Challenges of The Circular Economy 1696131980

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Annual Review of Materials Research

Challenges of the Circular
Economy: A Material,
Metallurgical, and Product
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Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2019.49:253-274. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org
Design Perspective
Markus A. Reuter,1 Antoinette van Schaik,2
Jens Gutzmer,1 Neill Bartie,1
and Alejandro Abadías-Llamas1
1
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, 09599 Freiberg, Germany;
email: m.reuter@hzdr.de
2
Material Recycling and Sustainability (MARAS) B.V., 2498 AS Den Haag, The Netherlands
Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2019. 49:253–74 Keywords

First published as a Review in Advance on
circular economy, process metallurgy, thermoeconomics, exergy, design for
April 3, 2019
recycling
The Annual Review of Materials Research is online at
matsci.annualreviews.org Abstract
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-matsci-070218-
Circular economy’s (CE) noble aims maximize resource efficiency (RE) by,
010057
for example, extending product life cycles and using wastes as resources.
Copyright © 2019 by Annual Reviews.
Modern society’s vast and increasing amounts of waste and consumer goods,
All rights reserved
their complexity, and functional material combinations are challenging the
viability of the CE despite various alternative business models promising
otherwise. The metallurgical processing of CE-enabling technologies re-
quires a sophisticated and agile metallurgical infrastructure. The challenges
of reaching a CE are highlighted in terms of, e.g., thermodynamics, transfer
processes, technology platforms, digitalization of the processes of the CE
stakeholders, and design for recycling (DfR) based on a product (mineral)-
centric approach, highlighting the limitations of material-centric consider-
ations. Integrating product-centric considerations into the water, energy,
transport, heavy industry, and other smart grid systems will maximize the
RE of future smart sustainable cities, providing the fundamental detail for
realizing and innovating the United Nation’s Sustainability Development
Goals.
253
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1. WHAT IS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?

The circular economy (CE) paradigm advocates for the transformation of our economies from
linear to circular models in which waste and recycled materials become resources. It undoubtedly
has noble intentions: to stop or reduce the anthropological damage inflicted upon our planet and
to ensure its future habitability and humanity’s welfare. The responsible and mindful use of all
resources—human, natural, and economic—lies at its core. The concept is derived from various
others, such as sustainable development, green economy, functional economy, life cycle thinking,
industrial ecology, shared value, extended producer responsibility, ecodesign, and cradle-to-cradle
thinking, as discussed by Beaulieu et al. (1).
Additional relevant concepts include the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle), 6R (reuse, recycle, re-
design, remanufacture, reduce, recover), and 4R (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover) waste hierarchies
and keywords like resource efficiency (RE), resource productivity and depletion, industrial sym-
biosis, criticality, renewables, and systems thinking, among others (1–5). Do we, however, really
grasp the true depth of meaning of each of these concepts; the behind-the-scenes actors and ac-
tions needed to influence them; and, importantly, how they interact with and affect one another?
Do we know the limits of CE? To answer these questions, true life cycle, systems, and design
thinking with a solid foundation is required.
CE and related concepts are studied by numerous schools of thought, each using its own meth-
ods and tools to answer specific questions relevant to its field. In manufacturing, for example,
Lieder & Rashid (6) identify nine widely varying fields: industrial ecology, environmental science,
economics, business management, supply chain management, sustainability science, process engi-
neering, law and policy, and social science.
It is highly likely that at least some of the problems addressed overlap and that therefore in-
terdisciplinary information exchange and collaboration would help in the assessment of where we
are, what progress we are making, and what further steps we can take toward transitioning to more
circular ways of doing things (7). A number of authors highlight the need for more open commu-
nication and collaboration between disciplines (1, 6, 8, 9). This is equally important outside of
academia, where the multiple-level, real implementation of CE needs to occur, necessitating the
cooperation of government, civil society, and other private actors (1). The challenge is that disci-
plines often work in isolation and speak very different languages, leaving the door open to critical
details being lost in translation, misinterpreted, or ignored, at the risk of drawing contradictory
conclusions about related systems (10), poor decision making, and false security.
Numerous definitions and interpretations of the concept can be found in the CE literature.
Kirchherr et al. (11) systematically analyze more than a hundred such definitions in an effort
to improve transparency and coherence and to prevent this trending concept from becoming a
mere buzzword. The result is the following comprehensive definition of CE (rephrased from 11,
p. 229):
A circular economy describes an economic system that is based on business models which replace the “end-of-
life” concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering material in production/distribution
and consumption processes, thus operating at the micro level (products, companies, consumers), meso level (eco-
industrial parks) and macro level (city, region, nation and beyond), with the aim to accomplish sustainable de-
velopment, which implies creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity, to the benefit of
current and future generations.
According to its authors, this definition encapsulates CE’s core principles: a systems perspective
and the 4R waste hierarchy; its aims, namely sustainable development resulting in environmental
quality, economic prosperity and social equity, now and moving forward; and its enablers, namely
254 Reuter et al.

consumer consumption behavior and business models (11). Acknowledging this, we believe there
are further key enablers.
So, what is the brave step or steps that deliver the CE, and how can these be delivered to deal
with the large amount of waste that society creates? Of particular concern are the CE-enabling
minor technology elements that go lost, like spreading salt and pepper over the Earth and then
trying to recover the salt economically. Another example is economically recovering pure sugar,
water, coffee, and pure milk from a cup of coffee (12).
Minerals and metals are indispensable contributors to the functionality and innovation of most
technologies used daily by modern societies, including technologies that harness and store re-
newable energy such as solar panels, wind turbines, and rechargeable batteries. These devices
depend not only on the availability of bulk structural metals used for their manufacture (like
steel alloys, copper and its alloys, and aluminum alloys) but also on increasingly complex com-
binations of minor metals and technology elements that facilitate specific functionalities (12).
Without these minerals and metals, no modern economy could function, and the innovation
necessary to fuel sustainable development would not be possible. Some of the metals are con-
sidered critical raw materials in terms of supply risk and economic importance (13) and the
rising cost of energy required to extract them from ores whose metal grades are decreasing
(14).
In a February 2017 briefing, the European Parliament’s Research Service (15) reported that
waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), or e-waste, is one of the fastest-growing (at
3–5% per year) waste streams, with 2012 data indicating the collection of 3.5 million tons and
the reuse/recycling of 2.5 million tons of e-waste in the European Union (EU). In the same year,
9 million tons of electric and electronic products went to market in the EU. It is therefore no
surprise that these metal-containing products and associated wastes are key focus areas of the
European CE package. Extended producer responsibility directives also include end-of-life (EoL)
vehicles, batteries, and accumulators (15).
Process metallurgy and the associated metallurgical processing systems and infrastructure
needed for the primary and secondary extraction and production of these metals are therefore
key enablers of a CE (16). CE can be meaningfully analyzed and optimized only with an in-depth
understanding of metal distributions through the system, and such understanding in turn depends
on the availability of relevant physical, metallurgical, and thermodynamic data (17). The digital-
ization of these data facilitates representative modeling and simulation of the movement of metals,
materials, particles, mixtures, and so forth through the system, especially the ability to account for
the losses often ignored in CE literature, potentially leading to overoptimistic estimations of RE
and thus the economic viability of the CE system.
Therefore, one objective of this article is to illustrate that a rigorous simulation-based ap-
proach is the only reliable foundation for a dynamic (flexible over time) and reliable harmoniza-
tion method to calculate recycling rates and the RE of the CE system, in which the influence
of EoL processing and product type/design are considered. This approach allows for the cal-
culation of mass, energy, and exergy balances for the processing of all materials and elements,
compounds, alloys, etc., present in products. It permits the calculation of material-specific recy-
cling rates, depending on, e.g., product, product category, and design (18). This rigorous and very
flexible simulation-based approach, in which design parameters are also included, is based on in-
dustrial process physics, mass and heat transfer processes, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics,
as represented by, e.g., the software packages HSC Sim (19) and FactSage (20). It is already avail-
able, as, e.g., demonstrated in recent work for Fairphone (21–23) and applied by Greenpeace (24)
and others in industry. The Fairphone is a commercial mobile phone with a long-lasting, modular
design that is easy to repair and dismantle for recycling. It is manufactured using fairly sourced
www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 255

