Publications
56 results found
Sourmelis S, Pontikes Y, Myers RJ, et al., 2024, Business models for symbiosis between the alumina and cement industries, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol: 205, ISSN: 0921-3449
Global alumina production generates approximately 150–170 million tonnes of bauxite residue (BR), predominately landfilled. The cement industry is looking for new supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to replace additional clinker volumes and reduce their carbon footprint. Symbiosis between the alumina and cement industries presents an opportunity to conserve resources and produce low-carbon cements by thermally modifying BR into novel SCMs. This research uses the Horizon 2020 ReActiv project as a case study to evaluate the suitability of different modified BRs for use as SCMs using evidence from project documentation and participant observations from progress meetings. It also explores symbiotic business model configurations between alumina and cement industries through semi-structured interviews with ReActiv project participants. Results indicate that thermal modification of BR significantly increases its cementitious value, and should optimally be carried out in alumina plants, with the cement industry then grinding and mixing the resulting SCM with other cement components.
Mason AR, Puchol-Salort P, Gathorne-Hardy A, et al., 2024, Local terrestrial biodiversity impacts in life cycle assessment: A case study of sedum roofs in London, UK, Journal of Industrial Ecology, ISSN: 1088-1980
Urban development is a key driver of global biodiversity loss. “Green” infrastructure is integrated to offset some impacts of development on ecosystem quality by supporting urban biodiversity, a prominent example being green roofs. The effects of green infrastructures on urban biodiversity are not well understood and poorly included in life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Here, we present a novel methodology that quantifies the local impact of green infrastructures on terrestrial biodiversity—demonstrated here for sedum roofs in London, UK—and integrates within LCA. It relates energy provision by plants to the metabolic requirements of animals to determine what species richness (number of species) and species abundance (number of individuals) are supported. We demonstrate this methodology using a case study, comparing the life cycle impact of developing 18 buildings, with either asphalt concrete or sedum roofs, on ecosystem quality. We found the sedum roofs (0.018 km2) support 53 species (673 individuals), equivalent to 1.3% of the development's life cycle impacts on ecosystem quality. Complete offsetting requires considerable reduction in transport use throughout the development's lifetime, and lower environmental impact material selection during construction (contributing 98% and 2%, respectively). The results indicate sedum roofs offer minor impact mitigation capacities in the context of urban development, and this capacity is limited for all green infrastructures by species richness in local species pools. This paper demonstrates the potential and limitations of quantifying terrestrial biodiversity offsets offered by green infrastructures alongside urbanization, and the need for realistic expectations of what role it might play in sustainable urban design.
Quan Y, YiO MHN, Li Y, et al., 2023, Influence of Bi co-catalyst particle size on the photocatalytic activity of BiOI microflowers in Bi/BiOI junctions - a mechanistic study of charge carrier behaviour, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, Vol: 443, ISSN: 1010-6030
Herein, we investigate the effect of Bi particle size in BiOI/Bi junctions on their photocatalytic function towards NO gas. BiOI microflowers (BiOI) and BiOI microflowers decorated with micron-sized Bi particles (BiOI/Bi MPs) were produced by a solvothermal method. BiOI decorated with nano-sized Bi particles (BiOI/Bi NPs) were produced by a reduction process. All samples were physically characterised by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, HR-TEM coupled with EDX analysis, DR-UV–visible and PL spectroscopy and functionally characterised by photocatalytic testing towards NO gas, TAS and EPR spectroscopy.Their photocatalytic activity towards NO gas was measured following ISO protocol (ISO 22197–1:2016). The best performing BiOI-based sample was BiOI/Bi NPs, showing NO and NOx conversion efficiencies of ∼33 and ∼11% under UVA light, and ∼26 and ∼8.1% under visible light, respectively. The BiOI and BiOI/Bi MPs samples showed significantly lower activities, displaying overall NOx conversion efficiencies of ∼3.5 and ∼0.8% under UVA light, respectively. Importantly, the best performing BiOI/Bi NPs samples showed visible light activity that was at least 6 times higher than that of a commercial TiO2 benchmark (CristalACTiVTM PC-S7). TAS measurements showed that charge carriers were significantly longer lived in the BiOI/Bi NPs sample (t50% from 10 μs of ∼90 μs) than the BiOI and BiOI/Bi MPs samples (t50% from 10 μs of ∼50 μs). This was attributed to the significant degree of interfacial contact formed between Bi and BiOI in the BiOI/Bi NPs sample, which enhanced charge carrier separation. EPR studies showed that this interfacial contact between BiOI and Bi likely promoted the formation of VO, which may have contributed to enhancement seen in photocatalytic activity in the BiOI/Bi junction.
