Publications by Francesco Di Maio
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2019
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Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2019
Three-dimensional (3D) printing and geo-polymers are two environmentally oriented innovations in ... more Three-dimensional (3D) printing and geo-polymers are two environmentally oriented innovations in concrete manufacturing. The 3D printing of concrete components aims to reduce raw material consumption and waste generation. Geo-polymer is being developed to replace ordinary Portland cement and reduce the carbon footprint of the binder in the concrete. The environmental performance of the combined use of the two innovations is evaluated through an ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA). First, an attributional LCA was implemented, using data collected from the manufacturer to identify the hotspots for environmental improvements. Then, scaled-up scenarios were built in collaboration with the company stakeholder. These scenarios were compared with the existing production system to understand the potential advantages/disadvantages of the innovative system and to identify the potential directions for improvement.
The results indicate that 3D printing can potentially lead to waste reduction. However, depending on its recipe, geo-polymer likely has higher environmental impacts than ordinary concrete. The ex-ante LCA suggests that after step-by-step improvements in the production and transportation of raw materials, 3D printing geo-polymer concrete is able to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete components, while it does still perform worse on impact categories, such as depletion of abiotic resources and stratospheric ozone depletion.We found that the most effective way to lower the environmental impacts of 3D concrete is to reduce silicate in the recipe of the geo-polymer.
This approach is, however, challenging to realize by the company due to the locked-in effect of the previous innovation investment. The case study shows that to support technological innovation ex-ante LCA has to be implemented as early as possible in innovation to allow for maintaining technical flexibility and improving on the identified hotspots.
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Resouces, Conservation and Recycling, 2017
This paper proposes a new value-based indicator to assess the performance of actors in the suppl... more This paper proposes a new value-based indicator to assess the performance of actors in the supply chain in terms of resource efficiency and circular economy.
Most of the methodologies developed so far measure resource efficiency on the basis of the environmental burden of the resource relative to the value of output. However, the key point of circular economy is keeping resources within the economy when products no longer serve their functions so that materials can be used again and therefore generate more value.
The unit in which resource efficiency and circular economy are measured greatly affects both the ease of acceptance by policymakers and the direction in which green policy will change our society.
Whereas the most common approaches to assessing resource efficiency and circular economy use mass, in this paper we advocate measuring both resource efficiency and circular economy in terms of the market value of ‘stressed’ resources, since this value incorporates the elements of scarcity versus competition as well as taxes representing urgent social and environmental externalities. The market value of resources is well-documented and responds automatically to the locality and time at which resources are used.
Applying this unit, circularity is defined as the percentage of the value of stressed resources incorporated in a service or product that is returned after its end-of-life. Resource efficiency is the ratio of added product value divided by the value of stressed resources used in production or a process thereof. It is argued that precisely the concept of a free market, in which materials, parts and components are exchanged purely on the basis of their functionality and cost, allows the resource efficiency of a process (KPI for industry and governance) to be distinguished from the resource efficiency of a product (KPI for consumers and governance).
Using standard industry data from Statistics Netherlands, the resource efficiency of several Dutch industries were evaluated using the new methodology and compared with a traditional mass-based approach.
Keywords: Mining; Manufacturing; Agriculture; Energy; Services
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In order to move towards a more sustainable development, it is necessary not only to minimize the... more In order to move towards a more sustainable development, it is necessary not only to minimize the use of materials in the design stage and to find new materials as alternatives to nonrenewable ones (e.g. optical fiber instead of copper, biopolymers instead of polymers from oil) but also to reclaim as much as possible material value through effective recycling. To this extent, recycling can play a key role in multiple dimensions, while providing new business opportunities for innovative companies, having positive impacts on the society and the environment and fostering an effective circular economy as well. Because of the advanced waste management infrastructures available in developed countries, it is possible to achieve an almost complete collection of solid wastes into a variety of controlled bulk material flows. However, the picture for the follow-up step, the recycling of raw materials such as steel, non-ferrous metals, polymers and glass from these flows, is less positive. Materials value recovered from waste represents a very small fraction of European GDP. The fundamental issue is that policymakers still lack an effective key performance indicator for stimulating the recycling industry. Therefore although recycling plays an important role in the circular economy perspective, it is necessary to radically change the metric used so far to compute the recycling rate. Nowadays, the recycling rate is computed measuring the amount of material entering the recycling facilities. This approach has brought about an inaccurate and somehow misleading indicator (the recycling rate) which contributed to wrong decision making and to poor innovation in the industry. The new approach proposed in this paper considers the use of a Circular Economy Index (CEI) as the ratio of the material value produced by the recycler (market value) by the intrinsic material value entering the recycling facility. It is argued that this index is related to strategic, economic and environmental aspects of recycling and it has very important implications as decision making tool. To compute the CEI it is necessary to know detailed information of the components and materials contained in each end of life (EOL) product entering the recycling facilities and how they end up in the recycled raw materials. Therefore an accurate accounting of materials (with standards if available), mass, chemical composition and smallest dimension (e.g. a screw, a plastic foil) is proposed.