materials from suppliers that provide good working conditions (21). Moreover, there is also solid
industrial knowledge to ensure that the relevant solutions are produced.
In summary, a rigorous and objective approach is required to protect and safeguard the re-
cycling and metallurgical processing industry at the heart of the CE (as depicted in Figure 1),
whatever the CE business model is. Gleaning from the knowledge of mineral engineering and
process metallurgy, simulation and process control tools, and digitalization platforms, this article
shows that the key to enabling an understanding of the CE is a mineral-centric description as well
as a thermochemical and therefore exergetic understanding and characterization of all complex
associated and functionally linked particles, modules, materials, and so forth in the various stages
of their respective CE journey.
Mining and Parametric models 3D simulation

physical
processing
Ore mineralogy
RGY
ENE
WASTE L
RESIDUA
Descriptive Computer
summaries storage
Exploration Mining Physical

processing Extractive
ENE
metallurgy
RGY
Extractive
Dismantling, metallurgy Concentrate, eWaste,
remining residue, end-of-life
Circular products, etc.,
processing
economy
Product
RE S I D
Collection
RGY
design
UA
ENE
L WA
Use Production Product design:

S
E
T
design for recycling

+ Bill of material and full
material declaration
– + ENERGY
–
ENE
RG Y
Digitalizing
the circular
economy
System
simulation
Figure 1
Analysis and understanding of the economic viability of the circular economy (CE) system require a definition of all materials in terms
of minerals description, bill of materials, and thermochemistry; this definition is the fundamental linkage of all CE stakeholders and is
the basis of understanding the losses from the system and therefore its economy.
256 Reuter et al.

2. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES AND BRAVE STEPS THAT ENABLE

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY?
2.1. Laws of Thermodynamics, Mass Transfer, and Heat Transfer in Processes,
Fluid Dynamics, and Kinetics
The inconvenient truth is that no CE loop can be fully closed if one considers the exergy of the sys-
tem (25–27). Exergy is a key aspect that defines the efficiency of the CE and was not discussed by
Reck & Graedel (28). The inescapable second law of thermodynamics (2LT) governs the efficiency
(or inefficiency) of every system ever encountered. In essence, the 2LT suggests that 100% RE is a
physical impossibility with respect to both energy and matter: Irreversible losses are an inevitable
part of industrial CE systems. Thus, losses and residues of uneconomic value are major causes of
open CE loops, and closed loop recycling, i.e., the recycling of the same quality of material back
into the same product it originated from, is the ideal. Reck & Graedel (28) discuss the challenges
of recycling from a material-centric point of view. In doing so, the effect of a product-centric view
of closed loop recycling is neglected (29, 30). A product-centric view considers the efficiency of the
system in terms of complex natural geological and complex designed mineral/functional material
mixtures within the multielement context of techno-economically viable flowsheets (depicted in
Figure 2). Generally, the lack of product-centric thinking and the lack of exergy and metallurgical
detail in the CE discussions (28, 31) render these deliberations of CE rather unhelpful in under-
standing and providing quantified detail and innovative solutions to minimize the true losses from
and hence to maximize the RE of the CE system and quantify economically CE business models.
Rammelt & Crisp (32) state that industrial ecology, natural capitalism, and CE overestimate
our capacity to close loops in production systems, and these authors agree that thermodynamics
is not receiving sufficient attention in the literature to understand these losses. Fellner et al. (33)
estimate that, as a result of the lower primary resource demand, greenhouse gas emissions and
energy consumption would decrease by only 1.6% if the 2LT could be ignored and by 1.8% if
it was assumed that all EoL products, residues, and wastes were fully transformed into secondary
resources. This apparently disappointing potential of the CE to drive sustainability is due to the
reality that losses and residue formation occur in all stages of the CE life cycle, not just in the EoL
stage, and that all stages destroy exergy.
Our aim should be to identify and minimize residues and losses, i.e., to minimize the creation
of entropy, across whole value chains of the CE in addition to closing material loops through EoL
recycling. The present digitalization platforms have evolved significantly to estimate the bulk,
minor/technology element, metal/alloy, and material flows in addition to the exergy and energy
flows of the complete CE system (16), linking the stakeholders shown in Figure 1. Figure 2
shows how primary processing and secondary processing of copper-containing materials have been
(for the first time with interconnected complexity and completeness) very uniquely digitalized
and linked to estimate the exergy destruction of a significant part of the CE system depicted in
Figure 1. Figure 2a shows the copper smelting stage, 1 of 11 interlinked simulation flowsheets
(see tabs at the bottom of Figure 2a), including flowsheets on mineral processing (comminution,
concentration), smelting, gas cleaning, sulfur capture, secondary materials and scrap (also e-waste)
smelting, power + residential heating, electric furnace for residue processing to create clean slags,
oxygen production (ASU), precious metal recovery, electrolyte cleaning, and power plants. The
other tabs are calculation sheets, such as the tab labeled exergy min pro, which uniquely calculates
the exergy of the minerals processing flowsheet by using thermochemical data. Figure 2b shows
the exergy destruction over the major sections of the complete flowsheet, showing that most exergy
is lost at the power plants that supply the electricity for the crushing and grinding circuits but also
when processing the mineral to metal during smelting of the geological minerals due to natural

a
450,000
b Destruction of exergy,
mainly through fossil fuels
400,000
Environmental 2.7 t CO2-eq/t Cu 3.0 t CO2-eq/t Cu

350,000 footprint: with waste processing without waste processing
Irreversibility Irreversibility
300,000
Irreversibility power plant Irreversibility power plant
Exergy flow (kW)
250,000
200,000
Low exergy destruction of
precious metals recovery
150,000 shows the importance of
Destruction of exergy,
having copper processing as
mainly of minerals
100,000 a key enabler for their
recycling, e.g., from eWaste
50,000
0
Comminution Concentration Smelting Electrorefining Peripheral devices Precious metals Sulfur capture
Figure 2
A unique simulation model that links copper ore production of 6,500 tonnes/h to final refined copper production, with all refining and
residue processing included. (a) The smelting of concentrate is shown in a flash smelter, which is 1 of 11 linked flowsheets, with various
other tabs showing results and details. (b) The exergy destruction for the major processing sectors in the copper production flowsheet
shown in panel a. The solid bars show exergy destruction of the processes, and the shaded bars indicate electricity production. Panel b
adapted from Reference 27.
258 Reuter et al.

