Sustainable material preparation

Question 1

What are 3 main problems with materials?

Answer 1

• Energy produced by material production.
• Use of constrained materials
• Associated environmental impacts.

Question 2

What is the main reason to reduce energy produced by material production.

Answer 2

C02 emissions.

Question 3

what are the 6 options to reduce material consumption?

Answer 3

Reduce yield loss - reduce the amount of waste produced

Divert scrap - Divert the scrap without reprocessing it. Example: Ultrasonically compress swarf into bar without melting.

Reuse scarp - Reuse scrap with reprocessing. Example: I beam in demolished building.

Use less by design - Cut down on material use in design phase, without impacting products function.

Reduce demand - Achieve same service with less material. example: short term on street hire.

Longer life goods - Design the products to last longer with the same amount of material.

Question 4

What does constrained material mean? Give examples how they could be constrained.

Answer 4

Constrained materials - Materials in short supply

• Absolute short supply (limited in the earths crust),
• Where they come from (conflict zone or political rival/ supply issues).

Question 5

How can rare earth materials be recovered?

Answer 5

Rare earth metals in electronics. Need to improve recovery of metals from old electronic products.

Question 6

What does associated environmental impacts mean? And give examples.

Answer 6

Other environmental impacts other than climate change.

i. Extraction

1) Land use and contamination
2) Loss of habitats
3) Deforestation

ii. Processing

1) Chemical use
2) Air, water, land pollution
3) Climate change

iii. Manufacture
1) Energy use
2) Emissions
3) Waste generation

iv. Disposal
1) Landfill
2)Methane