Helium is named after the Greek word for the sun, helios, as it was first identified in the sun’s corona (the sun is composed of 25% helium). The second most abundant element in the universe, helium is scarce on Earth. A product of nuclear fusion and radioactive decay, it is the lightest noble gas, colorless, odorless, and inert with a low boiling point.
On the Earth, most helium is a radioactive decay product of uranium and thorium. It is found under the Earth’s crust with other natural gases. Commercial helium is extracted from natural gas when the helium concentra on is above 0.3%.
The U.S., Qatar and Algeria have the world’s major helium reserves, while the U.S., Russia and Algeria are the top suppliers. In the U.S., helium is found primarily in the Texas panhandle and Kansas. The U.S. Helium Reserve, located deep underground Amarillo, Texas, is slated to be shut down by 2021; it has provided 30% of the world’s supply for many years.
Uncertainty about how private markets will distribute and price helium is a concern, especially to scientific researchers using small amounts of helium. A recent discovery of helium beneath Tanzania may provide a short-term boost in future helium supply if development challenges can be overcome.
While the general public might be most familiar with helium’s buoyancy—which makes it ideal for filling birthday balloons, Macy’s Day Parade figures and blimps—helium has many other irreplaceable uses:
Liquid helium boils off and can be captured and recycled by re-liquefying it. In the U.S., only a small amount of recycling infrastructure is in place. Once helium is released in the atmosphere, it will continue rising until it escapes into space, making it the only truly unrecoverable element.
Helium in recoverable quantities is found in only a few locations around the world, and these sources are being rapidly depleted. Accordingly, the U.S. has important economic and national security interests in ensuring a reliable supply of helium.
The cost of helium has increased 250% over the last five years, making scientific research more expensive. The helium market is subject to frequent price shocks. In 2017, the blockade of Qatar suddenly removed 30% of the world’s helium supply from the market, causing prices to temporarily skyrocket.
As an irreplaceable elementused in medical diagnostic equipment, a secure supply of helium relates to U.N. Sustainable Development Goal #3: Good Health & Well-Being.
Indium is a silvery-white metal named for its indigo blue line in the atomic spectrum. Relatively scarce on the Earth’s crust, indium is found with zinc sulfide ores, as well as iron, lead and copper ores.
The vast majority (~90%) of indium is isolated as a byproduct of zinc mining. The top producers of indium are China (40%), Korea (31%), Canada (9%) and Japan (9%).
There is no indium production in the United States. China controls between 43% and 66% of the world's indium reserves.
Indium tin oxide, an electrical conductive film used to make LCD displays and photovoltaic panels, accounts for 45% of all indium usage. Other uses include specialty alloys, microchips and semiconductors.
Sustainable indium usage in solar panels is critical to helping us meet U.N. Sustainable Development Goal #7: Affordable and Clean Energy.
Growth in the use of LCDs and touch screens, as well as the expanding solar cell industry, are driving global demand for indium. Supply is dependent upon the zinc mining industry of which indium is a small byproduct. Zinc itself is a critcal and endangered element. Because of its dependence on zinc mining, it is difficult to rapidly increase the supply of indium. Unless the price of indium rises dramatically, additional sources of indium will not be economical to exploit.
Indium recycling occurs in the indium tin oxide manufacturing process to increase the efficiency of the process. However, with only small amounts of the element in any given device, recovering indium from post-consumer LCD scrap is cost prohibitive.
Neodymium is one of the more reactive lanthanides—a group of similar metallic elements numbered 57-71 on the periodic table. These 15 elements, plus scandium and yttrium, are termed “rare earth elements” (REEs). Despite the name, most of these elements are relatively common in the Earth’s crust, but economically exploitable deposits are relatively sparse. Rare earths have important uses in a number of key applications for multiple advanced technologies in electronics, transportation, energy and defense.
Creating a sustainable, circular economy for neodymium will empower us to meet U.N. Sustainable Development Goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Neodymium is primarily mined as part of a conglomerate with other rare earth elements in the monazite and bastnaesite mineral deposits. Historically, a single mine in California produced most of the world’s rare earth minerals, but since the early 90s, China has become the world’s primary source.
At its peak in 2011, China supplied over 95% of all the REEs.
Today China supplies 70% of the world’s REEs, with new mines in Australia and a reopened U.S. mine contributing. Mining and processing rare earths has caused extensive environmental pollution in China.
In 1983, researchers discovered that neodymium combined with iron and boron made a very strong permanent magnet. This enabled the miniaturization of electronics such as loudspeakers, computer hard drives, mobile phones, and electronic automobile components.
Today the largest demand for high-performance neodymium-iron-boron magnets is in the motors of electric and hybrid vehicles. For example, each Toyota Prius is reported to contain as much as 1 kg of neodymium in its motor. Neodymium magnets are also used in wind turbines, aeronautics and space.
Other uses of neodymium include making a specialized glass used in protective goggles for welding and glass blowing, and in applications such as surgical lasers and laser pointers. Finally, it is used as a catalyst in polymerization reactions.
Current recycling costs are high and infrastructure to recover REEs from electronic motors is underdeveloped, although several companies and researchers are actively developing recycling technologies.
Most electronic waste is shredded during the recycling process leading to the loss of REEs in dust and ferrous fractions. Since REEs make up only a small percentage of the material in electronic waste, the economic viability of recycling them is challenging with current technology.
As important components of powerful batteries, magnets, photovoltaics, etc., REEs are enabling the clean energy economy. As demand for electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels and other high-tech devices grows, the supply pressure on REEs will also grow.
REEs are “critical resources” due to their important applications in industry and defense and because of the geopolitical risk of the supply chain being concentrated in primarily one country. For example, in 2011, China restricted REEs exportation (cutting off Japan entirely), causing a massive price spike. In 2019, China brought up REEs as a point of negotiation during trade talks with the U.S., prompting the U.S. to pursue alternative sources with Canada.
Phosphorus is essential for life and has no substitute. Phosphate rock is a finite resource that was formed from the mineralization of dead sea creatures over tens of millions of years and then lifted to the land via tectonic uplift. It is one of the three key ingredients in fertilizer.
Phosphorus is present in soils, to different degrees, depending on the bedrock. However, most applied phosphorus comes from phosphate rock mining.
71% of the world’s phosphate rock reserves are in Morocco, some of which comes from the contested region of Western Sahara.Phosphorus in the soil is distributed unequally around the globe. For example, the soils in sub-Saharan Africa have very litt le phosphorus in them naturally. Where phosphorus is lacking, fertilization is necessary for agricultural productivity.
Phosphate is used in detergents to make them more efficient, but has been largely banned in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere due to its environmentally damaging role in eutrophication. However, in some parts of the U.S., it is still used in dishwashing and industrial detergents.
This educational infographic includes all of the information on this page and additional illustrations.
Why is Phosphorus a Critical Element?
80% of phosphorus is lost or wasted in the supply chain from mine, to field, to fork. Most phosphorus is ultimately lost to water bodies via agricultural runoff and waste water. Excess phosphorus in water causes algal blooms and eutrophication. It’s estimated that eutrophication costs the United States $2.2 billion annually.
Peak phosphorus is estimated between 2025 and 2084, after which high-quality sources of phosphorus will diminish and become harder and more expensive to extract. At the same time, phosphorus demand is rising with most demand coming from developing countries. There are no substitutes for phosphorus in agriculture.
Solving the phosphorus problem is critical to meeting U.N. Sustainable Development Goal #2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