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Purpose: The framework of life cycle sustainability analysis (LCSA) has been developed within the... more Purpose: The framework of life cycle sustainability analysis (LCSA) has been developed within the CALCAS project but the procedure on how an LCSA should be carried out is still far from standardized. The purpose of this article is to propose an approach to put the LCSA framework into practice. This approach is illustrated with an on-going case study on concrete recycling.
Methods: In the context of an EC-FP7 project on technology
innovation for concrete recycling, five operational steps to
implement the LCSA framework are proposed: (1) broad
system definition, (2) making scenarios, (3) defining subquestions for individual tools, (4) application of the tools
and (5) interpreting the results in an LCSA framework.
Focus has been put on the goal and scope definition (steps
1–3) to illustrate how to define a doable and meaningful
LCSA. Steps 4–5 are not complete in the case study and are
elaborated theoretically in this paper.
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web sites by Francesco Di Maio
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papers by Francesco Di Maio
The paper introduces a new recycling method of WEEE: Magnetic Density Separation. By using this t... more The paper introduces a new recycling method of WEEE: Magnetic Density Separation. By using this technology, both grade and recovery rate of recycled products are over 90%. Good separations are not only observed in relatively big WEEE samples, but also in samples with smaller sizes or electrical wires.
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Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 2009
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The Open Waste Management Journal, 2010
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Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020
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Resources Conservation and Recycling, Nov 1, 2019
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Science of The Total Environment, 2021
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This article firstly presents the main achievements and ongoing activities for developing the inn... more This article firstly presents the main achievements and ongoing activities for developing the innovative concrete recycling technology in the course of the EU funded projects C2CA, HISER and VEEP projects.
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Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 2013
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Construction and Building Materials, 2021
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Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2019
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Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2019
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Publications by Francesco Di Maio
The results indicate that 3D printing can potentially lead to waste reduction. However, depending on its recipe, geo-polymer likely has higher environmental impacts than ordinary concrete. The ex-ante LCA suggests that after step-by-step improvements in the production and transportation of raw materials, 3D printing geo-polymer concrete is able to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete components, while it does still perform worse on impact categories, such as depletion of abiotic resources and stratospheric ozone depletion.We found that the most effective way to lower the environmental impacts of 3D concrete is to reduce silicate in the recipe of the geo-polymer.
This approach is, however, challenging to realize by the company due to the locked-in effect of the previous innovation investment. The case study shows that to support technological innovation ex-ante LCA has to be implemented as early as possible in innovation to allow for maintaining technical flexibility and improving on the identified hotspots.
Most of the methodologies developed so far measure resource efficiency on the basis of the environmental burden of the resource relative to the value of output. However, the key point of circular economy is keeping resources within the economy when products no longer serve their functions so that materials can be used again and therefore generate more value.
The unit in which resource efficiency and circular economy are measured greatly affects both the ease of acceptance by policymakers and the direction in which green policy will change our society.
Whereas the most common approaches to assessing resource efficiency and circular economy use mass, in this paper we advocate measuring both resource efficiency and circular economy in terms of the market value of ‘stressed’ resources, since this value incorporates the elements of scarcity versus competition as well as taxes representing urgent social and environmental externalities. The market value of resources is well-documented and responds automatically to the locality and time at which resources are used.
