This thesis aims to address offshore wind energy (OWE)-related environmental impacts. It includes the future material demand for the manufacturing of OWE turbines and foundations, the cradle-to-the... Show moreThis thesis aims to address offshore wind energy (OWE)-related environmental impacts. It includes the future material demand for the manufacturing of OWE turbines and foundations, the cradle-to-the-grave environmental impacts of global OWE development, the impacts on marine biodiversity, and other impacts on the environment. Show less
The rare earth magnet market experiences serious turmoil: prices fluctuate heavily while the demand is growing exponentially driven by wind turbines and electric vehicles. Recycling helps to reduce... Show moreThe rare earth magnet market experiences serious turmoil: prices fluctuate heavily while the demand is growing exponentially driven by wind turbines and electric vehicles. Recycling helps to reduce the pressure on rare earth mining, while presenting a solution for growing waste flows. While the development of recycling technologies is ongoing, we investigate the further development of short-loop recycling from small scale to industrial scale. This ex-ante LCA study combines input from expert technology forecasts, thermodynamic modelling, manufacturer data for equipment, and energy scenarios. Our approach systematically considers all mechanisms for performance changes when upscaling, from size scaling to decarbonizing electricity. The results show the effect of process design choices and the effect of end-of-life product inputs. Moreover, the assessment of multiple process improvements leads to an outlook of potential development pathways towards low-emission magnet recycling. Our systematic approach, which involves the active participation of technology developers, can be extended to support the upscaling of other emergent technologies. Show less
Zhang, C.; Hu, M.; Meide, M. van der; Di Maio, F.; Yang, X.; Gao, X.; ... ; Li, C. 2023
Vinasse is a major by-product generated by the sugarcane biofuel industry. It is a source of microbes, nutrients and organic matter and often it is recycled as fertilizer. The research... Show moreVinasse is a major by-product generated by the sugarcane biofuel industry. It is a source of microbes, nutrients and organic matter and often it is recycled as fertilizer. The research described in this thesis addressed how vinasse and sugarcane straw added together with N fertilizer affect the soil microbial community structure and function and N2O emission. The application of vinasse, N fertilizer and combined application of vinasse plus N fertilizer changed in the soil microbial community. However, these changes were restricted to a short period. Vinasse and straw induced changes in the soil microbial community composition and potential functions, but straw additions triggered the stronger changes. The invasive bacteria present in the vinasse were unable to survive in the soil, except of members of the Lactobacillaceae family. Treatments with vinasse and N fertilizer applications increased N2O emissions and the microbial processes involved in N2O production were nitrification by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea and denitrification by bacteria and fungi. However, amoA-AOB (Nitrosospira sp) and fungal nirK were the most important genes related to N2O emissions. These results highlight the importance of vinasse management and can be used as a reference to develop good management practices. Show less
A sustainable resource management is an essential aspect to satisfy the current human needs without compromising the needs of future generations. There is a need to provide resource-efficient... Show moreA sustainable resource management is an essential aspect to satisfy the current human needs without compromising the needs of future generations. There is a need to provide resource-efficient strategies that enables to decrease the risk of disruptive supply chains while maintaining natural resources for the current and future generations. Within this context, circular economy has been proposed as a paradigm that aims to reduce resource extraction and waste flows by retaining materials into the economy. However, there is still a lack of understanding on how a global circularity transition might look like, and what would be the magnitude of the potential economic, social, and environmental implications of material circularity on macro scale. These aspects raise the questions: Is circular economy a sustainable solution to achieve a global economic and environmental sustainability? And what are the macroeconomic, social, and environmental implications of a transition to a circular economy? A macro level assessment of material circularity aims to understand how material circularity could contribute to sustainable resource management, and explore which circularity interventions could support a cost-effective circularity transition on a macro scale. Show less
Wagner, M.A.; Huisman, J.; Lovik, A.N.; Habib, H.; Mahlitz, P.; Voet, E. van der 2021
