than carbon steels and have a huge variety of applications including bridges, electricity pylons, bicycle chains, cutting tools and rifle barrels.

Stainless steel is very resistant to corrosion. It contains at least 10.5% chromium. Other metals such as nickel, molybdenum, titanium and copper are added to enhance its strength and workability. It is used in architecture, bearings, cutlery, surgical instruments and jewelery.

Cast iron contains 3–5% carbon. It is used for pipes, valves and pumps. It is not as tough as steel but it is cheaper. Magnets can be made of iron and its alloys and compounds.

Iron catalysts are used in the Haber process for producing ammonia, and in the Fischer–Tropsch process for converting syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) into liquid fuels.”

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/26/iron

Labor

“Commercially, iron is produced in a blast furnace by heating haematite or magnetite with coke (carbon) and limestone (calcium carbonate). This forms pig iron, which contains about 3% carbon and other impurities, but is used to make steel. Around 1.3 billion tonnes of crude steel are produced worldwide each year.”

https://www.newsteelconstruction.com/wp/an-introduction-to-steelmaking/

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/26/iron

Labor

Issues

Iron and steel industries have been concerned with emissions from their furnaces and cupolas since the industry started. In recent decades, most of the companies controlling these operations have opened new, controlled plants to replace older, higher-emitting plants.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/iron-and-steel-industry

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123736154500352

Issues

Cobalt

Red giants stars can be divided into two groups, namely those with normal composition Cobalt and Iron, and those that have slightly more than normal composition. Both groups have kinematic differences. Stars with excess Cobalt and Iron composition are older, less massive, and are related to the thick-disk population of the Galaxy, and reflect the chemical composition of the Galaxy at the beginning of its evolution. The thick disk of the Galaxy displays gradients of cobalt and iron abundances, which suggests that the thick disk formed due to the collapse of a protogalactic cloud, a cloud of gas forming into a galaxy.

Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology found radiating cobalt at the supernova SN2014J, and assessed how much radioactive cobalt was emitted during the explosion. Cobalt-56 turns into iron, 56Fe, which is a common isotope because it can be obtained from nickel emitted during supernovae explosions (nickel turns into cobalt, and cobalt turns into iron). This confirms that the matters that exist on our planet are due to thermonuclear explosions of an astronomical scale light-years ago.

In the ocean, cobalt rich crust is formed as minerals escape from seawater with the help of microbial activities, although this is a slow process of up to 6mm per one million years. On Earth, cobalt occurs in conjunction with other elements in such minerals as carrollite [a copper-cobalt-(nickel) sulfide], skutterudite (a cobalt-nickel arsenide), and asbolane (a nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide). When salt-bearing fluids flush metals and react with reduced rock, oil, or natural gas, they deposit minerals containing copper and cobalt. In magma, sulfur is needed to create deposits of nickel and cobalt. Nickel and cobalt move into a dense sulfide abundant fluid, forming metal sulfides that sinks to the bottom of the magma chamber. Those that contain more nickel forms laterite, usually in tropical and subtropical environments, and where cobalt is more concentrated, they are likely to form weathered rocks. Laterites can grow up to 20 meters thick, and they can still contain 0.1 to 1.5% of cobalt. Due to their development and formation, they are usually obtained as a by-product or co-products of each other.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225725184_Cobalt_in_stars_and_the_galaxy

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/miop-arr082914.php

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3081/pdf/fs2011-3081.pdf

https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/manganese-nodules-and-cobalt-rich-crusts.html

Co

Cobalt

27

Source

According to USGS, there are approximately 25 million tons of cobalt resources and reserves on land globally, and 120 million tons in manganese nodules and crusts on the floor of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, although they are not economically viable for extraction with current technology. On land, the vast majority of these reserves are in copper deposits in Congo and Zambia; nickel laterite deposits in Australia and Cuba, as well as magmatic nickel-copper sulfide deposits hosted in Australia, Canada, Russia, and the United States. USGS reports that as of 2020, Congo supplies 70% of the world’s mined cobalt. On the other hand, China is currently the leading producer and consumer of refined cobalt, mostly imported from Congo, with 80% of its consumption used for rechargeable battery industries.

Source

Ingredients

Ancient Egypt used cobalt as blue pigments for glassware and ceramics. Today, cobalt is commonly used where high energy storage, high temperature resilience, and hardness is required. For example, it is primarily used in rechargeable batteries, wind and gas turbines, and as industrial catalysts.

When small concentrations of cobalt is added to glass, usually between 0.025 to 0.1%, blue glass is produced. For best results, glass containing potash should be used.

Cobalt has been used as alloys since 1907, when Elwood Haynes first alloyed it with chromium. In addition to its high temperature resistance and excellent magnetic properties, cobalt alloys are also corrosion and wear resistant. This is due to the crystallographic nature of cobalt, when they are alloyed with chromium, tungsten, or molybdenum, which have all solid-solution-strengthening effects. Molybdenum in cobalt alloys produce finer grains. When cast or forged, cobalt-molybdenum alloys result in higher strengths. Chromium enhances corrosion resistance as well the strength of the alloy. On the other hand, nickel based alloys are most popular in the superalloy market, but cobalt-chromium alloys are more resistant to hot corrosion and thermal fatigue, and they are more weldable than nickel alloys.

All these excellent properties as superalloys make cobalt alloys widely used in aircraft and space vehicles, chemical and petroleum plants, and powerplants. Some cobalt alloys retain their magnetic properties even at temperatures as high as 1,121 °C. This makes cobalt one of the components of the magnets used in computer disc drives and in electric motors.

https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/about-cobalt.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/cobalt-alloys

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3081/pdf/fs2011-3081.pdf

Labor

Most cobalt is mined and produced alongside or as a byproduct of copper and nickel ores. Mined ores are crushed and treated by flotation to separate cobalt-rich concentrate for treatment. Reagents are used to attract cobalt minerals apart from copper. This concentration will contain 15% cobalt, and will be processed further using thermally or using solutions as an extraction process.

“Cobalt contained in and smelted with copper concentrate is oxidized along with iron during the final conversion to blister copper. It then enters the slag layer, which can be treated separately, usually in an electric furnace, and the cobalt recovered by reduction with carbon to a copper-iron-cobalt alloy.

In nickel smelting, most of the cobalt is recovered during electrolytic refining of the nickel by precipitation from solution, usually as a cobaltic hydroxide. But even in nickel smelting, cobalt starts to oxidize before the nickel and can be recovered from the final converter slag. In the ammonia pressure leaching of nickel, cobalt is recovered from solution by reduction with hydrogen under pressure. In refineries using a chloride leach for nickel matte, solvent extraction is used to remove cobalt directly from the pregnant solution. The resulting concentrated solution, after some purification, is suitable for the recovery of cobalt by electrowinning.

For copper-cobalt ores, a sulfide concentrate is roasted under controlled conditions to transform most of the cobalt sulfide to a soluble sulfate while minimizing the change of copper and iron to their water-soluble states. The product is leached, the resulting solution is treated to remove copper and iron, and the cobalt is finally recovered by electrolysis. If the copper and cobalt ores are in the oxidized state, copper can be removed by electrolysis in sulfuric acid solution and the cobalt precipitated from the spent electrolyte by adjustment of the acidity of the solution. Cobalt is again eventually obtained in the metallic state by electrolysis.”

The process of working cobalt alloys are similar to nickel alloys. They are melted in furnaces, refined in argon-oxygen decarburization vessels to lose carbon in the surface-adjacent zone of the material, poured into electrode molds, separating slag and remelting them, and finally hot forging and rolling into plates, bars or sheets.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/cobalt-processing#ref81952

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080431526002424

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3081/pdf/fs2011-3081.pdf

Issues

Legal cases of child labor in Congolese cobalt mines have been raised against mega tech companies such as Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla, raising awareness of anti-slavery initiatives in the supply chain. The children were killed or suffered severe physical injury while mining cobalt, as the result of hard labor, collapsing tunnels, or inhaling toxic substances. Despite being an essential trace element for humans, and being one of the necessary ingredients of vitamin B12, cobalt is toxic in higher concentration. Overdosage of cobalt inhibits cellular respiration and enzymes in bodily citric acid cycles. The mining of cobalt, especially in blasting and its electricity consumption, is highly damaging to the environment. Runoff of minerals also causes eutrophication of nearby water sources.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586865/

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2300396018301836

Nickel

Nickel is closely related to cobalt. In supernova SN2014J, researchers assessed how much radioactive cobalt was emitted during the explosion. Cobalt-56 turns into iron, 56Fe, which is a common isotope as it can be obtained from nickel emitted during supernovae explosions (nickel turns into cobalt, and cobalt turns into iron). Nickel is the last fusion product of high-mass stars, and this explains the large amount of iron in metallic meteorites and the cores of rocky planets. This confirms that the matters that exist on our planet are due to thermonuclear explosions of an astronomical scale light-years ago.

Chandrasekhar masses are dwarf stars with masses close to the maximum stable mass. Researchers noted that when Chandrasekhar mass orbits another star and explodes as Type Ia supernovae, it is likely to produce large amounts of manganese, iron, and nickel.

Supernova remnant 3C 397, located in the galaxy about 5.5 kiloparsec away from the center of the galactic disk, has an abundance of stable nickel and iron four times of the Sun. Researchers attribute this to white dwarf mass and metallicity, having abundant elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium.

http://spaceref.com/astronomy/simulations-uncover-why-some-supernova-explosions-produce-so-much-manganese-and-nickel.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225725184_Cobalt_in_stars_and_the_galaxy

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/miop-arr082914.php

Ni

Nickel

28

Source

On Earth, nickel is mostly extracted from garnierite and pentlandite, which contain iron/nickel sulfides. In other ores, nickel occurs with cobalt and other elements.Carrollite contains copper-cobalt-(nickel) sulfide, skutterudite is a cobalt-nickel arsenide), and asbolane is a nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide.

In magma, sulfur is needed to create deposits of nickel and cobalt. Nickel and cobalt move into a dense sulfide abundant fluid, forming metal sulfides that sinks to the bottom of the magma chamber. Those that contain more nickel forms laterite, usually in tropical and subtropical environments, and where cobalt is more concentrated, they are likely to form weathered rocks. Due to their development and formation, they are usually obtained as a by-product or co-products of each other. Laterites can grow up to 20 meters thick, and they can still contain 0.1 to 1.5% of cobalt. Age determinations of laterite formations can be done using geological and relational geomorphologic observations. Laterite can be dated back to three age groups, Miocene to present, Cretaceous to Early-Mid Tertiary, and Mesozoic era.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/28/nickel#:~:text=A%20silvery%20metal%20that%20resists%20corrosion%20even%20at%20high%20temperatures.&text=Nickel%20resists%20corrosion%20and%20is,of%20silicon%2C%20manganese%20and%20iron.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1058/of2011-1058_text.pdf

Ingredients

"Nickel resists corrosion and is used to plate other metals to protect them. It is, however, mainly used in making alloys such as stainless steel. Nichrome is an alloy of nickel and chromium with small amounts of silicon, manganese and iron. It resists corrosion, even when red hot, so is used in toasters and electric ovens. A copper-nickel alloy is commonly used in desalination plants, which convert seawater into fresh water. Nickel steel is used for armour plating. Other alloys of nickel are used in boat propeller shafts and turbine blades.

Nickel is used in batteries, including rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrid vehicles.

Nickel has a long history of being used in coins. The US five-cent piece (known as a ‘nickel’) is 25% nickel and 75% copper."

Adding nickel to glass gives it a green color, and depending on its concentration, it can also produce blue, violet or in some cases black glass. When lead crystal is added with nickel, a purplish color is acquired. Nickel together with small amounts of cobalt is used for decolorizing cobalt glass.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/28/nickel

https://mineralmilling.com/soda-lime-glass-production-and-glass-colour/

Labor

Different processing methods applied to Ni laterite ores are divided in three groups: pyrometallurgical (ore smelting), hydromellurgical (ore leaching), and a Caron process that combines pyro- and hydro- processes. Hydrometallurgical processing includes atmospheric leaching (for example, direct nickel, chloride, and sulfation) and HPAL (high pressure and temperature acid 9 leach). "

"Nickel scrap refining generally involves melting it down in either an electric arc or reverberatory furnace, often in the presence of lime and an alloying agent. The product of the smelting operation is often refined further to produce a higher purity nickel material. Generally, the nickel product of a scrap recovery facility is used to produce the same type of good from which the scrap was generated. For example, recovered nickel-bearing alloy scrap is used to manufacture new nickel alloys. "

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1058/of2011-1058_text.pdf

https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/le/nickel.pdf

Issues

"Nickel is usually present in high concentrations in the liquid wastes which are released directly into the environment without any pre-treatment. It is one of the stable and persistent environmental contaminants since it cannot be biologically or chemically degraded or destroyed unlike many other organic toxic pollutants. Therefore, the metal has become a serious worldwide environmental problem. Although nickel is a trace element required for living organisms, it is toxic when ingested in large amounts. Epidemiology and experimental studies of nickel related cancer evaluated and concluded that nickel compounds are also well recognized as carcinogens."