Georgiades M, Shah IH, Steubing B, et al., 2023, Prospective life cycle assessment of European cement production, RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING, Vol: 194, ISSN: 0921-3449
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Shah IH, Hadjipantelis N, Walter L, et al., 2023, Environmental life cycle assessment of wire arc additively manufactured steel structural components, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol: 389, Pages: 1-14, ISSN: 0959-6526
Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) enables the production of structural components with topologically optimised geometries thus leading to significant self-weight reductions for a given load-carrying capacity. A common question arises regarding the environmental performance of WAAM structural components in comparison with conventional steel structural components. Thus, a comparative cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment has been conducted where the environmental impact of producing a topologically optimised WAAM steel beam is compared with that of producing a conventional hot-rolled steel I-beam. The beams are 2 m long, simply-supported and loaded vertically at midspan. The impact of using either carbon steel or stainless steel is investigated. The results demonstrate that the carbon steel and stainless steel WAAM beams have 7% and 24%, respectively, lower climate change impact than the corresponding I-beams. It is concluded that WAAM can lead to lower CO2-eq. emissions than conventional hot-rolling, provided that mass reductions of the order of 50% (which are readily attainable) can be achieved by employing WAAM in conjunction with, for instance, topology optimisation. Furthermore, it is shown that the shielding gas contributes greatly to the environmental impact of WAAM, and that, by using higher deposition rates or by utilising renewable energy sources, the impact of WAAM can be reduced by more than 30%.
Wang J, Ray K, Brito-Parada P, et al., 2022, A Bayesian approach for the modelling of material stocks and flows with incomplete data, ArXiv
Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is used to quantify and understand the lifecycles of materials from production to end of use, which enables environmental,social and economic impacts and interventions. MFA is challenging as availabledata is often limited and uncertain, giving rise to an underdetermined systemwith an infinite number of solutions when attempting to calculate the values ofall stocks and flows in the system. Bayesian statistics is an effective way toaddress these challenges as it rigorously quantifies uncertainty in the dataand propagates it in a system flow model to provide the probabilitiesassociated with model solutions. Furthermore, the Bayesian approach provides anatural way to incorporate useful domain knowledge about the system through theelicitation of the prior distribution. This paper presents a novel Bayesian approach to MFA. We propose a mass basedframework that directly models the flow and change in stock variables in thesystem, including systems with simultaneous presence of stocks anddisaggregation of processes. The proposed approach is demonstrated on a globalaluminium cycle, under a scenario where there is a shortage of data, coupledwith weakly informative priors that only require basic information on flows andchange in stocks. Bayesian model checking helps to identify inconsistencies inthe data, and the posterior distribution is used to identify the variables inthe system with the most uncertainty, which can aid data collection. Wenumerically investigate the properties of our method in simulations, and showthat in limited data settings, the elicitation of an informative prior cangreatly improve the performance of Bayesian methods, including for bothestimation accuracy and uncertainty quantification.
Shah I, Miller S, Jiang D, et al., 2022, Cement substitution with secondary materials can reduce annual global CO2 emissions by up to 1.3 gigatons, Nature Communications, Vol: 13, ISSN: 2041-1723
Population and development megatrends will drive growth in cement production, which is already one of the most challenging-to-mitigate sources of CO2 emissions. However, availabilities of conventional secondary cementitious materials (CMs) like fly ash are declining. Here, we present detailed generation rates of secondary CMs worldwide between 2002 and 2018, showing the potential for 3.5 Gt to be generated in 2018. Maximal substitution of Portland cement clinker with these materials could have avoided up to 1.3 Gt CO2-eq. emissions (~44% of cement production and ~2.8% of anthropogenic CO2-eq. emissions) in 2018. We also show that nearly all of the highest cement producing nations can locally generate and use secondary CMs to substitute up to 50% domestic Portland cement clinker, with many countries able to potentially substitute 100% Portland cement clinker. Our results highlight the importance of pursuing regionally optimized CM mix designs and systemic approaches to decarbonizing the global CMs cycle.
