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PLENARY LECTURE: Valorization of minerals and recyclates

Conference Paper · May 2010

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Markus A Reuter
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 3rd International Conference on Engineering for Waste and Biomass Valorisation May 17-19, 2010 – Beijing, China 

VALORIZATION OF MINERALS AND RECYCLATES

M.A. REUTER
Ausmelt Ltd., 12 Kitchen Road, Melbourne, Australia.
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Corresponding author: markus.reuter@ausmelt.com.au, +61 3 9794 6200, +61 3 9794 0411.

Extended abstract

Metals are infinitely recyclable. Their excellent material properties give them functionality that makes them
applicable in numerous products. For instance, the Superlightcar project (www.superlightcar.com) managed by
Volkswagen AG, shows the path of using multi-material combinations in lighweighting of future vehicles (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The companies involved in SuperLightCar project.

The author’s involvement in this project was to link our state-of-the-art recycling models to CAD and LCA tools,
hence realizing Design for Recycling and “Sustainability” (Figure 2). This first-principles design basis provides a
platform on which the metallurgical industry can build and realize its so strong vision for ”Sustainability”.

Figure 2: CAD linked to recycling models and LCA.

 3rd International Conference on Engineering for Waste and Biomass Valorisation May 17-19, 2010 – Beijing, China 

Therefore, starting with the multi-material design of products such as the superlight car and other consumer goods,
this paper will explore and highlight the recyclability of metals and materials, especially highlighting the importance
of bringing this forward to the product design stage. Some general pointers will be given to harmonize material
selections and their joining methods in products with the thermodynamics and the transfer processes of metallurgical
(smelting) and energy recovery technology as well as physical separation recycling technology (Figure 3).

Metallurgy
Separation
Shredding

recyclates
into
Dismantling

~16 m
~5 m

Figure 3: The recycling chain – from design to smelting technology.

This link to design will ensure that the metallurgical, recycling and waste processing industries can optimize
recycling as far as possible to achieve high recycling targets i.e. the path it could/should evolve its technology on and
how a geographical region should ensure that a network of technology is available/developed/updated or adapted to
cope with the diverse range of recyclates. The discussion will therefore also touch on the type of fundamental
modeling that has been developed to link design to recycling, metallurgical and energy recovery technology [1-3].
The golden thread in this talk will be to discuss the state-of-the-art from an industrial point of view the processing of
minerals and recyclates to produce economically valuable products (Figure 4).

Figure 4: State-of-the-art smelting technology for e.g. WEEE

 3rd International Conference on Engineering for Waste and Biomass Valorisation May 17-19, 2010 – Beijing, China 

Finally, this paper will discuss the importance of metals and materials in a sustainable society and highlight the
important role of process technology to realize this vision on “Sustainability”. Figure 5 shows if ultimately the
interconnectedness of the shown aspects is honored only then would we start to approach a more “sustainable” way
of life.

Figure 5: The link between the Technology, Resource and Life Cycles to minimize waste and maximize valorization
of minerals and recyclates in a more “closed-loop” society [1].

References
[1] M.A. Reuter, K. Heiskanen, U. Boin, A. van Schaik, E. Verhoef and Y. Yang, The Metrics of Material and
Metal Ecology, Harmonizing the resource, technology and environmental cycles Elsevier BV, Amsterdam,
706p. (ISBN: 13 978-0-444-51137-9), 2005.

[2] M.A. Reuter and A. van Schaik, Material and Metal Ecology, Encyclopedia of Ecology (Editors-in-Chief:
Sven Erik Jorgensen and Brian D. Fath), 1st Edition, Elsevier B.V., Oxford, pp. 2247-2260. (ISBN:
9780080454054), 2008.

[3] M.A. Reuter and A. van Schaik, Nonrenewable Resources: Stocks, Flows, and Prospects, Implementing
Progress, in Graedel, T. and E. van der Voet (Eds.), Measuring Sustainability. Strüngmann Forum Report,
Vol. 4. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press (due out 2009).

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