The Philippines this year closed or suspended 17 nickel mines because of environmental concerns.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586865/

Neutron Star Mergers

As the result of supernovae Neutron stars of high mass can be formed. Those can sometimes, if they are in close proximity, collide in rare events and produce atomic elements with masses above 250.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24453/figures/1

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/474?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-01-31&et_rid=34836726&et_cid=2630297

Neutron Star Mergers

Element Name

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In

Indium

49

Source

Ingredients

Labor

Issues

Xe

Xenon

54 Os

Osmium

76 Ag

Silver

47 Au

Gold

79 Cd

Cadmium

48 Pt

Platinum

78 Dying Low-mass Stars

How the life of a star ends depends on the mass of the star. Low-mass stars (less than 8 solar masses) "die" in a gradual process while high-mass stars (greater than 8 solar masses) "die" in rather spectacular fashion. But, for all stars, their MS stage ends when the hydrogen in the core of the star is exhausted. Low-Mass stars do not produce the Iron catastrophe necessary to produce ejections of matter in Supernovae. It expels its outer layers into space as planetary nebula and leave behind a white dwarf, while expelling some elements.

Dying Low-Mass Stars

Tin

Tin is known to be produced from the s-process of low-to-medium mass stars. Dying low mass stars that bloat into red giants could also contribute to the release of tin into interstellar space. More generally, supernova explosions' shock wave compresses the material it passes through and produces some elements, tin being among them. These debris may be incorporated into new stars.

On Earth, most tin deposits are found in the ore Cassiterite (SnO2), and small amounts in sulphide minerals such as stannite (Cu2FeSnS4). Cassiterite is found in hydrothermal veins and igneous rocks, usually pertaining to granite intrusions at their cooling stage, when magma solidifies beneath Earth’s surface as volcanic rock. Cassiterite also forms and settles in residual concentrations developed as the result of gravitation and weathered eluvial deposit, as well as on colluvial downslopes deposits. Cassiterite can also be concentrated into alluvial settings through water channels, and arrive at marine settings, which accounts for more than half of the world's tin production, mainly in Southeast Asia.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-04-22/how-cosmic-collisions-and-epic-explosions-create-the-elements/9579502

https://lco.global/spacebook/stars/supernova/

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/tin

Sn

Tin

50

Source

Cassiterite is mainly found in the ‘tin belt’ that stretches through Yunnan region in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also found in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

Current report indicates that China has the largest total resources of tin in the world of 4.5 Mt and 1.2 Mt of it are reserves. The second largest producer of tin is Indonesia, with a resource over 1 Mt in 2019, and improvement in extraction technology as well as onshore explorations have increased the total reserves since 2017.

Reserves are not inexhaustible, as seen in the case of Malaysia and Thailand, who were major producers in the 1980s, but suffered through tin price crash and depletion of resources. Current demand levels can be supported for another 50 years, this is not accounting for undiscovered tin worldwide, as well as tin recycling. Nonetheless, higher tin prices and more efficient extraction techniques are needed for many of the defined tin sources. Although not corollary to the amount of tin available, the current low tin price might be a risk for short-term supply as the lack of investment in current tin projects might halt extractions.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/50/tin

https://www.internationaltin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Global-Resources-Reserves-2020-Update.pdf

Ingredients

Copper alloyed with 5% tin produces bronze, a pliable material that is hard enough for tools and weapons, thus the development of The Bronze Age. Tin also combined to form many other alloys such as soft solder and pewter. Another popular alloy is phosphor bronze, which is an alloy of copper, tin, and a small percentage of phosphor. It has good resistance to corrosion and fatigue, electrical conductivity, while being highly elastic and low in coefficient of friction. These properties make phosphor bronze widely used for springs, bolts, and electrical switches that require a lot of movement. It is also versatile enough for dental bridges and even guitar strings.

When tin is used as coating materials, it is usually to prevent corrosion. This is true in tin cans, which are generally steel coated with tin. In the production of glass, molten tin is used as a pool in which molten glass is casted to produce a flat surface. Zinc stannate (Zn2SnO4) is a fire-retardant used in plastics. A niobium-tin alloy is used for superconducting magnets.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/50/tin

Labor

Tin mining starts with dredging to excavate tin in alluvium deposits. A continuous bucket-line transports excavated tin to the interior of the dredge, where washing and concentrating happens. Other methods such as gravel pumping is used in areas unsuitable for dredging. In this method, the alluvium is penetrated using a high pressured water jet. In both cases, the cassiterite rich slurry is further processed by concentrating it up to 70% tin using gravity separation methods. This process separates other minerals such as quartz, feldspar, mica, as well as other impurities such as iron oxides.

Cassiterite formed in veins are mined using traditional hard rock mining methods. Hard ores are processed by crushing and grinding, before being concentrated using the gravity method. Concentrated cassiterite from ores are only at about 50% tin, due to fine grain size and the difficulty of removing sulphide minerals. To further purify the concentration, the ore is baked at 600°C to remove the sulphur.

The next step is smelting, where the ore concentrate is heated for 10 to 12 hours in a furnace of 1200-1400°C. The furnace uses carbon as a reducing agent binding oxygen content in the cassiterite. Limestone powder is used as a flux and absorbs other impurities. The resulting molten is poured into a settler to separate the heavier molten tin with the slag which still contains some percentage of tin. The heavier tin is cast into slabs for refining, and the slag gets cooled, recrushed, and repurified to extract more tin. To refine the casted tin, heat treatment is commonly used, although the end result might still contain some impurities. Electrolytic processes generate purer tin, but the process is more costly, and there are only small demands of fine tin in high purity.

http://earthsci.org/mineral/mindep/tin/tin.html

Issues

Artisanal and small-scale mining is common in the procurement of tin. Altogether, informal mining constitutes 40% of yearly tin production. Due to this nature, many resources and reserves are difficult to measure, and unreported mines can produce sudden increase of tin in the market, such as the case in Brazil, Indonesia, and Myanmar. For example, tin is one of the most important commodities in the province of Bangka Belitung, Indonesia. The economic development of the province is very dependent on tin mining activities, which is around 30-40% of yearly regional income. However, not all the mining sites are legally procured and monitored, and this results in misestimation of available reserves as well as accidents due to the lack of good mining standards.

From 2017 to 2020, illegal tin mining in Bangka and Belitung islands, have killed 40 people due to unregulated and negligence of safety procedures. This number are not only of workers, but also of civilians and visitors who are unaware of closed off dredging sites along the shores that caved in.

Tin was easily found 3-4 meters below shore surface. However, as the upper deposits are mined off, the exploitation of tin mining in Bangka Belitung islands was introduced to more advanced dredging technology around the mid1900s. At present, there are hundreds of dredgers around the offshore Bangka Belitung, most of which are suction dredgers. This has been destructive to marine life, burying coral reefs and disrupting the fishing industry. In addition to offshore operations, there are also onshore mining operations.

https://www.internationaltin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Global-Resources-Reserves-2020-Update.pdf

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/09/04/13064321/kunker-ke-tiongkok-gubernur-babel-paparkan-sejarah-250-tahun-tambang-timah?page=all#page2

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/03/11/13324721/korban-tewas-tambang-timah-di-babel-terus-berjatuhan-pemerintah-didesak

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/01/16/23024241/walhi-temukan-6000-lubang-tambang-timah-di-babel-sebut-26-orang-tewas-di

Element Name

Pb

Lead

82 Carbon

The combination or fusion of three alpha particles (helium nuclei) to form a carbon nucleus is known as the triple alpha process.The triple alpha process will occur in red giant stars that have left the main sequence and have consumed their core hydrogen) and have core temperatures of 108K and higher. Once carbon has been formed it is possible with temperatures around 6 × 108 K to continue forming heavier nuclei by the combination of two carbon nuclei to make elements oxygen, neon, magnesium; and with temperatures around 109K, silicone, phosphor, and sulfur.

On Earth, Carbon and its components are widely distributed in nature. The estimation is that carbon forms 0,032% of The Earth’s crust. Elemental carbon exists in two well-defined crystalline forms: diamond and graphite, as well as ones with little crystallinity: vegetal carbon and black fume. Chemically pure carbon can be prepared by termic decomposition of sugar (sucrose) in absence of air. The physical and chemical properties of carbon depend on the crystalline structure of the element.

Elemental carbon is an inert substance, insoluble in water, diluted acids and bases, as well as organic solvents. At high temperatures it binds with oxygen to form carbon monoxide or dioxide. Metals combine with carbon at high temperatures to form carbides. Carbon forms in many compounds due to its ability to form strong single bonds to itself that are very stable, enabling it to form long chains and rings of atoms. This becomes the structural basis for many compounds, including the living cell and the DNA.

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/T/Triple+Alpha+Process

C

Carbon

6

The Carbon Cycle

"Over the long term, the carbon cycle seems to maintain a balance that prevents all of Earth’s carbon from entering the atmosphere (as is the case on Venus) or from being stored entirely in rocks. This balance helps keep Earth’s temperature relatively stable, like a thermostat.

This thermostat works over a few hundred thousand years, as part of the slow carbon cycle. This means that for shorter time periods—tens to a hundred thousand years—the temperature of Earth can vary. And, in fact, Earth swings between ice ages and warmer interglacial periods on these time scales. Parts of the carbon cycle may even amplify these short-term temperature changes.

On very long time scales (millions to tens of millions of years), the movement of tectonic plates and changes in the rate at which carbon seeps from the Earth’s interior may change the temperature on the thermostat. Earth has undergone such a change over the last 50 million years, from the extremely warm climates of the Cretaceous (roughly 145 to 65 million years ago) to the glacial climates of the Pleistocene (roughly 1.8 million to 11,500 years ago)."

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle

Source

“Carbon is present in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide in 0,03% in volume. Several minerals, like limestone, dolomite, gypsum and marble, contain carbonates. All the plants and live animals are formed by complex organic compounds where carbon is combined with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. The remains of live plants and animals form deposits: of petroleum, asphalt and bitumen. The natural gas deposits contain compounds formed by carbon and hydrogen."

Free carbon is found in big reservoirs like hard coal, amorphous form of the element with other complex compounds of carbon-hydrogen-nitrogen. The largest hard coal producers today are China, India, USA, Indonesia and Australia, and most of them are to be used as energy sources within the country instead of an export commodity.

Pure crystalline carbon is found in the form of graphite and diamond. Graphite is mined from Korea, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Madagascar. Diamonds are mined from Australia, Zaire, Russia, Botswana, South Africa and Canada.

https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/elements/carbon/

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

https://www.worldcoal.org/coal/coal-mining

Ingredients

Carbon has a lot of uses, including diamonds for jewelry, black pigment in ink, or even in automobile’s rims. Graphite is used for high temperature crucibles, dry cell and light arch electrodes, for pencil tips and as a lubricant. Vegetal carbon, an amorphous form of carbon, is used as a gas absorbent and bleaching agent.

Carbon dioxide is used in drinks carbonation, fire extinguishers, and in solid state as dry ice. Freon (CCI2F2) is used in cooling systems.

Carbon monoxide is a reduction agent in metallurgical processes. Carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulphide are important industrial solvents. Calcium carbide is used to prepare acetylene; it’s used for welding and cutting metals, as well as for preparation of other organic compounds. Other metallic carbides have important uses as heat-resistance and metal cutters.

Carbon is also alloyed with steel, and carbon steel is the most common category of steel, making up approximately 85% of all steel production in the US.

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

Labor

“Carbon forms three gaseous components with the oxygen: carbon monoxide, CO, carbon dioxide, CO2, and carbon suboxide, C3O2. The two first ones are the most important from the industrial point of view. Carbon forms compounds with the halogens with CX4 as general formula, where X is fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine. At ambient temperature carbon tetrafluoride is gas, tetrachloride is liquid and the other two compounds are solids. We also know mixed carbon tetrahalides. The most important of all may be the dichlorodifluoromethane, CCl2F2, called freon.”

In the US, coal reserves are much larger than oil and gas reserves, making it the fossil fuel of choice. In 2016, it was used to provide 56% of its electricity requirements, and 90% of coal was mined for use in the energy sector. The remaining 10% are used in metallurgical processes like steelmaking.

Metallurgical, or coking coal has to meet certain standards. The quality of coal is determined by the type of vegetation, the depth of burial, the conditions at burial, and the length of time it spent at those pressures and temperatures. The process of coalmaking is called coalification, with anthracite, the highest quality coal, having undergone the most coalification, and lignite and subbituminous coal the least. Most metallurgical coal is mid-to-high-rank bituminous coal is sourced from mines in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The higher the rank of coal, the fewer impurities it has.

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

Issues

Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from fossil fuel burning, and methane (CH4) from industrial processes, agricultural practices and livestocks, all emit carbon to the atmosphere. With the current rate of our carbon emission, the Earth’s biosphere may be absorbing less carbon than it used to.

“Annually, embodied carbon is responsible 11% of global GHG emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. The embodied carbon emissions of building products and construction represent a significant portion global emissions: concrete, iron, and steel alone produce ~9% of annual global GHG emissions; embodied carbon emissions from the building sector produce 11% of annual global GHG emissions.”

China produces up to 80% of the world’s graphite, and all the natural graphite used in lithium batteries. Shandong Province has been the center of graphite mining in China, but its production is declining due to the depletion of ore reserves and stricter environmental regulations.

On the other hand, diamond mining is highly problematic with low wages, child labor, and blood diamonds produced in war zones to finance civil wars.

https://u.osu.edu/diamondscarlsoncaggiano/impacts/

https://architecture2030.org/new-buildings-embodied/

https://time.com/blood-diamonds/

http://www.northerngraphite.com/about-graphite/the-graphite-supply-problem/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/planet-may-be-losing-its-ability-cope-all-our-carbon-dioxide-emissions-180952650/

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

Nitrogen

Studies are showing that intermediate mass stars with rotation naturally reproduce the occurrence and amount of primary nitrogen in the early star generations in the Universe. The stellar rotation in very low Z models leads to the production of primary nitrogen in amounts that are in global agreement with those observed, along with abundant carbon in the intershell region, and some yields of neon.

