The project aims to develop a digital platform for the trade of left-over and recyclable plastic materials from post-industrial sources in Europe, and to calculate the environmental impact of trading through such a platform. The Swedish Energy Agency believes that the project has the potential to lead to an increased recycling rate of plastic materials, thereby contributing to greater resource efficiency.
The objective of this project is to develop innovative solutions to use recycled plastic in visible and advanced components for cars and trucks. Several different vechicle components will be manufactured using recycled plastics within the project. These components will then be tested for long term characteristics and recyclability. The Swedish Energy Agency assesses that the project has the potential to develop solutions that will contribute to the sustainable use of plastics through the development and testing of new recycled plastics.
The project aims to investigate food safety in a business model that is based on closed loop recycling of plastic plates. The project also intends to increase knowledge about the environmental benefits of the closed loop recycling system and to disseminate this knowledge to purchasers and buyers. The solution that the project intends to develop is of great novelty and has the potential to contribute to a more efficient and sustainable use of materials.
The aim of the project is to develop and test a system for collecting and recycling packaging plastic from the industry. The project will also develop guidelines for the design and sorting of packaging plastics. The Swedish Energy Agency assesses that the project has a systems perspective and will develop solutions that contribute to the sustainable use of plastic.
The purpose of the project is to study and identify conditions and different possible ways from a government perspective move from a waste perspective to a holistic and material perspective. This is based on a consensus in society, companies and among researchers that a holistic and material perspective can create greater opportunities to build functioning circular systems that contribute to sustainability (economically, environmentally and socially) than what a focus on waste and recycling can do within the circular economy, which has dominated the work so far.
The aim of the project is to investigate the design principles defined within the concept "Conditional Design" as utilizers of circular business models. This is done in three case studies: fashion, work clothing in rental systems and public healthcare. Linear processes are common in the fashion and textile industry of today, and the Energy Agency deems that the project therefore has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable material use in society.
The overall aim of the project is to develop a general model for structured work for procurement of circular products in collaboration with public and private stakeholders. Industry-specific issues are identified that need to be addressed separately for different product groups. The Swedish Energy Agency considers that the project's potential to contribute to more efficient and sustainable use of materials in society and business is significant.
The aim of the project is to carry out technical validation and further development of a method and product for drying water damages in floor structures due to inflowing water in wet rooms, e.g. tiled bathrooms. The Energy Agency deems that the method has the potential to reduce the amount of construction waste, thus the need for virgin materials.
Aluminium is a metal were recycling is of great gain compared to ore-based metal. Today the recycled aluminum is degraded in the aluminium production due to specification uncertainties, with the drawback of economical and energy losses. This research project has a cross disciplinary plan with partners from end-user, manufacturing companies, experts and universities. A huge potential energy saving is to be investigated through the increased content of recycled aluminium in wrought parts, but also through the use of new melt techniques for lower metal losses during casting. The project aims to develop a path for the production based on 100% recycled materials. A higher content of recycled aluminium in high quality products utilize large economical and environmental savings. Swedish aluminium industry can take a pole position as a producer of environmentally friendly product, with the long-term effect of large profits both economically as commercially.
The project aims to develop a decision-making tool for how re-manufacturing of electrical products can become a key part of the manufacturing business model. The decision tool ("Remometer") should be able to measure potential economic, ecological and social benefits and disadvantages of re-production. The project studies Husqvarna AB's initiation of re-manufacturing of robotic lawnmowers. The project's solution proposal has the potential for more efficient use of materials, as the manufacturer can already be given increased awareness of material selection at the design stage, and more.
The aim of the project is to contribute to a more sustainable and efficient gold extraction process from secondary sources such as electronics and mining waste. The process is a combination of the non-toxic thiosulfate method for gold leaching and CFA's proprietary metal separation technology in aqueous solutions. The technology will be adapted to gold-containing material in lab experiments and then developed to pilot scale. The Energy Agency deems that the project has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable resource use by increasing the re-circulation of gold from waste to market.
The RECINA project focus on the development of “circular economy based FRP bridges design”, where decommissioned FRP parts are reused as base production material. This idea has the potential to address both the issue of sustainability in dealing with Glass FRP (GFRP) waste handling, and also of decreasing investment cost for FRP bridges.Specifically, the aim is to re-use GFRP insulator otherwise aiming for landfill into bridge applications. These GFRP parts will be used as construction elements in the concepts design of FRP bridge decks. A demonstrator will be manufactured to validate the feasibility. At a larger scale, the project aims to create the conditions for economically profitable recycling of end-of-life GFRP composites.The involved disciplines in the project include marine (Marström Composite), automotive (Composite Design), infrastructure (Eventhotell) and energy (ABB). RISE SICOMP and Chalmers will participate with FRP and civil engineering research expertise.
The project aims to create and design custom processes to accommodate reuse and circulation of existing building components and materials in new constructions. The project is based on tests and practical data collection from a demolition project in collaboration with NCC and RISE. A database is created enabling new climate-smart building typologies.
The aim of the project is to utilize reused construction materials during the construction of a new exhibition space at Onsala space observatory. Existing platforms and networks for reuse of construction material will be utilized to demonstrate their applicability. The Swedish Energy Agency deems that the project has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable resource use.
The aim of the project is to further investigate the possibility of using fiber rejects from the recycling of waste paper as a component in substrates for cultivation of edible mushrooms and to develop suitable solutions for the upgrading of spent substrate, such as activated charcoal. The Energy Agency deems that the project has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable material use in society by utilizing waste paper that otherwise would not have been recycled. At the same time, the domestic production of foods with a reduced carbon footprint can be increased.
The aim of the project is to develop, construct and evaluate bicycle- and foot paths made of rubber granulate asphalt made of recycled car tires. The Energy Agency deems that the project has the potential to increase the use of recycled materials in production and thereby decrease the use of raw materials.
Reduction of the environmental impact of road construction can be achieved by replacing the virgin aggregates used in construction by waste materials. The current project deals with sustainable manufacturing of asphalt mixtures incorporating local by-product, namely Swedish waste foundry sand (SWFS) to substitute part of the virgin aggregate is asphalt. This will be achieved by selecting two suitable local types of Swedish waste foundry sand (SWFS) that goes well with the Swedish environmental and technical regulations. The SWFS will be incorporated at different percentages in asphalt mixtures and the resulted asphalt mixtures will be tested at lab scales. The developed asphalt mixtures will be evaluated based on durability, stability and sustainability performances on the light of the current Swedish Transport Administration requirements. To reach this goal, close cooperation between SWFS introducers, research institute and final by-product (asphalt) manufacturers is considered.
The project aims to develop and validate a digital service for increased reuse of used appliances, ReAppli on a larger pilot scale. The B2B platform will be developed to include a mobile operating system app that enables data analysis on the product life cycle, reuse, repair opportunities and more. The Swedish Energy Agency estimates that the project has the potential to contribute to a reduction in the amount of primary raw materials and reduced energy use by repairing and reusing white goods instead of being discarded and recycled.
The project aims to further develop and demonstrate a concept for drone-based return of ash to forest that can replace current methods with helicopter or tractor / forwarder. The method is expected to reduce the cost of the return, while reducing problems with ground impact from noise. The Swedish Energy Agency believes that ash recovery is important in preventing acidification and returning important minerals and nutrients to the forest land, while reducing the deposition of ash.
The aim of the project is to construct a geriatric care facility using reused and recycled materials and to inspire other actors in the field to employ new construction methods. The project analyses critical aspects for the use of reused and recycled building materials, assembling of the materials as well as documenting and dissipation of project methods. The Swedish Energy Agency deems that the project has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable use of materials.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and Circular Economy (CE) are two globally trendy concepts that are often described as having great potential for Sweden and the world's development. This project examines whether and if so how AI can be used to enable a more circular economy and what Sweden should invest in to accelerate the use of AI for this purpose.
The purpose of the project is to investigate prerequisites for developing a circular system for packaging plastics from the construction industry and to identify relevant sales areas for the recycled plastic. The Swedish Energy Agency finds that the project addresses an important part of plastic use and has the potential to facilitate a sustainable use of packaging plastics in the construction industry.
If Sweden's use of plastic is to be sustainable, plastic recycling and use of recycled plastic need to increase. A key in this is to reduce risks and uncertainties for companies that want to invest in the recycling system and for companies that want to use recycled plastics in their production. Thus, the purpose of the project is to investigate prerequisites for developing, implementing and disseminating tools that help reduce and manage risks and uncertainties of waste generators, plastic recyclers and plastic users. The tools are aimed at compiling information on the properties and applications of plastic in a clear way to allow plastic trade and to develop risk analysis tools for the use of recycled plastic. Application of these tools is expected to significantly contribute to increasing both the disposal market and the recycled plastic production.