Morley JD, Myers RJ, Plancherel Y, et al., 2022, A database for the stocks and flows of sand and gravel, Resources, Vol: 11, Pages: 1-17, ISSN: 2079-9276
Increasing demand for sand and gravel globally is leading to social, environmental, and political issues that are becoming more widely recognised. Lack of data and poor accessibility of the few available data contribute to exacerbating these issues and impair evidence-based management efforts. This paper presents a database to store stocks and flows data for sand and gravel from different sources. The classification system underlying within it builds on the Universal Materials Information System (UMIS) nomenclature, which is used to construct hierarchical order in the data and in the same manner as the Yale Stocks and Flow Database (YSTAFDB), a common data format. To illustrate how the database is built and used, a case study using UK data is presented. The UK is chosen owing to relatively better access to data compared to other locations. Quantitative analyses of the data show the supply chain of these materials to be currently stable for the UK as indigenous extraction contributes 95.6% to UK sand and gravel production, with imports accounting for the rest of the inputs, of which 50% is reliant on only one nation.
Mason AR, Gathorne-Hardy A, White C, et al., 2022, Resource requirements for ecosystem conservation: A combined industrial and natural ecology approach to quantifying natural capital use in nature, Ecology and Evolution, Vol: 12, Pages: 1-15, ISSN: 2045-7758
Socioeconomic demand for natural capital is causing catastrophic losses of biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, most notably in regions where socioeconomic-and eco-systems compete for natural capital, e.g., energy (animal or plant matter). However, a poor quantitative understanding of what natural capital is needed to support biodiversity in ecosystems, while at the same time satisfy human development needs—those associated with human development within socioeconomic systems—undermines our ability to sustainably manage global stocks of natural capital. Here we describe a novel concept and accompanying methodology (relating the adult body mass of terrestrial species to their requirements for land area, water, and energy) to quantify the natural capital needed to support terrestrial species within ecosystems, analogous to how natural capital use by humans is quantified in a socioeconomic context. We apply this methodology to quantify the amount of natural capital needed to support species observed using a specific surveyed site in Scotland. We find that the site can support a larger assemblage of species than those observed using the site; a primary aim of the rewilding project taking place there. This method conceptualises, for the first time, a comprehensive “dual-system” approach: modelling natural capital use in socioeconomic-and eco-systems simultaneously. It can facilitate the management of natural capital at the global scale, and in both the conservation and creation (e.g., rewilding) of biodiversity within managed ecosystems, representing an advancement in determining what socioeconomic trade-offs are needed to achieve contemporary conservation targets alongside ongoing human development.
Titirici M, Baird SG, Sparks TD, et al., 2022, The sustainable materials roadmap, Journal of Physics: Materials, Vol: 5, Pages: 1-98, ISSN: 2515-7639
Over the past 150 years, our ability to produce and transform engineered materials has been responsible for our current high standards of living, especially in developed economies. However, we must carefully think of the effects our addiction to creating and using materials at this fast rate will have on the future generations. The way we currently make and use materials detrimentally affects the planet Earth, creating many severe environmental problems. It affects the next generations by putting in danger the future of the economy, energy, and climate. We are at the point where something must drastically change, and it must change now. We must create more sustainable materials alternatives using natural raw materials and inspiration from nature while making sure not to deplete important resources, i.e. in competition with the food chain supply. We must use less materials, eliminate the use of toxic materials and create a circular materials economy where reuse and recycle are priorities. We must develop sustainable methods for materials recycling and encourage design for disassembly. We must look across the whole materials life cycle from raw resources till end of life and apply thorough life cycle assessments (LCAs) based on reliable and relevant data to quantify sustainability. We need to seriously start thinking of where our future materials will come from and how could we track them, given that we are confronted with resource scarcity and geographical constrains. This is particularly important for the development of new and sustainable energy technologies, key to our transition to net zero. Currently 'critical materials' are central components of sustainable energy systems because they are the best performing. A few examples include the permanent magnets based on rare earth metals (Dy, Nd, Pr) used in wind turbines, Li and Co in Li-ion batteries, Pt and Ir in fuel cells and electrolysers, Si in solar cells just to mention a few. These materials are classified as