Nitrogen is involved in the CNO cycle, or Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen cycle. It is a stellar nucleosynthesis process on Main Sequence stars that fuses hydrogen into helium in a sequence of reactions: carbon-12 captures a proton and emits a gamma ray, producing nitrogen-13, nitrogen-13 being unstable, emits a beta particle and decay into carbon-13. This process repeats until nitrogen-14 captures a proton and becomes oxygen-15. Oxygen-15 becomes nitrogen-15 via beta decay, and nitrogen-15 captures a proton and produces a helium nucleus and carbon-12, which is the beginning of the cycle.

By volume, 78% of our air is nitrogen. It is found, as compounds, in all living things and hence also in coal and other fossil fuels.

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/339/1/63/1048466#18804777

https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2002/01/aadj242/aadj242.html

https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/C/CNO+cycle

N

Nitrogen

7

Source

The incorporation of nitrogen into living organisms begins with microbes that create nitrates from nitrogen in air, or other nitrogen compounds in the soil. These nitrates are then used by plants to construct genetic material and amino acids. These amino acids are consumed by animals and get incorporated into their body. The droppings or the carcass of these animals are then broken down by microbes, which can utilize the nitrogen compounds within it to recycle the nitrogen. Nitrogen from this cycle becomes the input of the nitrogen that plays a role in the geological cycle.

Other than the atmosphere, sequestered by microbes or dissolved in rain, up to a quarter of the nitrogen in soil and plants seeps out of bedrock. Nitrogen is found in silicate minerals as NH4+, and also in its elemental form in graphite and diamond. Nitrides are stable under conditions that provide electrons, which is common during the early planetary formation and possibly persist in the lower mantle of the planet. Nitrogen can come from the degassing of the mantle or magma. Coals are rich with nitrogen, which are released from the transition of bituminous to anthracite. Another source of nitrogen is ammonia commonly found in interstitial water of sediments. Ammonia can be oxidized to nitrogen by dissolved oxygen reactions with metal oxides.

In 2015, 35% of global liquid nitrogen production came from North America (US, Canada and Mexico). China is the largest producer and supplier of liquid nitrogen in Asia Pacific.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mystery-of-earths-missing-nitrogen-solved/

https://progearthplanetsci.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40645-019-0286-x

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/nitrogen

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/liquid-nitrogen-market

Ingredients

Nitrogen gases make up 3% of the human body, can be found in our nucleic acids, and is essential in cell growth, energy production and many bodily processes.

In industries, liquid nitrogen is used to shrink parts for insertion in tight-fit connections. It is also used to remove impurities and for annealing during the production of stainless steel. Nitrogen can also be used as a shielding gas in welding processes, and as protection against corrosion in oxidation processes. Metal manufacturing & construction segment emerged as a largest end-use segment accounting for over 41% use of total liquid nitrogen production worldwide.

Nitrogen is used in food and medical preservation. It is used to make ammonia through the Haber process, which enables the making of fertilisers, nitric acid, nylon, dyes and explosives.

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/liquid-nitrogen-market

https://uscylgas.com/2017/07/13/five-every-day-uses-of-nitrogen-gases/

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/7/nitrogen

Labor

Industrially, nitrogen is obtained by the distillation of liquid air. Around 45 million tonnes are extracted each year.

Air is first cooled to a temperature less than - 328°F (-200°C). Liquid air is allowed to warm up, and the nitrogen with lower boiling point evaporates first. These escaping nitrogen is captured, cooled and reprocessed into liquid form.

On smaller scales, there are multiple ways to release nitrogen from its compounds. Passing ammonia gas over a catalytic metallic oxide yields nitrogen and water. Ammonia reacted with bromine will also yield nitrogen and ammonium bromide. Hot aqueous solution of ammonium nitrite decomposes into nitrogen and water. Heating barium or sodium azide yields free nitrogen.

The image shows liquid nitrogen (LN) storage tanks and sampling procedure of LN and ice.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Liquid-nitrogen-LN-storage-tanks-and-sampling-procedure-of-LN-and-ice-a-Sampling-of_fig4_337607246

https://science.jrank.org/pages/4683/Nitrogen-How-nitrogen-obtained.html

Issues

Nitrogen fertilizers cause water pollution and increase plant dependency to nitrogen. Nitrogen emission from burning of biomass and fossil fuel combustion in the form of ammonia, nitrogen oxide, and nitrous oxides contribute to acid rain and smog. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas, over 300 times more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

In the Netherlands, new rules on nitrogen emissions regulations halt the building industry across the country, showing how dependent the building industry is to processes that contribute to nitrogen pollution.

https://theconversation.com/nitrogen-pollution-the-forgotten-element-of-climate-change-69348https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1247398/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-construction/dutch-construction-boom-set-to-end-as-eu-nitrogen-rules-bite-idUSKBN1XA1GI?smbl=esg

Issues

Li

Lithium

3 Very Radioactive Isotopes

It is still unclear how those forms in most stars however Technetium for example has been observed on the outer layers of dying low-mass stars such as R Gemini meaning it may have produced it at its core and expelled it to the surface. However the process allowing for such heavy elements to form such as lead usually takes place by neutron capture until the elements reach an unstable state and produce radioactive decay. Such elements have a very short half-life.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6426/474?utm_campaign=toc_sci-mag_2019-01-31&et_rid=34836726&et_cid=2630297

Very Radioactive Isotopes

Element Name

Tc

Technetium

43 Fr

Francium

87 GEOLOGY

CHEMICAL AND ORE HORIZON: The earth is 4.543 billion years old. In its early volcanic phase or many millions of years, the metals that originated from outer space fused with silicone and other minerals to form complex ores. More than 80 percent of the Earth's surface--above and below sea level--is of volcanic origin. The oceanic conditions for limestone developed 350 million years ago.

PLANT HORIZON: The first land plants appeared around 470 million years ago, during the Ordovician period, when life was diversifying rapidly. They were non-vascular plants, like mosses and liverworts. Grasses developed only around 55 million years ago. The conditions that would eventually create coal began to develop about 300 million years ago.

TREE HORIZON: The earliest known tree-like plants are the Gilboa trees (Eospermatopteris), date back 385 million years ago. Oaks first appear about 32-35 million years ago

OIL HORIZON: The formation of oil takes a significant amount of time with oil beginning 252 million years ago, though most appeared later closer to 66 million years ago.

SAND HORIZON: Sand are basically produced through friction or rock and against rock and so is very recent as earth sciences go. Rocks take time to decompose, especially quartz (silica) and feldspar. Often starting thousands of miles from the ocean, rocks slowly travel down rivers and streams, constantly breaking down along the way. Some sand is composed of shells, coral skeleton, and other biological precipitates. Most sand is probably from 5,000,000 years old to 12,000 years or less.

INDUSTRIAL SAND

The specific requirements on the sand for glass making mean that the history and production of glass is closely intertwined with the particular geological formations that have produced this required morphology. With the Cardinal Glass in this house, this sand has been over 450 million years in the making, having been deposited and shaped across the Cambrian- and Ordovician ages. During these earth formations, the oceans repeatedly advanced and retreated over the lands of Wisconsin, depositing layers of sediment that would eventually be compacted into sizable formations of sandstone. In the last one to two million years, during a period known as the Pleistocene, glacial movement then shaped the geography of Wisconsin, depositing this sandstone in hills and revealing them in lake beds. The Dells of the Wisconsin River are one such formation, gaining its unique coloring from the feldspar and quartz that was mixed into the sandstone.

INDUSTRIAL SAND

(Silicon Dioxide)

LIMESTONE & DOLOMITE

The lime, or calcium carbonate, used as flux in the production of this glass is most likely from the Madison Group formation in Montana, United States. This limestone formation dates back to around 323 - 358 million years ago, during the Mississippian Age, and is thought to have formed through the gradual evaporation of a shallow tropical sea. With this, calcium is deposited through the accumulation of past marine life, having been used by marine organisms for the development of shells and bones. Certain aquatic plants, such as seaweed, are also known to excrete calcite, the primary mineral in which we find calcium carbonate.

Another common rock that is often found together with limestone is dolomite. This rock is thought to form when loose lime muds or limestones take in, and are modified by magnesium from groundwater, resulting in a rock containing both calcium and magnesium.

LIMESTONE & DOLOMITE

(Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate)

GALENA

Any lead used in the production of glass in the house is most likely mined from galena, which is abundant in the United States' Lead Belt in Missouri. Formerly known as the "Southeastern Missouri Mississippi Valley-type Mineral District", this formation is actually holds the highest concentrations of galena sulfide in the world. Its geological origins are much like that of most limestone formations, but with the involvement of hydrothermal fluids, introduced as the result of plate tectonics. These fluids flow up into the rock, introducing an array of elements into it. In addition to lead, thse include zinc, copper, silver, cadmium, nickel and cobalt.

GALENA

(Lead)

SODA ASH

(SODIUM CARBONATE)

The soda ash (Na2CO3), mined in the form of trona, is considerably younger than the sand and lime, at least in geological terms. Some 56 to 34 million years ago, during the Eocene period, a large freshwater lake stretched across three basins in present day Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. These basins were formed with the uplift of the Rocky Mountains, with surface runoff contributing to the large variety of minerals deposited in them. With the evaporation of the lake and subsequent leaching by groundwater, these minerals were gathered into several layers deep underground, in what is now referred to as the Green River Formation. The trona in this formation is the largest known deposit in the world.

A series of refining steps are required to produce soda ash from trona ore. First the raw ore from the mine is crushed and screened. The material is then fed to rotary calciners and heated. In this process, the trona decomposes to form crude soda ash, which is dissolved in water. The insoluble shales are separated from the solution by a combination of settling and filtration steps, and the resulting insoluble tailings are taken back into the mine as backfill. The soda ash solution is treated to remove organic materials yielding a high-purity saturated solution of sodium carbonate.

Next, the solution is fed to crystallizers where water is evaporated and sodium carbonate monohydrate crystals are formed. The crystals are dewatered and washed using cyclones and centrifuges, and the solution is recycled to the evaporator units for further recovery of soda ash. The monohydrate crystals are fed to rotary kilns where they are dried to finished soda ash. Finally, product is screened and sent to storage silos awaiting rail and truck loadout.

Glass manufacturing is the largest application for soda ash whether it is in the production of containers, fiberglass insulation, or flat glass for the housing, commercial building, and automotive industries.

TRONA ORE

(Soda Ash)

(Sodium Carbonate)

POTASH

The potash used in the glass and concrete in the house is most likely sourced from the world's largest potash reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Prairie Evaporite Formation that contains all this potash stretches right across Saskatchewan, and into the American states of Montana and North Dakota. This geological formation is the result of the evaporation of an inland sea roughly 30 - 40% the size of today's Mediterranean that existed some 328 million years ago during the Middle Devonian Period. At some point in time, this water body was cut off from open sea by a large reef complex, stopping the supply of sea water. In time, the water evaporated, leaving a deposition of minerals around 950 to 1600 meters thick. As most of these minerals are water-soluble, most of these minerals were gradually moved underground with infiltration and the movement of groundwater. As such, nearly none of the formation can be seen in outcrops in the Saskatchewan landscape.

POTASH

BAUXITE

Bauxite is formed by the weathering of carbonate rocks (like limestone and dolomite) or silicate rocks (granite, basalt, shale), where aluminum and iron remain as other elements and minerals are gradually eroded away. With this dependence of weathering, the mineral is most commonly found in tropical climates.

In the case of "karst" or "terra rosa" bauxites, like that found in Jamaica, the higher iron content of the bauxite results in a distinctive reddish hue in the soil of the area. The bauxite in Jamaica is also the largest deposit of this type of bauxite, where it sits atop the Cretaceous White Limestone Formation. There is some debate as to what geological events gathered the primary materials of bauxite in Jamaica, but it is suspected that volcanic activity contributed to this.

BAUXITE

(Aluminum Ore)

BORAX

(Boron Oxide)

The boron oxide used in the glass of the house comes from borax mined at the Searles Lake formation. With an estimated half of the known elements gathered in the formation, it is a rather unique geological formation.

Surprisingly, Searles Lake and the tufa pinnacles that surround it are relatively young in terms of their formation, having been the product of the Pleistocene age (2.5 million to 11,700 years ago). The evaporite basin was once fed by Owens River and glacal melt from the Sierra Nevada. Evaporation over a prolonged period of time allowed alkali metals to gradually gather in the Lake, where it also interacted with calcium-bearing groundwater. This would result in the uniquely shaped sedimentary deposits now known as tufa pinnacles or towers. The youngest of these pinnacles is an estimated 10,000 years old.

Borax is one of 27 minerals that are commercially extracted and processed from the portion of minerals that accumulated in Searles Lake in the same geological process.

Tin

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/tin

CASSITERITE

(SnO2)

Source

Cassiterite is mainly found in the ‘tin belt’ that stretches through Yunnan region in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also found in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/50/tin

https://www.internationaltin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Global-Resources-Reserves-2020-Update.pdf

Ingredients

https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/50/tin

Labor

http://earthsci.org/mineral/mindep/tin/tin.html

Issues

https://www.internationaltin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Global-Resources-Reserves-2020-Update.pdf

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/09/04/13064321/kunker-ke-tiongkok-gubernur-babel-paparkan-sejarah-250-tahun-tambang-timah?page=all#page2

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/03/11/13324721/korban-tewas-tambang-timah-di-babel-terus-berjatuhan-pemerintah-didesak

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/01/16/23024241/walhi-temukan-6000-lubang-tambang-timah-di-babel-sebut-26-orang-tewas-di

COAL

(CARBON)

COAL

(Carbon)

Fly ash is a chemical byproduct of the coal industry. The formation of coal began approximately 360 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. Certain plants evolved to be able to produce lignin, a type of polymer that helps strengthen the cellulose-based cell walls of plant tissue, and consequently helps form the support structures of vascular plants, such as wood and tree bark. Because bacteria and fungi had not yet evolved the ability to break down lignin, layers of dead plant matter remained compressed underground, retaining the majority of their carbon content. Layers of mud and water prevented the dead matter from coming into contact with oxygen, further slowing down the decomposition process. The partially decomposed plants formed peat, which, when subjected to extreme heat and compressive pressure over millions of years, formed coal. The carbon content of coal is dependent on how long it has been subjected to these conditions, with the least mature deposits forming lignite (65-70% carbon), and the oldest forming anthracite (86-98% carbon).

