SCI-MAT Multidisciplinary research

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Sustainable circularity of inorganic materials is a multifaceted challenge that benefits from a multidisciplinary approach. The SCI-MAT platform aims for projects that demonstrate the circulation of inorganic materials on a larger scale than the laboratory and technological perspective. The projects include research on business models and the aspects of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Although there are technological challenges in metals and other inorganic materials circularity, technological solutions are often not the bottleneck, but the chief obstacles tend to relate to creating economically sustainable value chains and profitable business from those solutions. Developing such holistic solutions in an environmentally and socially sustainable way through multidisciplinary projects is in SCI-MAT's core interest.

At a general level the SCI-MAT research topics relate to developing a better understanding of material flows within the economy, the technologies and processes that enable it, the environmental and societal aspects of the related processes, and how business is created around relevant value chains. SCI-MAT brings together a diverse group of researchers and experts to form a multidisciplinary research platform in which researchers from various scientific fields within LUT work in close collaboration to develop solutions for a circular economy.

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Sami Virolainen

Research approaches and methods

SCI-MAT applies various research approaches and methods as part of its projects taking place across different technology readiness levels (TRL), combining and aligning the technological perspective closely with business and sustainability considerations. A major part of the technological research is related to chemical engineering and separation of impurities from material streams, following the principles of circular economy and sustainable development towards carbon neutrality.

Hydrometallurgical separation technologies are the preferred processing routes for recovering valuable metals and removing impurities. These methods tend to be efficient from a separation performance point of view; are environmentally friendly resulting in a lower CO2 footprint and reduced energy consumption; and are able to process lower grade and more complex raw materials than pyrometallurgy. Among the conventional hydrometallurgical separation technologies, valuable and hazardous metals can be recovered using liquid-liquid extraction, ion exchange, membrane technology, and pressure filtration or stabilization in the filter cake. Leaching is a crucial part of hydrometallurgical processes, and for example, electrochemical leaching has been suggested as an alternative method. Overall, most of the electrochemical methods show high energy-efficiency and low environmental impact. These technologies will be used if observed suitable and/or as a reference to the unconventional ones.

Mechanical separation techniques by physical means are often needed before chemical processing to enhance overall process efficiency. The primary aim is to remove unwanted contaminants and increase the purity of the target metals or materials. After separation steps, materials can be processed by a range of techniques such as molding, extrusion, additive manufacturing; or combinations of these, like extrusion-based additive manufacturing. As there are many possible technologies, efficiency comparisons based on techno-economical, societal, and environmental evaluations reveal the best possible combinations for the reutilization of materials.

Dynamic material flow analysis is necessary to identify possible material limitations to economic growth and the required technical and policy solutions to tackle the challenge. Dynamic material flow analysis requires the development of material production and demand projection over longer time periods, which necessitates various types of large data sets. At the same time, modeling material demand and analyzing supply balance should be performed under various potential future condition estimation ranges over recycling processes, technological advancements, and policy scenarios.

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology to study the environmental sustainability of new technologies, processes and materials. LCA evaluates the environmental impacts of the whole life-cycle from raw material extraction to the use and end-of-life (recycling, disposal) phases. Different environmental impact categories like global warming, acidification, eutrophication and toxicity potentials can be taken into account. LCA will be utilized for both directing the material and technology research to most effective directions from an environmental point of view and for measuring and confirming the environmental performance of the developed solutions.

Social LCA is a new method that adapts LCA to evaluate impacts on humans over the life-cycle of technologies or processes. It observes the influences of environmental issues, such as global warming and pollution, on humans, as well as the direct impacts of technologies and processes on human rights, health, well-being, and working conditions.

Socio-economic assessments are used to ensure that technologies can be implemented in economically and socially sustainable ways. The compatibility of technologies with the structures and institutions of the surrounding society, such as laws and regulations, values and industrial practices, are evaluated. These evaluations reveal obstacles for the adoption of new technologies, including low expectations on technological potential, or powerful actors supporting competing technologies.

Market analyses and value assessments of technologies and processes are used mainly at lower TRL levels to determine the market potential of development opportunities, with added insights from the sustainability LCA and socio-economic assessments. Together, the range of these assessments provide a multidimensional view of value generation that seeks to assign relative costs to environmental and social factors as an inherent part of the financial sustainability of the developed solutions. At lower TRLs the exact market opportunities may not yet be well defined, and in such cases methodologies such as sensitivity analyses of a broader range of variable spaces are explored to narrow down the set of realistic business opportunities over the long-term. Early indicators of future market potential in turn partially guided by sustainability assessments serve further insights toward guiding the direction of technology development.

Business model development and go-to-market strategies are carried out at higher TRL levels closer to the market interface jointly with commercial partners. Sustainable circularity of inorganic materials includes a broad range of opportunities for the creation of sustainable and circular business models (SBMs and CBMs) in collaboration with industrial and societal stakeholders and in line with broader circular economy principles. These activities are aimed at defining clear and resonant value propositions toward direct target segments, and toward ensuring a smooth implementation of developed technologies and execution of follow-up activities taking place in the market.