The project aims to reduce the artificial turf's emissions of microplastics and the amount of plastic that goes to landfill when the turfs are used up. This is done by evaluating the current system for handling artificial turf and the project is studying how to set requirements for material suppliers from a system perspective to find new ways to dispose the material. The project has a novelty value because artificial turf is not recycled despite beeing identified as a major source of microplastics and the potential for plastic recycling is considered to be large since there are many artificial turf.
Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are growing in demand and considered to be the construction materials of the future, but limited ability to recycle FRP composites creates a barrier to their use as a sustainable material. There is no system solution today that allows the decoupling of the anticipated growth of the FRP composite market from the use of natural resources. This project is a first step in developing such a system solution and building sustainable value cycles of FRP composites.In frames of the project a system solution with greatest potential for improving sustainability and resource efficiency in FRP composites' lifecycle will be identified and described in terms of technological development, work environment, market development, environmental sustainability, IPR and policy-related conditions. This will provide an important complement to the ongoing technical development of recycling methods for FRP composites and enable their practical implementation.
The application concerns a demonstration project for efficient and sustainable material use. The project aims to develop and demonstrate cost and resource efficient logistics solutions for collecting, sorting and recycling plastics from pipes in Sweden's southern parts. Companies from the entire value chain for plastic pipes participate in the project. Industry organizations also participate to represent their members and communicating results in terms of how companies in the value chain can work and collaborate to achieve a circular system.The project shall generate awareness of incentives and practices that increase the collection rate of pipes, efficient logistics, improved sorting, more efficient recycling and more possible applications of recycled pipes. At the end of the project, cooperation between key players is expected to have been initiated.
The project aims to create a basis for a future Swedish plastic return refinery based on so-called feedstock recycling, where large amounts of plastic that today cannot be recycled could become a raw material for the chemical industry. The project will analyze the economy and sustainability performance of various processes for the production of plastic based on collected plastic. This techno-economic study can then help potential stakeholders to make decisions about road selection regarding technology tracks and input / output material. The Swedish Energy Agency judges that the project has good potential to contribute to the aim of the call of a sustainable plastic use by developing a basis for decision making, which in turn can lead to investments in a plastic refinery.
The purpose of this study has been to highlight different factors that waste recycling decisions can consider, as well as contributing to a constructive discussion of goals and overall principles for waste recycling. The background of the project is that it has been shown that the recycling of construction material has decreased with the application of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's handbook (2010:1). One view that emerged from an evaluation of the handbook is that the non-toxic environmental target (“Giftfri miljö”) gets too much weight and that resource management gets too little focus. As the climate crisis becomes more acute, and since recycling in many cases reduces the climate impact, this limitation can be questioned. However, it is currently unclear how a non-toxic environment and resource efficiency should be balanced.
The aim of the project is to give entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized companies operating in RE:Sources' innovation area the opportunity to conduct crucial tests that facilitate market introduction for products or services.
The market for recycled plastic must evolve if the economy should become more circular. Political instruments are one way to stimulate increased the use of recycled plastics. In this project we analyzes prerequisites and consequences of a certificate system for recycled plastic. With such a system, the state stipulates that a certain amount of recycled plastic should be used in the production of new products, which could generate additional revenue to the recycling companies.
The project aims at analyzing and debating how recycling should be modeled in life cycle assessment (LCA) and similar environmental assessments, as well as contributing to international harmonization processes such as the international LCA standard and the EU guidelines for Product Environmental Footprint. The method for modeling material recycling can have a decisive impact on the environmental assessment of products with a high content of recycled material or that is recycled after use. How recycling should be modeled in LCA has been discussed since the 90's but no consensus has yet been reached. Through this project, Swedish companies, researchers and authorities can influence and contribute to the international development in the field, aiming at improving incentives for recycling, environmental assessments, and policies. The project is conducted within the competence center Swedish Life Cycle Center and is supported by several partners in and beyond the center.
A metric for resource efficiency will be tested and implemented in the project. The metric is formed by relating the value creation by a product or service system (PSS) to the impact on the natural capital caused by said PSS in a life cycle perspective. The method will be tested i five case studies and results will be communicated broadly nationally as well as internationally. Default values for natural capital impact as expressed in the EPS enviro-accounting method for a selection of PSS will be implemented in a database and made available as a result of the project. As part of the method development a thorough analysis will be carried out of how resource efficiency is dealt with in existing standards. We will also take action to respond to and provide input to ongoing and upcoming standardisation work in ISO and CEN.
The project aims to develop a new technique for purifying water from toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and probably also cadmium. The technique is based on electrochemistry and will act as a reusable filter that does not produce any secondary waste. The technology's applications include cleaning of industrial waste, drinking water and wastewater.
The project will compile existing knowledge in the area to make available and increase knowledge about the hazards of various materials and waste streams and create a dialogue forum for Swedish actors on the issues surrounding hazardous substances in materials and future waste streams.
The challenge is to develop a fast method for chemical analysis of slag and similar rest products, applicable in-situ without sample preparation. The purpose is to provide the possibility for increased reuse of these products. Based on the successful outcome of the previous project an industrially adapted LIBS system will be built and laboratory tested, with new hardware for direct measurement in hot environments. Software for automatic evaluation of data will be developed and integrated with the LIBS system. The system will be evaluated in realistic industrial trials. A life cycle analysis with assistance from external expertise will be realized. A market survey and discussions with suitable instrument companies for commercialisation will be carried out. Contacts with international partners will be taken concerning joint implementation projects. The expected effects of implementing the new technology are increased reuse of rest products as well as more cost-effective production.
In energy recovery of residues that cannot be recycled, fluid bed combustion is effective. The technology provides high fuel flexibility by quartz sand stabilizing the combustion temperature. However, the sand turnover must be kept high to reduce risk for agglomeration, with a risk of downtime.In Sweden, approximately 25,000 tons of sand/year is used for waste combustion and 100,000 tons/year for bio-combustion. Improbed has shown that ilmenite can replace sand and reduce landfill volumes, as well as provide positive effects such as: higher efficiency, lower emissions and zero exposure to quartz dust. With E.ON, we want to develop a method of magnetically separating ilmenite from the ash flow and recycle it. The project intends to introduce the method on an industrial scale, analyze the process and optimize the function, with the aim of reducing bed material deposited by at least 80%.The project will be the start of an international launch of the patented concept.
The project aims to further develop a method for recovering precipitation chemicals (iron and aluminum) from sludge arising from the purification of drinking water. A patented method recovers the precipitation chemical and the remainder of the sludge becomes combustible coal. The project has the potential to contribute to the elimination of the waste flow of chemical sludge, while at the same time reducing the need for energy and resource demanding new chemical production.
The main purpose of the project is to develop and demonstrate a new approach in carbon neutral next generation wastewater concept. The overall aim of this project is to demonstrate a zero-waste strategy that turns two important municipal organic wastes into functional carbon sources, but also to develop new high-value products besides biofuel securing the optimal resource recovery of these organic wastes. This project will combine basic and applied approaches. The specific purpose to develop: (1) Assessment of usage of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as carbon source in denitrification process, (2) Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), which is a main component of bioplastics, from SCFA-rich effluent stream by using semi-synthetic microbial community, (3) evaluation of the environmental sustainability of the entire processes and comparison to methane production. By this way, this project will achieve a carbon neutral wastewater plants by closing loop.
The aim of the project is to build new knowledge and develop methods for more sustainable materials use of glass and carbon fiber reinforced polymers. This means both reuse through effective repair processes and reuse in new applications as well as gentle material recovery through pyrolysis.
Plaster board is a common building material. Therefore, a lot of waste is generated from this material during construction, demolition and refurbishment. It is possible to reuse recycled gypsum boards as secondary raw materials in new plaster boards and manufacturers wants to use greater amount of recycled raw material in their products. Also, plaster boards is often sorted out as a separate waste fraction. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of the gypsum waste is recycled into new plaster boards.In a recent study, innovative solutions have been proposed to increase the recovery of plasterboard. In the new project some will be tested, including coordinated collection systems, new technologies for more efficient sorting and transport, and the development and communication of sorting guidelines. The project includes several actors from the industry as it is important that both material manufacturers, construction companies, recycling companies and transport companies cooperate.
The project aims to develop and construct a new type of spreading equipment for ash recycling on mineral soil and peatland and test and validate. The equipment will have its own power source and hydraulic system to make it more flexibel and decrease the need for adjustments on the carrier, "stand alone". The equipment should also be able to combine the spreading of ash and nitrogen, which is not possible with the current equipment. This will result in an increased interest for ash recycling in Svealand and Norrland, where ash recycling today only is carried out to a limited extent. The design of the equipment will also be done so that it´s possible to adjust the size of the equipment for other carriers (forwarders) than are is used today, foremost smaller and lighter machines. The use of "stand alone" also enables the use of new, fuel-fficient forwarders, compared to current equipment that only will be able to be used on older forwardes due to the technical complexity of new machines.
