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62 RESPONSABILITÉ & ENVIRONNEMENT - AVRIL 2016 - N°82
Strategic metal recycling: adaptive
metallurgical processing
infrastructure and technology are
essential for a Circular Economy
By Markus A. REUTER
Director Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology
and Antoinette VAN SCHAIK
Director/owner/founder Material Recycling and Sustainability (MARAS) B.V.
Circular Economy (CE)
The EU has recently published its ambitious plan on Cir-
cular Economy (CE) (EU, 2015). Recycling plays a key role
in CE. If all products were constructed from one material
and recyclates were 100% pure CE would be an easy en-
deavour. However, if society would reduce drastically its
consumption, the complicating issues of a CE will become
trivial, in fact a CE could become irrelevant. However, pre-
sent reality is that consumer products are complex, crea-
ting complex recyclates, have an often short life span and
are intensively produced and consumed.
In addition, variability of products and materials demands
a dynamically changing processing infrastructure. For me-
tals, this means that for a CE, to be realized requires for
example a high-tech adaptive metallurgical infrastructure
that interlinks all materials processing industries (i.e. all
carrier metals infrastructures must - for example in the EU -
be able to interchange materials if there is an economic
incentive to do so).
Realizing the full potential, challenges and fundamental
innovations to achieve a CE system requires an unders-
tanding of the social, technological, economic and envi-
ronmental opportunities and limits thereof. The innova-
tions, tools and challenges to move towards a CE include
among others:
l The use of minerals and metallurgical processing know-
how and tools in the analysis of the CE system. The inno-
vation lies in further developing these tools for recycling
and linking these to the already established tools used
for optimizing metallurgical systems (REUTER, 1998;
VAN SCHAIK and REUTER, 2010, MENAD et al., 2016).
We have called this product centric recycling (REUTER
and VAN SCHAIK, 2012).
l Quantifying the data of the CE for both products and re-
cycling in a manner that acknowledges the complexity of
a product centric approach, that takes all materials of the
consumer product (i.e. from the Urban Mine) into consi-
deration, much like a complex mineral from a Geological
Mine. This approach captures the full non-linear effects
Recycling forms the heart of the Circular Economy (CE) system. Ultimately all products will have
to be recycled at their End-of-Life (EoL). Maximizing the recovery of materials and also espe-
cially strategic elements from EoL products requires a deep understanding of the fundamental
limits and the dynamics of the evolving system, thus an adaptive processing and metallurgical
infrastructure is critical to recover all metals and materials. Paramount is the quantification of the
“mineralogy”, the complex and interlinked composition of products, to trace and quantify speci-
fically all the losses of materials, metals, alloys, etc. due to thermodynamic and other non-linear
interactions. We named this product centric recycling. The recycling potential and performance
must be quantified and demonstrated for products, collection systems, waste separation and
recovery technologies, and material supply. Emphasis is also placed on informing the consumer
through iRE i.e. informing Resource Efficiency in an easy-to-understand way. System Integrated
Metal Processing (SIMP) using big-data, multi-sensors, simulation models, metallurgy, etc. links
all stakeholders through Circular Economy Engineering (CEE), an important enabler to maximize
Resource Efficiency and thus iRE.
UNE PRIORITÉ : L’ÉCONOMIE CIRCULAIRE
Markus A. REUTER et Antoinette VAN SCHAIK
of the recovery and losses of all materials, elements,
strategic & critical raw materials (CRMs) (EU 2014) etc.
on each other (as well as the contamination of the ma-
terials on each other). This is analogous to processing
of polymetallic complex minerals from geology and en-
suring all elements, metals and gangue are processed
to economically valuable to environmentally benign final
products such as slag.
l Recyclates have to be quantified so that thermodynamic
and physical properties can be used in industry linked
simulation (REUTER et al., 2015) to optimize the com-
plete system. Properties of the recyclate particles and
flows include enthalpy, entropy & exergy, alloy and mate-
rial composition, conductivity, colour, magnetic suscep-
tibility, density, shape, odour, near infrared properties,
interlinkages of materials in scrap particles, brittleness,
ductility, etc.
l A real-time feedback loop, that links product design
and recycling system configurations to real-time grade
monitoring of recyclates with suitable multi-sensors (to
estimate possible contaminants and valuables in them)
while linking this to high quality material and metal pro-
duction processing – thus Design for Resource Efficien-
cy (DfRE).