mineral destruction. Note the relatively small impact of refining of precious metals (e.g., Au),
therefore showing the great importance of copper metallurgy as a carrier for processing of valuable
minor elements at a very low exergy destruction level. The metallurgical industry is thus at the
heart of the CE, supplying the valuable technology elements on the back of base metals such as
copper (see Figure 4 below). In addition, the model provides a complete energy balance as well
as making a link to environmental footprint software, providing, e.g., global warming potential
(shown in Figure 2), acidification potential, and eutrophication potential detail per functional
unit, whatever one wants to use and select from the simulation model (16).
Using the same tools shown in Figure 2, Reuter et al. (23) show that product-specific (design
and functionality) and recycling route–specific recycling rates can be calculated efficiently using
simulation technologies and platforms, which are available (19) and were developed in detail for
this purpose. This is especially straightforward if the data structures of the bill of materials (BoM)
and full material declaration (FMD) are in a form that can easily interact with simulation tools
and be transferred in a form that is similar to that used in primary mineral processing, as shown in
Figure 1. These simulation methods, used industrially to design, simulate, and control processes
(as implied also by Figure 2), typically do not need extensive experimental input data, since many
of the data can be estimated using thermodynamic tools in combination with extensive industrial
experience as well as a detailed understanding of operating regimes. Figure 3 shows the link that
can be mapped between (a) a consumer product’s design, its product modules, and particle defini-
tion if the product is shredded and (b) the metallurgical processing infrastructure. The degree to
which materials are liberated is affected and reflected by, among other factors, the ease with which
the product can be dismantled for repair by means of, e.g., easily detachable connections and a
lack of gluing and other inconvertible connection types to improve accessibility of components
Metallurgy (scrap, modules, etc.)
Au
Separation into
Dismantling
Shredding
recyclates
Cu/PMs/PGMs
Modules sorted (e.g., by RFID chip)

directly to metallurgical processing
Ta
Figure 3
The particle description of recycling, inclusive of exergy and energy, makes it possible to understand the
losses of materials from the circular economy system (36). Modular design and processing in dedicated
processing infrastructure can to an extent mitigate losses, but functionality and material associations will
create inevitable leakages to metallurgical processing that are governed by thermodynamics and mass and
energy transfer processes (37). Abbreviations: PGM, platinum group element; PMs, precious metals; RFID,
radiofrequency identification.

and hence repairability. The idea has been applied in the form of repairability indices (34)—which,
as presented by, e.g., iFixit (35) and Greenpeace (24)—can be used to categorize and define dif-
ferent scenarios for product design assessment in view of liberation and hence recyclability. To
be able to predict mathematically in which stream complex particles statistically will end is not
an easy task. Significant research effort is being devoted to this aspect of system simulation to be
able to deal with particles and their chemical properties to understand their ultimate metallurgical
refining, as infographically depicted in Figure 3 (18, 19).
Therefore, if BoM and FMD can be exported to simulation software, it becomes a relatively
easy task to calculate the recycling rates of all materials in a product, the exergy destruction, and
hence the economic viability of the CE of the product. This thermodynamics-based approach be-
comes more important in CE business models in which a good estimate of recoverable material
inventory (especially the technology elements) within, e.g., e-mobility, communications, cloud
technology, Industry 4.0, and renewable energy grid service models will determine the success
of the approaches. A thermochemical and thermoeconomic approach as demonstrated by Valero

et al. (38, 39) allows the crucial link to design considerations to be pinpointed (18) and is the basis
from which to inform and quantify the economic fundamentals of CE business models. These
simulation models are also able to predict/estimate the recovery of critical and technology ele-
ments, to provide a framework for economically viable decision making, and to reveal the limits
of the CE.
While the above discusses mainly thermodynamics, of equal importance are kinetic, heat trans-
fer, and mass transport processes as well as fluid dynamics in metallurgical reactors as well as the
physical separation physics of particles and modules in physical separation process unit operations
(16). Thermochemical, kinetic, and mass and heat transfer descriptions within process metallur-
gical reactors of the system and technology require detailed thermochemical, kinetic, and process
data, but these are not always available or are often not available (16). The so-called Metal Wheel
(Figure 4) demonstrates qualitatively some interactions to guide design decisions that could max-
imize the recovery of elements. Verhoef et al. (40) show the linked metallurgical separation of
elements between different phases in a complete flowsheet, and the Metal Wheel’s copper seg-
ment is completely simulated by the model depicted in Figure 2. Unfortunately, Nakajima et al.
(41) and Hiraki et al. (42) do not include this detail of a complete flowsheet in their version of
the Metal Wheel, as these authors considered simply one reactor, and not a complete system of
reactors as shown in Figure 2. This limits the CE discussion and represents metallurgy based
on one metallurgical reactor alone and so does not include other transfer processes in hydro-
and pyrometallurgical reactor technology. The approach of Nakajima et al. (41) and Hiraki et al.
(42) misses the interaction of various flowsheets and the true potential of linked metal production
to recover and deal with, for example, more than 60 elements at the same time when these pass
through the flowsheet of Figure 2. Their method misrepresents the true meaning of the Metal
Wheel within a product/mineral-centric context, preventing a full understanding of all the losses
from the CE system. Figures 1 to 4 make clear that the thermodynamic-based, mass transfer–
based, heat transfer–based, and simulation-based approach (16) and underlying methodology are
required to guarantee industrially representative, achievable, and correct quantification of all the
losses from the CE system to ensure economic viability.
In summary, this section explains the key problem that has to be solved to fully understand the
viability of the CE system. Drinking a cup of coffee is such an entrenched symbol of our linear
economy (drinking, tasting, enjoying, and then?), but just think of the circularity of creating a CE
for a cup of coffee, namely recycling a cup of coffee into pure water, sugar, coffee, and milk so that
once again a great cup of coffee can be produced (12). Such a CE demands a detailed understanding
of the mineralogy of the system as shown in Figures 1 to 4. Thus, a mineral- or a product-centric
260 Reuter et al.