Morley JD, Myers RJ, Plancherel Y, et al., 2022, A Database for the Extraction, Trade, and Use of Sand and Gravel (Retraction of Vol 11, art no 38, 2022), RESOURCES-BASEL, Vol: 11
Morley JD, Myers RJ, Plancherel Y, et al., 2022, A Database for the Extraction, Trade, and Use of Sand and Gravel, RESOURCES-BASEL, Vol: 11
Arora M, Shinde AM, Yadav V, et al., 2021, Ramifications of Indian vehicle scrapping policy across the mobility sector, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol: 174, Pages: 1-2, ISSN: 0921-3449
Miller SA, Habert G, Myers RJ, et al., 2021, Achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the cement industry via value chain mitigation strategies, ONE EARTH, Vol: 4, Pages: 1398-1411, ISSN: 2590-3330
Mijic A, Whyte J, Myers R, et al., 2021, Reply to a discussion of 'a research agenda on systems approaches to infrastructure' by david elms, Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems: decision making and problem solving, Vol: 38, Pages: 295-297, ISSN: 0263-0257
Hausmann JN, Traynor B, Myers RJ, et al., 2021, The pH of Aqueous NaOH/KOH Solutions: A Critical and Non-trivial Parameter for Electrocatalysis, ACS ENERGY LETTERS, Vol: 6, Pages: 3567-3571, ISSN: 2380-8195
Miller SA, Myers RJ, 2021, Environmental Impacts of Alternative Cement Binders (vol 54, pg 677, 2019), ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 55, Pages: 6525-6525, ISSN: 0013-936X
Myers R, Pamenter S, 2021, Decarbonizing the cementitious materials cycle: a whole-systems review of measures to decarbonize the cement supply chain in the UK and European contexts, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol: 25, Pages: 359-376, ISSN: 1088-1980
This paper presents a semi‐quantitative review of measures to achieve net‐zero greenhouse gas emissions (“decarbonization”) in the cementitious materials (CMs) cycle, that is, activities directly related to cement spanning extraction through to end of life. It focuses on the United Kingdom and Europe in order to relate these measures, comprising emissions, energy, and material efficiency, to the policy landscape. We summarize our findings in an annotated CMs cycle, produced by reconciling the diverse yet relatively underdeveloped literature on the topic, to quantify decarbonization potentials of the various measures in a systematic manner. We find that decarbonization measures with significant potential exist along the entire CMs cycle, although upstream (of use), energy, and emission efficiency measures are better quantified than downstream (of use) and material efficiency measures. Notably, the decarbonization potentials of recycling technologies and the ways in which technological advancements may transform the CMs cycle and thus the stocks, flows, and processing of materials, as well as effectiveness of decarbonization measures, are poorly understood. Therefore, this paper provides a basis to systematically understand the effects of emissions, energy, and material efficiency measures on decarbonization of the CMs cycle and, in this context, the interplay between technology, economic actors, and policy. This article met the requirements for a gold–gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.
Mijic A, Whyte J, Fisk D, et al., 2021, The Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation – 2030 vision and 10-year celebration
The 2030 vision of the Centre is to bring Systems Engineering and Innovation to Civil Infrastructure by changing how cross-sector infrastructure challenges are addressedin an integrated way using principles of systems engineering to maximise resilience, safety and sustainability in an increasingly complex world.We want to better understand the environmental and societal impacts of infrastructure interventions under uncertainty. This requires a change in current approaches to infrastructure systems engineering: starting from the natural environmentand its resources, encompassing societaluse of infrastructure and the supporting infrastructure assets and services.We argue for modelling that brings natural as well as built environments within the system boundaries to better understand infrastructure and to better assess sustainability. We seethe work as relevant to both the academic community and to a wide range of industry and policy applications that are working on infrastructure transition pathways towards fair, safe and sustainable society.This vision was developed through discussions between academics in preparation for the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation (CSEI) 10 years celebration. These rich discussions about the future of the Centre were inspired by developing themes for a celebration event, through which we have summarised the first 10 years of the Centre’s work and our vision for the future and identified six emerging research areas.