- Use of real-time data to calibrate recycling and CE sys-
tem models that provide a basis to optimise the proces-
sing chain and providing the necessary detail to calculate
Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expendi-
ture (OPEX) as well as the environmental footprint. This
simulation basis provides the true economic potential of
CE as it rigorously maps all recoveries, losses and costs
due to these losses.
l Determining the baseline recovery rate and potential for
specific products based on a product centric approach.
This permits the understanding of what actions to take to
innovate in the CE system (REUTER, 1998; VAN SCHAIK
and REUTER, 2014). Industry calibrated simulation mo-
dels are key to optimizing the system i.e. methods will be
applied to quantify both of quality and recovery, as well
as opportunities and limits of recycling complex product
material mixtures.
l On the basis of these rigorous adaptive CE models
(REUTER and VAN SCHAIK, 2012), innovative circular
business models can be developed that will design a
closed loop system for material use preventing the loss
of materials from the economy and into the environment
including innovations to producer responsibility and new
product ownership models. These models provide a ba-
sis to develop innovative collection and organisational
approaches to increase the amount of sorted, collected
and reported EoL goods and their subsequent reuse, re-
covery and closed loop recycling gleaning from the fee-
dback from limits and critical issues in recycling learned
from industry process simulation (UNEP, 2013).
l Involving end-users (consumers and businesses) in both
the design of collection to maximise their participation in
the testing of potential approaches and their acceptance
to recycled and reused products.
In other words, business models will need to be connec-
ted to material science, underpinning policy with physics
and economics creating the field of Circular Economy En-
gineering. Ultimately energy and material efficiency should
be optimized as a function of product and recycling and
processing infrastructure design to fully reveal the op-
portunities and limits of the CE system. This is the key
challenge to understand the role of an adaptive infrastruc-
ture and process technology to innovate the true potential
of CE thinking. This adaptive infrastructure is called “Sys-
tem Integrated Metal and Materials Processing”.
System Integrated Metal
and Materials Processing (SIMP)
A substantial challenge for realizing CE is the production
of clean recyclates that can provide the physical material
properties that impart the required functional properties
in the consumer products these are applied. Complexity
of recyclates and the complex mix of material properties,
etc.: all affect the final recovery during physical and metal-
lurgical processing.
While metals can be refined to high purity metal alloys du-
ring metal refining, plastics have a limit to how much recy-
clate (containing a mix of more or less of all other metals
and materials in the EoL product) can be added to virgin
plastics to produce high quality plastics once again. Just
think of rheological, mechanical, thermal, visual properties
of recyclates that could affect their usage in high perfor-
mance electronic applications! (Figure 1 provides an over-
view of this interaction and the effect on quality on metals
and plastics respectively). Creating the highest quantity
and quality of recyclates for all materials at the same time
is the “simple” task that CE should achieve, but it gives no
indication of the complexity of the task at hand.
The linkage of all technologies and systems from product
design to metal recovery we call System Integrated Metal
and Materials Processing (SIMP) can help achieve these
challenging goals. This requires new rules for physical
recycling tied to product design and design for recycling
linked via process metallurgy to high grade metal based
materials. This involves reconsideration and where ne-
cessary redesigning the whole value chain to minimise
material losses and reducing the unnecessary mixing
of materials to reduce energy use and costs. Various
base metals, steel, plastics etc. are the carriers to be un-
derstood to quantify interaction and recovery possible of
all materials in the product as among others shown by the
metal wheel (VERHOEF et al., 2004). Digitalizing the CE
and specifically the metals processing through SIMP is a
key to recovering all materials (CRMs among others) from
EoL products.
In SIMP, real-time data and big-data analysis will be used
to calibrate the simulation models that will be used to
quantify and provide the data for the business models
and plans to innovate the CE system. Included must be
environmental assessment linked to simulation as shown
by Reuter et al. (2015). Crucial in innovating in the CE
system is the comprehension of the baseline on a funda-
mental physics basis to innovate the future. Essential to
SIMP and CE is a close communication and cooperation
RESPONSABILITÉ & ENVIRONNEMENT - AVRIL 2016 - N°82 63
64 RESPONSABILITÉ & ENVIRONNEMENT - AVRIL 2016 - N°82
between the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
and the recycling industries (both recyclers and metallur-
gical and plastic recycling industries) in the value chain.
