Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “circular economy”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

The Circular Economy Life Cycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Multistate Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in United States

A circular economy (CE) aims to decouple human activities from economic activities and resource use, and its overall goal is reducing or avoiding negative environmental externalities. The newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework simulates changes in supply chain environmental impacts as it transitions toward circularity. This study expands CELAVI by incorporating detailed spatial resolution and real-world road routes connecting all facilities within the system. The case study on end-of-life decision making of wind turbine blades in the states of Iowa and Missouri explores how supply chain circularity and environmental impacts are affected by pathway costs and level of wind turbine installations. It demonstrates how high circularity costs might be beneficial for circularity transitions given revenue generated from circular pathways. Finally, impacts have important contributions to the supply chain design and thus show the importance of including detailed spatial resolution in CELAVI and CE studies in general.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework - CELAVI

A circular economy (CE) aims to decouple human activities from economic growth and resource use, and its overall goal is reducing or avoiding negative environmental externalities. The newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework simulates changes in supply chain environmental impacts as it transitions toward circularity. This study expands CELAVI by incorporating detailed spatial resolution and real-world road routes connecting all facilities within the system. The case study on end-of-life decision making of wind turbine blades in the states of Iowa and Missouri explores how supply chain circularity and environmental impacts are affected by pathway costs and level of wind turbine installations. It demonstrates how high circularity costs might be beneficial for circularity transitions given revenue generated from circular pathways. Finally, impacts have important contributions to the supply chain design and thus show the importance of including detailed spatial resolution in CELAVI and CE studies in general.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2022

Circular economy as a climate strategy: current knowledge and calls-to-action

Existing pledges and NDC targets, even if fully achieved, are still not sufficient to meet the Paris climate goals. Considerable additional strategies and actions are urgently needed to close the emission gap. Built environment, transport, food system, and clean energy are the most relevant sectors for circular economy strategies to deliver climate change mitigation benefits. Circular economy strategies can complement decarbonization measures to further reduce GHG emissions from material production, help lower emissions from operational energy use in the built environment and transport, and cut emissions from waste management. The largest potential GHG emissions reductions through circularity come from consumption side measures and product design measures. Circular economy strategies can support a sustainable clean energy transition, by helping relieve the mineral supply pressure, increasing supply chain resilience, preventing new waste challenges, accelerating the adoption of clean energy technologies, as well as maximizing their climate benefits. Furthermore, circular economy strategies can help enhance adaptation to climate change. Nine calls-to-action are put forward, for government, business, and civil society leaders to accelerate circular economy strategies with the highest potential for climate benefits, and for the research community to close critical knowledge gaps.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancing environmental assessment of the circular economy: Challenges and opportunities

The lifecycle assessment (LCA) framework is widely applied to comprehensively evaluate and improve the environmental performance of a circular economy (CE). The advances and application of LCA has been primarily restricted to evaluate the environmental performance of the CE at a micro-level, wherein the CE is implemented for a single product system. However, the CE can be operationalized at two broader levels: the meso–level (for eco-industrial parks) and the macro-level (for a city, state, or nation). Six methodological challenges emerge when applying LCA to a meso- or macro-level CE and remain unaddressed in the existing literature. This includes: selecting a relevant system boundary and functional unit, addressing data paucity and uncertainty, accounting for stakeholder behavior, assessing the trade-offs from renewable energy (RE) use, accounting for manufacturing and technology evolution, and quantifying displacement and rebound. This article proposes potential solutions and research priorities to address the above challenges.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Circular Economy Contributions to Decarbonizing the US Steel Sector