In harbours and marinas sediments are highly contaminated with tin (Sn) and organotin compounds (OTs). The amounts of contaminated sediment are large, and currently there are no efficient method developed to remediate these contaminated masses. The aim of this project is to develop an innovative, sustainable and efficient treatment method to remediate tin-polluted sediments in laboratory scale. Research is done to leach OTs and metals from the sediments. From the leachates Sn is recovered, while the sediments residues are stabilized to be used for construction purposes in e.g. harbours. A life cycle assessment is performed to identify the developed methods total load on the environment. With the developed method, treated sediments do not need to be landfilled and valuable resources in the sediment as Sn is re-used in the society. The method has potential to be modified and used for the recovery of other metals from e.g. road dust/gravel, urban sediments and contaminated soil.
Renewcell has developed a new and unique process for chemical recycling of cellulosic textile fibers. The process returns the cellulose in used cotton and viscose fabric to a circular value chain and does thereby save large amounts of water and energy as compared to production from virgin raw materials. The overarching goal of this project is to create demonstrably competitive circular flows of material at an industrial scale, in which one value chain both deposits and collects material from re:newcell. The combined results of the proposed activities lay the foundation for the economic and sustainable viability for such circular flows of material. A successful project strengthens Renewcell and its Swedish suppliers as a leading edge cluster for chemical textile recycling.
The project aims at verifying a new type of collection system of used cooking oils from households and at developing a new system for optimising the collection of the oils.
In Februari 2017 the preproject Optimized ELV-disassembly 42452-1 was reported. A proposal for improved authority supervision of pyrotechnical equipment was recommended in this report. The decree 2007:186 prescribe the process for activating of pyrotechnical equipment in End of Live Vehicles in order to protect people for accidents and the environment against pollution. Nordic Making and Bilretur has performed a prestudy to transfer activating data from the tool BlastBox to a database. This demo project will together with car dismantlers and environmental authorities develop this database as well as a work-process that will be able to follow up the activating process to 100%. The ambition is also that the working environment in the ELV-chain will be safeguarded. The participating authorities are communities connected to the participating dismantlers and "Naturvårdsverket". The project will also develop the working environment, safety and air quality, connected to activation.
The project aims to reduce waste streams from discontinued furniture and fixtures through a digital platform that provides data on the furniture and inventory status. The goal is to develop an online platform for inventory so that users, interior designers and manufacturers have access to data about furniture and fixtures. In this way, the circular life cycle of the products can be strengthened and their service life extended.
The project aims at developing a system model for collecting, recycling and reuse of all float glass in Sweden. All glass coming from demolitions, refitting´s and waist from new productions will be part of a circular process. This means that less raw material will be needed as material consumption decreases, while energy costs and transportation are significantly reduced, and significantly less glass go to landfills. The project results in significantly less waste being produced and has a great potential to contribute to a circular economy.
NSR has conducted a pilot project and evaluated a minor trial with landfill mining (RE:Source project 42529-1). The project indicated possibilities to develop technical methods for resource recovery from landfilled waste in an environmentally sound way. To further evaluate the methods from an economic and commercial perspective it is essential with project in larger scale. In the proposed innovation project the methods will be tested and developed further in a scale that can be replicated commercially (planned excavation 15 000 tons of waste). The project will be evaluated in a lifecycle perspective through cooperation with the University of Linköping. In the evaluation experiences from both the pilot- and innovation projects and on-going research within the EU-project “NEW-MINE” will be of use. The role of landfill mining as a possible carbon sink will be high-lighted.
The project goal is to establish the first test- and demo facility for textile sorting and resource optimization in Sweden. The purpose of the development facility is to support the development of sorting and recycling/upcycling technologies, work environment and processes in order to open up new, or optimize, value chains using textile resources in an optimal circular manner. The project and facility will cover textile resources from both consumer and business/industry. The project strategy is to work with demo projects, i.e, work flows within the project with different but complementing focuses such as optimizing value chains, work environment in many perspectives, automation, system analysis, IT systems and redesign processes.
The project aims at converting asbestos from environmental hazardous waste into valuable minerals. In the project Spinell, Perovskit and Grossit are extracted from the asbestos and this provides a strong economic incentive to recycle and process asbestos waste. The asbestos waste is processed using laser which is an efficient method of low energy consumption. The project extracts attractive raw materials from a previously hazardous waste and contributes to the development of a circular economy.
From an environmental perspective, many complex plastic wastes need to be lifted at least one step higher in the recycling hierarchy, i.e. chemical recycling instead of energy recovery. The aim of this project is therefore to develop methods that enable circular material flows in society for the constituents of these complex wastes. High-temperature gasification of plastic waste enables production of synthesis gas that can be used in the manufacture of new plastic raw materials. The project will study gasification of at least three problematic plastic wastes at different operating conditions. The objective is that the yield of useful synthesis gas products (CO and H2) should exceed 75% on an energy basis. In addition, the project will map how halogens and metals are present in the process, thus suggesting appropriate recycling strategies for these. The collaboration project between RISE ETC, Umeå University, Stena Metal and Smurfit Kappa, is proposed to last for two years (2018-2020).
The project entails product development and tests of a method and product for drying and restoring water damage in floor constructions with cavity drainage constructions, e.g. Platonmatta. The method enables a radical shift from today's way of working, i.e. to tear up the floor structure to enable drying of the underlying foundation. By enabling restoration without demolition, this method provides both economic and environmental savings, and benefits in terms of drying time, total lead time and customer satisfaction.
The purpose of the project is to strengthen municipal procurement skills and working methods in order to make procurement claims more efficient. The application of research results in 4-5 municipalities will be carried out by e.g. identifying how early cooperation between the municipality and the companies can implement innovation procurement in the design phase and when it can be possible to procure services instead of products.The municipalities, in their role as procurers in a bottom-up perspective could affect the companies so that the products that are procured to a greater extent can be repaired and recycled. By looking at alternative materials and ways of manufacturing as well as focusing on services instead of products, the market can be driven towards more sustainable and energy efficient products.
The purpose of the project is to develop a concept and organizational model for an innovation lab within municipal waste organizations. The purpose of such a lab is to develop new services for waste prevention while supporting organizational learning about new working methods, e.g. about citizens’ involvement and co-production.
The aim is to develop a remediation technique with biochar to stabilize contaminated soil and increase soil quality to reduce waste and environmental risks. Due to absence of in-situ remediation techniques, expensive “dig-and-dump” treatments are used, leading to removal and landfilling of large volumes of soil. Biochar can sorb contaminants, reduce the risks and at the same time increase soil fertility. We will examine different biochars and mixtures with soil in lab- and field tests to determine environmental risks and biological effects, using new indicators such as microbial genomics. We will investigate the conditions for biochar production from organic waste, the ability to apply the biochar technique in urban environments and quantify the environmental impact of different system alternatives in a life-cycle perspective. The project will lead to a more sustainable soil management, resource efficient waste management, great socioeconomic savings and several environmental benefits.
The project aims to develop and demonstrate a concept for 100% recycling of Zn-containing dust/sludge. The steelmaking industry is constantly improving its recycling rate; though, some materials are still being landfilled due to their chemical contents, mainly zinc (Zn) and its process related restrictions. The project scope is, by pilot plant trials, to verify and optimise the OXYFINES technology for the upgrading of Zn-rich sludge into a recyclable Zn-free product, as well as a Zn-rich dust suitable as a raw material in Zn production. By system analysis the potential benefits, i.e. on material value, energy- and material efficiency, production economy and environment (e.g. CO2) will be identified, with the aim to present the optimal recycling solution.
The project aims at increasing knowledge of important parameters that affect the recovery rate for food waste. The project will use Lean methodology / value-flow analysis to map the system for biological recycling of food waste and identify improvement measures for a more efficient recycling of food waste. The project will address the entire system, from collection to product, thus reducing the risk of suboptimization. Losses in the system shall be identified, quantified and valued, and based on this information, measures shall be identified that improve collection systems, pre-treatment systems and communication between them.
The aim of the project is to establish three summer courses for PhD students. The courses are also offered for people in a similar position in business and public organizations. The Gas Academy is an established course in the gas field that sees opportunities to broaden the area and stakeholder groups participating in collaboration with RE: Source. The second course is based on challenging problem solving and is based on the fact that the area's actors present selected challenges as groups of doctoral students discuss and present interesting solutions that meet these challenges. The third course focuses on methodology for life cycle analysis and is aimed at PhD students and other professionals who want to understand how to use LCA as decision support for actions aimed at a more circular economy. The Project will provide opportunities for graduate work within selected areas, as well as maintaining and creating a dynamic education network that enriches RE: Sources development in education.
