Maslin, Mark;
Van Heerde, Livia;
Day, Simon;
(2022)
Sulfur: A potential resource crisis that could stifle green technology and threaten food security as the world decarbonises.
The Geographical Journal
10.1111/geoj.12475.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Sulfur -A potential resource crisis that could stifle green technology.pdf - Published Version Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Sulfur in the form of sulfuric acid is a crucial part of our modern industrial society. It is required for the production of phosphorus fertiliser and manufacturing lightweight electric motors and high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Over 246 million tonnes of sulfuric acid are used annually. Rapid growth in the green economy and intensive agriculture could see demand increase to over 400 million tonnes by 2040. Today over 80% of the global sulfur supply comes from desulfurisation of fossil fuels to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas. Decarbonisation of the global economy to deal with climate change will greatly reduce the production of fossil fuels. This will create a shortfall in the annual supply of sulfuric acid of between 100 and 320 million tonnes by 2040, depending on how quickly decarbonisation occurs. Unless action is taken to reduce the need for sulfuric acid, a massive increase in environmentally damaging mining will be required to fill this resource demand.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Sulfur: A potential resource crisis that could stifle green technology and threaten food security as the world decarbonises |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/geoj.12475 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12475 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2022 The Authors. The Geographical Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | climate change, fossil fuels, mining resources, sulfur, sulfuric acid |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10154913 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