Key enablers of System Integrated Materials Processing
are:
l Adaptive metallurgical infrastructure: To maximize
metals and CRMs from diverse changing EoL products
requires a high-tech metallurgical infrastructure. Only
where there are “holes” in the system should technology
innovation take place, system innovation should be pa-
ramount and policy should be an enabler.
l Metallurgical system optimization: Optimal recycling
routes supported by innovative developments in separa-
tion and real-time digitalization (i.e. on-line measurement
technologies) are key: they will minimise the inclusion of
contaminating materials affecting the properties of recy-
clates, hence enhancing the quality and uptake of se-
condary/recycled materials into new products.
l Quantifi cation of recycling rates - The recycling Index
(RI): Physics based rigorous process simulation tools to
quantify and predict recycling rates and limits thereof for
current and future products/systems will be calibrated
based on the industry trials and real-time data derived
from innovative sensor based measurements. This quan-
tifi es the limiting factors and options for improvements in
resource effi ciency/reduction and reduction of genera-
tion of residual waste (See Figure 2)
l Real-time big-data acquisition and analysis: Based on
detailed insights derived from real-time data acquisition
and quality control and simulations, the physical limits
of recycling can be translated into technology and in-
dustry driven Design for Recycling innovations of various
products. Redesigns and innovated recycling routes will
be addressed and quantitatively assessed on improved
recyclability (i.e. process data are linked via simulation to
computer aided design (CAD) supporting both product
and process redesign for improved resource effi ciency).
l Criticality of process infrastructure: Maintaining, in-
novating and simulating the metallurgical and recycling
processing infrastructure enables the maximum recove-
ry of all metals from the EoL products. This facilitates the
redesign of the value and supply chain supplying CAPEX
and OPEX data for the whole system, the basis for eva-
luating the business potential of CE.
l Cross-sectorial symbiosis: Incorporating quantifi able
targets for measuring sustainable recovery, recycling
and re-use of resources (including energy and mate-
rial qualities) in the overall material fl ow chain from re-
sources to consumer products in a data format which
can be applied for all stakeholders allows for quantifi ed
symbiosis between different sectors.
l Eco-innovative system analysis is realised by the im-
provement of recycling and uptake of recycled materials
into products. The relationships between stakeholders
along the material and product value chain (such as col-
lection systems, producers, recyclers and processers)
are linked with quality monitoring and environmental life
cycle assessment.
l Quantifi cation of regulatory barriers will become evident
through the systemic integrated approach in which criti-
cal and limiting issues (as well as physics based limits to
recycling and resource effi ciency) are pinpointed. As the
product centric approach addresses recovery of both
commodities (materials and metals), as well as CRMs
and other materials (such as plastics and other non-me-
tals), regulatory barriers are addressed as a trade-off
between these, taking cognisance of functional product
specifi cations.
l Improve environmental assessment (LCA) methodolo-
gy: The detailed analysis and simulation of all streams in
terms of compounds, recyclates, residue mineralogy etc.
provides the detail to improve LCA methodology as well
as environmental databases (REUTER et al., 2015).
l iRE - informing Resource Effi ciency requires both a ri-
gorous analysis of energy and material effi ciency. Ana-
lysis is based both on material and energy fl ow, entropy
(exergy) in addition to life cycle assessment tools.
l Redesigning of collection and sorting systems for CE:
Understanding on how to minimise contamination and
losses during recycling (e.g. critical issues in processing
and decreased recyclate quality due to undesired mate-
rial mixtures) that limit the recycling and arise as a conse-
quence of product mixtures provides direct input to re-
design the way EoL materials and products are collected
and treated. This will result in well-designed collection
Figure 1: Interaction between Plastics and Metals: Miscibility charts
(Van Schaik and Reuter, 2014) of different metal and polymer types.
UNE PRIORITÉ : L’ÉCONOMIE CIRCULAIRE
and sorting of the CE system with physical separation
and thermodynamic as well as metallurgical and plastic
processing options. This includes quality requirements
of recyclates and materials.
Resource effi ciency can be quantifi ed and optimised for
products by applying an innovative and unique combina-
tion of industrial model calibration, sensor based quality
measurement and a rigorous simulation basis, which are
key to realizing SIMP. This provides a quantitative, dyna-
mic and predictive basis for reducing material losses in the
chain as well as a reference for measuring improvements
against the status quo. This allows to rigorously and sys-
temically link product design with collection, recycling,
processing and the effectiveness thereof from a plastic
and metal quality point of view and required innovations
to move towards circularity.
Innovative redesign of recycling systems and processes
(e.g. metallurgical processing) will need to be combined
with Design for Resource Effi ciency for Circular Economy
by developing and integrating product design, collection,
processing, economics and environmental performance
on the basis of industry calibrated system models and ap-
plying these to innovate and quantify new concepts, pro-
cesses, technologies, designs and structure. We call this
discipline, with its comprehensive engineering toolbox,
Circular Economy Engineering.