Al2O3 V2O5
MgO SiO2 SrO
SrO
WO3 FeOx CaO CaO REOs
BaO
KCl
CaF2 MgO
TiO2 ZrO2
In2O3 P Al2O3
Ga2O3 K Cd Hg
Na F ZrO2
ThO2 BaO Cl Na
REOs Hg Ag Bi Pb P TiO2
Ta2O5 As K
Nb2O5 Pb
CaF2
Cd SiO2
Zn Zn Sb
Br Au Sn Cr
Sb V Fe Ti Mg
MnO Si B2O3
Al2O3 REs Ta W Cr
Ni Nb Sn Mn Ni Cu Nb Al2O3
Co Ti V
Cr2O3 Cu Si Th Cr Ag Au Pd Zr
Cl
Pt Mo
SiO2 Pb Mo Rh Pd Sn Si Zn
FeOx
Nb Al Al
CaO Al
Pt Fe Electrolysis, Ti REs Th
REOs
MgO
V Steel remelt, Pyro-, hydro-
F refine Cl-metallurgy; Si F/Cl
Ti (BOF and EAF) Zr Al
Mn
NiO remelt; Br CaO

FeOx Fe-Ti alloy
Mg
Cl TRIP, austenitic, Electrolysis,
ferroalloys K2O
MgO Ni remelt, refine Na2O
Zn Ni and Cr CE Li P2O5
See also steel segment for Cr Fe Stainless steel Interconnected Hydro- and MnO3
other nonalloying minors ferroalloys pyrometallurgy
agile-process
See also other sulfide
segments for As metallurgical REs AlXy Cu Al2O
other minors Co Te Zn and Pb infrastructure Hydrometallurgy, RE(O)s Sb2O3 MgO
Ag In
RLE, smelt, battery recycling CaXy SiO2
Pt fume, refine
Cu Ga/As SrO
Bi Ni P
In
Smelt, refine Smelt, fume, refine SiXy CaO
Au Sn
Ge Cu and Ni REs
P2O5
Al2O3
Ga Sn Co
Sb Au P2O5
CaO Cd Se Pt FeOx
MnO
Th K
Ag Rh Pd Ag Cu
MgO Ni Te REOs
Pb REs Ni Li2O TiO2
As As
SiO2 Mo
Co Sb
Hg Br Sb
FeOx Zn Bi Al2O3
V2O5 Cd
Bi F
In Na Pb ZrO2
In2O3 Sn REOs
TiO2 Ga2O3
P Zn
Ta2O5
Ge In MnO FeOx
Nb2O5 SrO Cl K
MgO MgO Nb2O5
ZrO2 CaO
MnO V2O5
WO3 Al2O3 Ta2O5
SiO2 FeOx TiO2 SiO2
BaO In2O3
REOs Al2O3
CaO Cu2O WO3
NiO ThO2
Key
Economically viable destinations of complex resources and CE’s agile base metal processing infrastructure
materials, designed functional material combinations, scrap, Extractive metallurgy’s backbone, the enabler of a CE as it also
residues, etc., to metallurgical processing infrastructure (each recovers technology elements used, e.g., in renewable energy
segment) to produce refined metals, high-quality compounds, infrastructure, IoT, and eMobility, etc.
and alloys in the best available technology. Dissolves primarily in base metal if metallic (mainly
pyrometallurgy and smelting route)
Mainly recovered element Valuable elements recovered or dissipatively lost (metallic, speiss,
R Compatible with the base metal as an alloying element or can compounds, and alloys in EoL also determine the destination). Linked
be recovered in subsequent processing. hydro- and pyrometallurgical infrastructure determines percent recovery.
Compounds primarily to dust, slime, speiss (mainly
Recovered in alloy/compound or lost if in the incorrect hydrometallurgy and refining route)
R/L stream/scrap/module Collectors of valuable minor elements as, e.g., oxides, sulfates, and
Governed by functionality, if not detrimental to base metal or chlorides, and mainly recovered in appropriate predominantly hydro-
product (e.g., if refractory metals in EoL product report to slag, metallurgical infrastructure if economical. Often separate infrastructure.
and slag is also intermediate product for cement).
Primarily lost to benign, lower-value building material products;
Mainly lost element: not always compatible with base also contributing to dissipative loss
L metal or product Relatively lower value but an inevitable part of society and material
Detrimental to properties and cannot be economically processing. A sink for metals and loss from the CE system as oxides/
recovered; e.g., Au dissolved in steel or aluminum will be lost. compounds. Usually linked but separate infrastructure.
(Caption appears on following page)

Figure 4 (Figure appears on preceding page)

The Metal Wheel shows the interaction of a selection of elements and materials linked in a complex manner in each of the carrier
process metallurgical infrastructures (thus in complete processing flowsheets), including their respective refining and alloying/refining
capabilities and the inevitable losses to final residues that cannot be processed economically, as defined in the key at the bottom.
Abbreviations: BOF, basic oxygen furnace; CE, circular economy; EAF, electric arc furnace; EoL, end of life; IoT, internet of things;
REOs, rare earth oxides; REs, rare earth elements; RLE, roast leach electrowinning; TRIP, transformation-induced plasticity steels.
Adapted from Reference 23. Copyright Markus A. Reuter & Antoinette van Schaik.
simulation-based understanding is required in a thinking approach as proposed, propagated, and

coined by Reuter, Van Schaik, and colleagues (12, 30, 43). This approach is in contrast to the more
limited material-centric approach introduced by Reck & Graedel (28), which basically limits the
detail and thus quantifies the economic losses and the environmental risks reflected in Figure 1.
It is necessary to bring these approaches together, recognizing that the material (metal)-centric
approach is an oversimplification of the mineral (and product)-centric approach.
2.2. Losses, False Advertising, Fluff, and Hype

What are the hurdles to achieving the CE? Lazarevic & Valve (44) note that the story being told
about the CE is a hero’s tale in which there are no villains, only “smoothly acting collaborators,”
and they mention that high-profile publications circulated to European policy makers emphasize
closed loops but largely ignore losses. CE is sold as an environmental messiah, a stimulator of
the economy, and a creator of jobs by its promotors, of which the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
(EMF) is the most influential, on the basis of the “expectation that an economy-wide perfect circle
of perpetual fully closed material loops can be a material reality” (44, p. 63). As Goldberg (45) notes,
the fates of toxic chemicals like Pb and Hg are also ignored.
Moreover, some prominent global business consulting firms claim that full circularity and in-
dustrial and economic utopia can be achieved by simply using “only inputs that can be continuously
reused, reprocessed, or renewed for productive use (e.g., renewable energy, biomaterial or fully re-
cycled/recyclable resources)” (46, p. 10). Statements like this demonstrate a lack of understanding
of the complexities of bringing EoL goods back into utilization or of recovering secondary re-
sources from them. The ever-present 2LT dictates that continuous reuse, reprocessing, renewal,
and lossless recycling cannot be achieved. Losses and residues can be reduced but cannot be elim-
inated. The apparent closure of one loop might be at the expense of another; the closure of a
material loop relies on the opening of an energy loop elsewhere because of the inevitable de-
struction of exergy (i.e., the creation of entropy). While products can be fully manufactured from
recycled materials, losses will occur in recovering those manufacturing materials. The finished
product can never be fully recycled as a result of unrecoverable losses. To ignore this principle
would be to hinder impactful innovation (43)—true RE can be determined only if losses are con-
sidered. Waste cannot be designed out if its existence is ignored. Clift (47) rightly states, “It’s time
to speak up for thermodynamics. The future of our planet depends on it.” Only by taking into
consideration the effects of the 2LT can the limits and true potential of CE systems be assessed.
In addition to the 2LT, population growth and the inevitable associated increased consumption
cannot be ignored. The world population is forecast to be 8.6 billion by 2030 and 9.8 billion by
2050 (48).
Creating buzz around CE might raise awareness and motivate action to some extent. The
EMF and others that promote their vision of a sustainable future in which growth is completely
decoupled from resource consumption are doing a good job from that perspective. The over-
simplification of win-win scenarios without mentioning the associated challenges and extended
262 Reuter et al.

