Material Resources Efficiency in Engineering

Course content

Intended learning outcome:

Students…•...

• …are able to classify the material flows for technical products in a global context and question the resulting consequences for the environment, economy and society.
• can analyse the process of raw material supply, processing, product manufacturing and use.
• are able to implement methods and tools (e.g. material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing) that enable a holistic, life cycle-oriented evaluation of material efficiency under different target sizes (ecological, economic, social) in the industrial value stream.
• can identify measures and approaches to increase material efficiency under the previously defined target variables and analyze which implementation challenges exist in the socio-economic and ecological environment.
• can identify the challenges associated with material substitution and argue why the entire product life cycle must be considered when choosing materials.
• can evaluate the ecological and economic relevance of the use of materials in technical products and services, identify key levers for improvement and anticipate potential implementation challenges.

Module content:

• Introduction to the current use of natural resources in an industrial context and presentation of related energy and material flows as well as political, social, technological and economic challenges
• Methods and tools for holistic, lifecycle assessment and increasing material efficiency in industrial value stream
• Evaluation and classification of streams under ecological and economical aspects
• Overview of measures to reduce the energy consumption in each phase (e.g. raw material provisioning) and the entire life cycle
• Measures to reduce material losses in the material supply and product creation
• Drivers and opportunities to reduce material intensity (e.g., demand reduction, material and product substitution)
• Closed-loop approaches in product and material reuse and recycling (e.g. industrial metabolism, cradle-to-cradle)
• Areas of application and case studies
• Awareness of the ecological, economic and social relevance of global material flows for technical products from raw material extraction to recycling