The potential benefits of the circular economy (CE) for decarbonization have recently attracted much attention in the academic and grey literature. The department of energy (DOE) industrial decarbonization roadmap highlight that in addition to the four pillars (energy efficiency, electrification, low-carbon fuels, feedstocks, and energy sources, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)) identified in the roadmap, "scenarios [...] will need to be developed that incorporate materials efficiency and circular economy strategies". Moreover, the roadmap identifies hard-to-abate CO2 emissions across the five industrial subsectors included in the analysis (iron & steel, chemical, food & beverage, refining, and cement manufacturing). Thus, additional options to decarbonize the industrial sector, like the CE, could prove beneficial to address those hard-to-abate emissions. Moreover, they may be less costly, require less R&D or incentives, and be more readily adopted than other strategies such as energy efficiency and CCUS. While the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap includes some CE strategies (e.g., the increasing market share of steel from electric arc furnaces - which incorporate steel scrap), a deeper dive into what role the CE could play in the United States (US) industrial decarbonization is needed. In this work, we present several industrial decarbonization scenarios that incorporate materials efficiency and circular economy strategies for the iron & steel subsector. The scenarios identify barriers (including technical limits and constraints), opportunities, and R&D needs.Moreover, we estimate the contribution of those scenarios to reducing the industrial sector's CO2 emissions and their potential synergies with the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap's four pillars. Iron & steel manufacturing was responsible for 90 million tons of industrial CO2 emissions in 2020 - 7% of the industrial sector's total process- related emissions. Besides recycling - which presents technical limitations due to trace contaminants - CE strategies on the demand side could lower iron & steel manufacturing emissions (e.g., the development of lighter products or business models that encourage a more intensive use). This study reviews barriers, opportunities, and trade-offs for 5 material efficiency strategies. Many topics explored in the review call for further research.

barriers↗
DOE OSTI2020

Today’s Energy Challenges, Tomorrow’s Solutions: Circular Economy: Designing to Reduce, Reuse, and Upcycle

Transitioning to a Circular Economy the days of creating, using, and disposing of materials are rapidly coming to a close. This linear economy is not only inefficient and unsustainable, but the scarcity of resources we ultimately will face will make it impossible to maintain. That's why NREL is dedicating resources to research that will underpin a circular economy - designing materials with reducing, reusing, and upcycling in mind for energy-relevant and energy-intensive materials, processes, and technologies. This effort will help mitigate supply issues, promote upcycling, reduce waste, and add value to end-of-life products.

circular economy↗
DOE OSTI2021

Systems Analysis Approach to Polyethylene Terephthalate and Olefin Plastics Supply Chains in the Circular Economy: A Review of Data Sets and Models

The environmental and economic impacts of implementing a circular economy in plastic waste supply chains are not well understood. The proposed systems analysis framework assesses environmental, social, and economic impacts of plastic waste supply chains in a circular economy. The first objective of this article is to identify datasets, models and knowledge gaps associated with waste plastic supply chain processes, mainly in the U.S. Our literature review indicated that the best datasets exist for virgin plastic resin production, mechanical recycling, landfilling, and incineration, with materials recovery facility being intermediate, and with chemical recycling the lowest. The second objective of this article is to develop an illustrative application of the framework by conducting a preliminary systems analysis of PET bottles with closed-loop recycling. Here, the preliminary systems analysis of PET bottles utilized a linear programming optimization method. Our optimization model indicated that both chemical and mechanical recycling processes are needed to achieve a true circular economy of PET bottles with the least greenhouse gas emissions, specifically reductions of 24% when compared with the linear economy. Good quality and standardized life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis studies are needed to better understand the environmental, economic, and social impacts of advanced sorting and chemical recycling technologies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic System Materials: Drivers, Barriers, Enablers, and U.S. Policy Considerations

