Structural Characteristics of EV Li-ion Batteries Recycling Supply Chain Network

With the rapid increase in the decommissioning of the EV Li-ion batteries (EV-LIBs), the EV-LIBs recycling industry is growing dramatically. Based on the realistic supply relationship data of major firms in the EV-LIBs recycling industry, this paper uses the complex network theory to construct a global firm-level EV-LIBs recycling supply chain (EV-LIBs-RSC) network and analyze the structural characteristics of the EV-LIBs-RSC network from the network level. Specifically, The degree distribution, average degree, overall density, average shortest path length, and community structure of EV-LIBs-RSC network are systematically analyzed. The relevant results can assist the government in proposing appropriate industrial policies.

Subsidy and Environmental Tax for Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling

In recent two decades, construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major source for municipal waste which causes serious damage to the environment. To solve the problem, waste recycling measures are gradually used to turn waste into treasures. Meanwhile, several kinds of policies such as waste disposal charging fees have been issued to stimulate stakeholders’ behavior to take waste recycling measures to promote the C&D waste recycling industry. However, the C&D waste recycling rate is still too low in China. In order to promote C&D waste recycling industrial development, this paper is aiming at introducing subsidy and environmental tax policies to promote C&D waste recycling. Based on system dynamics, this study establishes a model to determine the proper subsidy and environmental tax range. According to the simulation results, three kinds of incentive policies are obtained, namely, single subsidy policy, single environmental tax and combined incentive policies. Optimal single subsidy and environmental tax are in the interval [10, 30] and [20, 60], respectively. The best combination strategy is subsidy=10 yuan /ton and environmental tax=20 yuan/ton. The results from this paper could be a foundation for government to establish incentive policies to promote C&D waste recycling.

EXPERT SYSTEM FOR SHIP RECYCLING

Ship recycling has been considered as a low technology industry. It has been established that there are more than a dozen stake holders in ship recycling having their own interests and roles. Apart from this, most of the ship recycling activities are carried out with poor infrastructure support and without adhering to proper safety and environmental standards. A Knowledge-based support is the need of the hour for improving the status of ship recycling industry. Knowledgebase support in the form of a computer based expert system encompassing entire ship recycling activities is considered as a very useful step in this direction. This paper presents the need for a user friendly expert system for ship recycling process. Two important functions of the expert system have been presented, one for the Administrators, the stake holders at the helm of the ship recycling affairs and second one for the Users, who execute the actual dismantling have been presented.

Research on Standardized Model Method of Reutilization of Retired Aircraft Based on Big Data

Reuse of retired aircraft is an intuitive manifestation of the effective combined development of the aviation industry and the circular economy, which involves the conversion of passenger aircraft to cargo and aircraft dismantling. In the new era, it shows the characteristics of intensive development of technology and capital. According to the operation scale of China’s aircraft in recent years, with the improvement of scientific research and technology, the number of aircraft fleets is also growing continuously, and the corresponding number of retired aircraft is also increasing every year, which proves that the development of China’s retired aircraft reuse industry has a very broad prospect. Therefore, on the basis of understanding the current global trend of aircraft life-cycle training and utilization, this paper calculates the FA model based on the potential output value of the retired aircraft recycling industry based on the FA-SD model, analyzes the empirical analysis and prediction of the evaluation model of the retired aircraft recycling potential, and identifies the effective measures for future development.

Classification of Material Type from Optical Coherence Tomography Images Using Deep Learning

Classification of material type is crucial in the recycling industry since good quality recycling depends on the successful sorting of various materials. In textiles, the most commonly used fiber material types are wool, cotton, and polyester. When recycling fabrics, it is critical to identify and sort various fiber types quickly and correctly. The standard method of determining fabric fiber material type is the burn test followed by a microscopic examination. This traditional method is destructive, tedious, and slow since it involves cutting, burning, and examining the yarn of the fabric. We demonstrate that the identification procedure can be done nondestructively using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and deep learning. The OCT image scans of fabrics that are composed of different fiber material types such as wool, cotton, and polyester are used to train a deep neural network. We present the results of the created deep learning models’ capability to classify fabric fiber material types. We conclude that fiber material types can be identified nondestructively with high precision and recall by OCT imaging and deep learning. Because classification of material type can be performed by OCT and deep learning, this novel technique can be employed in recycling plants in sorting wool, cotton, and polyester fabrics automatically.