Applying this unit, circularity is defined as the percentage of the value of stressed resources incorporated in a service or product that is returned after its end-of-life. Resource efficiency is the ratio of added product value divided by the value of stressed resources used in production or a process thereof. It is argued that precisely the concept of a free market, in which materials, parts and components are exchanged purely on the basis of their functionality and cost, allows the resource efficiency of a process (KPI for industry and governance) to be distinguished from the resource efficiency of a product (KPI for consumers and governance).
Using standard industry data from Statistics Netherlands, the resource efficiency of several Dutch industries were evaluated using the new methodology and compared with a traditional mass-based approach.
Keywords: Mining; Manufacturing; Agriculture; Energy; Services
Methods: In the context of an EC-FP7 project on technology
innovation for concrete recycling, five operational steps to
implement the LCSA framework are proposed: (1) broad
system definition, (2) making scenarios, (3) defining subquestions for individual tools, (4) application of the tools
and (5) interpreting the results in an LCSA framework.
Focus has been put on the goal and scope definition (steps
1–3) to illustrate how to define a doable and meaningful
LCSA. Steps 4–5 are not complete in the case study and are
elaborated theoretically in this paper.
web sites by Francesco Di Maio
papers by Francesco Di Maio
The results indicate that 3D printing can potentially lead to waste reduction. However, depending on its recipe, geo-polymer likely has higher environmental impacts than ordinary concrete. The ex-ante LCA suggests that after step-by-step improvements in the production and transportation of raw materials, 3D printing geo-polymer concrete is able to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete components, while it does still perform worse on impact categories, such as depletion of abiotic resources and stratospheric ozone depletion.We found that the most effective way to lower the environmental impacts of 3D concrete is to reduce silicate in the recipe of the geo-polymer.
This approach is, however, challenging to realize by the company due to the locked-in effect of the previous innovation investment. The case study shows that to support technological innovation ex-ante LCA has to be implemented as early as possible in innovation to allow for maintaining technical flexibility and improving on the identified hotspots.
Most of the methodologies developed so far measure resource efficiency on the basis of the environmental burden of the resource relative to the value of output. However, the key point of circular economy is keeping resources within the economy when products no longer serve their functions so that materials can be used again and therefore generate more value.
The unit in which resource efficiency and circular economy are measured greatly affects both the ease of acceptance by policymakers and the direction in which green policy will change our society.
Whereas the most common approaches to assessing resource efficiency and circular economy use mass, in this paper we advocate measuring both resource efficiency and circular economy in terms of the market value of ‘stressed’ resources, since this value incorporates the elements of scarcity versus competition as well as taxes representing urgent social and environmental externalities. The market value of resources is well-documented and responds automatically to the locality and time at which resources are used.
Applying this unit, circularity is defined as the percentage of the value of stressed resources incorporated in a service or product that is returned after its end-of-life. Resource efficiency is the ratio of added product value divided by the value of stressed resources used in production or a process thereof. It is argued that precisely the concept of a free market, in which materials, parts and components are exchanged purely on the basis of their functionality and cost, allows the resource efficiency of a process (KPI for industry and governance) to be distinguished from the resource efficiency of a product (KPI for consumers and governance).
Using standard industry data from Statistics Netherlands, the resource efficiency of several Dutch industries were evaluated using the new methodology and compared with a traditional mass-based approach.
Keywords: Mining; Manufacturing; Agriculture; Energy; Services
Methods: In the context of an EC-FP7 project on technology
innovation for concrete recycling, five operational steps to
implement the LCSA framework are proposed: (1) broad
system definition, (2) making scenarios, (3) defining subquestions for individual tools, (4) application of the tools
and (5) interpreting the results in an LCSA framework.
Focus has been put on the goal and scope definition (steps
1–3) to illustrate how to define a doable and meaningful
LCSA. Steps 4–5 are not complete in the case study and are
elaborated theoretically in this paper.
The Resources & Recycling group (TUDelft) in collaboration with its industrial partners (C2CA Technologies, GBN B.V.) are currently engaged in achiving this ambitious objective.