Design for Recycling and
Resource Effi ciency
System Integrated Metal & Materials Processing (SIMP) will
result in an innovative eco-innovative systemic approach
producing improved resource effi ciency in the complexly
interlinked CE system. Digitalization will link and visualize
the complexity of interactions between consumers, Pro-
ducer Responsibility Organisations, collectors, recyclers
and processors, and producers and (re-)manufacturers.
SIMP will provide a real-time as well as predictive (in fu-
ture) quantifi cation of the physical and economic limits of
recycling and more specifi cally of critical technology ele-
ments.
Key to SIMP is to quantify design and ineffi ciency in se-
paration cross-contaminated recyclates. It will quantify
where metals and critical raw materials disappear into the
wrong material, recyclate or waste fl ows and how reco-
very of all materials could be optimised, i.e. ensuring that
for example plastic quality (i.e. purity) is maximized. SIMP
goes beyond state of the art as it:
l establishes a technological and economic baseline for
increased materials (plastics, metals and CRMs) recove-
ry to maximise the opportunities for resource effi ciency;
l acknowledges and includes the technological, economic
and physics detail of all recycling, metallurgical and pro-
cessing technology in the chain;
l provides the framework against which improvements in
redesign, collection and recycling will be established,
measured and quantifi ed and provides a rigorous and
measurable basis for innovation and business models
for a CE, now and in future;
l uses a product centric recycling system approach taking
into account the innovation potential of the main actors
and stakeholders in the material processing value chain;
RESPONSABILITÉ & ENVIRONNEMENT - AVRIL 2016 - N°82 65
Figure 2: SIMP permits the optimization of both material and energy effi ciency, thus providing the complete detail of informing Resource
Effi ciency (iRE), the sum of the Recycling Index (Reuter et al., 2015) and the accepted Energy Effi ciency calculation (EU, 2012).
Markus A. REUTER et Antoinette VAN SCHAIK
66 RESPONSABILITÉ & ENVIRONNEMENT - AVRIL 2016 - N°82
l improves recycling performance and recyclate quality via
the development of optimised and new technologies and
processes, sensor technologies, dynamic quality control
and data interaction in simulation tools as well as the
optimisation of the value chain via innovative business
models;
l pinpoints and quantifies techno-economic limits to recy-
cling and a CE;
l links CAD software, sensor-based measurement and
recycling simulation tools to predict recycling rates and
recyclates qualities to maximise plastic inclusion based
on material properties affected (e.g. by CRMs and other
materials) in the product;
l links different actors together into one harmonized bu-
siness model which will require significant innovation in
business science and approaches;
l creates data structures using common formats which
can be communicated easily between designers and re-
cyclers, thus compatible with common thermodynamic
and material properties data formats; and
l enhances interaction between stakeholders in the value
chain, in particular between manufacturers, producer
compliance schemes, collectors, recyclers, legislators,
consumers etc. to ensure sufficient information and in-
telligence sharing on product composition, material use,
and product use, reuse and recycling.
In summary, SIMP leads to innovative product designs
for recycling, processes, processing routes and sensor
based real-time measurements linked to and integrated
in predictive simulation tools. Figure 2 provides the pre-
sent status of developing a Recycling Index-RI (REUTER
et al., 2015) combined with the accepted energy label for
products (EU, 2012). Combining these two symbols will be
a key to informing the consumer and guiding CE develop-
ment. This will help also to harmonize and integrate ener-
gy efficiency into the wider resource efficiency discussion.
SIMP is thus a rigorous engineering toolbox that permits
the calculation of a RI as well as RE, informing business
models with the required depth to quantify disruptive and
innovative CE business models.
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UNE PRIORITÉ : L’ÉCONOMIE CIRCULAIRE
Summary: Circular Economy
Engineering
SIMP, the basis of Circular Engineering, provides the
tools that will quantify evidence-based knowledge for
enabling framework conditions (such as the regulatory
or policy framework) to facilitate a broader transition to
the CE.
Circular Economy Engineering (CEE) thus provides the
engineering and economic tools that will help innovate
the CE system.
The outcome of CEE is to join energy and material ef-
ficiency into one symbol (Figure 2) that informs the
consumer and thus also guides the development, inno-
vation and business models of the CE system.
We call this outcome of informing the consumer on a
rigorous basis : iRE, thus Informing Resource Efficiency
with engineering based tools providing a rigorous basis
for developing new CE business models.