As PV capacity increases, owners are also decommissioning older system assets. Estimates based on a 30-year lifetime assumption found that cumulative U.S. end-of-life (EoL) PV modules could total one million metric tons (Mt) by 2030 and up to 10 million Mt by 2050 (Weckend, Wade, and Heath 2016). Beyond maintenance replacements, early retirements that are due to efficiency upgrades and extreme weather, as well as PV deployment beyond earlier expectations, would increase these projections. PV system owners must evaluate equipment management options for used modules and system components retired during maintenance activities, refurbishment, repowering and system decommissioning. PV manufacturers must also evaluate material management options from customer returns, defects, and scrap. Management options for early retired and EoL PV system material include reuse, repair for reuse, recycling-based resource recovery, storage, and disposal. Disposal of PV system material increases the burden on landfill capacity, while reuse, repair for reuse, and recycling-based resource recovery (reuse/repair/recovery) options salvage valuable materials and provide secondary market opportunities and ancillary benefits (Weckend, Wade, and Heath 2016; EPA 2019c; SWEEP 2019). PV system owners may also decide store used modules and components as spares, or in the interim before a reuse or EoL management decision is made. Despite potential secondary market opportunities and the potential benefits associated with the repair/reuse/recovery of PV system material, anecdotal evidence suggests that in the United States decommissioned PV modules are stored, landfilled or otherwise disposed of (Salim et al. 2019; CPUC 2019b; DTSC 2019b; NREL 2019a). Some modules are being disposed of in municipal nonhazardous landfills and federally regulated hazardous treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, and others are being stored in warehouses until economically viable repair/reuse/recycling becomes available (CPUC 2019b; DTSC 2019b; NREL 2019a; Libby and Shaw 2018). As awareness of current practices grows, and the demand for critical PV module material increases, U.S. industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers are starting to (1) consider solutions to drive and enable environmentally sustainable materials management decisions and behaviors and (2) identify barriers to a circular economy for PV system materials. Circular economy principles attempt to transition from a "take-make-consume-dispose" linear economic system to a circular system that allows for the long life, and the reuse/repair/recovery of products and materials (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2020). We begin this report by summarizing the drivers, barriers, and enablers to a circular economy for PV system materials in the United States. We then report on our analysis of federal and state regulatory considerations that may impact the repair/reuse/recovery of PV materials, and potential civil and criminal liabilities associated with noncompliance. We then discuss state policies and initiatives in the United States that expressly address PV system decommissioning and repair/reuse/recovery of PV materials. We conclude by providing case studies of U.S. business models for the repair/reuse/recovery of PV system materials. Our results are based on legal and literature-based research and interviews with solar industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Do We Need a New Sustainability Assessment Method for the Circular Economy? A Critical Literature Review

The goal of the circular economy (CE) is to transition from today's take-make-waste linear pattern of production and consumption to a circular system in which the societal value of products, materials, and resources is maximized over time. Yet circularity in and of itself does not ensure social, economic, and environmental performance (i.e., sustainability). Sustainability of CE strategies needs to be measured against their linear counterparts to identify and avoid strategies that increase circularity yet lead to unintended externalities. The state of the practice in quantitatively comparing sustainability impacts of circular to linear systems is one of experimentation with various extant methods developed in other fields and now applied here. While the proliferation of circularity metrics has received considerable attention, to-date, there is no critical review of the methods and combinations of methods that underlie those metrics and that specifically quantify sustainability impacts of circular strategies. Our critical review herein analyzes identified methods according to six criteria: temporal resolution, scope, data requirements, data granularity, capacity for measuring material efficiency potentials, and sustainability completeness. Results suggest that the industrial ecology and complex systems science fields could prove complementary when assessing the sustainability of the transition to a CE. Both fields include quantitative methods differing primarily with regard to their inclusion of temporal aspects and material efficiency potentials. Moreover, operations research methods such as multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) may alleviate the common contradictions which often exist between circularity metrics. This review concludes by suggesting guidelines for selecting quantitative methods most appropriate to a particular research question and making the argument that while there are a variety of existing methods, additional research is needed to combine existing methods and develop a more holistic approach for assessing sustainability impacts of CE strategies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework: A Case Study of Wind Blade Circularity in Texas

Moving the current linear economy toward circularity is expected to have environmental, economic, and social impacts. Various modeling methods, including economic input-output modeling, life cycle assessment, agent-based modeling, and system dynamics, have been used to examine circular supply chains and analyze their impacts. This work describes the newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework, which is designed to model how the impacts of supply chains might change as circularity increases. We first establish the framework with a discussion of modeling capabilities that are needed to capture circularity transitions; these capabilities are based on the fact that supply chains moving toward circularity are dynamic and therefore not at steady state, may encompass multiple industrial sectors or other interdependent supply chains and occupy a large spatial area. To demonstrate the capabilities of CELAVI, we present a case study on end-of-life wind turbine blades in the U.S. state of Texas. Our findings show that depending on exact process costs and transportation distances, mechanical recycling could lead to 69% or more of end-of-life turbine blade mass being kept in circulation rather than being landfilled, with only a 7.1% increase in global warming potential over the linear supply chain. We discuss next steps for framework development.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Environmental and Circular Economy Implications of Solar Energy in a Decarbonized U.S. Grid

