To reveal the trend of material flow patterns at different stages of nickel resources in China, a life-cycle material flow analysis framework of nickel is constructed based on the dynamic material flow analysis method, and the change of material flow patterns at different stages of nickel resources in China from 2000 to 2020 is calculated and analyzed. The results are as follows. From a production perspective, nickel ore demand recovered under the new energy transition with nickel recovery being 20.4% in 2020. From a consumption perspective, the battery industry in the processing stage surpassed the electroplating industry to become the second nickel consuming sector while nickel consumption of manufacturing stage in the industrial sector decreased to 28.9% in 2019, and nickel consumption of new energy vehicles increased from 4275.0 t in 2015 to 16000 t in 2020. From a trade perspective, in recent years all stages of China except manufacturing and processing stages were net imported, among which net import products of nickel and iron increased rapidly from 105.7 t in 2000 to 413000 t in 2020, with a reduction of net export stainless steel from 213000 t in 2016 to 109000 t in 2020. From a stock perspective, the change in the in-use stock of terminal consumer goods was mainly driven by the transportation industry and construction and infrastructure, and the in-use stock of new energy vehicles increased by 131 times in five years.

nickel  /  material flow analysis  /  energy transformation