Cobalt is an important critical material and a constituent of a broad range of products such as batteries, electronics, superalloys, and hard metals. Effective recycling of cobalt is considered one of the most pivotal processes in alleviating its criticality. In this paper, using the dynamic modelling of material, energy, and water flows in cobalt supply chain, we show that by 2050 around 25% of the total demand for cobalt could be supplied by recycling. Our results indicate that, compared to the primary production of cobalt, its recycling might lead to a reduction of energy consumption by 46% associated with the global cobalt supply chain and the corresponding fall in the use of water by 40%. In addition, recycling of cobalt is estimated to mitigate around 59% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases and 98% of the total emissions of sulfur oxides. Finally, we present the regionally distributed projections of cobalt-related energy and water use from 2020 to 2050.

钴是一种重要的关键材料，是电池、电子产品、超合金和硬金属等多种产品的组成部分。钴的有效回收被认为是减轻其重要性的最关键过程之一。在本文中，利用钴供应链中材料、能源和水流的动态建模，我们表明到 2050 年，大约 25% 的钴总需求可以通过回收提供。我们的研究结果表明，与钴的初级生产相比，其回收可能导致与全球钴供应链相关的能源消耗减少 46%，并相应地减少 40% 的用水量。此外，据估计，钴的回收可减少约 59% 的温室气体总排放量和 98% 的硫氧化物总排放量。最后，我们展示了 2020 年至 2050 年与钴相关的能源和水资源使用的区域分布预测。