This report addresses environmental and circular economy (CE) considerations related to solar technologies via novel analysis of the three Solar Futures core scenarios as well as synthesis of published research. We organize these issues into the three basic life cycle phases of a solar technology: manufacturing, operation (including site selection and construction), and EOL. Related environmental justice issues are also explored. Finally, we recommend research and development (R&D) activities that could help clarify challenges and identify solutions. Because PV deployment is projected to be much larger than CSP deployment, we offer a more detailed analysis of PV-related issues.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Roadmap for a sustainable circular economy in lithium-ion and future battery technologies

Abstract The market dynamics, and their impact on a future circular economy for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), are presented in this roadmap, with safety as an integral consideration throughout the life cycle. At the point of end-of-life (EOL), there is a range of potential options—remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Diagnostics play a significant role in evaluating the state-of-health and condition of batteries, and improvements to diagnostic techniques are evaluated. At present, manual disassembly dominates EOL disposal, however, given the volumes of future batteries that are to be anticipated, automated approaches to the dismantling of EOL battery packs will be key. The first stage in recycling after the removal of the cells is the initial cell-breaking or opening step. Approaches to this are reviewed, contrasting shredding and cell disassembly as two alternative approaches. Design for recycling is one approach that could assist in easier disassembly of cells, and new approaches to cell design that could enable the circular economy of LIBs are reviewed. After disassembly, subsequent separation of the black mass is performed before further concentration of components. There are a plethora of alternative approaches for recovering materials; this roadmap sets out the future directions for a range of approaches including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, short-loop, direct, and the biological recovery of LIB materials. Furthermore, anode, lithium, electrolyte, binder and plastics recovery are considered in order to maximise the proportion of materials recovered, minimise waste and point the way towards zero-waste recycling. The life-cycle implications of a circular economy are discussed considering the overall system of LIB recycling, and also directly investigating the different recycling methods. The legal and regulatory perspectives are also considered. Finally, with a view to the future, approaches for next-generation battery chemistries and recycling are evaluated, identifying gaps for research. This review takes the form of a series of short reviews, with each section written independently by a diverse international authorship of experts on the topic. Collectively, these reviews form a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in LIB recycling, and how these technologies are expected to develop in the future.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

A quantitative and holistic circular economy assessment framework at the micro level

Circular Economy (CE) aims to solve resource, waste, and emission challenges by creating a production-to-consumption supply chain that is restorative and environmentally benign. A variety of metrics has been developed with the focus mainly on the macro and meso levels. This work introduces a micro level CE assessment framework that provides i) a set of indicators and metrics with sector-specific dimensions, ii) quantitative and holistic CE overall and category-based metrics, iii) media for data visualization and analysis of CE indicators, and iv) an analytical tool to assess multi-national businesses and the multi-scale and interconnected CE supply chains. Using this quantitative tool, companies are able to track their transition towards CE, conduct temporal analysis, and benchmark their performance against their peers and industry’s standards. The applicability and the capabilities of the developed CE assessment framework is demonstrated through three case studies, with the results demonstrating a clear trend towards circularity.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Transitioning to a Sustainable, Circular Economy for Plastics [Workshop Report]

The “Transitioning to a Sustainable, Circular Economy for Plastics” workshop, coordinated by the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) in collaboration with The Climate Pledge, brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss the current challenges and opportunities in transitioning to a sustainable, circular economy for plastics in the United States. Input from the workshop will be used to ensure the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Strategy for Plastics Innovation (SPI) evolves with the rapidly changing landscape. Presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions provided a framework for sharing information and building direct connections among stakeholders across the value chain. This document summarizes the content discussed at the workshop to provide an update on the state of plastic sustainability in the United States.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Circular Economy for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Mobile and Stationary Energy Storage: Drivers, Barriers, Enablers, and U.S. Policy Considerations