Pyrolusite

PYROLUSITE

(Manganese Ores)

Pyrolusite is the most important manganese ores. Manganese can also be obtained from romanechite, manganite, and hausmannite and the carbonate ore rhodochrosite

https://www.britannica.com/technology/manganese-processing

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/manganese-statistics-and-information

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11771-015-2780-7

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095268614000950#f0020

Magnesite

MAGNESITE

(Magnesium Ore)

https://ihsmarkit.com/products/magnesium-oxide-chemical-economics-handbook.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780857094247500190

Cobalt and Nickel

The main ores of cobalt are cobaltite, erythrite, glaucodot and skutterudite (see above), but most cobalt is obtained by reducing the cobalt by-products of nickel and copper mining and smelting. The primary nickel ores are pentlandite, nickel bearing pyrrhotite, and garnierite.

Most cobalt is mined and produced alongside or as a byproduct of copper and nickel ores. An ore containing all three elements is Carrollite, with the chemical compund Cu(Co,Ni)2S4. Carrollite can be found in Chambishi, Copperbelt, Zambia, and Carroll County MD, USA.

COBALT + NICKEL

Porphyry Copper Deposits

PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS

https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2367

https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/detailed-rocks-and-minerals-articles/copper

https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/copper

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/studies-re-examine-how-major-copper-deposits-form

Propene

PROPENE

(C3H6)

Propene or also known as propylene, is a building block for many other chemicals, including the addition polymer, poly(propene). It is produced by the cracking of carbon chains in propane or higher hydrocarbons in the presence of steam, similar to production of ethylene. Traces of propene have been discovered in Saturn’s moon, Titan. This is the first time that a common Earth chemical is found in outer space.

Global annual production of propane reaches up to 94 million tonnes. Asia pacific produces 27 million tonnes, Europe 15 million tonnes, US 13 million tonnes, and the Middle East 7.5 million tonnes. Globally, 67% of propene is used to produce poly(propene), which can be processed into film, plastic containers, fibers for carpets and clothing, or to be extruded into pipes. Polypropylene plastic is made by combining propylene monomers. This thermoplastic can be used in many building materials such as plastic hinges and waterproofing insulation.

Propene is also used to make propenal (acrolein) which is oxidized to propenoic acid (acrylic acid) which commonly used in resin, adhesives, coatings, and acrylic polymers. Another derivative of propene is butanal and hence butanol, which is used as a solvent for surface coatings

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/propylene

https://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/chemicals/propene.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2439968/Plastic-space-Cassini-finds-propylene-Saturns-moon-Titan-time-discovered-world.html

https://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/chemicals/propene.html

https://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/polymers/polypropene.html

https://www.acmeplastics.com/polypropylene

Methane

METHANE

(CH4)

Methane occurs naturally below ground and under the seafloor. These below ground methane deposits are called methane clathrates, which are solid compounds formed by geological and biological processes. Methane clathrates happen in the shallow lithosphere less than 2000 m in depth. They form in continental sedimentary rocks of the polar region where the temperature is less than 0 °C.

The time required to fix methane in clathrates in its solid state as a result of surface cooling is estimated to be several tens of thousands of years. Researchers note that considering the sensitivity of clathrates to surface change, the time scales involved, and the large quantities of carbon stored as clathrate, methane clathrates may have played a significant role in modifying the composition of the atmosphere during the ice ages.

Methane is abundant on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It was produced as a chemical processing of their primordial solar nebula material. On Saturn’s moon, Titan, methane plays a role that is similar to water on Earth. Coating its silicate core are high-pressure ices, above it is liquid water mixed with ammonia (NH3), and above it is the methane-rich water ice that forms a crust. Also similar to earth, these methane can leak and be released into Titan’s atmosphere.

Once released to the atmosphere, methane is called atmospheric methane,

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00144504

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/methane-on-mars-titan/

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/methane20060302.html

Source

Thermogenic methane and other sources

Geologically, thermogenic methane are those organically generated by the breakup of organic matters due to increased temperature and pressure. Inorganic methane form through magmatic and water-rock reactions at low pressure and temperature. Most methane in the sedimentary plates are thermogenic, and are important sources of natural gas.

Continental deposits of methane are found in Siberia, Alaska, beneath Arctic permafrost and beneath Antarctic ice. Deep freshwater lakes such as Lake Baikal in Siberia also host methane hydrates. Although its amount is unconfirmed, oceanic deposits are present in many places, but primarily near continental margins.

Wetlands, agricultural practices, animal digestions, decay of organic waste in landfills, all emit methane. Oil and gas production may leak methane into the atmosphere, and natural gas is 90% methane.

https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-3/methane-hydrate/formation/formation-of-methane-hydrate/

Ammonia

AMMONIA

(NH3)

Ammonia (NH3) in room temperature is a colourless gas with a pungent odor. Scientists speculate that ammonia was one of the key atmospheric gases required to provide conducive conditions for the origin of life. In the solar system scale, ammonia is also found in other planets such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Ammonia hints to the presence of liquid water, as it is an antifreeze with a low melting point of −100 °C.

Ammonia is found in nature in trace quantities. When bacteria breaks down organic matter and when fires burn, they release ammonia. In the atmosphere, most ammonia is produced from human activities such as food production and agricultural animal waste. Ammonia enters the aquatic environment from municipal wastewater lines, animal excretion, nitrogen fixation, air deposition, and agricultural soil runoff.

In 2010, ammonia production plants made 157.3 million metric tons of the compound globally. Up to 90% of ammonia is used to make fertilizers, and the rest goes to pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles and other industries. In 2014, China produced 32.6% of global ammonia supply.

https://www.aiche.org/resources/publications/cep/2016/september/introduction-ammonia-production

https://www.epa.gov/wqc/aquatic-life-criteria-ammonia

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassinif-20090722.html

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144351/the-seasonal-rhythms-of-ammonia

https://www.nature.com/articles/291213a0

Ingredients

In the rubber and plastic industry, ammonia is used to stabilize raw latex and to prevent coagulation during transporting and storing. Ammonia is also used in the extraction of copper, nickel and molybdenum from their ores. In metal heat treatment, ammonia is used to produce a reducing atmosphere of hydrogen and nitrogen as a protective atmosphere. In the petroleum industry, ammonia is used to neutralize acidic components of crude oil. Ammonia is also used to clean smokestacks, removing sulfur oxides and NOx emitted by exhaust gases.

Ammonia is a natural refrigerant, and it is widely used in industrial refrigerant systems. Ammonia is also used as a cleaning solution, and the production of explosives, textiles, and dyes. Ammonia in fertilizers is used to make the soils nitrogen rich. It can also be used as a protein source of cattles. In all, ammonia is essential for plant, animal, and human life, although high quantities of ammonia is hazardous for health.

http://www.linde-gas.com/en/products_and_supply/packaged_chemicals/product_range/ammonia.html

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Ammonia

Labor

Industrial production of ammonia uses the Haber-Bosch nitrogen-fixation reaction, which uses a simple iron catalyst to make ammonia and other nitrogen-containing compounds from nitrogen and hydrogen.

Hydrogen used for the reaction comes from natural gas, coal, or oil through processes that release CO2. The total of CO2 emissions from this hydrogen production account for more than half of those from the entire ammonia production process.

Ammonia synthesis starts with generating hydrogen gas from fossil-fuel feedstocks. A reformer turns the feedstocks into a mixture of gases called synthesis gas (syngas), which includes hydrogen. A CO shift converter combines water and the carbon monoxide from syngas to form CO2 and more hydrogen, and then acid gas removal isolates the hydrogen for ammonia synthesis. This process releases CO2 at various steps along the way.

Ammonia production releases a lot of CO2. The Haber-Bosch process enables ammonia production on such a large scale to make inexpensive fertilizers available to the world. This allows for agricultural practice to be steady and abundant globally. This in turn boosted food production, and the world population has climbed from about 1.6 billion people in 1900 to about 6.7 billion people today.

https://cen.acs.org/articles/86/i33/Haber-Bosch-Reaction-Early-Chemical.html

Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)

“Calcium sulfate is a naturally occurring calcium salt, also commonly known as gypsum, CaSO4.2H2O. Gypsum is a mineral found in crystal as well as masses called gypsum rock. It is a very soft mineral and it can form very pretty, and sometimes extremely large colored crystals. Massive gypsum rock forms within layers of sedimentary rock, typically found in thick beds or layers. It forms in lagoons where ocean waters high in calcium and sulfate content can slowly evaporate and be regularly replenished with new sources of water. The result is the accumulation of large beds of sedimentary gypsum. Gypsum is commonly associated with rock salt and sulfur deposits. It is processed and used as prefabricated wallboard or as industrial or building plaster, used in cement manufacture, agriculture and other uses.”

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/ca.htm

https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-database/gypsum/

GYPSUM

(Calcium Sulfate)

Source

“The main sources of calcium sulfate are naturally occurring gypsum and anhydrite, which occur at many locations worldwide as evaporites. These may be extracted by open-cast quarrying or by deep mining. Calcium sulfate can also be recovered and re-used from scrap drywall at construction sites.

World production of natural gypsum is up to 127 million tons annually. The United States, the world’s leading crude gypsum producer, produced an estimated 20 million tons. China and Iran were the second-leading producers each producing an estimated 16 million tons. Increased use of wallboard in Asia, coupled with new gypsum product plants, spurred increased production in that region. As wallboard becomes more widely used in other regions, worldwide production of gypsum is expected to increase. “

The image is of the Gypsum Flintkote quarry near Fort Dodge.

https://medium.com/iowa-history/old-gypsum-mines-enjoy-new-life-as-off-highway-vehicle-park-1f5234f05b87

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/mineral-commodity-summaries

Ingredients

“Most gypsum in the United States is used to make wallboard for homes, offices, and commercial buildings; a typical new American home contains more than 7 metric tons of gypsum alone. Moreover, gypsum is used worldwide in concrete for highways, bridges, buildings, and many other structures that are part of our everyday life.“

Uncalcined gypsum is a soil conditioner, and it is used to reduce the alkalinity of soils. The dehydrated calcium sulphate is the mineral gypsum, and it is the main composition of Portland concrete. Calcined gypsum is used in making tile, wallboard, lath, and various plasters. Calcium sulphate hemihydrate produced when gypsum is heated in high temperatures, and it is generally known as Parisian stucco. Powdered and moldable upon hydration makes it a convenient building material, and an added advantage is that calcium sulfate does not readily dissolve in water after its solidification. A drawback is its low mechanical strength. However, it is considered as an alternative cementitious material that produces less greenhouse gases in its manufacturing process, since its processing temperature is relatively low.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318572727_CALCIUM_SULFATE_AN_ALTERNATIVE_FOR_ENVIRONMENTALLY_FRIENDLY_CONSTRUCTION

Labor

In addition to natural sources, calcium sulfate is produced as a by-product of flue-gas desulfurization, in which industrial flues are scrubbed using limestone to reduce their sulfur oxide content, and in turn produces calcium sulfite, oxidized into calcium sulfate. In another process when calcium phosphate in phosphate rock is treated with sulfuric acid to produce phosphoric acid, calcium sulfate precipitates. Calcium sulfate also precipitates when calcium fluoride is treated with sulfuric acid to produce hydrogen fluoride. Titanium dioxide productions also produce gypsum as a by-product.

Gypsum, which naturally is a dihydrate compound, can consist as two other configurations. The other two include the anhydrite form, which lacks the water molecule completely, and the last form is the hemihydrate, which contains half the water molecule. The hemihydrate is also commonly known as stucco, which is a material for drywall. When mixed with water, stucco will return to gypsum, while it can also be calcined to become the anhydrite form.The anhydrite form can be used as a mixture with gypsum for construction purposes. The formation of the anhydrite and the hemihydrate from gypsum is a reversible process, which allows the compounds to be recyclable, creating the gypsum cycle. Waste plasterboards or recovered demolished material can be taken to the plant to be recalcined, creating more anhydrite compounds.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081002759000073

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Schematic-diagram-illustrating-gypsum-anhydrite-gypsum-cycle-according-to-Murray-1964_fig1_242186604

PHOTOSYNTHETIC SURFACE OF THE EARTH

PHOTOSYNTHETIC

SURFACE OF THE EARTH

Photosynthesis on the surface of the Earth is thought to have started 3.4 billion years ago and is responsible for providing Earth's atmosphere with most of its oxygen. Geological evidence suggests that photosynthesis in cyanobacteria exploded 2.4 billion years ago, during a period referred to as the Oxygen Catastrophe. This name is a tribute to the extinction of most existing species on Earth, which did not survive such a surge in oxygen content.

Indeed, if oxygen is necessary for complex life as we know it today, such an increase of biologically produced molecular oxygen (dioxygen, O2) changed Earth's atmosphere from a weakly reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere, causing many or most existing species on Earth to die out.

Despite that, cyanobacteria responsible for the productions of this oxygen are often credited with having allowed for the development of multicellular forms and the life diversity we know today.

The first wood fiber appeared approximately 395 to 400 years ago.

