scholarly journals Designing on the Basis of Recycling-Metallurgy Possibilities: Material-Specific Rules and Standards for “Anti-Dissipative” Products

Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Konrad Schoch ◽  
Christa Liedtke ◽  
Katrin Bienge
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Periodic Table ◽  
Electronic Equipment ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Political Response ◽  
Recycling Technology ◽  
Specific Rule ◽  
Design Perspective

The demand for metals from the entire periodic table is currently increasing due to the ongoing digitalization. However, their use within electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) poses problems as they cannot be recovered sufficiently in the end-of-life (EoL) phase. In this paper, we address the unleashed dissipation of metals caused by the design of EEE for which no globally established recycling technology exists. We describe the European Union’s (EU) plan to strive for a circular economy (CE) as a political response to tackle this challenge. However, there is a lack of feedback from a design perspective. It is still unknown what the implications for products would be if politics were to take the path of a CE at the level of metals. To provide clarification in this respect, a case study for indium is presented and linked to its corresponding recycling-metallurgy of zinc and lead. As a result, a first material-specific rule on the design of so-called “anti-dissipative” products is derived, which actually supports designing EEE with recycling in mind and represents an already achieved CE on the material level. In addition, the design of electrotechnical standardization is being introduced. As a promising tool, it addresses the multi-dimensional problems of recovering metals from urban ores and assists in the challenge of enhancing recycling rates. Extending the focus to other recycling-metallurgy besides zinc and lead in further research would enable the scope for material-specific rules to be widened.

scholarly journals Design for and from Recycling: A Circular Ecodesign Approach to Improve the Circular Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9861
Author(s):  
Jorge Martínez Leal ◽  
Stéphane Pompidou ◽  
Carole Charbuillet ◽  
Nicolas Perry
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Design For Recycling ◽  
Circular Design

In the context of a circular economy, one can observe that (i) recycling chains are not adapted enough to the end-of-life products they have to process and that (ii) products are not sufficiently well designed either to integrate at best their target recycling chain. Therefore, a synergy between product designers and recycling-chains stakeholders is lacking, mainly due to their weak communication and the time-lag between the product design phase and its end-of-life treatment. Many Design for Recycling approaches coexist in the literature. However, to fully develop a circular economy, Design from Recycling also has to be taken into account. Thus Re-Cycling, a complete circular design approach, is proposed. First, a design for recycling methodology linking recyclability assessment to product design guidelines is proposed. Then, a design from recycling methodology is developed to assess the convenience of using secondary raw materials in the design phase. The recyclability of a smartphone and the convenience of using recycled materials in a new cycle are both analyzed to demonstrate our proposal. The Fairphone 2® and its treatment by the WEEE French takeback scheme are used as a case study.

scholarly journals Analysis of Barriers to Transitioning from a Linear to a Circular Economy for End of Life Materials: A Case Study for Waste Feathers

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Dieckmann ◽  
Leila Sheldrick ◽  
Mike Tennant ◽  
Rupert Myers ◽  
Christopher Cheeseman
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Uk

This research aimed to develop a simple but robust method to identify the key barriers to the transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE) for end of life products or material. Nine top-tier barrier categories have been identified that influence this transition. These relate to the basic material properties and product characteristics, the availability of suitable processing technology, the environmental impacts associated with current linear management, the organizational context, industry and supply chain issues, external drivers, public perception, the regulatory framework and the overall economic viability of the transition. The method provides a novel and rapid way to identify and quantitatively assess the barriers to the development of CE products. This allows mitigation steps to be developed in parallel with new product design. The method has been used to assess the potential barriers to developing a circular economy for waste feathers generated by the UK poultry industry. This showed that transitioning UK waste feathers to circularity faces significant barriers across numerous categories and is not currently economically viable. The assessment method developed provides a novel approach to identifying barriers to circularity and has potential to be applied to a wide range of end of life materials and products.