The project is an innovation project that aims to investigate the possibilities of recycling plastic fractions, which today is not recycled, by means of gasification. The plastic business has for a long time strived for a thermal methof to recyle plastics. Gasification of plastics has potential to be more competetive than gasification of biomass, since the price of raw material might be lower.
The project aims to create a neutral test site for future recycling technology. The test site is a strategic meeting place and a physical arena for small and medium-sized companies to collaborate with Stena, each other anduniversities in order to test innovations. The project consists partly of creating a competition-neutral cooperation model for the test arena, as well as creating a physical test site for future recycling technology.
Sharing is an area that is relatively new and where a lot happening right now. The project will be based on previous official reports and studies in the field and supplement these with new knowledge of potential and impact on the three dimensions of sustainability. The project aims at investigating three consumer products / services where there is a high potential for up scaling of sharing, replicability, increased resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact, and for these provide knowledge of how the potential can be achieved. In order to be able to evaluate the effects of sharing more systematically, an overview of possible methodology for sustainability assessment is presented, including recoil effects. The methodology is tested on the three areas of premises, transport and tools. Finally, a list of general success factors is presented that enable up scaling of sharing and positive effects of sharing in society as well as more specific factors for the three products.
The project aims at developing new knowledge of large-scale reuse of office interior design in the public sector, in order to develop a business model within reuse and re-design in the public sector in the longer term. The project deals with legal aspects, behavioral issues and chemical issues for reuse and re-design, and aims to investigate the prerequisites for a business model in reuse and re-design within the public sector.
The project aims at increasing the knowledge about where efforts are needed to change value chains to become more circular. This is done by developing a user-friendly tool for identifying barriers to and driving forces to change a value chain towards circularity. The project will also provide a training on the tool that will be tested on ongoing and completed projects within RE:Source.
The main objective of the project is to increase knowledge of successful and less successful policy actions in resource and waste management within the EU. This is done by reviewing and analyzing specific EU policies in the last 20-25 years. The pace of change of regulations and policies in resource and waste management in the EU has been fast for many years, while the recovery has not been prioritized. Therefore, there is currently a lack of knowledge in the area.
The project is an innovation project that aims at developing a textile recycling process of blends containing elastane and nylon. The process combines a novel biological-based enzyme engineering strategy in concert with thermo-mechanical processes towards selective separation of these blends. This approach will further be implemented in case studies on selected products of high importance for the industrial partners.
The project aims at developing a strategic basis for how best to utilize collected food waste. Examples of processes studied in the project are the extraction of chemicals, protein production and biofuel production through combustion of gasification, fermentation, larvae, fungi and microorganisms. The analysis is expected to provide an overall picture of the development opportunities in the field. The project is relevant to the program RE:Source, as it aims at developing a strategic knowledge base within a part of the innovation area where there is currently no strategic focus.
The project will create better conditions for RE:Source to direct calls, projects and other activities to areas where policy development is a priority in order to achieve RE:Source's goals. The work is carried out, among other things, through interviews with stakeholders and a review of strategic documents such as the EU's circular economy strategy.
The aim of the project is to develop a sustainable handling of sludge from a waste water treatment plant by means of hydrothermal carbonization and to construct a pilot plant suitable for use in small and medium sized waste treatmment plants. The HTC process works with increased temperature and pressure which hygienises the sludge. HTC-carbon and process water are formed as residues to the process. The project is relevant for the aim of the research program and has potential to solve a waste problem. There is also potential to recycle phosforus from the HTC carbon, phosphorus which today is a scarce resource.
In urban development and infrastructure projects, large volumes of contaminated soil must be handled. Only aminor fraction of this soil is re-used after treatment and most of the soil is disposed of. At the same time largevolumes of virgin soil and rock have to be quarried. An increased and environmentally safe (including human health)re-use of contaminated soil would be an important contribution to an improved resource management thatcharacterizes a circular economy. It would lead to reduced transports, reduced volumes of materials for disposal,and a more sustainable handling of contaminated soil. The aim of the project is to investigate the benefits to society from an increased re-use of contaminated soils and to develop an innovative method for classification ofsoil masses for an environmentally safe re-use. Application of such a method provides improved competitivenessto entrepreneurs through reduced costs for materials, transports and disposal.
The project aims to test and validate a prototype for a product-level circularity indicator developed in the previous phase of the project. The indicator is a standardized way of comparing the circularity of manufactured products. The project results can accelerate the transition to a circular economy in manufacturing industries, both in Sweden and internationally.
This project will adress the specific needs and challenges of the furniture industry in regard to use of secondary raw materials. the aim is to demonstrate the possibility to use secondary raw materials in production of furniture details and also to create acceptance for these new raw materials. The project will also investigate the potential of circular material flows within the sector in order to meet the challenges of the future. Consumer awareness in regard to sustainability and recycling is rapidly increasing, making these issues apriority for producers. The project aims to evaluate the use of textile scrap or waste material as a secondary raw material resource within the material categories textile, plastic, Composite and nonwoven.
The purpose of the project is to investigate whether flotation techniques, a technique commonly used to purify water or enriched ore, can be used to separate the plastics waste plasters when not gravimetric separation works. The project will determine possible separation efficiency in laboratory scale and demonstrate flotation separation with various plastic samples. Flotation is a promising method of separation of plastic waste and more efforts are required to achieve industrial application. A developed flotation technology leads to increased competitiveness for Swedish players.
The project aims to investigate whether Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) can be a competetive process for degradation of mixed waste streams. Hydrothermal carbonization is a method where a waste or other material is heated in a water solution under pressure to some 200°C and 20 bars. The project deals with a relevant issue for the call and addresses the goal about efficient detoxification of waste in order to enable increased recycling of materials.
The project aims to develop virtual methods to simulate industrial recycling processes such as crushing, separation, milling, etc. The high particle flow rates represent a special challenge as there are currently no commercially available virtual tools developed for. Such tools have the potential to increase the rate of development of equipment for recycling material or waste energy.
The project aims to evaluate the possibility of lowering the cost and increasing the recycling rate of materials in the manufacture of CIGS solar cells. CIGS sputter targets make up more than half of the cost of manufacturing for the solar cells. A new manufacturing method for sputter targets, "spark plasma sintering" (SPS), is expected to contribute to lower manufacturing costs and thus to CIGS solar cells, while simplifying the recycling of spent sputtering targets.
The project aims to optimize the production of a microbial biocide that can inhibit the binding and growth of spore forming microbes that can grow in, for example, wet, recycled fiber. The spore forming microbes can cause flow arrests, bad odors, corrosion of materials, explosive gas formation, as well as reduced productivity and product quality. The microbial biocidal product is expected to prevent the growth of the harmful microbes in a cost-effective manner, with only a small impact on the environment and the working environment.
The project aims at developing and verifying a method for recycling silver from manufacturing residues of CIGS solar cells and scraped CIGS solar cells. Midsummer AB develops and manufactures equipment for the production of CIGS (Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenium) solar cells on the surface of which is an electrical wire grid of silver. The recovery of silver provides a more sustainable resource and waste management for the solar cells in a lifecycle perspective.
The project is an innovation project aimed at developing knowledge about how local recycling and reuse centers can work as meeting places and learning centers for reuse, hazardous waste recycling, sharing, repair and creative reuse. During the project, four local recycling centers and reuse centers in four districts are developed, tested and evaluated with socioeconomic differences and different conditions in Gothenburg. The businesses will grow through cooperation with financiers, officials and residents.The project will develop valuable knowledge of local recycling and reuse centers, which is important for similar investments to be done elsewhere in Sweden.
The aim of this project is to improve the environmental sustainability of the cement, quicklime and steel industries. The work will gain new knowledge about using slags and other by-products from the steel process as raw material in cement manufacturing, extending the reserves of natural raw material, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and the use of landfills. The use of slag as a raw material for cement on a permanent basis can soon be a reality. The intention is to replace a portion of the limestone with slag. Particular focus will be on the chemistry of magnesium since the concentration is high in slags and it is limited in cement clinker. In order to reach set aims, full scale tests at the steel plants, focusing on the possibility to reduce the MgO content, as well as full scale test at the cement plant focusing on increased use of slags will be conducted. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to create new data and study the properties of new raw materials.
The Project aims to develop and validate a method for characterizing the self heating tendency of different waste fractions. Fires in waste piles in fuel storages at waste incineration plants is a large problem and it is important to increase the knowledge about key factors that causes self heating, in order the create a foundation for future recommendations.
The goal of the project is to develop and evaluate an innovative circular subscription system for clothing to reduce the use of resources and the environmental impact compared with buying and owning garnment. The project has potential to increase the resource efficiency in clothing industry and influence customer behavior patterns in order to achieve a more sustainable consumption.