Raw Materials are crucial in the development, production, and improvement of modern-day technology. Reliable access to critical, scarce, and valuable materials used in electronics is becoming a... Show moreRaw Materials are crucial in the development, production, and improvement of modern-day technology. Reliable access to critical, scarce, and valuable materials used in electronics is becoming a worldwide concern. Therefore, the quantification of material recovery from the urban mine is currently pursued worldwide. Commonly, data on (Waste) Electrical and Electronic Equipment is scattered, not harmo-nized, and uses different types of classifications and terminology. This provides a big challenge of a structured mapping of secondary raw materials in the urban mine. To address these issues, a state-of -the-art methodology has been developed and is presented by analyzing and tracking printed circuit boards in different key Electrical and Electronic Equipment over time. A total of 4051 composition data records where analyzed to extract the concentration of 19 elements in printed circuit boards between 1990 until 2020. The methodology harmonizes urban mine data, provides structured information that can be used to analyze and monitor the impact of product trends on their components and concentration of the elements in electronics. The resulting database and harmonization protocols are made freely available at the urban mine platform. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Show less
Dikkenberg, L. van den; Pomstra, D.R.; Gijn, A.L. van 2023
In the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is scarce in this area and when these axes were exhausted, or when they broke during use, they were often... Show moreIn the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is scarce in this area and when these axes were exhausted, or when they broke during use, they were often re-used as flake cores. Vlaardingen Culture (3400–2500 BC) sites often yield large quantities of flakes and retouched tools made on polished axe fragments. Using an experimental approach, we tried to better understand the importance of recycling of these objects. For the experiments we reconstructed four so-called Buren axes. The experiments provided insights into the usefulness of broken axes as flake cores. It was also demonstrated that flakes struck from axes generally do not have a remnant of a polished surface, indicating that the importance of broken axes as flake cores has so far been underestimated. Furthermore, it was concluded that micro-debitage can successfully be studied to identify areas where broken axes were flaked. Show less
Decarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands. This thesis uses multi-source data, mainly including GIS data of building footprints and... Show moreDecarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands. This thesis uses multi-source data, mainly including GIS data of building footprints and the archetypes representative of Dutch residential buildings, to develop a series of bottom-up building stock models to track future material stock and flows, energy demand, electricity generation, and GHG emissions. Results demonstrate the great potential for decarbonizing the Dutch residential building sector, while decarbonization strategies should be effectively and extensively implemented. Saving space heating energy consumption is the most direct way to reduce annual GHG emissions. Considering that most existing residential buildings will still be in use in 2050, renovating them with high energy performance standards is required. Despite the great potential of renovation, it alone is not enough to realize the climate-neutral target in the residential building stock because the upstream fossil fuel-based energy systems still emit large amounts of GHG. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is a critical path, mainly involving onsite natural gas combustion for space heating and offsite natural gas and coal combustion for electricity and heat (in heat networks) generation. Urban mining cannot contribute to as much GHG emission reduction as energy transition strategies, though, should still be implemented as it can reduce the primary material consumption and CDW landfill. In addition to the technical aspects considered in this thesis, it is also necessary to develop feasible policies in terms of socioeconomic aspects to guarantee the effective and quick deployment of these technical strategies. Show less
“Taking Up Space: Waste and Waste Labor in Developing South Korea” examines South Korean development experiences through the remnants of its industrialization and modernization processes, including... Show more“Taking Up Space: Waste and Waste Labor in Developing South Korea” examines South Korean development experiences through the remnants of its industrialization and modernization processes, including material waste, excess labor, or surplus population. I juxtapose the history of informal waste pickers with the transformation of waste management and the reconfiguration of its labor during the period from the 1960s to the early 1990s. By connecting the material, social, and symbolic dimensions of waste, I demonstrate how waste shaped their stigma and social position, degraded the urban environment as much as it deteriorated their living and working conditions, and brought social and environmental forces that further drove their marginalization. The case studies—waste picker camps and Seoul’s Nanjido Landfill—illustrate how concepts such as informality, precarity, and societal marginalization have been historically mediated and grounded in individuals’ lives during the country’s compressed development process.This study demonstrates how the production of marginalized populations and the disregard for their labor practices served to consolidate the developing nation-state and its middle-class citizens. It argues that the informal labor at the urban periphery was instrumental in the development process and should be recognized as legitimate labor rather than mere subsistence activities. Waste pickers not only served as agents of development but also as a precedent for precarious workers in modern Korea. The prevalence of waste pickers in contemporary South Korea indicates a diachronic implication of this dissertation, as their labor remains crucial for urban conditions while simultaneously establishing an urban form of precarity. Show less