Cellular Composition

Apart from water, wood cells are composed of three principal chemical materials, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin.

Cellulose (C6H10O5), representing around 40% of the material weight, is a crystalline polymer derived from glucose.

Hemicellulose (C5H10O5) constitutes about 25% of wood and contrasts with cellulose mainly through the irregular assembly of its five-carbon sugars.

Lignin (C31H34O11), finally, is mainly present in cell walls and is responsible for many of their properties. Essential for the structural development of many plants and algae, lignin also confers wood its hydrophobic properties.

Chemical Composition

By weight, wood is approximately made up of 50% carbon, 42% oxygen, 6% hydrogen, 1% nitrogen.

Depending on species, wood also contains 1% of other elements, from calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, and manganese, as well as sulfur, chlorine, silicon, phosphorus in very small quantities.

Wood Fiber

Apparition of Wood Fiber

Fossils of plants from the early Devonian, 400 million years ago, show that simple forms of wood fibers appeared at a time when all land plants were small and herbaceous, way before the development of higher shrubs and trees. It is then often concluded that such fiber's original purpose was for enhanced internal water transport rather than for mechanical and structural support.

However, the early Devonian landscape being devoided of vegetation taller than waist height, greater height provided a competitive advantage both in the harvesting of sunlight for photosynthesis, overshadowing competitors, and in spore distribution, as spores could be blown for greater distances if they started higher. An effective vascular system was required in order to achieve greater heights and attain arborescence. Plants then further developed the already existing wood tissues that, beyond water transport, started to provide structural support and the capacity for secondary cellular growth.

The first wood fiber appeared approximately 395 to 400 years ago, but trees similar to oaks first appear about 32-35 million years ago, and trees related to extant species appear by about 25 million years ago. By about 23 million years ago, trees representative of most major groups of oaks have appeared.

Vegetal Cells

Photosynthesis is a process by which organisms transform light energy into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel all kinds of internal activities.

A simplified equation of this process can be written as such:

Light + CO2 + H2O → Sugar + O2

Photosynthesis started in cyanobacteria, a once independent bacteria. These used to be eaten by organisms of more substantial size, such as algae that relied on the chemical energy they contained to survive. However, 1.6 billion years ago, an alga swallowed a cyanobacteria and turned it into an internal solar power plant. This story suggests that plants are chimeras—hybrid creatures assembled from the genetic bits of this ancestral union.

It is supposed that fusion occurred due to a scarcity of prey -cyanobacterias- and an abundance of sunlight. This alliance kept cyanobacterias alive and allowed bigger cellular organisms to rely on their energy production. From that forced union, a supergroup of hugely successful organisms was born: plants.

ISSUES

Acid Rain

In the early 20th century, most production of sulfur comes from mining, but more recently, most sulfur comes from emission controls. Man-made emissions of sulfur have roughly tripled since 1900.

When fossil fuels are burned at power plants and other industrial combustion, sulfur dioxide causes acid depositions in the atmosphere, oxidized to sulfuric acid, and causes acid rain. Acid rain damages building materials such as marble and limestone. When sulfurous, sulfuric, and nitric acids in polluted air and rain react with the calcite in marble and limestone, the calcite dissolves. What is ironic is that the building industry itself burns a lot of fossil fuel to produce materials and refine metals, contributing to the emission of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

Not only that, acid rain severely damages air quality and pollutes the aquatic habitat of many species.

https://enviroliteracy.org/special-features/its-element-ary/sulfur/

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-does-acid-precipitation-affect-marble-and-limestone-buildings?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products

Manganese Mining & Manganism

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/l/pp1802l.pdf

Liquid Waste from Nickel Mining

Nickel Mining

The Philippines this year closed or suspended 17 nickel mines because of environmental concerns.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586865/

Cobalt Mining and Child Labor

Cobalt Mining, Child Labor

The mining of cobalt, especially in blasting and its electricity consumption, is highly damaging to the environment. Runoff of minerals also causes eutrophication of nearby water sources.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586865/

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2300396018301836

Tin & Informal Mining

https://www.internationaltin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Global-Resources-Reserves-2020-Update.pdf

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/09/04/13064321/kunker-ke-tiongkok-gubernur-babel-paparkan-sejarah-250-tahun-tambang-timah?page=all#page2

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/03/11/13324721/korban-tewas-tambang-timah-di-babel-terus-berjatuhan-pemerintah-didesak

https://regional.kompas.com/read/2020/01/16/23024241/walhi-temukan-6000-lubang-tambang-timah-di-babel-sebut-26-orang-tewas-di

Nitrogen, Climate Change, and the Netherlands

Nitrogen, Climate Change, Netherlands

https://theconversation.com/nitrogen-pollution-the-forgotten-element-of-climate-change-69348https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1247398/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-construction/dutch-construction-boom-set-to-end-as-eu-nitrogen-rules-bite-idUSKBN1XA1GI?smbl=esg

Carbon: emission and mining

Carbon

On the other hand, diamond mining is highly problematic with low wages, child labor, and blood diamonds produced in war zones to finance civil wars.

https://u.osu.edu/diamondscarlsoncaggiano/impacts/

https://architecture2030.org/new-buildings-embodied/

https://time.com/blood-diamonds/

http://www.northerngraphite.com/about-graphite/the-graphite-supply-problem/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/planet-may-be-losing-its-ability-cope-all-our-carbon-dioxide-emissions-180952650/

https://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/c.htm

SOURCES

Materials for this house were mined from all over the world. In some cases we were able to get specific information, but tracing all the sources is impossible, so we used our best guess. There are two frames in this map: Extraction and Processing. Processing and finishing took place in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. In some situations these Extraction and Processing are quite close. In others, they are far apart and have nothing connecting them apart from the global transportation network.

SOURCES

Concrete

concrete

The concrete mix used for the house was manufactured by Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel Co., located in Seattle, WA. The cumulative distance from each of the locations from which raw materials were sourced and processed (such as the Cascade Quarry, Lafarge Quarry, and Coalmont Mine), to Salmon Bay’s Seattle branch, is 3269 miles. Given the highly varied distribution of mineral deposits across the United States and North America, and the fact that most material processing happens in close proximity to extraction sites, such vast transportation networks are ubiquitous within the concrete industry.

Limestone

The Lafarge quarry in Texada, British Columbia, from which the limestone was sourced, is the oldest active mine in the province. It produces an average of four million tons of limestone per year. The limestone is barged to Lafarge’s Seattle facility for processing into a general-use portland cement, and subsequently shipped to retailers all over the world. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the majority of limestone’s cost to the customer is determined by the distance and means of transportation, given that it is considered a low-value, high-volume commodity. Shipping by barge is the most cost-effective, and therefore the most prevalent, means of transporting limestone in the world, with transportation via truck being the least favorable option.

Aggregate

The aggregate used in the 1119 25th Avenue house—a mixture of sand and gravel—was originally sourced from the Cascade Quarry, located just outside Seattle as part of CalPortland’s facility in Gold Bar, WA. It can be speculated that, due to large-sized gravel particles increasing the quantity of water required to maintain the workability of wet concrete, and given that a water-reducing admixture was incorporated into the mix used in the house, relatively small-sized gravel particles were used as the coarse aggregate. In compliance with Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) specifications, the gravel used was likely 5/8" Minus Quarry Rock (i.e. gravel with a diameter of 5/8" or less).

The US aggregate industry comprises approximately 3870 mining companies for sand and gravel across all fifty states. The top ten producing states by tonnage, of which Washington ranks sixth, accounted for 55% of all national aggregate production in 2019.

Fly Ash

While the use of fly ash as a partial replacement for cement in concrete does reduce some of the CO2 emissions associated with processing virgin materials into cement, the compound presents a host of environmental problems, mainly due to disposal methods. The fly ash added to the cement mixture was sourced from Coalmont Energy Corp’s Basin Coal Mine, located in British Columbia. In 2013, 1060 cubic feet of sludge from Coalmont’s tailings pond entered the Tulameen River, sparking outrage from the residents of Coalmont. Additionally, fly ash represents a tangible, material link between the fossil fuel industry and the construction industry—its use reinforces a paradigm of coal-based energy.

Admixtures

The admixtures were supplied by the Texas branch of BASF, one of the largest producers of chemicals and related products in North America.

The use of admixtures can be traced back to some of the first uses of concrete itself—the Roman empire has been found to make use of milk, blood, and lard to alter the physical and chemical properties of concrete. The admixtures that are more familiar to us today (accelerators, air-entrainers, etc.) were first used in North America in the 1930’s, and were gradually popularized over the next two decades.

GLASS

glass

The new glass installed in the house is manufactured by Wisconsin-based Cardinal Glass, with window assemblies by Kolbe Windows and Velux Skylights. The existing windows are by Anderson Eagle, with glass that comes from three possible sources, with Cardinal Glass being one of them. Given that the primary materials of glass have an incredibly low cost-to-weight ratio and are uneconomical to transport for long distances, it usually means that glass is made as close as possible to the manufacturer’s chosen supply of sand.

Cardinal Glass

The highly specific requirements for industrial sand mean that the viability of high quality glass manufacturing is mostly dictated by access to the required geological formations with that sand. The cost inefficiencies of transporting the sand usually also mean that in areas that would incur high transport and labor cost, glass is usually just imported. In the United States, for example, glass from Europe would be a viable option for the East Coast, and glass from China or Japan similarly so for locations along the West Coast.

Cardinal Glass bucks the trend with a production network based primarily in the United States. With relatively easy access to the Wisconsin sandstones, Cardinal Glass has invested in multiple facilities in the Badger State, from sand mines and processing to float glass plants and coating plants. The particular mine that the sand is sourced from is most likely the Covia (and formerly Fairmount) mine in Menomonie, Wisconsin, from which it travels a short distance by truck to the Cardinal Float Glass facility in the same town. Most of the primary materials, such as lime and soda, would also be transported to the same locations, but via rail from Wyoming and Montana.

Industrial Sand

The sand mining in Wisconsin is not done exclusively for industrial sand for glass, but rather, the sand is available for glass as a co-product with the search for another specific type of sand, frac sand. In what has been called the “Sand Rush” of Wisconsin, the state has become the epicenter of coordinated efforts to search, drill and fracture land to access its sandstone formations. It is this demand for frac sand that has made the sourcing of sand for glass economically viable in Wisconsin. The United States is the estimated by NASA to be the largest global consumer of industrial sand (a category that includes the sand used for fracking and glassmaking), with roughly 63% of it used for fracking, and with glass production creating the next largest demand for it

Soda (Sodium Carbonate)

Soda

Sodium Carbonate

The second major component by mass in glass is soda, or sodium oxide, typically added in the form of sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is primarily produced through the Solvay process, in an intricate reaction of limestone, ammonia and concentrated brine. (It is actually produced in the exact same way as it would be for baking soda!) However, an accidental discovery in 1938, by the Mountain Fuel Supply Company, has actually resulted in a naturally occurring alternative for the United States, in the form of trona. In their search for oil, the company actually chanced upon a sample of the Green River Formation in Wyoming (described earlier), the largest known formation of trona in the world. This formation is so extensive, that it is now responsible for 90% of the United States’ production of the mineral, and at current rates of consumption, is expected to last for over 2000 years. With an estimated 127 billion tonnes of the sodium carbonate mineral within relatively easy access, this has allowed for an abundant, economical supply of soda for both glass manufacturing and baking soda in the United States. A portion of this trona would have been processed and transported by rail from Wyoming to Wisconsin for the glass in our house.

Lime (Calcium Oxide)

Lime

Calcium Oxide

The lime used in the production of Cardinal Glass for the house has a much less specific story than the soda or industrial sand. Lime is primarily mined from limestone and dolomite, where it exists as calcium carbonate and calcium magnesium carbonate. These stones are found in relatively common formations of sedimentary rock and are also mined to produce other construction materials, such as cladding stone, concrete or paint.

Whilst China is the largest global producer of lime by more than a factor of 10, there are over 1400 companies and 3600 limestone mines across the United States, and untapped limestone resources are so abundant that the United States is completely self reliant for it by all estimates of current and projected use. The most likely source of the limestone used in the glass, as mentioned in interviews and company profiles, is the Madison Limestone Formation, or Madison Group, made accessible with railroads from Montana to Wisconsin.

Magnesium Oxide

The dolomite in the sourcing of lime is also used in glass production to introduce magnesium oxide into the glass batch. It is available in similar quantities globally to limestone, and would most likely be simultaneously sourced from the Madison Group in Montana.

Magnesium Oxide

Potash (Potassium Carbonate)

Potash

Potassium

Carbonate

Of the all basic ingredients for glass, potash is the one material that is most likely to be imported to the United States. With a 88 - 91% net import reliance over the last five years, most of the potash needed in the United States for not only glass production, but other products such as fertilizers and manufactured salts, is dependent on international sources. Fortunately for the Cardinal Glass production in Wisconsin, one does not need to go too far to locate the largest potash mining industry in the world.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is home to about a dozen potash mines and an estimated 45 percent of the world’s reserve of the mineral. The Prairie Evaporite Formation that contains all this potash stretches right across Saskatchewan, and into the American states of Montana and North Dakota. This geological formation is the result of the evaporation of an inland sea around 328 million years ago during the Middle Devonian Period, and can be found at depths of up to 950 meters below the ground. As most of the minerals in the formation are water-soluble, nearly none of the formation can be seen in outcrops.

