Profit-driven planning and analysis of a WEEE recycling facility with a multi-period MILP model

Electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. The challenges associated with the recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) represent both threats, as the improper disposal of this waste can harm the environment and human health, and opportunities, as this category of waste contains valuable and rare resources that can be recovered and repurposed, contributing to the circular economy. The EU is leading the way in improving the collection and treatment of WEEE, but this has not been sufficient to meet the targets set in its WEEE directive. Therefore, additional efforts must be made to ensure the costeffective and environmentally sound recycling of WEEE, both in the public and private sectors. In this thesis, we propose a multi-period MILP model for the planning of a WEEE recycling facility in Belgium and conduct various analyses to provide insights on what elements are the most crucial to the profitability of such a facility. The originality of our approach lies in the multi-period aspect of the model, and the addition of a limited amount of labour to be allocated to various labour-intensive tasks of WEEE recycling. Our main findings are that labour is the most critical resource, both in cost and utilization, such that the optimal quantity of WEEE to process is the one that results in complete utilization of labour, with little to no overtime. As such, the flexibility of labour, both in possible task allocation and overtime capabilities, is crucial to the proper functioning of the facility, especially when taking into account possible deviations from the optimal plan, caused by the heterogeneity of WEEE and other variations such as the timing of deliveries.nhhma

Design and Management of Manufacturing Systems

Although the design and management of manufacturing systems have been explored in the literature for many years now, they still remain topical problems in the current scientific research. The changing market trends, globalization, the constant pressure to reduce production costs, and technical and technological progress make it necessary to search for new manufacturing methods and ways of organizing them, and to modify manufacturing system design paradigms. This book presents current research in different areas connected with the design and management of manufacturing systems and covers such subject areas as: methods supporting the design of manufacturing systems, methods of improving maintenance processes in companies, the design and improvement of manufacturing processes, the control of production processes in modern manufacturing systems production methods and techniques used in modern manufacturing systems and environmental aspects of production and their impact on the design and management of manufacturing systems. The wide range of research findings reported in this book confirms that the design of manufacturing systems is a complex problem and that the achievement of goals set for modern manufacturing systems requires interdisciplinary knowledge and the simultaneous design of the product, process and system, as well as the knowledge of modern manufacturing and organizational methods and techniques

Systemic circular economy solutions for fiber reinforced composites

This open access book provides an overview of the work undertaken within the FiberEUse project, which developed solutions enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products, with a cross-sectorial approach. Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers, or composites, are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. However, composite recycling is still a challenge since no significant added value in the recycling and reprocessing of composites is demonstrated. FiberEUse developed innovative solutions and business models towards sustainable Circular Economy solutions for post-use composite-made products. Three strategies are presented, namely mechanical recycling of short fibers, thermal recycling of long fibers and modular car parts design for sustainable disassembly and remanufacturing. The validation of the FiberEUse approach within eight industrial demonstrators shows the potentials towards new Circular Economy value-chains for composite materials

Systemic Circular Economy Solutions for Fiber Reinforced Composites

This open access book provides an overview of the work undertaken within the FiberEUse project, which developed solutions enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products, with a cross-sectorial approach. Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers, or composites, are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. However, composite recycling is still a challenge since no significant added value in the recycling and reprocessing of composites is demonstrated. FiberEUse developed innovative solutions and business models towards sustainable Circular Economy solutions for post-use composite-made products. Three strategies are presented, namely mechanical recycling of short fibers, thermal recycling of long fibers and modular car parts design for sustainable disassembly and remanufacturing. The validation of the FiberEUse approach within eight industrial demonstrators shows the potentials towards new Circular Economy value-chains for composite materials

BIT BANG 5: Changing Global Landscapes - Role of Policy Making and Innovation Capability

Bit Bang – Changing Global Landscapes: Role of Policy Making and Innovation Capability was the fifth multidisciplinary postgraduate course for Aalto University doctoral students. A total of 24 students from five Aalto University Schools participated in this two-semester course. The course focused on global competition for leadership in innovation, policy-making, technology, and science and education. The fundamental objective of the Bit Bang courses is to teach the students teamwork, multidisciplinary collaboration and scenario building, as well as provide the students with global perspective, and industry and business foresight. In addition to normal class activities the students worked in six person teams to study local and global strategies to strive for success. This joint publication contains the final reports of the teamwork assignments. In the chapters the students seek answers to what makes the difference between the leaders and the followers. The topics include e.g. the potential of additive manufacturing for bringing manufacturing industries back to Western countries, the link between national higher education systems and innovation capability at the nation level, and changing governmental structures to better match contemporary challenges. The Bit Bang post graduate courses are organised by Aalto University’sMultidisciplinary Institute of Digitalisation and Energy (MIDE)

Systemic Circular Economy Solutions for Fiber Reinforced Composites

This open access book provides an overview of the work undertaken within the FiberEUse project, which developed solutions enhancing the profitability of composite recycling and reuse in value-added products, with a cross-sectorial approach. Glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers, or composites, are increasingly used as structural materials in many manufacturing sectors like transport, constructions and energy due to their better lightweight and corrosion resistance compared to metals. However, composite recycling is still a challenge since no significant added value in the recycling and reprocessing of composites is demonstrated. FiberEUse developed innovative solutions and business models towards sustainable Circular Economy solutions for post-use composite-made products. Three strategies are presented, namely mechanical recycling of short fibers, thermal recycling of long fibers and modular car parts design for sustainable disassembly and remanufacturing. The validation of the FiberEUse approach within eight industrial demonstrators shows the potentials towards new Circular Economy value-chains for composite materials

