Description of need
- Copper semi-fabricators and smelters want to identify missed recycling opportunities (”where is all the copper going?”) and pursue opportunities to increase recycling rates in order to access more post-consumer feedstock and improve the efficiency of the system.
- Copper semi-fabricators want better ways to calculate and communicate the % recycled content in their products. There are multiple methodologies and different options for where to draw the system boundary, so it’s difficult for OEMs and others purchasing semis to make apples-to-apples comparisons. Standardization would be ideal
- These companies would like to sell products with lower quality than cathode, but they don’t the end customers often have alloy requirements or product specs that are unnecessarily stringent: some of the alloy or product specs are too tight on certain impurities which can limit the amount of recycled content used depending on the product and process.
- They would like to make more investments in processing capacity, but they lack data about scrap feedstock availability and consistency. Having better data on scrap availability (current and future) would help them make more informed business decisions regarding new investments .
Problem severity (1-10)
7
Who has this need
- Most companies in the copper industry, esp. copper semi-fabricators, refiners, and smelters
Total addressable market (TAM)
$10M?
Solutions today, and their shortcomings
Crude estimates
Potentially relevant capabilities
Unknown