This need to mine for potash at depth produces a very distinct type of mine in the landscape. Conventional mining involves excavation to a few hundred meters below ground, where a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms allow for the extraction of the sylvinite ore that contains potash. More recently, however, solution mining has provided a useful alternative to access deeper deposits of potash. In this process, wells are dug deep into the ground and into the potash deposits. Hot brine is then pumped into these wells to dissolve the potash and bring it up to the surface. The brine is then evaporated to extract the potash. As a result of this, solution mines are usually also accompanied by large, brightly colored pools, where the potash solution is dyed into bright colors so as to increase its evaporation rate.

Aluminum Oxide

Aluminum Oxide is the most likely stabilizer added to glass, in addition to the basic ingredient of lime. Whilst aluminum for most manufacturing might benefit from recycled sources of the metal, the metallurgical-grade alumina required for glass production is almost entirely imported into the United States, brought into the country as refined alumina, or processed from the mineral bauxite. Much of the alumni production within the states is focused on non-metallurgical purposes, such as in the manufacturing of abrasives, cement and chemicals.

Of the bauxite imported into the States, just over 50% of it originates from mines in Jamaica. The largest of these mines is in St. Elizabeth, Nain, and is owned by JISCO, a Chinese state-owned mining giant, having recently acquired it from the Russian aluminum company RUSAL.

Boron Oxide

Boron

Oxide

The Searles Lake in the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernadino County in California: The mining facilities built around the dry lake process the brine from the lake by evaporating it, yielding borate minerals along with sodium and potassium minerals. Both the major companies that process Boron in the United States also own rail systems to transport their products to intermediaries and manufacturing facilities.

The mineral wealth of this area is so vast that the California Office of Historic Preservation estimates that the formation contains at least "half the natural elements known to man"

Lead Oxide

Lead

Oxide

A majority of the lead used in the United States is from domestic sources, more specifically, from six mines in Missouri and five in the states of Alaska, Idaho, and Washington. While the Red Dog Mine in Alaska is the largest producer of lead in the form of zinc-lead ore, lead for glass manufacturing in Wisconsin would more probably have been from the runner-up, the Fletcher Mine in Reynolds, MIssouri. Owned and operated by the Doe Run Resources Corporation of St Louis, the nation’s largest lead producer, lead ore would be mined and subsequently processed at a smelter within the state.

Indium Tin Oxide

No Indium was recovered in the United States in 2019, meaning that the nation was 100% import dependent for this material. Curiously, Indium is actually available as a byproduct in a number of other ores for copper, tin and tungsten, but is not usually extracted from these processes. Globally, the production of ITO drives the majority of demand for Indium, although, increasingly, Indium-based lasers are also needed for advanced internet networks, like 5G. Besides its application in coatings for window glass, ITO is also similarly added to LCD and touchscreens and has seen increased demand with the widespread use of handheld mobile devices.

The Dachang Sn-polymetallic ore field that is responsible for this abundance of Indium was most likely formed during the late Devonian Period (360 - 370 million years ago), in a submarine exhalative-hydrothermal process. In brief, this occurs when ore-bearing hydrothermal fluids, close to the earth’s crust, are released into a water body, resulting in the precipitation of these ores.

Tin

In the United States, where Cardinal Glass is based, there is roughly a 75 - 78% net import reliance for tin, with no tin mined or smelted within the country since 1993 and 1989, respectively. Recycled tin from scrap and reclaimed metals account for the remaining supply of tin. Of these sources, domestic and imported, however, the primary source is imports from Indonesia, where stunningly, all recorded sources of tin by the USGS are in the Bangka Islands and the surrounding region.

Due to the more inland position of the Wisconsin glass factories, it is likely that recycled, refined tin is used in the production of the glass in the house. That said, if current patterns of consumption and import hold true, it is likely that the original tin came from Indonesia, followed by Malaysia and Peru. China is actually the world’s top producer of tin, but just barely, exceeding Indonesia’s output by about 1%.

steel

Wood

Three main sites of extraction

wood

Wood is a primary ingredient of the Deconstructed House. It made its way to the house in three forms, lumber in the house structure, plywood in its partitions, and aggregated in its parquet flooring. The lumber and plywood are mainly made of Douglas Fir coming from the United-States of America, the parquet’s White Oak is sourced in Germany and it’s softwood filling is grown in Indonesia

Timber exploitation has far from an equitable past. This largely comes from different ethnic groups having different relationships to land property and forest sustainability. At the center of this cultural divide is the question of whether trees are valuable as an extracted resource (to produce lumber on which industrialized economies rely) or as an ecological resource (supporting thriving fauna and flora ecosystems on which locals often rely).

Deforestation around the world is rather concerning, as The Worldwide Fund for Nature says Earth is losing its forest cover at the rate of a football pitch every two seconds. Subsequently, it is said that 10% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are caused by deforestation, much of it due to illegal logging.

Certification in Germany

FSC and PEFC

Germany

There are several certification labels available in Germany. The Bonn-based (Germany) juggernaut Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), created in 1993, is one of them. FSC is an international non-profit and multi-stakeholder organization trying to promote responsible management of the world's forests. After years of acclamation, former founder, Simon Counsell, left the organization, claiming that FSC has severe problems of traceability, affordability, and equity. Counsell pointed, for example, at the cumbersome and expensive certification process that tends to favor significantly larger corporations leaving no options to small owners.

FSC's certification of products from 'mixed sources,' which "allows up to 90% of the wood fiber in some FSC-labeled products to come from forests or plantations that are not FSC-certified, is also a concerning issue. According to Counsell, "the Mixed Sources policy is allowing the laundering of unacceptable wood into the FSC system."

As the trust in FSC started to deplete, the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) was created in 1999 and became the norm in the country. Today, it is estimated that 7% of German forests are certified according to FSC standards and 65% according to PEFC.

Europe and its forests

A historically forested land

Europe

Forests in Europe represent about 180 million hectares today, about 40% of the continent's surface. It is believed that this number was close to 90% a few thousands of years ago. However, wood has historically been a key construction material, and until the industrial revolution, the primary heating source. Hence, massive deforestation started in the early middle ages, as agglomerations grew larger and agricultural land was needed to feed an increasing population.

Later on, as an aftermath of the two World Wars industrialization and the economic boom of the subsequent reconstruction, experts started to stress about severe wood depletion on the continent. Stringent policies were discussed at Union Level and adopted at a national scale, which allowed European forests to increase in area by 17 million hectares since 1990.

More recently the European Union Forest Strategy (EUFS), highlights the importance of European forests as key repositories for biological diversity and as key providers of ecosystem services such as soil and water protection, absorption of carbon from the atmosphere, biofuels, timber production, amenity, and that they provide social benefits.

Wood

Subtitle here or there

United States

Wood is a primary ingredient of the Deconstructed House. It made its way to the house in three forms, lumber in the house structure, plywood in its partitions, and aggregated in its parquet flooring.

The lumber and plywood are mainly made of Douglas Fir coming from the United-States of America, the parquet’s White Oak is sourced in Germany and it’s softwood filling is grown in Indonesia.

Certification in Indonesia

FSC and LEI

Indonesia

Tropical deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia is a serious concern of many stakeholders. About 16 million hectares of forestland in concessions is degraded. In addition, the lack of clarity of land tenure rights and ownership has given rise to significant conflict, which also contributes to unsustainable forest management. In response, domestic and international organizations have put considerable pressure on Indonesia to improve forest management policies and practices. In 1990, the first ever developing country certification was carried out in Indonesia, when SmartWood certified Perum Perhutani's teak forest operation on the island of Java. In response to this and other NGO pressure, the Government of Indonesia established its own forest certification scheme - Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia - in 1993. In 1998, LEI was officially established as a foundation and since then has conducted several certification assessments. LEI and FSC have also developed a Joint Certification Protocol (JCP) that obliges FSC to use both LEI and FSC criteria and indicators when conducting an assessment of a forest management operation. Despite its early arrival, poor forest practices, ineffective government policies, and forest-related conflicts over indigenous peoples' land rights have hindered certification's development in Indonesia. While many challenges remain, a few positive effects of certification have been noted. These include the establishment of a government incentive for companies to pass LEI certification, an increased willingness of companies to engage in public consultation, and the opening up of political space for NGOs and communities to express their concerns.

Ceramic (Tile)

The 2.55 tonnes of tile in the house were purchased from Contract Furnishings Mart, located in Seattle. Contract Furnishings, however, sourced the tiles from Ceramiche Caeser, a company located in Florence, whose design, research, and production work (including milling, spray drying, pressing, decoration, and firing) all occurs within Italy. Thus, while both the site of production and that of commerce/retail have a strong sense of locality, the fact that they exist within a global network means that the cumulative travel distance of the Seattle house’s tiles was 8,800km. Furthermore, 75% of Ceramiche Caeser’s locally produced tile is exported to over 200 countries, which suggests that transportation costs on the consumer end constitute a significant portion of the company’s profits.

ceramic

Plastic

Plastic production worldwide is steadily increasing. In 2018, world plastic production reached 359 million metric tons, with 62 metric tons produced in Europe. However, plastic’s largest producers in the world are located in China, with more than one quarter of the annual global plastic production.

plastic

https://www.darrinqualman.com/global-plastics-production/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/282732/global-production-of-plastics-since-1950/#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20world%20plastics%20production%20totaled%20around%20359%20million%20metric%20tons.&text=Plastics%20are%20used%20in%20a,wood%2C%20metal%2C%20and%20glass.&text=In%202018%2C%20the%20global%20production,tons%20produced%20in%20Europe%20alone.

Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels

Although crude oil is a source of raw material (feedstock) for making plastics, it is not the major source of feedstock for plastics production in the United States. Plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and feedstocks derived from crude oil refining. The feedstocks from natural gas processing and crude oil refining are derived in the US. These feedstocks are then used in chemical processing plants, such as the BASF chemical plant in Louisiana where the polyurethane insulation is produced or in North Carolina where the ABS tubing is extruded.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is unable to determine the specific amounts or origin of the feedstocks that are actually used to manufacture plastics in the United States.

However, because of the need to co-locate fossil fuel and plastic production, there is a high degree of vertical integration between the industries; major oil and gas producers own plastics companies, and major plastics producers own oil and gas companies. DowDuPont, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and BP are all integrated companies.

source: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=34&t=6

Crude Oil

Crude oil occurs naturally in the form of unrefined petroleum. The structure of crude oil is composed of hydrocarbon deposits and other organic materials. In the process of refining, crude oil can be used to produce usable products such as gasoline, diesel, and various other forms of petrochemicals. Crude oil cannot be replaced naturally and therefore it is considered as limited and nonrenewable sources.

Crude Oil

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crude-oil.asp#:~:text=Crude%20oil%20is%20a%20naturally,various%20other%20forms%20of%20petrochemicals.

Oil Refining

Crude Oil Refining

The first crude oil refining has the origins in 1958, when the dirst oil wells were successfully dirilled in Ontario, Canada. A year after, in 1859, the first oils wells in the USA were drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Prior to this time, oil was only available from natural resorvoirs on the surface level, which amount was small and limited.

First refineris used simple distillation units, known as stills. Stills were used to separate the various ingredients of petroleum by the process of heating the crude oil mixture in a vessel. This would further lead to condensation of the resultant vapours into liquid. The "straight run" naphtha is the lowest-boiling raw product produced from still.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/petroleum-refining

Schematic flow diagram of a typical oil refinery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_refinery

USA Map

MOTIVA

The Motiva refinery is considered to be the largest oil refinery in the USA. In 1901, the oil was on boom in Texas, which initiated the idea of refinery. Located in Port Arthur, Texas, this refinery started its operation in 1902 in the form of Port Arthur Refinery.

Since hen, Port Arthur grew into Motiva Refinery and became the largest refinery in North America with crude capacity of 630,000 barrels per day. This refinery takes up 1,400 acres, employing 1,500 people. Additionally, it also operates as the largest lubricant plant for consumers and commercial use.

https://motiva.com/about/what-we-do/refining

https://www.fuelsandlubes.com/motiva-enterprises-to-study-potential-of-petrochemical-projects-at-largest-refinery-in-u-s-owned-by-saudi-aramco/?cn-reloaded=1

Natural Gas

Natural gas can be used as a feedstock in the manufacturing process of many plastic products. In this process gases, such as butane, ethane, propane can be extracted and use as fertilizer.

Natural gas liquids, a key input for plastic production, are hard to transport. Petrochemical producers relying on natural gas liquids or ethane as a feedstock typically cluster geographically near sources of natural gas. The shale gas boom in the US is driving a massive

expansion in new plastics infrastructure in the Gulf region.

Natural gas processing

https://www.e-education.psu.edu/fsc432/content/natural-gas-processing

http://naturalgas.org/overview/uses-industrial/?fbclid=IwAR0LzbBWWnwMmKM9zuaoMVLg9eUPu20qirL2321Y9Ds8zEdMuOhUobD7XPE

USA Map

Marcellus Shale

The largest gas field in the United State, the Marcellus Shale take up to 14 tcm. This field spans across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, New York and annually produces 80.3 bcm. With this fact, Marcellus Shale is considered to be the largest source of natural gas in the United States and is one of the largest in the world.

Marcellus Shale

http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/rpd/shaleusa5.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/science/natural-gas/Location-of-major-gas-fields#ref1278965

Coal

The two largest coal mining sites in the United States are the North Antelope Rochelle and Black Thunder mines in Wyoming. In 2018, these two sites together produced 22% of total US coal production. In the same year, 756 million short tons of coal were produced in 23 USA states.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/where-our-coal-comes-from.php#:~:text=The%20two%20largest%20coal%20mines,U.S.%20coal%20production%20in%202018.

