Introduction

Abstract

The consumption of primary raw materials has increased ever faster in recent decades, not least due to rapid economic growth in countries such as China, India, and Brazil. Petroleum and natural gas continue to be the most important energy sources driving engines and turbines worldwide, while petroleum is also the most important raw material for the production of plastics, various medicines, and other products of the chemical industry. Metals are an integral part of our world. Whether in the form of steel girders or copper wires, gold bars enclosed in safes or proudly presented silver jewelry, platinum in catalytic converters, or tantalum in electronic capacitors we use metals everywhere and in many different ways. At the same time, thanks to new high-tech applications the names of elements that until recently led a shadowy existence at the edge of the periodic table are on everyone’s lips.