The Life-Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Life-Cycle Costs of E-Waste Management in Thailand

There is no clear direction in the management of electrical and electronic waste products (e-waste), as there are no regulations on ways to do so. This research attempts to understand the trade-off between economic value and environmental effects of the current disposal of e-waste to find ways to optimize waste management, focusing on cellphones, television CRTs, desktop computers, and air conditioners. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that can analyze various influences, e.g., environmental, costs, and value added. Under the e-waste management status quo, most household e-wastes are kept in houses because owners do not know where to discard them. In addition, informal sectors, such as domestic farmers or workers, have been involved actively for more than a decade, leading to poor management standards for both health and the environment. The logistics are inefficient because the dismantling communities and recycling industry are far apart. Most e-waste is generated, and most recycling industries are located, in the Central region (the richest areas), while the dismantling communities are located in the Northeastern region (the poorest areas). Further, LCA and LCC of e-waste are sensitive to transportation, and not all e-waste parts can be recycled within the country. High-tech mineral extraction cannot be practiced in the country, and thus, circuit boards and batteries are exported for recycling. To promote a circular economy, e-waste management regulations should be implemented and a full recycling industry should be established in the country.

Development of recycling infrastructure in Ukraine

Today, household waste occupies a large area of legal and illegal landfills, and existing recycling plants are not operating at full capacity due to lack of recyclables. Responsible waste management is a key issue for the entire recycling industry in Ukraine. The study of trends in the development of solid waste recycling infrastructure in developed countries is the basis for the formation of its own recycling system in Ukraine. This explains the fact that in a difficult environmental situation on a global scale, the issue of recycling is gaining priority today. Modern enterprises that provide services for the removal of household waste, their sorting and further processing today especially need the participation of the state to create market conditions for the development of a competitive environment. After all, in addition to the processing of waste into secondary raw materials, biogas extraction systems are installed at landfills in Ukraine and installations for electricity production are operated. So in parallel with solving the problem of pollution, we have an additional source of alternative energy. At the legislative level, the executive bodies of village, settlement and city councils have the right to address the issues of collection, transportation, utilization and disposal of household waste, setting tariffs for the service of household waste management, organization of separate collection of useful components of this waste. In order to create a proper system and build infrastructure for efficient waste management, it is important to unite local communities. In addition, it is critical to apply a systematic approach to the organization of the execution chain of all stages of recycling by forming the interaction of all infrastructure elements.

Recycling Potential of Plastic Resources from End-of-Life Passenger Vehicles in China

A rapid increase in the number of end-of-life (EoL) passenger vehicles has led to a large amount of waste plastics in China. However, the scale and efficiency of recycling resources from EoL vehicles still restricts the sustainable and healthy development of the automotive industry. The current behavior of automotive/recycling industry entities, as well as the strategy of waste management policymakers, may depend on the potential of total recyclable resources. To reveal such recycling potential of various plastic materials in EoL passenger vehicles, we predicted total EoL passenger vehicles in China from 2021 to 2030 (used the Weibull distribution) considering passenger vehicle ownership (estimated by the Gompertz model), quantified the demand for new passenger vehicles (estimated using its non-linear relationship with income level and passenger vehicle ownership), and assessed the recyclable plastics by categories and by provinces. The results show that (i) the annual average recycled plastic resources from EoL vehicles would exceed 2400 thousand t in 2030, more than 2.5 times in 2021, showing a great recycling potential; (ii) the differences among the three scenarios are relatively small, indicating that no matter the saturation level of passenger vehicles in China would be high or low, a rapid increase of recyclable plastic resources can be expected from 2021 to 2030; (iii) at the provincial level, a considerable gap between the potential of recycling plastic from EoL passenger vehicles and the regional processing capacity. Given such great potential and regional differences, the recycling policies should be applied in stages and consider the development level and recovery pressure in each region.

Evaluation of the Ecological Benefits of Recycling Multiple Metals from Lithium Battery Saggars Based on Emergy Analysis

With the rapid development of China’s new energy industry, the use of lithium-ion batteries has increased sharply, and the demand for battery cathode metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese has also increased rapidly. Scrapped ceramic saggars that are used to produce the cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries contain large amounts of nickel, cobalt, and manganese compounds; thus, recycling these saggars has high economic value and ecological significance. In this paper, the emergy method is used to analyze the ecological benefits of the typical Ni–Co-containing saggar recycling process in China. This paper constructs an ecoefficiency evaluation index for industrial systems based on emergy analysis to analyze the recycling of nickel and cobalt saggars. The ecological benefits are analyzed, and the following conclusions are drawn. (1) The Ni–Co-containing saggar recycling production line has good economic and ecological benefits. (2) The process has room for improvement in the energy use efficiency and clean energy use of the crystallization process and the efficiency of chemical use in the cascade separation and purification process. This study also establishes a set of emergy analysis methods and indicator system for the evaluation of the ecological benefit of the recycling industry, which can provide a reference for the evaluation of the eco-economic benefit of similar recycling industry processes.