The project is an innovation project which aims to investigate if bi-products from foundries kan be used as bed material in fluidized beds in waste incineration plants. Since the bi-products contain iron it is possible that they can act as oxygen carriers. Bed material with oxygen carrier characteristics has in previous studies proven to have a positive effect on the combustion in terms of reduced emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The project has potential to decrease deposition of material and the use of virgin raw material.
The objective of the project is to develop an economic and value-based perspective on the Swedish materials system. For the main material categories, the project will map today's value leakage from virgin raw materials to recycled materials, and identify and quantify potential for improvement. A value-based perspective has the potential to 1) make visible the large losses taking place in today's materials system and make material use into an economic and industrial issue as much as an environmental issue, 2) enable policymakers and business leaders to make economically informed prioritisation decisions about material flows and recycling, and 3) stimulate innovation in secondary materials.
The project investigates the possibilities of depolymerise industrial polyester waste and use the depolymerised mixture as raw material for synthesis of plasticizers. Methods for depolymerise and syntesise of plasticizers are investigated. A successful Project result can in the long term contribute to an increased use of secondary raw materials, and development of safe plasticizers.
The project aims at testing and evaluating a concept in pilot scale for recycling of nitrogen from sludge from sewage treatment plants. Today there is no commercially available technology that extracts nitrogen from wet residues in a clean, solid and highly concentrated form. The project will evaluate the performance of the pilot plant, including nitrogen separation, product quality, and chemical consumption.
The project is a preliminary project aiming at investigating the potential for reuse of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite insulators. The idea is to use the material in infrastructure and construction applications instead of burning or discarding in landfill. The project will also investigate how glass fibre offcuts/left-overs from the manufacture of insulators can be used for polymer composites for construction applications. The project may contribute to the introduction of an industrial recycling chain for glass fiber reinforced polymer composite materials.
The project is a preliminary project aiming at investigate a concept for cascading biotechnological processes, in order to achieve sustainable production of biofuels, biopolymers and biogas from forest industry products. The project will develop knowledge and propose a possible scenario where biotechnological processes are linked in synergy to a forest industry. If the concept becomes reality, it can contribute to phase out fossil fuels, plastics from fossil resources and fossil hydrogen.
This pre-study aims to develop a method which supports recycling of resources when WEEE material is processed. Fines from WEEE are generated at the crushing stage of the process. The material is landfilled and a method for pre-treatment and recycling is absent. The project will evaluate the method of agglomeration in order to upgrade the fines into larger agglomerate. This will ease handling, transport, recycling and usage of secondary sources for metal and energy recovery. There is also a potential in recovery of critical materials appointed by EU from the fines.
The project will result in that municipality plastic can be used as a secondary raw material in the manufacture of plastic composites instead of going to incineration. That brings the municipality plastic higher up in the waste stairs which is a priority for the project owner VafabMiljö. Municipality plastics is an often used name of the plastic that are the municipalities responsibility to collect.There is a shortage of capacity in the country when it comes to taking advantage of the plastic for reuse in the production why more players and developed technologies is necessary.VafabMiljö, and project partners TMR and PÅW, will examine how municipal plastic can be managed to be recycled 100% with a further developed technology for manufacturing plastic composite.Plans to realize the project results will be drawn up. An exchange of knowledge with other with experience of the municipality plastic will be arranged. Sustainability will be considered throughout the project.
Recycling of electronic waste is a challenging task on the path to sustainability. Aside the technical challenges on this path, recycling actors also require feasible frameworks. Digitalization tool for increased resource usage in WEE (WEEE Digit) aims to address the technical challenges from a wider perspective assuring not only robust processes but also automated technologies similar to a manufacturing system. The project utilizes the recycling of circuit boards and neodymium magnets in hard disk drives where a proof of concept process will be upgraded to a robust level with an intelligent, digitalized and automated cell consisting of robots and flexible fixturing technologies. The project will deliver a virtual and proof of concept cell with developed pertinent technologies. Moreover, a feasibility method integrated with artificial intelligence and digitalized information will be presented.
The project is a demonstration project aimed at further developing and evaluating DualCat™, an energy efficient gas purification system applicable to sludge gases, digestion processes, biogas upgrading plants and pumping stations. The system is based on two-step regenerative catalytic oxidation and can also handle sulfurized gaseous substances such as reduced sulfur compounds, aromatics and methane. The project can contribute to increased environmental benefits in biogas production, as there are no cost-effective and energy efficient purification methods for smaller plants.
This project aims at investigating the possibility to use reactive extrusion to upgrade post consumer packaging and industrial waste of PET. Upgraded material will be evaluated as a potential raw material for several applications; foaming, fiber manufacturing, foil extrusion and injection molding. A success full project could potentially increase todays’ very limited, recycling of PET-materials. The reason for PET not being recycled is largely dependent on the poor quality of the recycled materials; instead it is sent to incineration. A simplified sustainability study will performed in order to ensure the process environmental impact. The results will give valuable information regarding the potential of reactive extrusion for these kinds of material and form the basis of a possible continuation.
The Project aims at investigating the possibilities for storage and treatment of larvae from the black Soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) for use as animal feed. The larvae can grow on organic waste and thus be used as a tool for industry recovery and waste management. Growing larvae for feed production is tested in pilot scale but there is no knowledge of storage and conversion to feed. A sustainability analysis of different storage and processing techniques will be carried out in this project in order to propose sustainable and useful solutions.
Sustainable Development Skane applies for funding for a pre project that aims to investigate the prerequisites to develop a tool that is to be used in procurement to reduce waste when new houses are built. During the pre project we will investigate which parameters that are important for a dynamic and efficient tool that is also possible to follow up. The aim is that the tool will be able to adapt to what is seen as important to focus on in the procurement process, for example climate impact or toxic substances in waste. A group of experts with participants from different sectors will be working in the project. This group has an understanding of what will work for the construction sector, the public sector that are involved in the procurement process and not at least how to create a tool that will consider environmental impact from waste and how to reduce that impact by requirements posed in the procurement process.
Plasterboard is a common building material and is found in many different parts of a building. At demolition sites and in renovation projects, a large amount of demolition waste of this material therefore arises. During the production of new buildings a large amount of construction consisting of clean, unused plasterboard arises. A smaller amount of the construction and demolition waste is recycled while the main proportion ends up in landfill. The goal of the project is that this waste to landfill will be reduced.The project aims to develop innovative solutions that have the potential to increase the recycling of plasterboard. The study covers the whole construction and demolition chain and includes quality procedures, collection logistics and handling of excess, clean plasterboard. In the study, the reasons for plasterboard not being recycled to a greater extent will be identified and the potential of the proposed solutions is explored through interviews and case studies.
This project investigates the feasibility of developing an automatic sorting process for larger plastic pieces before the material is milled. This should be done by building on the unique strengths of different types of sensors and vision technologies, and explore the possibility of combining these into a complete identification system with greater precision and speed compared to what the technologies can achieve individually. Estimates of current recycling rates for plastics from WEEE in Sweden varies, but even the more positive ones estimate the recycling rate to only 25%, corresponding to 7 000 tonnes. If the remaining amount of plastics from WEEE were to be recycled rather than incinerated, CO2eq emissions could potentially be reduced by nearly 57 000 tonnes. Today's pretreatment processes is based on that the majority of the material separation takes place after the components and materials are ground into smaller pieces.
Brass production in Sweden is scrap based which creates problems producing some special alloys. This project focuses on removing lead and silicon from brass to facilitate recycling. Almost all brass today contain lead, this is a problem when producing lead free brass. If the market for lead free brass continues to grow there won’t be enough suitable scrap and the production will have to shift to virgin material. Swerea Mefos together with Nordic brass Gusum is performing trials in a vacuum induction furnace to separate zinc and lead from brass through distillation, enabling production of lead free brass from leaded brass. Furthermore, silicon containing scrap is also a problem since silicon is often unwanted. There exists no working method for oxidizing and separating silicon from brass as there is no liquid slag. In this project, a slag chemistry will be developed to entrap silicon oxide from the melt. This approach will be evaluated on a lab scale and later, on an industrial scale.
Each year 180 000 cars are processed by the Swedish car recycling industry. When they reach their end of life, they must be processed according to Swedish legislation. Nowadays this is unprofitable since the extractible materials doesn’t cover the processing costs.This pre project will develop a sustainable business model and a conceptual technological platform that enables increased local refinement of materials from end of life vehicles. The business model will show the holistic effects of this in a typical Swedish car recycling business. The technological platform will specify what kinds of equipment, and demands on these, it is that’ll be needed to realize the business model.
The project aims to develop a process for producing textiles of recycled textiles on a paper machine. The material is used for the production of shopping bags. The project can provide increased competitiveness for Swedish actors, as it allows the use of secondary raw materials instead of virgin raw materials.