timelines, however, could lead to despondency when expectations are not met as quickly and
easily as advertised (49).
2.3. Other Challenges: Supply Chains, Consumer Behavior, Policy, Legislation,

and Economics
The participants in a CE system are not typically integrated, necessitating collaboration and the
sharing of knowledge along the life cycle between various stakeholders, all of whom protect their
own interests and intellectual property to remain profitable. With growing globalization, stake-
holders are increasingly scattered across the globe, adding further complexities. The integration
of stakeholders across whole CE systems requires sustainable supply chain management (SCM),
which is defined as “the management of material, information and capital flows as well as coop-
eration among companies along the supply chain while taking goals from all three dimensions of
sustainable development…into account which are derived from customer and stakeholder require-
ments” (50, p. 1700). Seuring & Müller (50) add that the implementation of life cycle thinking–
based environmental and social standards is necessary throughout the supply chain.
Srivastava (51) highlights the complexity of environmental issues in reverse logistics, in addi-
tion to the need for business to evolve toward sustainable supply chains and the sharing of in-
formation across the complete chain. It is suggested that, e.g., artificial intelligence would play a
significant role in creating intelligent, green SCM. Reuter (16) also highlights the need for digi-
talization of the CE and for leveraging the potential of the internet of things (IoT) to maximize
circularity.
Consumer/user behavior plays a crucial role through decisions made about whether to pur-
chase more sustainable products, when the EoL phase is entered, and whether products are col-
lected and recycled to (more or less) close loops (52, 53). Consumer decisions are affected by
complex interactions of personality, motivation, culture, and various demographics (54). If manu-
facturers, consumers, or users are not equipped with the knowledge and understanding that guide
sustainable decision making, the CE collapses. Engaging these stakeholders in the design and
testing of potential approaches and promoting the acceptance of recycled and reused products are
therefore critical for realizing the CE (16), feeding into the Industry 4.0 concept.
Geyer et al. (55) highlight that recycling does not necessarily displace primary resource ex-
traction on a one-to-one basis. Displacement is influenced by market dynamics and supply and
demand elasticities, making one-to-one displacement the exception rather than the rule. To avoid
overestimation of the benefits of recycling and the CE, these concepts need to be integrated into
evaluations of RE and environmental impact.
Politics, policy and regulation, legislation, and public funding/taxes have a significant influence
on the running of any CE. Thus, detailed capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expen-
diture (OPEX) analysis, using well-established engineering tools, must be a significant part of
estimating the viability of the CE.
3. THE CRITICALITY OF THE AVAILABILITY OF THE

METALLURGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE THAT
PRODUCES THE CRITICAL ELEMENTS
There is significant discussion on the criticality of, for example, metals and elements (13) but
rather little discussion on the critical metallurgical infrastructure that is required to produce them
(17). The extraction of intertwined metals and compounds from geological and urban miner-
als occurs through complex networks of physical separation, mineral processing, and pyro- and

#weareffaiirrph
#wearefairphone
phon
one
Figure 5
A typical metallurgical flowsheet to simulate the recovery of, e.g., metals, materials, alloys, and energy from end-of-life products—in
this case, the Fairphone (19, 21). Modules are processed in a metallurgical segment that maximizes recovery according to the segments
shown in Figure 4.
hydrometallurgical processes. These processes are based on fundamental physicochemical and

thermodynamic properties; reaction kinetics; and solution behavior of metals, compounds, and
particles. In addition, mass and heat transfer processes limit recovery of metals and materials as a
function of the type of reactor technologies and systems of reactor technologies, requiring detailed
computational fluid dynamics for understanding and optimizing these reactors (16). The design,
optimization, and integration of these systems are at the heart of loss minimization and entropy
creation, requiring detailed flowsheeting skills as well as industrial experience of these systems and
their contained reactor types.
The digitalization of data, process units, and networks of metal producers creates the metallur-
gical IoT, the vehicle by which metallurgical technology and systems are integrated, locally and
globally, for describing CE systems as dynamic feedback control loops. Digitalization therefore
facilitates the linking of all stakeholders in CE systems (16). Specific obstacles in the context of
metal-containing products and associated metallurgical systems are discussed below. Figure 5
shows the indispensable metallurgical infrastructure that is required to recover various critical
technology elements. Without this infrastructure, the CE system is doomed to fail.
3.1. Linkages Between Metals and Elements in Ore Minerals

Often overlooked are the interconnections between some metals in the geological and urban de-
posits from which they are extracted. As Nakajima et al. (41) discuss, complex metal intercon-
nections are often neglected in analyses of material flows. In many cases, metals occur in close
264 Reuter et al.

association with others in natural ores and man-made products and therefore cannot be produced,
recycled, or analyzed in isolation. In geological deposits, similarities in geochemical behavior de-
termine the way in which metals group together in mineral form during ore genesis; examples
include the Pb-Zn-Ag and Cu/Ni-Cr-PGM (platinum group metal) systems (13, 56). Figure 2
shows how a consistent digital simulation platform is available to deal with all these linkages.
In urban mines, significantly more complex man-made combinations of metals and compounds
exist as so-called urban minerals resulting from products entering the EoL phase of their life cy-
cles. A deposit of recycled mobile phones, for instance, contains electronic and other components
containing complex fit-for-purpose combinations of specialized metals, alloys, and plastics bonded
together physically or chemically, with none present in pure, isolated form. These are typical char-
acteristics of e-waste (21) that must be analyzed in far more depth and economic rigor than in the
naive treatment of Cucchiella et al. (57).

With the complexity of such dynamic, multidimensional systems, analyzing the movement of
any metals or compounds and associated environmental, economic, and other impacts in isolation
is not realistic (58). For a robust analysis of material metabolism, a bottom-up, product-centric
systems approach is required that includes the detail of thermodynamics, mass and heat transfer,
flowsheeting, and system simulation (30, 36, 43, 59, 60). Such an approach simultaneously takes
into consideration all components of a product, as opposed to considering each individual con-
stituent element one at a time, and prevents oversimplification, delivering realistic results (12).
Digitalization efforts involve systemic modeling and simulation of processes, the measurement
of the kinetic and thermodynamic data required in these models, and the calibration of models
to industrial reality through the collection and analysis of big data, each of which comes with a
number of challenges. The data and unit models within these system models are then applied to
conduct rigorous life cycle analysis and economic evaluation and to enable design for recycling
(DfR) (17).
The Metal Wheel, originally presented by Verhoef et al. (40) for minerals and ores, is a visual
summary of metal interconnections in geology and their most suitable base metals for maximum
recovery. This circular construct shows simply that a metallurgical industry is required to make
the CE wheel roll; in other words, removing any segment will render the CE inoperable, as it will
not be able to roll freely. The Metal Wheel also shows the interaction of elements in metallurgical
reactors, namely elements that can be recovered as pure metals, alloys, or building materials and
those that are inevitably lost in residue streams as dictated by the chemistry of each element and
its properties (as defined by the properties of the element groups in the periodic table of the
elements).
Castro et al. (61) provide a detailed explanation of the chemistry and thermodynamics that gov-
ern metal interactions and their effects on metal recovery. Applying this knowledge during product
design can assist in preventing inefficient recycling. The Metal Wheel and the fundamental prin-
ciples it is based upon facilitate true DfR and design for RE. These concepts are further described
from simulation to process design and are applied in industry (12, 16, 18, 43, 62).
3.2. Characterization of Minerals