He H, Myers RJ, 2021, Log mean divisia index decomposition analysis of the demand for building materials: application to concrete, dwellings, and the U.K, Environmental Science and Technology (Washington), Vol: 55, Pages: 2767-2778, ISSN: 0013-936X
Dwellings are material intensive products. To date, material use in dwellings has been investigated mainly using economic (exogenous) or dwelling (endogenous) drivers, with few studies comprehensively combining both. For the first time, we identify a comprehensive set of such drivers of demand for building materials and analyze them using the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) method. We combine the LMDI method, the concept of dynamic material flow analysis, and physical and monetary flows to decompose the demand for building materials into the following six effects: material intensity, floor area shape, dwelling type, dwelling intensity, economic output, and population. We analyze these six effects on demand for concrete in new dwellings in the U.K. from 1951 to 2014, classified into six dwelling types and four subregions. Of these six effects, the material intensity effect is the most important, overall contributing to increasing concrete demand by +79 Mt from 1950 to 2014, while the dwelling intensity effect plays an opposite role, overall reducing concrete demand from 1950 to 2014 by -56 Mt. The economic output effect is also significant (+38 Mt from 1950 to 2014). A comparative analysis of the six effects in the four U.K. nations reveals that most of the effects arise from England, while the other nations have minor effects due to their smaller populations. Our results show that changes to the demand for concrete in the U.K. fluctuate and have mainly remained between ±30 Mt year-2 from 1950 to 2014, and thus the inflows of concrete into the in-use stock of dwellings have experienced neither entirely increasing or decreasing trends during this period. This study contributes to understanding changes in resource demand due to social, economic, and technological factors and thus improves the capability to reliably and quantitatively model the use of materials in the built environment.
Whyte J, Mijic A, Myers RJ, et al., 2020, A research agenda on systems approaches to infrastructure, Journal of Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, Vol: 37, Pages: 214-233, ISSN: 1029-0249
At a time of system shocks, significant underlying challenges are revealed in current approaches to delivering infrastructure, including that infrastructure users in many societies feel distant from nature. We set out a research agenda on systems approaches to infrastructure, drawing on ten years of interdisciplinary work on operating infrastructure, infrastructure interventions and lifecycles. Research insights and directions on complexity, systems integration, data-driven systems engineering, infrastructure life-cycles, and the transition towards zero pollution are summarised. This work identifies a need to better understand the natural and societal impacts of infrastructure interventions under uncertainty. We argue for a change in current approaches to infrastructure: starting from the natural environment and its resources, encompassing societal use of infrastructure and the supporting infrastructure assets and services. To support such proposed new systems approaches to infrastructure, researchers need to develop novel modelling methods, forms of model integration, and multi-criteria indicators.
Traynor B, Uvegi H, Olivetti E, et al., 2020, Methodology for pH measurement in high alkali cementitious systems, Cement and Concrete Research, Vol: 135, Pages: 1-6, ISSN: 0008-8846
A methodology for calibrating pH meters in highly alkaline solutions such as those relevant to cementitious systems is presented. This methodology uses an extended form of the Debye-Hückel equation to generate a calibration curve of pH vs. the measured electrochemical potential (mV) based on a series of aqueous alkali hydroxide solutions of known concentrations. This methodology is compared with the ‘built-in’ process of calibration based upon pH 4, 7, and 10 standard solutions. The built-in calibration process underestimates the real pH values by up to 0.3 log units, which is attributed to the alkali error. A spreadsheet for determining the calibration curve and its application to pH meter readings is provided as Supporting Information. The implications of improperly calibrated pH meters on interpreting solution chemistry in cementitious systems are discussed.
van Deventer JSJ, White CE, Myers RJ, 2020, A roadmap for production of cement and concrete with low-CO2 emissions, Waste and Biomass Valorization, Vol: 12, Pages: 4745-4775, ISSN: 1877-2641
This review will show that low-CO2 cements can be produced to give superior durability, based on a sound understanding of their microstructure and how it impacts macro-engineering properties. For example, it is essential that aluminium is available in calcium-rich alkali-activated systems to offset the depolymerisation effect of alkali cations on C-(N-)A-S-H gel. The upper limit on alkali cation incorporation into a gel greatly affects mix design and source material selection. A high substitution of cement clinker in low-CO2 cements may result in a reduction of pH buffering capacity, hence susceptibility to carbonation and corrosion of steel reinforcement. With careful mix design, a more refined pore structure and associated lower permeability can still give a highly durable concrete. It is essential to expand thermodynamic databases for current and prospective cementitious materials so that concrete performance and durability can be predicted when using low-CO2 binders. Cationic copolymer and amphoteric plasticisers, when available commercially, will enhance the development of alkali-activated materials. The development of supersonic shockwave reactors will enable the conversion of a wide range of virgin and secondary source materials into cementitious materials, replacing blast furnace slag and coal fly ash that have dwindling supply. A major obstacle to the commercial adoption of low-CO2 concrete is the prescriptive nature of existing standards and design codes, so there is an urgent need to shift towards performance-based standards. The roadmap presented here is not an extension of current cement practice, but a new way of integrating fundamental research, equipment innovation, and commercial opportunity.