Reusability analytics tool for end-of-life assessment of building materials in a circular economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Akanbi ◽  
Lukumon Oyedele ◽  
Juan Manuel Davila Delgado ◽  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Olugbenga Akinade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Life Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Component

Purpose In a circular economy, the goal is to keep materials values in the economy for as long as possible. For the construction industry to support the goal of the circular economy, there is the need for materials reuse. However, there is little or no information about the amount and quality of reusable materials obtainable when buildings are deconstructed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a reusability analytics tool for assessing end-of-life status of building materials. Design/methodology/approach A review of the extant literature was carried out to identify the best approach to modelling end-of-life reusability assessment tool. The reliability analysis principle and materials properties were used to develop the predictive mathematical model for assessing building materials performance. The model was tested using the case study of a building design and materials take-off quantities as specified in the bill of quantity of the building design. Findings The results of analytics show that the quality of the building materials varies with the building component. For example, from the case study, at the 80th year of the building, the qualities of the obtainable concrete from the building are 0.9865, 0.9835, 0.9728 and 0.9799, respectively, from the foundation, first floor, frame and stair components of the building. Originality/value As a contribution to the concept of circular economy in the built environment, the tool provides a foundation for estimating the quality of obtainable building materials at the end-of-life based on the life expectancy of the building materials.

scholarly journals Consumer’s Circular Behaviors in Relation to the Purchase, Extension of Life, and End of Life Management of Electrical and Electronic Products: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10443
Author(s):  
Filippo Corsini ◽  
Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti ◽  
Marco Frey
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Electronic Equipment ◽  
Electronic Products ◽  
Life Management ◽  
Weee Recycling ◽  
The World ◽  
Open Issue ◽  
Useful Life

Nowadays, management of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the related waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is a growing concern around the world and clearly an open issue to tackle in order to move towards a more circular economy. The goal of this review paper is to analyze and summarize research conducted exploring behaviors connected with purchases, extension of useful life, and management of end of life of electrical and electronic equipment. The results highlight several research exploring the determinants of WEEE recycling behavior, also in relation with different practices (e.g., online recycling); on the other hand other typologies of behaviors are less analyzed in the literature (e.g., purchase of used EEE products, donation of EEE products, participation in WEEE takeback activities established by firm operating in this sector, etc.). Moreover, the results suggest that the theoretical model adopted in many studies reveals its usefulness to predict the determinist of such circular consumer’s behavior in relation to the purchase, extension of life, and end of life management of electrical and electronic products; however, in many cases, additional variables are needed to fully explain the behavior.

scholarly journals Recycling of Gallium from End-of-Life Light Emitting Diodes

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 1161-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nagy ◽  
L. Bokányi ◽  
I. Gombkötő ◽  
T. Magyar
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Light Emitting Diodes ◽  
Chemical Activation ◽  
Liquid Crystal Displays ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Light Emitting ◽  
Recycling Technology ◽  
Chemical Techniques

AbstractNowadays Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are widely utilized. They are applied as backlighting in Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) and TV sets or as lighting equipments in homes, cars, instruments and street-lightning. End of life equipments are containing more and more LEDs. The recovery of valuable materials – such as Ga, Au, Cu etc. – from the LEDs is essential for the creating the circular economy. First task is the development of a proper recycling technology. Most of the researchers propose fully chemical or thermal-chemical pathway for the recycling of LEDs.In the meantime our approach based on the thorough investigation of the structure and composition of LEDs, and shown in this paper, is the combination of mechanical and chemical techniques in order to recover more valuable products, as well as to facilitate the mass transfer. Our laboratory scale experiments are introduced, the final aim of which is Ga recovery in accordance with our above approach. It was experimentally proved that the LED chips contain Ga and can be recovered by mechanical processes along with copper-product. Ga is presented on the surface of the chips in GaN form. Mechano-chemical activation in high energy density stirred medium mill and the following acidic leaching resulted in the enrichment of 99.52% of gallium in the pregnant solution.

scholarly journals The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Hanes ◽  
Tapajyoti Ghosh ◽  
Alicia Key ◽  
Annika Eberle
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Mechanical Recycling ◽  
Lifecycle Assessment ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Framework Development

Moving the current linear economy toward circularity is expected to have environmental, economic, and social impacts. Various modeling methods, including economic input-output modeling, life cycle assessment, agent-based modeling, and system dynamics, have been used to examine circular supply chains and analyze their impacts. This work describes the newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework, which is designed to model how the impacts of supply chains might change as circularity increases. We first establish the framework with a discussion of modeling capabilities that are needed to capture circularity transitions; these capabilities are based on the fact that supply chains moving toward circularity are dynamic and therefore not at steady state, may encompass multiple industrial sectors or other interdependent supply chains and occupy a large spatial area. To demonstrate the capabilities of CELAVI, we present a case study on end-of-life wind turbine blades in the U.S. state of Texas. Our findings show that depending on exact process costs and transportation distances, mechanical recycling could lead to 69% or more of end-of-life turbine blade mass being kept in circulation rather than being landfilled, with only a 7.1% increase in global warming potential over the linear supply chain. We discuss next steps for framework development.

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