Sustainable Industrial Engineering along Product-Service Life Cycle/Supply Chain

Sustainable industrial engineering addresses the sustainability issue from economic, environmental, and social points of view. Its application fields are the whole value chain and lifecycle of products/services, from the development to the end-of-life stages. This book aims to address many of the challenges faced by industrial organizations and supply chains to become more sustainable through reinventing their processes and practices, by continuously incorporating sustainability guidelines and practices in their decisions, such as circular economy, collaboration with suppliers and customers, using information technologies and systems, tracking their products’ life-cycle, using optimization methods to reduce resource use, and to apply new management paradigms to help mitigate many of the wastes that exist across organizations and supply chains. This book will be of interest to the fast-growing body of academics studying and researching sustainability, as well as to industry managers involved in sustainability management

Appropriate Wisdom, Technology, and Management toward Environmental Sustainability for Development

The protection and maintenance of environmental resources for future generations require responsible interaction between humans and the environment in order to avoid wasting natural resources. According to an ancient Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” This indigenous wisdom has the potential to play a significant role in defining environmental sustainability. Recent technological advances could sustain humankind and allow for comfortable living. However, not all of these advancements have the potential to protect the environment for future generations. Developing societies and maintaining the sustainability of the ecosystem require appropriate wisdom, technology, and management collaboration. This book is a collection of 19 important articles (15 research articles, 3 review papers, and 1 editorial) that were published in the Special Issue of the journal Sustainability entitled “Appropriate Wisdom, Technology, and Management toward Environmental Sustainability for Development” during 2021-2022.addresses the policymakers and decision-makers who are willing to develop societies that practice environmental sustainability, by collecting the most recent contributions on the appropriate wisdom, technology, and management regarding the different aspects of a community that can retain environmental sustainability

Energy End-Use Technologies for the 21st Century. A Report of the World Energy Council

This report makes clear the opportunities and places technology development firmly centre stage in meeting and overcoming the challenges confronting the energy industry and policy makers. Energy End-Use Technologies for the 21st Century makes it crystal clear that technologies deployed in 20 to 50 years will be the result of policy and funding decisions taken now and that we cannot afford to duck these decisions if we are to meet the World Energy Council’s goals of energy availability, accessibility and acceptability

Organic solar cells: life cycle assessment as a research tool to reduce payback time and environmental impacts

Mención Europeo / Mención Internacional: Concedido[SPA] Las sociedades modernas están llamadas a repensar y rediseñar el modelo energético a otro más sostenible si se quiere conservar el equilibrio ecológico. Las energías renovables como tecnologías de bajas emisiones pueden hacer frente a los objetivos del cambio climático. La luz del sol, en particular es una posible solución como recurso abundante y distribuido que es. De entre las tecnologías fotovoltaicas existentes, una nueva generación, la fotovoltaica orgánica (OPV) se ha desarrollado de manera exponencial en los últimos cinco años, mostrando un gran potencial. Estos dispositivos están compuestos de materiales poliméricos semiconductores, depositados sobre sustratos flexibles. A pesar de que siguen siendo grandes los retos a superar, hay una investigación activa en el campo la física de materiales tema que ha permitido, por ejemplo, que la eficiencia de los dispositivos se haya multiplicado por diez durante la última década. Estos avances llevan a esperar que aparezcan métodos de producción rápida, baratos y de bajo impacto sobre el medio ambiente. En esta tesis, se han preparado dispositivos fotovoltaicos orgánicos en dos escalas: a nivel de laboratorio, y mediante métodos de producción masiva o roll-to-roll. El gran potencial que ésta tecnología puede ofrecer se ha cuantificado a través de análisis de ciclo de vida (LCA). Estos estudios han tratado de establecer los parámetros que son fundamentales en la fabricación de éstos dispositivos a escala semi industrial y cuantificar el potencial de la tecnología de células solares de polímeros. Los resultados de la aplicación de ésta metodología a la producción de impresos módulos poliméricos a escala semi industrial, mediante varias rutas han sido prometedores.[ENG] In view of the world energy panorama, modern societies are urged to rethink and redesign the energy model into a more sustainable one if they want to preserve an ecological balance. Renewable energies as low-carbon technologies can tackle climate change targets. Sunlight in particular, as the most abundant resource and sustainable resource, is a possible solution. Among the existing photovoltaic technologies, organic photovoltaics (OPV) has evolved in an exponential way in the last five years exhibiting a large potential. Despite that there are still important challenges to overcome, there is an active research in this subject that has enabled for example that the efficiency of the devices has increased by a factor of 10 during the last decade. These progress lead to expect fast, cheap and low environmental impact production methods. In this thesis, OPV devices have been prepared by different methods and the great potential of this technology has been quantified through life cycle assessment (LCA) methods. LCA studies on production of printed polymeric modules at semi industrial scale have been carried out, showing promising results. The studies have sought to establish the parameters that are critical for the beneficial use of polymer solar cells in society and to firmly demonstrate where the potential of the polymer solar cell technology is.Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma de doctorado en Energías Renovable