Li C, Jiang Z, Myers RJ, et al., 2020, Understanding the sulfate attack of Portland cement–based materials exposed to applied electric fields: Mineralogical alteration and migration behavior of ionic species, Cement and Concrete Composites, Vol: 111, Pages: 1-15, ISSN: 0958-9465
The magnesium and sodium sulfate attacks on Portland cement paste in the presence of applied electric fields were studied, and the mineralogical alterations were investigated by both experiments and thermodynamic modeling. When an electric current flows out of the cement paste, the electric migration of ions induced sulfate ingress and decalcification. Compared with the specimen exposed to Na2SO4, that exposed to MgSO4 for 28 d proceeded to a later degradation stage, which is characterized by the decomposition of ettringite, portlandite, and AFm phases, and the formation of CaSO4. Thermodynamic modeling indicates a neutralization process induced by the electric migration of OH−, which is potentially responsible for the decomposition of ettringite. When an electric current flows into the cement paste, the Mg2+ and Na+ showed different migration behavior. Mg2+ was incorporated to form brucite and M-S-H–like products in a shallow area (~100 μm) on the surface of the specimen, whilst a part of the Na+ could be bonded to form Na-rich silica gel with the other part penetrating through the specimen. By coupling the pore solution chemistry obtained from thermodynamic modeling with the Nernst-Planck equation, the migration behaviors of the ionic species (SO42-, Mg2+, and Na+) were analyzed.
Cao Z, Myers RJ, Lupton RC, et al., 2020, The sponge effect and carbon emission mitigation potentials of the global cement cycle., Nature Communications, Vol: 11, Pages: 3777-3777, ISSN: 2041-1723
Cement plays a dual role in the global carbon cycle like a sponge: its massive production contributes significantly to present-day global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, yet its hydrated products gradually reabsorb substantial amounts of atmospheric CO2 (carbonation) in the future. The role of this sponge effect along the cement cycle (including production, use, and demolition) in carbon emissions mitigation, however, remains hitherto unexplored. Here, we quantify the effects of demand- and supply-side mitigation measures considering this material-energy-emissions-uptake nexus, finding that climate goals would be imperiled if the growth of cement stocks continues. Future reabsorption of CO2 will be significant (~30% of cumulative CO2 emissions from 2015 to 2100), but climate goal compliant net CO2 emissions reduction along the global cement cycle will require both radical technology advancements (e.g., carbon capture and storage) and widespread deployment of material efficiency measures, which go beyond those envisaged in current technology roadmaps.
Jiang D, Hou D, Bechtel C, et al., 2020, Permeability is the critical factor governing the life cycle environmental performance of drinking water treatment using living filtration membranes., Environmental Science and Technology (Washington), Vol: 54, Pages: 7651-7658, ISSN: 0013-936X
Living Filtration Membranes (LFMs) are a water filtration technology that was recently developed in the lab (Technology Readiness Level 4). LFMs have shown filtration performance comparable with that of ultrafiltration, far better fouling resistance than conventional polymer membranes, and good healing capabilities. These properties give LFMs promise to address two significant issues in conventional membrane filtration: fouling and membrane damage. To integrate environmental considerations into future technology development (i.e., Ecodesign), this study assesses the life cycle environmental performance of drinking water treatment using LFMs under likely design and operation conditions. It also quantitatively ranks the engineering design and operation factors governing the further optimization of LFM environmental performance using a global sensitivity analysis. The results suggest that LFMs' superior fouling resistance will reduce the life cycle environmental impacts of ultrafiltration by 25% compared to those of a conventional polymer membrane in most impact categories (e.g., acidification, global warming potential, and carcinogenics). The only exception is the eutrophication impact, where the need for growth medium and membrane regeneration offsets the benefits of LFMs' fouling resistance. Permeability is the most important factor that should be prioritized in future R&D to further improve the life cycle environmental performance of LFMs. A 1% improvement in the permeability will lead to a ∼0.7% improvement in LFMs' environmental performance in all the impact categories, whereas the same change in the other parameters investigated (e.g., LFM lifespan and regeneration frequency) typically only leads to a <0.2% improvement.
