A Comparative Analysis of Energy and Water Consumption of Mined versus Synthetic Diamonds
| Autor: | Julia Bondareva, Lukasz Andrzejewski, Pavel Smirnov, Stanislav A. Evlashin, Marina Sokolova, Vladislav Zhdanov |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Technology
carbon footprint high-pressure Control and Optimization Energy Engineering and Power Technology engineering.material water intake Water consumption chemical vapor deposition diamond synthesis Water intake Electrical and Electronic Engineering Process engineering Engineering (miscellaneous) energy efficiency Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment business.industry high-temperature Diamond Energy consumption High pressure engineering Carbon footprint Environmental science business Energy (signal processing) diamond mining Energy (miscellaneous) Efficient energy use |
| Zdroj: | Energies Volume 14 Issue 21 Energies, Vol 14, Iss 7062, p 7062 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 1996-1073 |
| Popis: | In our research, we analyzed the energy and water consumption in diamond mining and laboratory synthesis operations. We used publicly available reports issued by two market leaders, DeBeers and ALROSA, to estimate water and energy use per carat of a rough diamond. The efficiency of the two most popular synthesis technologies for artificial diamonds—High-Pressure-High-Temperature (HPHT) and Microwave-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (M-CVD)—was examined. We found that the modern HPHT presses, with open cooling circuits, consume about 36 kWh/ct when producing gem-quality and average-sized (near-) colorless diamonds. ALROSA and DeBeers use about 96 kWh/ct and 150 kWh/ct, respectively, including all energy required to mine. Energy consumption of M-CVD processes can be different and depends on technological conditions. Our M-CVD machine is the least energy-efficient, requiring about 215 kWh/ct in the single-crystal regime, using 2.45-GHz magnetron for the support synthesis. The M-CVD methods of individual synthetic companies IIa Technology and Ekati Mine are different from our results and equal 77 and 143 kWh/ct, respectively. Water consumption for the HPHT and M-CVD methods was insignificant: approximately zero and 0.002 m3/ct, respectively, and below 0.077 m3/ct for ALROSA-mined diamonds. This study touches upon the impact of the diamond production methods used on the carbon footprint. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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