Geological mineral ores can be characterized in detail (63, 64) and provide mostly consistent and
predictable feed quality to processing plants as shown in Figure 2, for example. The simulation
of their flows through entire metallurgical processing plants has developed significantly over the
last few decades (16, 62). However, the quantities and qualities of complex secondary mineral
streams shown in Figure 3 are highly variable due to the numerous possible sources of complex
products they originate from. In addition, these complex streams may be mixed in unpredictable

and often stochastically determined proportions at collection, during preprocessing, and during
physical separation (i.e., recycling) processing facilities.
Robust analysis of CE systems necessitates real-time characterization of these complex material
streams in terms of various particle properties (e.g., shape, size, composition, mineralogy, conduc-
tivity, density, color, odor, magnetic susceptibility, liberation, agglomeration) to capture the detail
required by separation models in recycling process simulations.
Real-time particle sorting technologies have evolved considerably but usually act on only one
particle property. The future use of real-time proxy measurements, e.g., three-dimensional X-ray
tomography and material liberation analysis (56, 63), to create optimization models for particle
separation processes and subsequent linking to simulation models would enable routing of EoL
products and other streams to metallurgical infrastructure that would ensure optimal recovery
(16).
3.3. Cascading/Downgrading of Materials Due to Mixing and Designed

Functional Material Associations
While product life extension through reuse and remanufacturing (i.e., slowing down the life cycle)
is an important contributor to enhanced circularity, the product will still be eventually recycled or
thrown away. Inefficiencies in recycling processes result in impurities in secondary metals. Even
steel and aluminum, usually depicted as being infinitely recyclable (18), cannot be brought back
into use without quantity and quality losses, necessitating dilution of impurities through the ad-
dition of virgin metals to meet purity requirements.
Ignoring this fact can result in unrealistic expectations and an overestimation of RE, creat-
ing unachievable expectations in society. A more meaningful approach would be to realistically
account for the losses, thereby stimulating real innovation to improve process efficiency.
3.4. Functional Materials, Modules, and Designer and Designed Minerals

Figure 3 shows that joined functional materials create, e.g., multimaterial particles, dust, and
sludges, leading to losses from the CE system. Modules are a higher level of functional materials
with numerous additional materials, metals, alloys, plastics, inorganic compounds, fillers, glues,
etc., that are arranged in the module to impart a certain functionality. This begs the question:
How many modules and how many shredded modules from a product maximize RE and metal,
material, and energy recovery? This is the true DfR question that has to be discussed and solved.
Figure 6 (an infographic of Figure 5) shows that the processing of the Fairphone’s seven modules
in dedicated processing infrastructure leads to the recovery of various elements while leading to
the losses of others. Figure 6 shows the recovery of 20 selected elements from 46 total elements
(all functionally linked as alloys, oxides, plastics, metals, etc.). This reveals a significant loss of some
important elements, for instance, from the Fairphone despite its modular design. This figure neatly
summarizes the dilemma the CE paradigm is in: Not all elements and materials as well as energy
can be recovered. Thus, one has to consider rather carefully the possible limits and opportunities
of, and how best to organize, the CE system.
4. CHALLENGES OF PRODUCT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY

SYSTEM DESIGN
Van Schaik & Reuter (43, 58) document various design rules as applied to product design, namely
five design rules and five design guidelines. Lansink, well known for the ladder of Lansink (3),
uses some of these aspects in a recent publication to explain them in the context of CE. As men-
tioned above, man-made urban and functional designer minerals consist of complex combinations
266 Reuter et al.
a b Recycling route 2: Dismantling

Recycling route 2:
Recovery rate by metal
Ag Al
W TSL
Ta Au furnace
Sn Co 0–10%
10–20% Light metal
remelt/refine
Pt Cr 20–30%
30–40%
Pr Cu 40–50%
Electric
50–60% furnace Recovered materials
60–70% and energy
Pd Dy 70–80%
80–90%
Ni Fe 90–100%
Plastic extruder
Nd Ga
Separating Fairphone 2 modules and putting them through

Mg Li In the most suitable recovery processes for metals and plastics
Figure 6
(a) Selection of element recoveries from the Fairphone after processing of each of the modules, which are composed of 46 elements
(and their functional materials). The recovery rates are calculated with reference to elements into, e.g., pure materials, metals, alloys,
and compounds of high purity and energy. For example, for Au the recovery is 90–100% while for Ta the recovery is 0–10% through
the complete processing chain. (b) A dedicated processing infrastructure to maximize the resource-efficient recovery of all materials.
TSL denotes top submerged lance. Adapted from References 21 and 23. Copyright MARAS B.V.
of metals and other compounds that are bound together in various ways to facilitate the functional-
ity of the product. These bonds directly impact the behavior of materials during the preprocessing
(shredding, cutting, and dismantling) steps and further steps of the recycling stage. The complex-
ity and functionality of these designer minerals determine what losses occur and the quantity and
quality of materials that can be recovered and recycled. Therefore, the product designer and the
intended functionality control the entropy state of the product and hence the amount of energy
input necessary to counter the entropy created. Proper modeling and simulation of recycling sys-
tem performance and losses, based on the types of particle characterization methods described
above, have the potential to act as feedback control loops for product designers who would then
be able to design with sustainability in mind from the outset.
The Fairphone (21, 23) is a recent example of how the BoM and FMD (which was supplied to
the authors—a rather unique development!) could be transformed into a format useful for input
into a simulation model such as that shown in Figure 5. By using this approach, the Recycling
Index (RI), as depicted in Figure 7a, can be determined, showing the low recycling rate achievable
for such a product, while the energy recovery as well as the environmental footprint can be cal-
culated as shown in Figure 7b. Similar low recycling rates have been reported for light-emitting
diodes, as discussed by Reuter & Van Schaik (16, 34, 43).
The results of Figures 6 and 7 make clear that functional complexity will have a large impact
on the recyclability and on the ability to return all metals, materials, plastics, etc., back into the
CE system. Miniaturization does not help either, as the entropy created by this functionality and
the entropy created by the dilution effect in the various metallurgical processing solutions (both
hydro- and pyrometallurgical) will affect the economically realistic recovery of minor elements
from these extremely dilute contaminated solutions.
If the composition of complex products can be digitalized as well as minerals, metals, and al-
loys and all material flows emanating from the product in the CE system can be well simulated,
then the potential arises to link the digitalized material flows with all other digitalized goods and
services in the future CE system. The digitalized material flow system linked to energy (Figure 1)

a nt
Ine
ffic b
cie ien
Effi
A+++ 160
t
G
Values relative to Route 1

0–10% 140
A++ F 10–20% 120
20–30%
100
Recycling 30–40%
A+
E 40–50% 80
index Normalized energy
50–60% 60 (kWh/phone)
60–70%
40 Normalized GWP
A 70–80% (kg CO2-eq)
D
80–90% 20
B 90–100% Normalized metal
C
0 depletion (kg Fe-eq)