The long-term objective of the project is to increase the use of slags by implementing on-line analysis tools to better control the production of slags, and thereby opening new markets for their use, increasing the competitiveness of steel manufacturer companies, and further minimising their environmental impacts. In order to ensure the quality of slag, it is essential to maintain good control of the slag chemical composition. A major goal of the project is to develop a chemical analysis method for fast slag analysis without sample preparation, as a tool for effective control of the composition. The method will be developed in the laboratory for slag analysis, tested in field trials at least one industrial site, and finally assessed for use on an industrial scale. If the project results fulfil the objectives, a more qualified and increased use of slag as rest products will result, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the companies using the technique.
The project aims at demonstrating the possibility of using residual products from pulp mills in Sweden (bark ash and sludge) in the production of cement-based materials. The project leads to increased resource utilization, as resources currently being landfilled can be reused as building materials.
The project aims to improve methods for regenerations of bed sand in fluidized bed boilers to reduce the usage of virgin bed sand. Today a large share of the bed sand is exhausted after use, due to agglomeration between sand and ash, and has to be deposited. The project is relevant for the reserach program (RE:Source) and has potential to decrease the use of virgin raw material.
Recovery of the light fraction from automobile shredding (SLF) is complicated by chlorine (Cl), which contributes to the formation of highly toxic dioxins from incineration. Copper (Cu) and other metals have been shown catalytically active in the dioxin formation. Recent advances in waste management enable the production of a cleaner fuel fraction from SLF, where much of the metals (e.g. Cu) have been removed. Gasification has in some studies been identified as a suitable recovery option, because dioxin formation seems to be reduced compared to incineration. This pre-study therefore aims to experimentally characterize the oxygen-blown high-temperature gasification of SLF in pilot scale. Measuring and comparing the amount of dioxins from both combustion and gasification will be carried out to clarify the differences between the two conversion technologies. The project will also identify appropriate applications and end users of synthesis gas from SLF gasification.
The project is a preliminary project aiming at examining a separate handling of plastic boxes in the recycling of refrigeration furniture. The project will study the possibilities for large-scale collection, sorting and separation, as well as recycling methods and use of the recycled plastic in different product categories. Separate handling of boxes could provide a recycled plastic free of controlled substances, and with better mechanical properties compared with today's handling.
To reach a resource efficient society, material loops have to be developed. The phosphorus is particularly urgent in order to ensure a sustainable food production. More than 90% of the phosphorus (P) fertilizers used for food production in the world comes from P-mines. According to expertize these mines will be depleted in 50 to 100 years. The P from the food production is transported in the food chain, through humans, to the sewage and collected in the sludge. The sludge is thus rich on P and some is used as fertilizer back on farmland. However, the sludge is not only rich on P; it contains medicines, resistant bacteria, micro plastics, dioxins and heavy metals also ending up on the farmland. If the sludge instead is combusted, a P-rich ash is produced, while organic pollutants are destroyed. By the proposed innovative combustion process the remaining heavy metals will be volatilized and a pure P-rich ash fertilizer will remain. The heavy metals i.e. Cd is removed from the eco-system.
In order for new technical solutions and services in RE:Source’s area of focus to spread, the companies behind the ideas must succeed in scaling up their operations
both in Sweden and on the international market. Financial resources are important to all companies aspiring to grow, evolve or find new markets – but no company can survive without a feasible business idea or customers willing to pay for an innovative solution. The goal of the project was to offer a complement to financial support to entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs.
Re: invent & Re: husband are two hackathon, in Stockholm and Malmö, which will motivate cooperation between actors. The aim is to develop innovative solutions in design, business development, marketing and production that will increase the reuse of interior design products.
The project aims at creating a commercially sustainable model for the production of particleboard from recycled wood waste and with natural and fossil-free binders. Fifteen combinations of alternative binders and different types of wood waste are tested for the production of various chipboard. The project can contribute to the recycling of wood waste, which today most often is incinerated.
The project aims to map the barriers that waste producers see to waste prevention and identify strategies to overcome them. The methodology consists of qualitative interviews and focus group discussions. Organisations producing textile, food, electronic and construction waste participate in the interviews and focus group meetings. The project is implemented as a RE:Source strategic project since it has the potential to benefit the resource and waste management area as a whole.
The municipality of Sotenäs together with partners from businesses, academy and other actors, has been actively working towards implementing and developing industrial symbiosis (IS) since 2013.The goal has been to create green local jobs while contributing to building better environment and sustainable future both locally and globally. A couple of symbiosis have been built and implemented, some tested through pilot-facilities and some are waiting for the final confirmations before building the necessary infrastructure for realizing the symbiotic systems.The municipality has previously led and taken part of several IS projects, but nothing so far has evaluated the existing projects’ environmental and socioeconomic benefits. The latter is the objective of the project in hand. The finding of “Industrial Symbiosis in Sotenäs” will be spread with other municipalities in order to ease and speed up their local work with facilitating industrial symbiosis.
Industrial symbiosis are important examples of circular economy and sustainable development. Even though the phenomenon industrial symbiosis is well documented there is limited information about enabling factors about industry partner interaction. This knowledge is critical for transforming to an increasing circular industry where a ventures waste becomes another’s resource. In this project we study two residual materials, fiber sludge and bio ash, which through innovation and industrial cooperation creates new business development and reduces climate impact.
The aim of the project is to evaluate the impact of implementing environmentally differentiated fees for different kind of product groups, with a specific focus on EEE. If this is shown to be a successful way to increase the recyclability of products, and in turn the recycling of products, the project will contribute to strengthen the development of more recyclable or even reusable products.
The master thesis and PhD theses related to waste and resource management published by Swedish universities between 2010 and 2016 were reviewed for
gathering current knowledge base. The selection criteria were fulfilled by 618 master theses and 153 PhD theses. The results of this report can serve as a baseline for further work related to the training coordination activity of RE:Source.
The main objective of the project is to create a mechanism for fostering innovations that enable circular flows of plastic material. A wide variety of polymer products cannot be recycled mechanically due to their complex structure or impurity level. The platform to be established within this project aims to enable circular material flows of polymer-based products by breaking them down into building blocks, so-called feedstock recycling. To realize this, a national cooperation involving all players required to create a circular flow will be initiated. These players represent research institutions, technology providers, material end users, and authorities. Powered by this gathered competence (i) the available methods and equipment will be mapped and systemized, (ii) a methodology to simplify the selection of recycling methods will be drafted, (iii) the feedstock recycling market will be evaluated, and (iv) a business model for the continuation of the platform will be designed.
The project is an innovation contest aiming to open the strategic innovation programme RE:Source to early, immature ideas with potential to contribute to restructuring the innovation area Resource- and Waste management. The innovation contest is addressed to innovative ideas in the sub areas Collection systems, Packaging and Impact on behavior. The project has the potential to support the innovation area as a whole and is strategically important to attract new entities to the area.
Industrial symbiosis is a way to increase recycling and resource efficiency in energy and material flows within industry and society. The purpose of the project is to connect bounding projects to find general points of contact, so that results and lessons from more specific results can be compiled at a general level. The project will open into a roadmap for industrial symbiosis in Sweden.
The market for recycled materials is now limited and needs to be stimulated. INÅMAT evaluates the effects of a possible new distinction in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in which raw materials can be classified as primary fossil raw materials (oil), recycled fossil raw materials (plastic waste, carbon black) or bio-based raw materials (wood chips). The idea is that recycled fossil raw materials should be rewarded in proportion to primary fossil materials (bio-based raw materials will continue to be exempted).Based on a current state analysis, the effects of reliefs of the EU ETS in three Swedish case studies will be analyzed and the following questions will be answered:• How will the use of primary fossil and bio-based raw materials be affected?• How will the total fossil carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption be affected?• Will the change favor energy recovery over material recycling?• What standard of proof should be required?Other policy instrument
The project builds on the results of the 2015 EM pre-study (Energy Effectiveness of small-scale combustion of dangerous medical waste, project no. 40397-1), and a 2015 consultancy report on energy balance calculations and 2016 life-cycle analysis (LCA). Reduction of mass was demonstrated during tests carried out at KTH in November-December 2015The project shall be transformed into TRL3 and TRL5 focused 2-year project to verify and certify a functional prototype. It shall establish and implement a sales strategy for countries in the EU Neighbourhood. An overarching patent application for three priority areas (China, EU and USA) shall be fully implemented. New knowledge obtained should result in at least 5 design and/or function patents
The aim of the project is to develop a robot based dismantlement method of car glass for deployment within the car dismantlement business. The technique is to be developed from old robots previously used in the car manufactoring industry. Automated dismantlement of car glass has the potential to increase the amount of recycled car glass as well as lowering the costs for car dismantlement.
