Research team
Expertise
System analysis in the context of industrial ecology and circular economy to improve the sustainability and resource use in the context of anthropogenic metabolic production-consumption systems.
Resource effectiveness as a guiding principle for the circular economy transformation.
Abstract
The economic process is solidly anchored to a material base that is subject to definite constraints , resulting in the increasing consumption of resources and related negative environmental consequences, representing one of the most important challenges to humans and the planet. In this context, severe and systemic transformations are required, with one central element being the transition towards a more Circular Economy (CE) that preserves the value of products, parts, and materials over a maximum period of time. With the European Green Deal, there is a clear ambition to upscale the CE, thus establishing a system that combines CE strategies that maximally preserve the function and value of products (e.g. extension of lifetime), components (e.g. reuse of parts), and materials (e.g., material recycling), while saving on the energy and effort that would be required to restore the lost functionalities (resource effectiveness). With a lack of indicators focusing on the effectiveness of resource use , the Post-Doc project builds upon the previously run PhD project that led to the development of the 'resource effectiveness' metric . The Post-Doc project will apply the metric to existing and upcoming projects of the ADVANCE team at VITO, while collaborating with colleagues at the University of Antwerp and other companies and institutions. The application case studies will contribute to the guidance of consortia and industry partners involved and will also provide a basis for SCI publications that will further demonstrate and contribute to the dissemination of the results and methodological extensions (e.g. additional hierarchical levels, linking the metric to LCA). Given the diversity of projects and case studies, the metric will be further extended to include case-specific characteristics (e.g. fibre length in textile recycling, level of contamination in plastic recycling). It has been previously shown how the metric can be extended to include additional dimensions, e.g. allowing for its time-dynamic application or including energetic considerations.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Vrancken Karl C M
- Fellow: Parchomenko Alexej
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project