Cellphones by gabriel Minello Povoas da Silva

Extraction

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-11 13:33:45 UTC

Raw prime materials and their function:

cobalt ; used in the battery

platinum ; used in the composition of the exterior of the phone

tantalum ; used in battery for storing electricity

lithium ; used in the battery

glass ; used in the screen of the phone

silicon ; silicon chips are used to power the phone's processor, memory, camera and many other important features

plastic ; used in the exterior part of the phone and to protect it's screen when bought

iron ; used to make electrodes in mobile phone batteries, every phone is about 3% iron

copper ; transistors in the circuit boards

tin ; soldering in the circuit boards

nickel ; in the buttons and in the metallic frames

tangsten ; used in the component that makes the phone vibrate

gold ; wire coating in the circuit boards

Extraction of plastic

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-11 13:43:58 UTC

plastics are made of raw materials like natural gas, oil or plants, which are refined into ethane and propane. The production of plastic begins with the destination of crude oil in an oil refinery

Extraction of lithium

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-11 13:44:06 UTC

An overwhelming quantity of today's lithium is extracted from liquid brine reservoirs that are located beneath salt flats, known as salars, most of which are located in southwestern South America and China. Other lithium-rich brine resources include geothermal and oil field brines, which are addressed below.

Extraction of platinum

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-11 13:44:16 UTC

Platinum is a toxic metal. It's extraction can be very dangeorus because it is consisted of mine walls being drilled and explosives placed inside it, with hopes of finding platinum, which is a rare material.

Extraction of silicon

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-11 13:44:42 UTC

The basic process for producing silicon has remained unchanged for decades: quartz or gravel is blended with a carbon source and superheated in a submerged arc furnace. As the mix heats, the carbon reacts with the oxygen in the quartz and forms CO gas, thereby reducing the quartz to 99% silicon in molten form.

Transformation of lithium

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-27 17:06:15 UTC

lithium : the extraction of lithium can harm the environment by being the toxic material that we know polluting the air and water with chemicals and heavy metals. It's mining also has some problems, which could be disrupting wildlife habitats and causing soil erosion, leading to a long term wildlife damage

Transformation of platinum

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-27 17:13:17 UTC

Platinum can damage the environment and people in many ways. It is a toxic metal, which can cause serious health conditions in the working place environment, one of this conditions being skin allergy. As mentioned before, it's mining can also be very dangerous for the wildlife and environment, such as for us humans with the use of explosives

Transformation of silicone

pedromello20 — 2024-04-27 17:16:07 UTC

Silicone is not toxic but it has a long lifespan which means it can persist in the environment for years without breaking down. Meaning that it would take increased landfills of waste and potentially even ecosystem disruption worldwide. If wildlife ingest silicone it would be very bad for them, leading to many deaths.

Transformation of plastic

pedromello20 — 2024-04-27 17:21:29 UTC

Plastic does not decompose naturally like other materials do. This is because it takes up to a millennium for it to decompose when it is disposed of, it accumulates in the environment until a crisis is reached. In addition to harming soil and groundwater and choking marine life, this pollution can have detrimental effects on human health.

Distribution of silicone

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-28 20:27:19 UTC

In 2022, the top exporters of silicone were United Kingdom, Japan, United States, Germany and China being the top exporter earning over 2.2 billion dollars for it. It's price for their exportation isn't cheap, being more expensive than most rubber types. Also in 2022, the top importers of silicone were Belgium, Germany, South Korea, China and the top importer being the United States with over 1.2 billion dollars spent on silicone

Distribution of plastic

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-28 20:32:03 UTC

In 2022 the top exporter of plastic was China, with over the double of the money earned than the second country being the United States with 20 billion dollars earned. The approximate price of plastic is 3.42 dollars per kilogram to make. The countries who imported plastic the most in 2022 were the United States, with approximately 132 billion dollars spent on this material.

Distribution of platinum

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-28 20:35:52 UTC

The majority of platinum mines are located in South Africa, with over 120 thousand kilos of platinum mined in 2021. The top importer of platinum in 2022 is, without any surprise, the United States with over 13 billion dollars spent on this metal. That amounted to around 18.5 percent of global platinum imports that year

Distribution of lithium

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-28 20:43:02 UTC

The countries that lithium is extracted the most from are Australia, Zimbabwe and Brazil. Lithium is very cheap compared with many other metals. China is the largest importer of lithium, representing over 25% of the global imports, followed by the United States in second place with around 15% of the total of global imports.