Peabody Energy

Peabody energy company represents the largest private-sector coal company in the world, with its headquarter in St. Louis, Missouri. The business consist of the process of mining, sale, transportation of coal. The company is growing, while serving customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. The company works on 20 mining sites both in the USA and Australia.

https://www.peabodyenergy.com/Who-We-Are/All-About-Peabody

Polyurethane

Spraytite 158 Building Envelope Insulation is used as the material component of the house. This product is a two-component closed-cell spray polyurethane, manufactured in BASF SE.

BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world with its headquarters being located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The company was founded in 1865. in Manheim, Germany and until today the company operates in more than 80 countries with 390 production sites located in Europe, Asia, Australia, America and Africa.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANSPACH

https://www.basf.com/global/en/who-we-are/history.html

Production

in the USA

BASF in the United States

Florham Park, New Jersey

BASF Corporation operates on more than 100 sites across the USA with its headquarters being located in Florham Park, New Jersey. Some of the major innovation facilities and research centers are located in Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, New York etc. BASF believes that its operations in the USA could be read as the sites of diverse manufacturing, research and development activities that provide a range of functions to its consumers.

Geismar, Louisiana

PHOTOGRAPH BY BASF

https://www.basf.com/us/en/who-we-are/organization/locations.html

Port Arthur, Texas

Hydroxyl Production

Hydroxyl

Hydroxyl is a product of the decomposition of hydroperoxides. It is also produced in atmospheric chemistry by the reaction of atomic oxygen with water.

And lastly hydroxyl can be also produced during UV light dissciation of H2O2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl_radical

Diisocyanate Production

Diisocyanate

Diisocyanates are used used to make polyurethane products, such as rigid and flexible foams, coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers. The most used dissocyanates are toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI).

TDI is produced from naphtha, a material extracted from crude oil. The process involves separation of aromatic compounds from naphtha to obtain toluene (the primary hydrocarbon feedstock).

MDI are considered as the highly produced chemical, mostly used in production of polyrethanes.

https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/polyurethanes-diisocyanates/

https://www.chemicals-technology.com/projects/bayermaterialscience/#:~:text=TDI%20is%20produced%20in%20a,reaction%20produces%20dinitrotoluene%20(DNT).

https://dii.americanchemistry.com/Diisocyanates-Explained/#:~:text=Diisocyanates%20are%20a%20family%20of,%2C%20adhesives%2C%20sealants%20and%20elastomers.&text=Diisocyanates%20used%20in%20polyurethane%20production,aromatic%20diisocyanates%20and%20aliphatic%20diisocyanates.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/01/16/1971707/0/en/Global-Methylene-Diphenyl-Diisocyanate-MDI-Market-is-Expected-to-Reach-USD-48-25-Billion-by-2026-Fior-Markets.html#:~:text=Methylene%20Diphenyl%20Diisocyanate%20(MDI)%20are,pounds%20(ACC%2C%202009).

Chemtura Company

Chemtura

Chemtura Corporation used to be a global corporation with headquaters in Philadephia, Pennsylvania. In 2017, the company merged with Lanxess. Lanxess is a German chemical company based in Cologne, Germany and founded in 2004.

There are 23 sites in the USA, with the main head office being located in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The company is focused on production of chemicals used for various industrial sctors such as energy, electronics and transportation.

http://lanxess.us/lanxess-in-the-usa/sites-worldwide/sites-in-the-usa/chardon-oh/

Photo: Lanxess Map Data 2020

Polymeric Isocyanate Production

Polymeric Isocyanates can be produced as a result of breakdown of other materials. One example would be the breaking down of polyurethane materials by the process of heating.

Polymeric Isocyanate

https://myosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/guide-to-handling-isocyanates.pdf

DOW Company

DOW

DOW is American chemical company with its headquaters in Midland in Michigan. Isocyanate produced in DOW are used for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers. Further they are used forprodtion ofced low- and high-density semi-rigid foams, rigid foams, viscoelastic slab foam and structural reaction injection molding (RIM) materials. The isocyanate solutions has various advantages such as high purity and high quality, low acidity, reproducible reactivity for manufacturing consistency, resistance to heat distortion, excellent strength at low densities, high resiliency etc.

https://www.dow.com/en-us/product-technology/pt-polyurethanes/pg-polyurethanes-isocyanates.html?cid=ppc_na_polyurethanes-nb-phrase_google_polyurethanes_naa_na_isocyanates_pu_isocyanates

PVDF

PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) is a fluoropolymer resin coating that has a strong resistance to most mineral and organic acids. Kynar 500 is the PVDF resin based coating used in the house and it is produced by Arkema. This product is used as a protection and preservation layer to aluminum galvanized steel, and aluminized steel.

In the USA, this company contain 26 industrial sites in almost 20 states. Kynar 500 resin has been produced at our original Calvert City, Kentucky plant since 1965.

Kynar 500 Coating

https://www.bestbuymetals.com/kynar-500-hylar-5000-pvdf-metal-roofing-finishes/

https://www.kynar500.com/en/product-information/why-kynar-500/

https://www.arkema-americas.com/en/arkema-americas/arkema-inc-history/before-1950/

1,1-difluoroethylene Production

1,1-Difluoroethylene is also known as vinylidene fluoride. This chemical is a flammable gas with the global production in 1999 of 33,000 metric tons.

1,1-difluoroethylenepic

https://www.bccourier.com/global-11-difluoroethylene-%E2%80%8Ecas-75-38-7-market-growth-rate-2020-by-companies-pure-chemistry-scientific-boc-sciences-apollo/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,1-Difluoroethylene

Shanghai MintChem Development

Shanghai MintChem Development Co.,Ltd

Shanghai MintChem Development iwas founded in 1993. Today, company consists of 5 companies, from chemicals production to the rading. Shangai MintChem is one of the leading suppliers and producers of 1,1-difluoroethylene, which is further used as a chemical in production of resin coating. The production in the USA is developed in Irvine, California,.

http://www.mintchem.com/cgi/search-en.cgi?f=product_en1+news_en1+introduction_en_1_&t=main_en&cate1=About%20us

http://www.mintchem.com/cgi/search-en.cgi?f=introduction_en_1_+product_en1&t=introduction_en_1_&cate1=Contact%20us

ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)

ABS

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry was founded in 1901, however, the plant did not start manufacturing plastic products until 1967. ABS is one of the many plastic plastic plumbing products produced in the facilities all around the USA. The main facilities are located in Charlotte, NC covering 100, 000 square foot of land and containing industrial-pipe extrusion plant with advanced-technology. Other plants are located in Wildwood, FL, Muncy, PA, Huntsville, AL, Cedar City, UT, Monroe, NC and Cameron, TX.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLOTTE PIPE AND FOUNDRY

https://www.charlottepipe.com/plant_locations.aspx

Propylene Production

Propylene

In 2018, the US production of propylene was counted of a total amount of 16.22 million metric tons.

There are two sources of propylene production in North America. One source is a co-product in ethylene production that is managed through steam cracking.

And another source is a by-product of fuel production, managed through refining process.

https://cdn.ihs.com/www/pdf/NAPS-6Trends.pdf

https://www.statista.com/statistics/974833/us-propylene-production-volume/#:~:text=This%20statistic%20shows%20the%20production,around%2016.22%20million%20metric%20tons.

Braskem

Braskem is a global producer of petrochemical with its headquoters in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The industry has 36 plants spread across Brazil, United States, Mexico, Germany. Its yearly production of resin and other petrochemicals is counted as 16 million tons.

This company is the world's leading biopolymers producer with 200,000 tons Green PE plants for polyethylene production. Other petrochemical units include production of ethylene and propylene to other companies with polymer units.

Braskem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braskem

https://www.braskem.com.br/usa/career

https://www.braskem.com.br/usa

Ammonia Production

Ammonia

Ammonia production has been considered as one of the most important industries in the world. It is crucial in manufacturing of fertilizers. Since 1946, ammonia production increased steadily with the peak of 176 million metric tons in 2014. The total annual production 80 years ago was counted just over 300,000 m.t. Due to the developments in chemical engineering, today one ammonia plant can produce more than 750, 000 m.t./year. Its annual production is worth more than $ 100 billion.

Worldwide ammonia production has steadily increased from 1946 to 2014

https://www.aiche.org/resources/publications/cep/2016/september/introduction-ammonia-production

U.S. Ammonia Market

US Ammonia Market

Until the year of 2015, ammonia production in the USA was operated in 13 companies at 29 plants in 15 states. The 60 % of total US ammonia production was located in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas due to the the states' natural supplies of the gas.

In 2013, USA ammonia production represented 10 % of 144 Mt global production.

https://allianceportregion.com/ammonia-is-the-new-black-a-primer-on-the-u-s-ammonia-market/

http://www.eammonia.com/articles/ammonia-boom-in-north-america/

Ethylene Production

Ethylene

The production of ethylene is manifested through steam cracking of a various hydrocarbon feedstocks. Through Europe and Asia, ethylene is produced from cracking naphtha, gasoil and condensates with the coproduction of propylene, C4 olefins and aromatics. In the USA, Canada and the Middle East ethylene and popylene are produced from the cracking of ethane and propane, which makes the production cheaper and less complicated for operation.

https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2007/11/05/9075778/ethylene-production-and-manufacturing-process/#:~:text=Ethylene%20is%20produced%20commercially%20by,and%20aromatics%20(pyrolysis%20gasoline).

https://www.britannica.com/science/ethylene

Dow Chemical Company

Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical Company is one of the world's leading suppliers of chemicals, plastics, synthetic fibres and agricultural products. The company was founded in 1897 by chemist Herbert H. Dow of Midland to supplement the Midland Chemical Company in 1890 and the Dow Process Company in 1895. Today, its headquarters arelocated in Midland, Michigan with plants in more than 150 countries worldwide.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/267498/largest-producers-of-ethylene-worldwide/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dow-Chemical-Company

Ethylbenzene Production

Ethylbenzene production happens infour forms: catalytic alkylation of benzene with ethylene, from mixed xylene by isomer separation and catatlytic isomerisation or from 1,3-butadiene in a two-step process in which butadiene is converted to vinylcyclohexane, which is further dehydrogenated. In the USA, in 2018, the production of ethylbenzene counted as total of 4.64 million metric tons.

Ethylbenzene

https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2007/11/02/9075695/ethylbenzene-eb-production-and-manufacturing-process#:~:text=Ethylbenzene%20is%20produced%20by%20the,vinylcyclohexane%20which%20is%20then%20dehydrogenated.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/974769/us-ethylbenzene-production-volume/#:~:text=U.S.%20ethylbenzene%20production%20volume%201990%2D2018&text=In%202018%2C%20the%20U.S.%20production,approximately%204.64%20million%20metric%20tons.

Dow Chemical Company

Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical Company is in the process of developing a method of making ethylbenzene from ethane and benzene.

This process mixes the dehydrogenation of ethane and ethylbenzene in one single unit, while integrating the processes for preparing ethylene, ethylbenzene and styrene. The pilot of this idea is in operation since 2002.

Dow Chemical plant in South Charleston, West Virginia

PEX

PEX, or crosslinked polyethylene, is a water piping system used in Europe since 1970 and in the USA since 1980. Since then, its use increased rapidly, replacing copper piping systems in many applications and forms. PEX is a product that can be found in shelves of Home Depot, the largest home improvement retailer in the USA. However, the product's original site is known as Plumber’s Choice, a company located in Phoenix, AZ.

PHOTOGRAPH BY UNKNOWN

https://theplumberschoice.store/

HDPE Production

HDPE (high density polyethylene)

HDPE or high density polyethylene is produced under controlled conditions by adding an intense heat to petroleum. The process, known as“cracking,” contributes in creation of ethylene gas. During this process, the gas molecules form polymers, which later produce polyethylene.

Manufacturing of HDPE

http://guichon-valves.com/faqs/ldpe-llpde-hdpe-manufacturing-process-of-ldpellpdehdpe/

https://www.scrantonproducts.com/how-is-hdpe-made/#:~:text=The%20Process%20of%20Making%20HDPE,polymers%2C%20which%20then%20produce%20polyethylene.

ISSUES

Wisconsin Sand Mining

Contamination

When the Hills Are Gone tells the story of Wisconsin’s sand mining wars. Providing on-the-ground accounts from both the mining industry and the concerned citizens who fought back, Thomas W. Pearson blends social theory, ethnography, stirring journalism, and his own passionate point of view to offer an essential chapter of Wisconsin’s history and an important episode in the national environmental movement.

BOXITE

BAUXITE

Environmental Contamination

Bauxite mining in Kuantan offers some exciting economic opportunities for various parties including individual land owners. Nevertheless, the “bauxite boom”; the extensive and uncontrolled mining activities have great potentials to cause adverse impacts on the environment, health and quality of life of the people living in the affected areas. Bauxite mining is not a new economic activity for Malaysia. The mining of bauxite has taken place in the state of Johor since early 2000. ... Extensive and aggressive mining which include transporting and stockpiling of bauxite in huge quantities cause environmental problems to emerge within a short period of time leading to community outrage.

Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, Thahirahtul Asma Zakaria and Daud Abdul Rahim, “Potential Health Impacts of Bauxite Mining in Kuantan (Malays J Med Sci. 2016 May; 23(3): 1–8.)

Bauxite in Malaysia:

The environmental cost of mining

BBC: 9 January 2016

Mapping the World's Mining Conflicts

https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/26/1440609801064/Miningconflictsaroundthewor.jpg

Fly Ash

In December 2008, over 1.7 million cubic yards of fly ash sludge were released into the Emory River after the failure of a containment pond wall at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant. The sludge smothered 300 acres of land, and destroyed dozens of houses in the plant’s proximity. Within the ten-year aftermath of the spill, thirty-six workers, all of whom were part of the cleanup effort, had died from leukemia and various forms of cancer as a result of prolonged proximity to the coal ash. A further 200 cleanup workers sued Jacobs Engineering, the primary cleanup contractor, in 2018 for refusing to provide them with protective equipment during the cleanup, including dust masks.