The project shall create prerequisites for the establishment of a national pilot facility and open arena for the development of sorting technologies and business models for better usage of textile waste. The pilot facility shall develop, verify and establish methods, technologies, and business models for better usage of collected textile waste, and by doing so opening up for new environmentally and business wise better usage of textile waste. Todays dominating usage of textile waste, in limited amounts, is by charity organisations in second hand stores. The rest is either incinerated or stored. Very small amounts of textile waste are recycled back to material today. The project will establish an open and fair business model opening up for all actors in Sweden that produces or manages textile waste to use the future sorting facility and open arena. The project shall also evaluate the possibility to involve other Nordic actors.
To shift textile recycling from current low value products to a circular economy reproducing high quality textile fibers, the key issue of separating fiber blends must be better addressed. The fiber separation is important to increase textile waste streams, as many textile products on the market today are fiber blends. This project will gather partners from the whole textile chain, from fabric manufacturers to recycling organizations. Together we will identify and develop technical and sustainable strategies to the benefit of fiber separation. The ambition is for the project to fall into a subsequent innovation project, which besides technical solutions, will contribute to the global revolution needed for the textile industry to become more sustainable.
The goal is to strengthen RE: Source as an attractive arena in the resource and waste management area by participating in the Waste in New Focus conference and consolidating it as a natural platform for academia, industry and public actors. The reason for the participation is that the communication of results from research and innovation projects should be towards a broader target group than other researchers.
The project will carry out a seminar series to address the problems of packaging waste, identify the need for research, education and innovation and create opportunities for problem owners, entrepreneurs, researchers and others to address issues in this area together. The seminar series will also increase the visibility of RE:Source.
The circular economy (CE) has been put forward as a means to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. CE involves a transition to circular material flows that can significantly improve resource productivity. The shift requires engagement from manufacturing industries, which must increasingly reuse, remanufacture and recycle materials as a means to eliminate waste. There is no standard means to compare the circularity of manufactured products. In this project we aim to validate an indicator that currently exists as a prototype and focuses exclusively on product- level circularity. We adopt a collaborative action-research with around 20 private and public sector organisations that can assist in the refinement of a robust, legitimate and standardisable circularity indicator that can act as a fundamental lynchpin for the transition to a CE in manufacturing industries, both in Sweden and beyond.
The aim with this project is to create a resource efficient and environmentally driven product, reusing the surplus sand from foundries as aggregate in concrete, and thereby reduce the use of virgin raw materials and lower the impact on the environment. In the pilot project (ÅGREN), the general performance of different spent foundry sands in concrete was investigated, all parameters except the sand type being the same. In ÅGREN II, we take this a step forward by working in foundry-concrete factory constellations. All technical tests, Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costs are performed on these actual constellations, giving the participating companies direct applicable values from the results, at the same time as we create several substantial good examples. The tests show that the concrete gets satisfying workability, strength development and durability, in order to produce quality concrete and products. The LCA and LCC give the companies substatual values on how much the can save.
In Sweden, about 30% of the plastic waste is recycled to new materials, while the rest is mainly used in incineration plants. A limiting factor for a higher recycling rate is the availability of analyzing and sorting techniques to handle the high and non-uniform flow of material. The techniques used in production today are mainly “flow-sink” and NIR-spectroscopy to sort plastic types. However, complementing techniques are needed, especially for black plastics where existing methods are insufficient. Swerea KIMAB has previously developed a laser based technique (LIBS) for online chemical analysis of metal scrap. In this pre-study this technique will be customized and evaluated for online analysis of plastic waste. The aim is to identify different plastics types and plastics contaminated with Br from flame retardants, highly relevant for recycling plants in order to generate purer fractions of recycled plastics.
The project is a pre study with the purpose of developing a method for removing of antimony in fly ash. The project has success it has the potential to create large values, given that antimony is such a scarce element.
In order to accomplish a circular economy, phosphorus from urban areas must be recycled to agriculture. There are a few fluxes from the society that should be recycled to food production, where two of them are sewage sludge and solid organic waste. These two fluxes include 8000 tons of P per year in Sweden which should be compared with 9400 tons which is the annual use of P in mineral fertilizers. In this pre-study four alternatives will be compared regarding sewage sludge:0) The non-action alternative: a. Use of sewage sludge as a soil improver (no P recycling) b. Use of sewage sludge on agriculture1) Incineration of sludge with P recycling from ashes2) Pyrolysis of sludge with P recyclingThe four alternatives will be compared using sustainability analysis including sustainability criteria. A stakeholder group with representatives from wastewater companies, waste companies, environmental authorities and agriculture will be involved for valuation of criteria.
The purpose of the project is to investigate the economic and environmental potential of utilizing aluminium in fly ash as a resource, either for material recyling or for hydrogen gas production. Recycling of aluminium from fly ash has potential to increase the use of resources and decrease the energy consumption. Extraction of aluminium and other valuble metals from fly ash will also reduce the amount fly ash that will be deposited on landfills.
The Project is a pre study that aims to identfy potential waste fractions for separate combustion and to investigate the possibility of extracting specific metals from the ash of the separatly combusted waste fraction. The Project has potential to create a more effective use of resource and to reduce the cost of waste treatment.
This project will verify the potential of a new innovation based concept for increased utilization of sludge produced at the Norrmejerier biogas plant in Umeå. The sludge is dried and pasteurized in a high velocity cyclone drier and is further refined through compaction into a storable and easy handled material. New environmentally friendly flocculant chemicals will be used to meet the requirements for certification and use on farmland.
Fast pyrolysis is a promising thermochemical technology for converting organic material, for example biomass and plastic, into energy, chemicals and/or fuels. Full-scale facilities are currently under construction but struggle with economic challenges related to the low raw oil price. This project is based on earlier laboratory studies that have shown that pyrolysis of a mixture of plastic and biomass is more advantageous compared to the pyrolysis of the separate materials in terms of quality of products, efficiency of the pyrolysis process and the eligibility to produce bio-based products in the plastic recycling. In the proposed project co-pyrolysis of relevant plastic waste material and low value biomass will be evaluated by analytical methods and industrial relevant pilot scale pyrolysis experiments. The proposed technology approach can be one way of improving the resource and waste management.
Studies of pyrolysis process for WEEE treatment are today focusing on producing the value energy with less environmental pollutions emissions , and further recovery precious metals and rare elements, which is hard be recovered due to their ignorable character without oxidation . At KTH, a concept of multistage steam pyrolysis process has been established to achieve this goal. With aiming at gather more know-how of this idea, in this proposal, 1 kg/h steam screw pyrolysis Reactor to recovery energy and metal from WEEE will be designed, constructed, commissioned and tested. Research of dehalogenation of plastics with aiming at a halogen free oil by the designed screw reactor will be focused.
This projekt is focusing on using recycled PUR (Polyurethane) in insulating products for Ecovative building system and other general purposes. There are today a substantial volume of recycled PUR with few applications.The construction industry can be a large taker of such product. The swedish so called "miljonprogrammet" has a huge ned of energy improvement.PUR is today more expensive than the more commnly used EPS but we hope that the recycled product will have a lower price. Our goal is to use 70-80% recycled material in the new product and to improve insulation by 30-40% compared to EPS.
The Project is a prestudy that aims to test excavation and material recovery from a landfill. Around 1 000 m3 of waste will be excavated from the biocellreactors and treated (drying, sorting) and analysed. Earlier studies has been mainly theoretical. The prestudy creates an empirical basis to evaluate the technically/economical possibilities for an effective material recovery from thedeposited waste.
Bioendev sees opportunities implementing a pilot project together with Cementa AB with the purpose of evaluating Bioendev's torrefaction technology as a possible pre-treatment process of construction waste. Cementa is looking into using construction waste as a raw material in their combustion plants for cement production at Slite, Gotland. Today they are using coal in their process and torrefied construction waste creates an opportunity to make more effective use of the material as a renewable fuel. The overall goal of the pilot project is to verify Bioendev’s torrefaction technology as a pre-treatment process of construction waste and the creating of a homogeneous energy-condensed and easily feed biofuel. A successful result can directly be translated into the construction of an industrial torrefaction facility for Cementa AB and contribute to new technology that allows increased use of construction waste in the manufacturing industry in general.
The project is an innovative project with the purpose to develop and demonstrate new innovative cost and resource efficient solutions for collection, sorting and recycling of plastics from pipes and profiles. Well-functioning collection and sorting are rare today and the recovery rate is low. Recycling methods will be developed in lab and then be tested in production. The goal is that the materials primarily should be recycled into the same product category. "Closed-loop" recycling is usually most resource efficient. The project can lead to increased availability of sec.plastics.
The aim of the project is to contribute to climate-and environmental benefits through to design and develop a prototype of smart recycling hubs. The system consists of several parts and is equipped with pedagogic, on-line units that monitors sorting materials from businesses, schools and homes, a communication platform for dialogue on recycling and energy conservation, and optimized logistics system for collection vehicles with multiple compartments.