As large-format battery energy storage (BES) capacity increases in the United States, so will the volume of spent lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) (Bade 2019). Estimates based on a 10-year lifetime assumption found that the volume of LiBs that have reached the end of their utility for electric vehicle (EV) applications could total two million units (four million metric tons) annually by 2040 in the United States (Richa et al. 2014; Ai and Borucki 2018). Although there is currently no publicly available decommissioning or end-of-life (EoL) projection for stationary BES systems, the U.S. energy storage market is expected to grow from an annual deployment of 523 megawatts in 2013 to 7.3 gigawatts in 2025 (Wood MacKenzie and ESA 2020; Wesoff 2020). Despite potential secondary market opportunities and the potential benefits associated with the reuse/recovery of LiB material, anecdotal evidence suggests that in the United States most decommissioned LiBs from EVs are landfilled or otherwise disposed of (Steward et al. 2019; Salim et al. 2019; CPUC 2019; DTSC 2019d; NREL 2019b; Jacoby 2019; DOE 2019). The reuse of large-format LiBs is not at commercial scale and to date consists of only a handful of U.S.-led pilot projects. Similarly, less than 5% of LiBs from EVs are sent to recycling facilities in the United States (Steward et al. 2019; Jacoby 2019; America Made 2019; Patel 2017). As awareness of current practices grows, and the demand for critical LiB materials increases, U.S. industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers are starting to (1) consider solutions to drive and enable environmentally sustainable materials management decisions and behaviors and (2) identify barriers to a circular economy for LiBs (Figure 1). Circular economy principles (Figure 1) attempt to transition from a “take-make-consume-dispose” linear economic system to a circular system that allows for the long life, high performance, and the reuse/recovery of products and materials (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2016). We begin this report by summarizing drivers, barriers, and enablers to a circular economy for LiBs used in mobile and stationary BES systems in the United States. We then report on our analysis of federal and state regulatory considerations that may impact the reuse/recovery and disposal of LiBs, and potential civil and criminal liabilities associated with noncompliance. We conclude by highlighting state policies and initiatives in the United States that expressly address reuse/recovery and disposal of large-format LiBs. Our results are based on legal and literature-based research and interviews with mobile and stationary BES industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers. While this report addresses stationary BES, as well as mobile BES, much of the information and experience with LiB decommissioning and EoL material management is derived from the increasing management of spent EV LiBs in the United States.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

A systems engineering framework for the optimization of food supply chains under circular economy considerations

The current linear “take-make-waste-extractive” model leads to the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation. Circular Economy (CE) aims to address these impacts by building supply chains that are restorative, regenerative, and environmentally benign. This can be achieved through the re-utilization of products and materials, the extensive usage of renewable energy sources, and ultimately by closing any open material loops. Such a transition towards environmental, economic and social advancements requires analytical tools for quantitative evaluation of the alternative pathways. Here, in this work, we present a novel CE system engineering framework and decision-making tool for the modeling and optimization of food supply chains. First, the alternative pathways for the production of the desired product and the valorization of wastes and by-products are identified. Then, a Resource-Task-Network representation that captures all these pathways is utilized, based on which a mixed-integer linear programming model is developed. This approach allows the holistic modeling and optimization of the entire food supply chain, taking into account any of its special characteristics, potential constraints as well as different objectives. Considering that typically CE introduces multiple, often conflicting objectives, we deploy here a multi-objective optimization strategy for trade-off analysis. A representative case study for the supply chain of coffee is discussed, illustrating the steps and the applicability of the framework. Single and multi-objective optimization formulations under five different coffee-product demand scenarios are presented. The production of instant coffee as the only final product is shown to be the least energy and environmental efficient scenario. On the contrary, the production solely of whole beans sets a hypothetical upper bound on the optimal energy and environmental utilization. In both problems presented, the amount of energy generated is significant due to the utilization of waste generated for the production of excess energy.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Circular Economy for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Mobile and Stationary Energy Storage: Drivers, Barriers, Enablers, and Policy Considerations

The demand for large-format lithium-ion batteries (LIB) is expected to continue in the U.S. to meet renewable energy and decarbonization goals. Total installed large-scale stationary battery energy storage is expected to increase almost 10-fold from 2021 to 2025 and LIBs account for 97% of the expected market share. Similarly, LIBs deployed in electric vehicles is expected to increase, with passenger electric vehicles alone expected to reach 16 million units on U.S. roads by 2030 and 46 million by 2025. The expected demand for LIBs brings supply chain concerns and a growing need for a circular economy for LIB materials. Domestic reuse and recycling is one potential circular economy solution for LIB. This presentation identifies drivers, barriers, and enablers to a circular economy for LIBs, as well as, the current U.S. law and regulatory landscape for the reuse and recycling of LIB materials, and how certain policy frameworks impact reuse and end-of-life management decisions for LIB materials.

barriers↗