Jaon Smathers, "Sand mining surges in Wisconsin," July 31, 2011

Wisconsin

'Sand Rush'

Dubbed the “Sand Rush” of Wisconsin, the past five years have seen a marked increase in sand mining for the state, particularly along its western region. Much of the demand for this sand comes from the need for industrial sand of a specific purity and morphology for use in fracking; it is otherwise known as frac sand. This premium category of sand is available in other areas of the country, such as in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, but the sand in Wisconsin in particular, has been called the “Cadillac of all sands.”

According to Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, there were 73 active sand mines in 2017, with another 19 facilities to process the sand. Against the gridded boundaries of Wisconsin farmland, the sand mines are highly visible from NASA aerials of the landscape. These mines contribute to the United States’ status as world’s largest producer and consumer of industrial sand, worth an estimated $8.3 billion a year.

Whilst the industrial sand used in glass is not the same as frac sand, they are often mined together in the search for sand, and is the next significant sand product that is extracted and sorted from these mines. Without this reliable source of sand, it is hard to imagine the existence of highly localized supply chains for American glass, such as that adopted by Cardinal Glass. Its current availability relies on a delicate calculus between environmental impact, energy demand and the need for local jobs.

https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/07/sand-mining-surges-in-wisconsin/

Fracking Sand

Frac Sand

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/fracking-rural-wisconsin/

Missouri Ozarks

Timber exploitation has far from an equitable past. This largely comes from different groups having different relationships to land property and forest sustainability. For the midwestern state of Missouri in the United-States, the story begins with large timber companies moving into the region in the late 1880s. Upon arrival, these companies began offering paid teachers and graduate jobs to encourage local residents to take part in lumber production. In just a few decades, this aggressive timber exploitation completely shifted the socio-economics of the region.

However, the wood harvesting was purely no serious regenerative policy seems to have been put in place. As a result, by 1910, pine trees were largely depleted; and by the end of the 20th century, 83 percent of Missouri forest land had become private. Today, Missouri’s forests have the highest percentage of cull material*- the worst of any state in the nation.

*cull materials refers to trees that are unsuitable for industrial wood products because of dead material.

Missouri Ozarks

German Forestry

Germany's forests, covering about 30% of the country's landscape, have recently been in bad shape. Two summers of extreme heat and fires, timber diseases, and more specifically, a plague of pests have reduced their area by the equivalent of 200,000 football fields. This puts under threat their role as guardians of the nation's environment. Indeed, as German forests absorb 62 million tonnes of CO2 every year in Germany – equivalent to 7% of the country's carbon emissions, it is critical to maintain their health and even expand their limits.

If goals are clear, there is disagreement about what to do. Foresters want to introduce new species able to cope with climate change like Douglas firs and Northern Red Oaks. However, ecologists warn of the long-term risk to forest ecosystems of introducing alien species that could turn invasive.

Challenges of Cullet Recycling

Cullet Recycling

Cullet is a granular material that is made from crushing used glass, and is often a significant ingredient in manufacturing new glass. This manner of recycling has not only environmental benefits of reduced material use, but is often in the manufacturer’s interest as well. One kilogram of cullet is able to replace about 1.2 kilograms of raw materials, whilst every 10% of it added to the batch would result in a 3% savings in energy needed to melt the batch. On top of this, cullet improves the quality of the resultant glass, allowing for fewer imperfections and defects in the surface of the glass.

In practice, however, there are challenges to using more cullet in the manufacturing of construction glass. Unlike the cullet used for glass bottles or jars, it is harder to sort recycled glass to the stringent optical standards needed for building glass. Inefficiencies in the recycling process, or even in the recycling collection, often mean that building glass is not treated any differently from other household or consumer glass.

https://cen.acs.org/materials/inorganic-chemistry/glass-recycling-US-broken/97/i6

Trona Capital of the World

Of the yearly output of soda ash in the United States, around 90% of it actually comes from the Green River Basin of Wyoming (described in the “Sources” section), and roughly half of it will go into glass-making, for both the automobile industry as well as for construction. This natural alternative to the synthetic Solvay process has allowed the United States to remain a competitive net exporter of the vital resource. Soda ash is the largest inorganic chemical export in the United States, valued at over $1.3 billion annually, and is largely dominated by five American companies, with four of them based in Wyoming.

The past decade, however, has seen China grow from a net importer of soda ash, to the world’s leading producer of it, bringing it into direct competition with Wyoming and the US soda ash industry. One key difference between Chinese and American soda ash, is that the former is far more likely to be synthetically produced. Typically, the Solvay process is the more expensive of the two methods, but a combination of lower wages and different environmental regulations have resulted in it being more economically viable in China than it is in the United States. The future of this trade competition is uncertain, as China also has an unestimated reserve of trona, from which to natural extract soda ash.

Trona Capital of the World

https://www.deseret.com/1993/7/11/19055692/wyoming-trona-capital-of-the-world

Sasketchewan Potash

The world’s largest reserve of potash lies in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, with over $6.7 billion of the common crop fertilizer coming from just 10 to 12 mines. This makes it one of the most valuable mineral outputs in Canada, second only to gold. The abundance of this material, however, has come with its own set of problems, with the industry facing repeated supply gluts and slowdowns in the global demand of the mineral. With strong competitors in Russia and Belarus, however, the companies involved with Canadian potash are reluctant to abandon their investments, with some companies still pushing ahead to develop new mines.

When these mines are developed and in operation, they are also often beset by environmental concerns. The potash deposits of Saskatchewan are typically found around a kilometer underground, requiring extensive mining to access the mineral. Where conventional mining is not used, a method called solution mining entails the pumping of brine at high pressures down into the ground, to force the mineral up. In either case, the relatively small footprint of these mines on the surface tend to hide the true extents of their impact, whether it be with the land required, or in the case of solution mining, the water needed for mining.

World's largest reserve of potash

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/sask-potash-downturn-nutrien-layoffs-1.5280925

Tin Mining in Bangka Island, Indonesia

Illegal Tin Mining

Indonesia today is only second to China in terms of tin production, responsible for an estimated 25% of the world’s tin supply. Up to 90% of this, comes from the Bangka-Belitung islands, just off the east coast of Sumatra. Rampant tin mining on the two islands is highly visible along their waterways and coastal areas, all pocketed by innumerous sand piles and isolated pools of polluted water. The demand for more tin has resulted in the destruction of forests, increased erosion, and even the loss of marine life and coral, as sand is dredged along the coasts. The social cost of tin mining is also high; with the loss of livelihood for fishermen and farmers, and the exploitation of child labor with illegal tin mining.

There remains some hope for the Bangka-Belitung area. Many global IT companies that rely on tin, such as Microsoft and Nokia, are working with non-profit organizations and the Indonesian government to improve the sustainability of tin mining and boycott illegal sources. The local government is also looking to diversify the economy of the area to provide more viable alternatives to tin mining, such as in agriculture and tourism. With the ubiquitous need for tin in all our modern appliances and gadgets, however, the long term viability of these plans remain to be seen.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2015-08-26/the-tin-mines-of-bangka-island

Future of Indium

Compared to the global situation of many of the other materials in the house, the question of Indium is one for the future. With no refined Indium produced currently in the United States, all of the metal that is used for glass coatings is imported from China, Canada, or Korea, with China alone responsible for about 40% of the world’s supply. The metal is by no means rare, however, as it is a common secondary product of mining for zinc-sulfide ore, and is often not refined, simply because it is uneconomical to do so.

What complicates the future of Indium, however, is that it is an increasingly vital material in the production of new telecommunication technologies, such as with Indium-powered lasers for fiber optics, and it is a mainstay in all of our touch screens, televisions and solar panels. Estimates of our global reserve of the material vary, primarily because it is usually only assessed and extracted during the mining process.

The Future of Indium

https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/74493

Sinking like Lead?

It is no hyperbole to say that lead mining has quite literally shaped the history of Missouri, with much of the metal available close to the surface, especially along what was initially dubbed the “Old Lead Belt”. The Lead Belt is responsible for upwards of 70% of the United States’ output of lead, and unfortunately, with it, a proportional amount of its lead-related gas emissions. Enforcement of federal and state laws for clean air and clean water in the past decade have seen some improvements with this metric, but many environmental concerns remain. Nearby residents of lead mines and processing facilities have complained of water contamination from the dumping of heavy metals, as well as more bizarrely, the occurrence of sinkholes adjacent to past and present mines. One of the main roadblocks to understanding what is happening environmentally, is that unless it is declared a state or federal issue, mining companies often have complete discretion in what they choose to disclose to the public.

Sinking like Lead?

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/doe-run-gives-locals-a-sinking-feeling/article_3a16259d-b5af-5d72-8d76-7c2fb251950e.html

Sand and Gravel Mining

Sand and gravel mining across the US

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c7738db2f3024b079756c13cef39fa87

Sand Dredging

Sand is one of the most exploited resources in the world, exceeding fossil fuels and coming second only to water. Because of the highly smooth and rounded morphology of desert sand, it is unsuitable for use in concrete. Marine sand is also not ideal, as the presence of salt (NaCl) has a corrosive effect on cement. Thus, river sand is largely favoured as the first choice for concrete production, and is often over-exploited as a result. Methods of river sand extraction include the use of floating platforms and mechanised buckets to gouge sand from riverbeds. When conducted irresponsibly, such extraction techniques can lead to soil erosion, the destruction of ecology, and rendering rivers more prone to flooding.

In 2018 in Kerala, India, for example, incessant unregulated sand mining and the resulting deepening and stagnation of rivers led to deadly floods—491 people were killed, and over one million were sent to relief camps due to the destruction of their homes.

Post-Decentralization of Forest Management in Indonesia

“The district government is like a dead tree: the roots are dead, but you can still see the tree. The district just follows the national level and therefore nothing gets done. There are too many levels between the village and national decision makers” (village head, West Kalimantan, January 2014).

Post-Decentralization of Forest Management in Indonesia

During Asia's economic crisis, President Suharto's fall in 1998 facilitated the decentralization in Indonesia, moving the country from being one of the worlds' most centralized countries to one of its most decentralized ones in which sub-nation governments were granted different degrees of fiscal and administrative autonomy. This nation-building decentralization played a double role by calming local demands for recognition while at the same time assuring central control over strategic regions and their natural resources.

New powers for districts in issuing permits and licenses quickly became seen as a form of generating income for poorly financed local governments, aside from the incentive of potential bribes and political favors. In the quest for local revenue, many district governments rapidly exploited resources, including forests. Creating new regions not only grants control over resources but also potential new areas to clear forest.

Currently the forests are administered by the central government's Ministry of Forestry through regional branch offices at provincial and district levels, a structure parallel to the overall government bureaucracy. There have been new reforms in Indonesia's complex, ongoing process of decentralization and recentralization.

Ceramic Import Wars

https://www.kitchenbathdesign.com/the-import-wars/

Mining and the Global Economy

The top 40 global mining companies, which represent a vast majority of the whole industry, reported some 683 billion U.S. dollars of revenue in 2018.

Mining and Global Economy

David Trigger works on the different meanings attributed to land and nature across diverse sectors of society and in different countries. He Emeritus Professor in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland.

David Trigger

Thoughts:

David Trigger

“ethnography is no longer 'built upon the idea of little worlds in and of themselves', as if they were discrete loci of social activity….the trend toward such [recent] work has been prompted by the notion of 'repatriating' anthropological endeavour, through the key strategy of 'defamiliarization', whereby insights gained on 'the periphery of the Euro-centric world' are brought 'back to the center'.

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY: 5

STATEMENT 5:

The decisiveness of the final building, its gravitational hold on the earth, belies the tangled web of realities that made it happen. For that reason, we need to always remind ourselves of the strange inversion that is in play here. While the possibility of intelligibility is presented throughout the profession and discipline (promised in the very idea of ‘research’ even if it is the pre-condition of intelligibility), the house seeks to preserve the secret that is at its core – at the core of its very sense of modernity - the mythic violence/productivity that makes it possible.

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY:

MEDITATIONS ON UNCERTAINTY: 6

STATEMENT 6:

There is no Archimedean point by which one can understand the modernity of this house. Not in the history of its aesthetics, materials, labor, or even in its self-professed critiques. And yet the building as it stands in the landscape is not a contradiction. On the contrary, it speaks unambiguously. But about what? The more one studies it, or - better stated – fights against its foreclosures, the more one realizes it has an almost magical place in contemporary culture. But if in one breath it is magical, in the next it is scandalous.

AUL

ARCHITECTURE (UN)CERTAINTY LAB

AUL - ARCHITECTURE (UN)CERTAINTY LAB

The ARCHITECTURE (UN)CERTAINTY LAB is dedicated to challenging architecture's epistemological and design capacities and bring the conversation back into a world of immersive ambiguities. The work that the lab promotes operates outside of subject-object and theory-practice dualities.

Mark Jarzombek

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Department of Architecture

Vikramāditya Prakāsh

University of Washington

College of Built Environments

AUL RESEARCH CONTRIBUTORS

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTORS

RESEARCH DIRECTORS

Mark Jarzombek

Vikramāditya Prakāsh

ART DIRECTOR

Paul Montie

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Angie Door

STUDENTS

Angela Loescher-Montal

Olivier Faber

Thaddeus Lee

Kailin Jones

Sacha Moreau

Natasha Hirt

Ana Arenas

Arditha Auriyane

Melika Konjicanin

Ardalan SadeghiKivi

Sanjana Lahiri

Daisy Zhang

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