Route 1 Route 2 Route 3
Figure 7
(a) The Recycling Index (RI): the weighted average recovery of a product as a function of the complete bill of materials and full
material declaration of all elements, materials, alloys, plastics, etc.; 30–40% was determined for the processing route depicted in
Figure 6. Panel a adapted from References 21 and 23. (b) The energy recovery as well as selected environmental indicators of global
warming potential (GWP) and metal depletion compared for three different processing routes.
lies at the heart of the CE (Figures 1 to 3). This system (shown at the top left of Figure 8) is termed
the smart material grid. It ties together all other (smart) grids—e.g., energy, water, transport/
mobility, processing (which is the key to transforming materials into products according to the
Metal Wheel), and manufacture (Industry 4.0)—and lies between all smart cities, as depicted in
Figure 8. CE thinking will make it possible to realize what Figure 8 proposes: digitalization to
the level of detail shown in this article, with the digitalized material and metallurgical processing
system being at the heart of the CE (Figure 1).
5. THE FUTURE CHALLENGES TO AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE

CIRCULAR ECONOMY: BRAVE STEPS?
Understanding the economic viability and the true recovery of products within the CE system in
whichever business model requires the consideration of the following points:
A product-centric approach that considers metal/material and energy/exergy flows on a min-

eralogical or, in other words, BoM and FMD basis for products must be the driver and the
basic description of data. Linking the BoM and FMD to process simulators is no big problem
but is simply one step further with some effort.
The material-centric approach as presented by ProSUM (65) is an oversimplified descrip-
tion of the data of the CE system and is thus not adequate for understanding the true limits
of the CE due to a lack of entropy detail in this type of Excel database. This database type
is good for bulk flow to obtain rough estimates but is fundamentally flawed due to lacking
thermochemical detail regarding, e.g., the minor technology elements, the alloy types, and
the functional linkages.
A full and flexible metallurgical infrastructure must be present as reflected by each sector of
the Metal Wheel. This infrastructure should be capable of recovering, to the extent possi-
ble, functionally linked metals, technology elements, materials, alloys, etc., from the complex
mineralogies and products as shown by the simulation model of Figure 2. Poor policy and
forward thinking leading to the removal of any sector of the Metal Wheel will have catas-
trophic consequences (Figure 9).
268 Reuter et al.

Smart
Circular
material grid city Smart
IT, IoT, simulation Smart
energy grid
platforms linking mining
materials, energy, and (links to material
and water grids) (including
water adaptively urban)
and resource
efficiently
Integrated
circular cities
Smart Smart material
water grid Smart/adaptive
grid
metal/material
(between cities; processing and
links to
Circular recycling
other grids)
city
(situated in and
between cities)
Smart
Circular mobility
city grid
(links to cities;
Manufacture driverless) Circular Circular
Industry 4.0 city city
Circular
city Circular
Circular
city
Grid IT city
infrastructure
Figure 8
Digitalizing the material and resources system depicted in Figure 1 will make it possible—in conjunction with the energy, water,
transport, metallurgical, and manufacturing industries and other smart grids—to optimize the resource efficiency of circular cities.
Detailed digitalization of the material and element flows as shown in this article is at the heart of the system. IoT denotes internet of
things. Copyright, Markus A. Reuter.
Figure 9
To fuel the electric car with metals requires a complete metallurgical infrastructure as depicted by the Metal
Wheel of Figure 4. Removing any sector of the Metal Wheel (as in the front wheel) and its propensity to
produce and recycle the multitude of technology elements required for eMobility will have catastrophic
consequences. Copyright Markus A. Reuter.

While modular product design can maximize the recovery of materials and elements from
the products, functionality of materials and thus their linkages will create losses as dictated
by the properties of the elements in the periodic table of the elements (Figure 4).
To estimate the true recyclability of products, standard flowsheets should be agreed upon
(e.g., Figures 2 and 5) and must become part of policy discussions to estimate the true
recovery of elements back into either open or closed loop recycling systems.
It is fundamentally incorrect to set the recyclability of elements at fixed rates in legislation.
Product complexity and processing infrastructure dictate such recyclability and are key to
understanding the true losses from the CE system and therefore its economic viability.
Only with a rigorous simulation basis can the recovery of elements from products be esti-
mated; anything less will overestimate the recycling rate and jeopardize the economic via-
bility of the CE. Simplistic two-dimensional figures (28) and simple entropyless represen-
tations of circularity (44, 46) cannot replace the N-dimensional complexity of recycling and
the CE system that simulation software captures as shown by Figures 2 and 5. Figure 4, a
simplifying abstraction of the complexity of Figures 2 and 5, provides the true distribution
of elements and materials as well as energy and exergy through all processes that are recov-
ered by metallurgical processing. Thus, to obtain a good quantification of losses, all sectors
of the Metal Wheel must be connected in harmony with the periodic table and reactor tech-
nology (40). An approach that considers a metal, alloy, material, etc., without the complete
metallurgical context and its linkages is fundamentally flawed and cannot be used to valuate
economically the performance of the CE system.
Data structures of products, recyclates, residues, etc., must be in a form that can be used
in process simulators; the state of the art is to be found in structures used in mineral and
metallurgical processing digitalization and simulation. ProSUM-type databases (65) are fun-
damentally flawed for the reasons explained above. Figure 1, a contribution from mineral
and metallurgical processing engineers, is thus a central insight into the CE discussion and
is key to quantifying system performance.
Recycling indices (derived on the basis of a simulation method for CE system performance
calculation as discussed in this article) are suitable tools for visualization and communication
of different product designs and recycling routes.
Overall recycling rates for different metals, including critical materials, and hence the ac-
tual and future flows of recovered (and lost) metals/materials for EU EEE applications and
WEEE can be derived on the basis of the methodology discussed above, combined with a
detailed BoM/FMD and product flow data of (W)EEE streams.
While business models are an important aspect of the CE, all products have a not-to-be-
forgotten EoL phase. In this phase, it is of critical importance to understand the true re-
covery of the elements, material, alloys, modules, etc., back into the material cycle, as such
recovery is the basis of the financial viability of the CE system. In other words, the recov-
erable stock of materials in products of whatever kind in whatever business model must be
known accurately, as any loss of material will become visible on the financial balance sheet
and will affect the ultimate financial outcome.
What is the brave step to make the CE system work and to fully understand the opportunities
but also the limits and challenges of the CE? Digital platforms must be created that can capture
the true economic value of the CE system. Thus, a digital platform must give a good economic
indication of the losses. The true economic value of all products, residues, materials, etc., must be
available to obtain a true indication of the economic value that can be returned from the material
content in the goods that service the CE system. Three suggestions are:
270 Reuter et al.