Waste electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste stream in Europe. Increased reuse could reduce waste, resource use and environmental impacts. Through literature studies, site visits, surveys and interviews with stakeholders, the project will create improved conditions for increased collection rates and increased reuse of these products and their components. Measures to improve the current system and provide for new solutions that complement the current system will be identified, tested and evaluated. The project involves various actors, such as recycling centers, re-use business, shops, producers and consumers, through interviews, questionnaires, as well as generation, testing and evaluation of measures. The solutions that will be presented and evaluated will be formulated with starting point in a number of different actors' needs, including users. Preconditions for further development and implementation will be described.
The project will clarify conditions for establishing the first industrial plant for treatment of fly ash from waste incineration based on the metallurgical process ARCFUME. ARCFUME enables to destroy dioxins, separate and stabilize Mercury. The Project addresses a central problem for the industry and the results from this pre sudy might contribute to a solution to those problems.
The aim of the project is to increase the recycling of plastics from hospital waste by developing appropriate pre-treatment methods that make this waste, which is sometimes considered to be infectious or contaminated by drugs, safe and recyclable. This will be done by developing a suitable pre-treatment method of plastic waste without increasing the workload of staff and does not increase risks. The project will help hospitals to reduce their while contributing to a better environment and increased recycling.
The aim of the pre-project is to identify suggestions for improvement for increased recycling of plastic bulky waste (e.g. buckets and garden furniture that is collected on municipalities’ own initiative). This is done through analysing the chain of the collection and recycling of plastic bulky waste in municipalities in order to identify and develop areas for improvement based on trade-offs between high recycling, environmental benefit and cost effectiveness.
The project is a pilot project that aims to develop the potential to simplify the sludge management of sewage treatment plants by hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) that will be studied in lab scale. That can reduce the costs for centrifugation and flocculants for sewage treatment plants. The study will also examine the potential to recover phosphorus by leaching HTC-carbon acid as well as treat the economic potential and the environmental benefits of the solution in relation to existing solutions on a small sewage treatment plant.
The project aims to develop an integrated industrial chain using fiber rejects (current wastes from pulp and paper industry) for a combined mushroom and fuel production in Sweden. Fiber rejects shall be used as initial substrates for mushroom production and spent mushroom substrates (SMS, food industrial waste) recycled as biofuel. The mushrooms will be primarily considered as food or feed alternative feedstock for protein or other biobased products.
The project aims to better utilize the premium properties of recycled tires by effectively using them as products or construction materials in appropriate applikations. This depends on the requirements on the functionality that is available for the construction, the soil and hydrological conditions as well as conditions with respect to the surrounding environment and buildings. Success requires a broad approach focusing on needs-based resources, the most optimal development opportunities, verifying the durability of structures and environmental impact, quality, adaptation of regulations / guidelines, confidence creating actions and business opportunities for the actors involved. The project includes, among other things a state of the art, which is the basis for the Work Shop performed with representatives of all parts in the value chain, and ends with a conclusive report and an open seminar.
The purpose of the project is to cnduct a pre study, which should give a foundation för a system analysis which should compare garbage pre separation and mechanical separation at aparment block areas. The Project proposal has potential to increase the high-graded recycling of material resources from household waste and therefore contribute to a more sustainable use of Resources in the society.
Horse Manure is a type of waste that holds a significant potential of 600 GWh which could be made use of to produce renewable biogas. To produce biogas from manure could contribute to replace fossil fuels such as natural gas in the Swedish mix of energy, contribute to lower emissions than fossil fuel, reduce leakage of nutrients and better recycling thinking. However, horse owners are a fragmented group and differs on aspects such as size, geographical location and type of business which implies a costly and complicated value chain. This project investigates and identifies preconditions for developing new business models and identifies how the value chain can be improved through technical, organizational or market improvements.
Landfill gas can be used for CHP production if the concentration of the corrosive gas hydrogen sulfide is kept low. Therefore landfill gas needs to be pre-treated where hydrogen sulfide is removed in order to avoid expensive maintenance costs. In this project we want to test and validate a new method for purifying landfill gas from hydrogen sulfide. The method uses a bed of humid ash where landfill gas is led through the bed. The project may increase the utilisation of landfill gas and at the same time the ash is simultaneously stabilized.
The aim of the project is to develop methods for new test procedures to improve the link between specific exposure and efficacy of HP14 evaluation, ecotoxicological risk which is the fourteenth of the EUs 15 designed properties in the package for circular economy class where waste can be converted into products and at the same time put restrictions on use. The project will describe the waste hazard in its entirety.
The purpose of the project is to identify incentives for key actors that would benefit from a functioning recycling system for boats. The project is relevant for Sweden and has a high innovation potential since there is no functioning system for boat recycling in place.
The project aims to examine the technical and economic factors for large-scale seasonal storage of heat from the waste incineration CHP-plant. To dimension and perform calculations and presentation of a borehole based high temperature ground heat store (HT BTES) as a buffer year in a district heating system. A successful pilot project will form the basis for implementing a major project that aims to develop the solution in which this part is analyzed and evaluated.
The Project is a pre study that aims to survey the process of deconstructing och recycle a car. The result from the Project can be used as a foundation for control methods for converned authorities. The Project addresses a current cusotmer need och should lead to separate innovation projects that have the potential to create an enhanced material recycling.
Wood waste is normally used for production of biofuel and incinerated. From environmental point of view it is favorable to recover the material instead of just recover the energy. The study aims at investigating the possibilities to use wood waste as a raw material for production of environmentally friendly particle boards and thus increase the overall recovery of material from waste. Within the project wood chips, produced at NSR, will be characterized and used in boards, together with environmentally friendly binders (TF-resin, PMDI) will be used. The aim is to produce particle boards from wood waste with low emissions of formaldehyde. The physical and mechanical properties of the boards as well as the release of formaldehyde will be determined. The investigations will be conducted at NSR, Helsingborg and at the University of Göttingen, Germany and led by professor Mahmood Hameed, who has a long record of research concerning production of particle boards (see attached CV)
Styroform or expanded polystyrene, EPS, consists of 2% polystyrene and 98% air. Styrofoam is very difficult to recycle because of its low density (light weight) and takes up a lot of space in transport, which causes an unnecessarily large environmental impact. We have developed a technology to recycle EPS to a commodity which gives a volume reduction of 50: 1. This "reduced" EPS can work as a raw material for example the plastics industry, and manufacturers of composite products such as wood and plastic. Styrofoam, which today is taken to inceneration plants can instead be efficiently recycled, and at the same time will transport more efficient and greener. The project aims to understand the flows, logistics, economy and quantities of EPS in Sweden and Europe, but also to develop and validate the technology.
A method is suggested that remove paint from recycled painted plastic parts. Remaining paint in plastic is a serious contamination and the goal is to achieve sufficient quality for the recycled plastic material to be remolded into the same products and then repainted, i.e. achieving closed-loop recycling of painted plastic parts.The project focuses on paint removal and its effect on mechanical properties and the possibility of repainting. The outcome will be of great importance for achieving higher value recycling streams from ELV and WEEE.
The project aims to elaborate analysis methods for characterisation of precious metals in waste and recycled materials. Today lots of precious metals are lost during recycling treatment of e-scrap in the waste management industry, a loss that today is difficult to estimate. The project has the following goals: 1) to map precious metals in e-scrap, 2) to compile experiences and test the possibilities to implement characterization methods of precious metals from other industrial branches, 3) to create opportunity for a future innovation project. An improved knowledge of how precious metals occur in our waste can potentially reduce the losses of valuable materials and possibly change how we today treat our waste.
The current project investigates the quantities of foreign materials that can be tolerated in the smelt separation process developed in another on-going project. The planned project relays on identification, characterization and excavation of glass landfills as well as sorting and cleaning methods. The purpose of this prestudy is to complement and combine the on-going projects that aims for a sustainable remediation of glass landfills and the recycling of glass as well as metals for introduction into the circular economy. The project will contribute with knowledge that will fascilitate the remediation of glass landfills and increase the possibility to reach the environmental goal of a poison free Environment.
The aim of the project is to evaluate the potential of a circular and sustainable model for cooperation to reduce food waste within the public sector, which is called "public symbiosis". The project will study municipal services such as child daycare, schools, geriatric care, refugee accommodation and social employment services. The results will be presented as key factors that can be used to illustrate the potential to reduce food waste within the public sector by utilizing a more sustainable management of the food distribution.
The project aims to create conditions for affected authorities to be able to contribute to and promote development of the RE: Source innovation area. There are many opportunities to improve and increase their role to be engaged in the development of the innovation area. The project aims to highlight, prioritize and identify solutions overcome barriers and increase engagement. The overall objective of the project is to create a platform that will simplify for innovations in the area implemented to increase recycling and resource efficiency is achieved by toxic and resource-efficient recycling.The project will be implemented through working meetings and workshops with a larger number of central authorities.