The consumption of cellphones

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-28 20:50:48 UTC

According to the website World Economic Forum there are more cellphones than people worldwide. Around 5.6 billion people owning at least one mobile phone, which corresponds to around 70 percent of the world's total population which is around 8 billion people. The two top producers of phones are Samsung, originally from South Korea, and Apple, originally from the United States, owning the most famous model of them all, the Iphone. There is an estimated of 1.46 billion active iphone users. These phones brand make a lot of models and very frequent. This is because they want the buyers to fell more and more outdated, there so being "forced" to buy the a newer model out, which in their head could "elevate" their social status, which is a wrong way of thinking. Many phones are designed to stop working, some times even being planed on their software, to a certain time, the phone getting slower, and slower over time, getting to a point that they aren't usable anymore, therefore making you buy another phone, probably being a new one. In this world you can't live without a phone.

The discard of cell phones

pedromello20 — 2024-04-28 22:16:04 UTC

Old cell phones are frequently dumped in landfills or relegated to forgotten drawers as buyers enthusiastically switch to the newest versions. However, their adventure is not over yet. If not properly handled, these device which are made of a variety of precious metals and material pose serious environmental risks.
Cell phones and other abandoned electronic equipment are collectively referred to as "e-waste," which adds to resource depletion and hazardous pollution

Distribution of smartphones

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-29 14:43:50 UTC

The countries that make the most phones are China, South Korea and Japan. According to OEC World, the top importers of cellphones in 2022 were the United States coming in first place for most money spent of phones (62.8 billion dollars) and Hong Kong coming in second place with 34.7 billion dollars spent. Also according, to OEC World, the top exporters of mobile phones in 2022 were China, earning around 171 billion dollars, and in second place coming Vietnam, gaining 36.5 billion dollars. The average price of cellphones sold in stores is around 790 dollars. The price that the companies spend is a lot lower from their retail price. For example, according to the website TechWalls, the production price for a iphone 12 (64GB) is 374 dollars, therefore the retail price comes over double of the production price, being 829 dollars.

Reverse logistic

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-29 14:45:04 UTC

Reverse logistic, also called reverse distribution is a stage in the supply chain. This stage consists where the product is returned to the point of sale to the manufacturer. This makes so, there's less products thrown out. This also helps process of recycling.

Sources :

gabrielpovoas — 2024-04-29 15:06:30 UTC

importers and exporters of cellphones : https://oec.world/en/profile/hs/smartphones

cost of cellphones : https://www.techwalls.com/production-costs-of-smartphones/comment-page-1/

discard of cellphones : https://www.notepage.net/mobile/how-to-dispose-of-cell-phones.html

raw materials of cellphones : https://lah.elearningontario.ca/CMS/public/exported_courses/CGW4U/exported/CGW4UU4/CGW4UU4/CGW4UU4A6/_teacher/factsheet3_mobile_phone_manufacturing.pdf

https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=22121

extraction of phones raw materials : https://thisisplastics.com/plastics-101/how-are-plastics-made/#:~:text=Plastics%20are%20made%20from%20raw,refined%20into%20ethane%20and%20propane.&text=Ethane%20and%20propane%20are%20then,them%20into%20ethylene%20and%20propylene.&text=These%20materials%20are%20combined%20together%20to%20create%20different%20polymers.

https://www.coolclean.com/industries/additional-applications/silicone-extraction/

https://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/education/precious-metal-mining-refining-techniques/platinum-mining-refining/#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20mining%20for,Platinum%20production%20in%20South%20Africa.

https://systems.carmeuse.com/en/industries/lithium-extraction/#:~:text=How%20is%20lithium%20extracted%3F,crushing%2C%20roasting%20and%20acid%20leaching.

reverse logistics : https://www.repsol.com/en/energy-and-the-future/future-of-the-world/reverse-logistics/index.cshtml#:~:text=Reverse%20logistics%20or%20reverse%20distribution,repair%2C%20recycling%2C%20or%20disposal.