Create standard flowsheets, on the basis of a product-centric approach, that realistically pre-
dict the recycling rates of materials, products, modules, recyclates, etc. This approach is not
amenable to using fixed recycling rates, which refer only to pure materials and do not in-
clude the effects of, e.g., product complexity, multiphysical material properties, associated
and linked functional materials, morphology, exergy, and process transfer processes. Thus,
one should move far beyond the presently used simplistic material-centric approaches that
exclude the complex vector of material properties.
Create databases for materials, products, etc., with data structures that are compatible with
those required by process simulators of the mineral and metallurgical process industries.
This approach will permit a rigorous estimation of CAPEX and OPEX, which is standard
procedure for process design engineering. This is the key message that Figure 1 conveys.
Promote infrastructure criticality and not only metal criticality. The metallurgical infras-
tructure, as reflected in some detail by Figure 5 and abstracted by the Metal Wheel, provides
the agile and adaptive capability to recover material from consumer products comprising a
myriad of functional material combinations to the maximum technoeconomic level.
Integration of the above three suggestions will permit the design of a system in which all losses
will be quantifiable, hence providing estimates of the true economic viability of the CE system
and the constraints around smart sustainable living of the future. This will build on the work by
Rechberger & Brunner (66) and Gutowski & Sekulic (67) and further develop these into digital-
ization tools as discussed in this article. This digitalization will provide the rigorous physics-based
fundamental information and economic data to integrate the United Nation’s Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (68) into one consistent digitalized platform that permits the maximization of RE
of smart cities and to give clear(er) parameters for the design of viable cities and integrated systems
for sustainable living. This integration of tools will also provide consumers with systemic-based
information to decide on their consumption patterns, suggest where we as a society have to throt-
tle consumption to a level at which we can survive, and suggests and advises on which materials
and products should not be consumed due to a too high destruction of exergy in the CE system.
A recent report by the World Economic Forum (69) shows that cities will create 2.2 billion
tonnes of waste per year by 2025 and that material consumption by the world’s cities will grow
to approximately 90 billion tonnes by 2050. The suggestions in this article will help to map a
deeply valuable CE path through digitalization of the interconnected systems shown in Figure 1
to manage these large streams. This approach permits digitalized integration with the water, en-
ergy, transport, and metallurgical processing (heavy industry) systems as shown in Figure 8 (70).
This way forward is required to design as well as resource manage the smart sustainable cities of
the future. We need to follow this path with urgency.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The authors are not aware of any affiliations, memberships, funding, or financial holdings that
might be perceived as affecting the objectivity of this review.
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MR49_FrontMatter ARI 1 June 2019 7:34
Annual Review of
Materials Research
Volume 49, 2019
Contents
Computational Methods in Materials
Advances in Density-Functional Calculations for Materials Modeling

Reinhard J. Maurer, Christoph Freysoldt, Anthony M. Reilly,
Jan Gerit Brandenburg, Oliver T. Hofmann, Torbjörn Björkman,
Sébastien Lebègue, and Alexandre Tkatchenko p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 1
Applications of DFT + DMFT in Materials Science
Arpita Paul and Turan Birol p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p31
Modeling Corrosion with First-Principles Electrochemical Phase
Diagrams
Liang-Feng Huang, John R. Scully, and James M. Rondinelli p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p53
The Phase Field Method: Mesoscale Simulation Aiding Material
Discovery
Michael R. Tonks and Larry K. Aagesen p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p79
Systems Approaches to Materials Design: Past, Present, and Future
Raymundo Arróyave and David L. McDowell p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 103
Understanding, Predicting, and Designing Ferroelectric Domain
Structures and Switching Guided by the Phase-Field Method
Jian-Jun Wang, Bo Wang, and Long-Qing Chen p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 127
Topological Quantum Materials
Topological Semimetals from First Principles

Heng Gao, Jörn W.F. Venderbos, Youngkuk Kim, and Andrew M. Rappe p p p p p p p p p p p p p 153
Topological Semimetals in Square-Net Materials
Sebastian Klemenz, Shiming Lei, and Leslie M. Schoop p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 185
Transport of Topological Semimetals
Jin Hu, Su-Yang Xu, Ni Ni, and Zhiqiang Mao p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 207
v
MR49_FrontMatter ARI 1 June 2019 7:34
Current Interest
Challenges of the Circular Economy: A Material, Metallurgical,

and Product Design Perspective
Markus A. Reuter, Antoinette van Schaik, Jens Gutzmer, Neill Bartie,
and Alejandro Abadı́as-Llamas p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 253
Cold Sintering: Progress, Challenges, and Future Opportunities
Jing Guo, Richard Floyd, Sarah Lowum, Jon-Paul Maria,
Thomas Herisson de Beauvoir, Joo-Hwan Seo, and Clive A. Randall p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 275
Iron Aluminides
Martin Palm, Frank Stein, and Gerhard Dehm p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 297

Materials for Automotive Lightweighting

Alan Taub, Emmanuel De Moor, Alan Luo, David K. Matlock, John G. Speer,
and Uday Vaidya p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 327
Mechanical Control of Magnetic Order: From Phase Transition
to Skyrmions
Jie Wang p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 361
Time-Resolved X-Ray Microscopy for Materials Science
Haidan Wen, Mathew J. Cherukara, and Martin V. Holt p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 389
Indexes
Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 45–49 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 417
Errata
An online log of corrections to Annual Review of Materials Research articles may be

found at http://www.annualreviews.org/errata/matsci
vi Contents

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MR49CH10_Reuter ARjats.

cls June 1, 2019 7:53

Annual Review of Materials Research

Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2019. 49:253–74 Keywords

1. WHAT IS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY?

254 Reuter et al.

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 255

Mining and Parametric models 3D simulation

Exploration Mining Physical

Use Production Product design:

design for recycling

256 Reuter et al.

2. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES AND BRAVE STEPS THAT ENABLE

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 257

Environmental 2.7 t CO2-eq/t Cu 3.0 t CO2-eq/t Cu

258 Reuter et al.

Modules sorted (e.g., by RFID chip)

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 259

of the approaches. A thermochemical and thermoeconomic approach as demonstrated by Valero

260 Reuter et al.

NiO remelt; Br CaO

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 261

Figure 4 (Figure appears on preceding page)

simulation-based understanding is required in a thinking approach as proposed, propagated, and

approach is an oversimplification of the mineral (and product)-centric approach.

2.2. Losses, False Advertising, Fluff, and Hype

262 Reuter et al.

2.3. Other Challenges: Supply Chains, Consumer Behavior, Policy, Legislation,

3. THE CRITICALITY OF THE AVAILABILITY OF THE

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 263

hydrometallurgical processes. These processes are based on fundamental physicochemical and

3.1. Linkages Between Metals and Elements in Ore Minerals

264 Reuter et al.

naive treatment of Cucchiella et al. (57).

3.2. Characterization of Minerals

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 265

3.3. Cascading/Downgrading of Materials Due to Mixing and Designed

3.4. Functional Materials, Modules, and Designer and Designed Minerals

4. CHALLENGES OF PRODUCT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY

a b Recycling route 2: Dismantling

Separating Fairphone 2 modules and putting them through

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 267

Values relative to Route 1

0 depletion (kg Fe-eq)

5. THE FUTURE CHALLENGES TO AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE

A product-centric approach that considers metal/material and energy/exergy flows on a min-

268 Reuter et al.

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 269

270 Reuter et al.

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 271

272 Reuter et al.

www.annualreviews.org • Challenges of the Circular Economy 273

274 Reuter et al.

Volume 49, 2019

Computational Methods in Materials

Advances in Density-Functional Calculations for Materials Modeling

Topological Quantum Materials

Topological Semimetals from First Principles

Challenges of the Circular Economy: A Material, Metallurgical,

Martin Palm, Frank Stein, and Gerhard Dehm p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 297

Materials for Automotive Lightweighting

Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 45–49 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 417

An online log of corrections to Annual Review of Materials Research articles may be