Dieckmann E, Sheldrick L, Tennant M, et al., 2020, Analysis of barriers to transitioning from a linear to a circular economy for end of life materials: a case study for waste feathers, Sustainability, Vol: 12, Pages: 1725-1725, ISSN: 2071-1050
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.
Miller SA, Myers RJ, 2020, Environmental impacts of alternative cement binders., Environmental Science and Technology (Washington), Vol: 54, Pages: 677-686, ISSN: 0013-936X
Cement production is among the most difficult industrial activities to decarbonize. Various measures have been proposed and explored to reduce its CO2 emissions. Among these measures, the substitution of portland cement (PC) clinker with alternative materials is arguably the most effective, and consequently is an area of high research and commercial interest. However, few studies have systematically quantified environmental impacts of alternative, i.e., non-PC, clinkers. Here, we quantify and compare environmental impacts arising from the production of binders derived from several of the most commonly investigated alternative cement systems. We show that binders derived from most of these alternative cements result in lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as other indicators of environmental impacts relative to the PC binder. The extent of these reductions varies as a function of energy requirements for production, process-related emissions from clinker formation, and raw materials demand. While utilization of alternative cements can be environmentally beneficial, similar reductions in GHG emissions can be achieved through use of partial replacement of PC with mineral admixtures. In this work, we quantitatively demonstrate the potential for alternative binders to mitigate environmental burdens and highlight the need to consider trade-offs among environmental impact categories when assessing these products.
Myers RJ, Reck BK, Graedel TE, 2019, YSTAFDB, a unified database of material stocks and flows for sustainability science, Scientific Data, Vol: 6, ISSN: 2052-4463
We present the Yale Stocks and Flows Database (YSTAFDB), which comprises most of the material stocks and flows (STAF) data generated at the Center for Industrial Ecology at Yale University since the early 2000s. These data describe material cycles, criticality, and recycling in terms of 62 elements and various engineering materials, e.g., steel, on spatial scales and timeframes ranging from cities to global and the 1800s to ca. 2013. YSTAFDB integrates this diverse collection of STAF data, previously scattered across various non-uniformly formatted electronic files, into a single data structure and file format. Here, we discuss this data structure as well as the usage and formatting of data records in YSTAFDB. YSTAFDB contains 100,000+ data records that are all situated in their systems contexts, with additional metadata included as available. YSTAFDB offers a comprehensive basis upon which STAF data can be accumulated, integrated, and exchanged, and thereby improves their accessibility. Therefore, YSTAFDB facilitates deeper understanding of sustainable materials use and management, which are key goals of contemporary sustainability science.
D'Amico B, Myers RJ, Sykes J, et al., 2019, Machine learning for sustainable structures: a call for data, Structures, Vol: 19, Pages: 1-4, ISSN: 2352-0124
Buildings are the world's largest contributors to energy demand, greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, resource consumption and waste generation. An unmissable opportunity exists to tackle climate change, global warming, and resource scarcity by rethinking how we approach building design. Structural materials often dominate the total mass of a building; therefore, a significant potential for material efficiency and GHG emissions mitigation is to be found in efficient structural design and use of structural materials.To this end, environmental impact assessment methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), are increasingly used. However, they risk failing to deliver the expected benefits due to the high number of parameters and uncertainty factors that characterise impacts of buildings along their lifespans. Additionally, effort and cost required for a reliable assessment seem to be major barriers to a more widespread adoption of LCA. More rapid progress towards reducing building impacts seems therefore possible by combining established environmental impact assessment methods with artificial intelligence approaches such as machine learning and neural networks.This short communication will briefly present previous attempts to employ such techniques in civil and structural engineering. It will present likely outcomes of machine learning and neural network applications in the field of structural engineering and – most importantly – it calls for data from professionals across the globe to form a fundamental basis which will enable quicker transition to a more sustainable built environment.
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