REWAS 2022: Coupling Metallurgy and Sustainability: An EPD Symposium in Honor of Diran Apelian: Building Sustainability in Metals through Partnerships
Sponsored by: TMS Extraction and Processing Division, TMS: Recycling and Environmental Technologies Committee, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Elsa Olivetti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Brajendra Mishra, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Bart Blanpain, Ku Leuven; Adam Powell, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Mertol Gokelma, Izmir Institute of Technology; Camille Fleuriault, Eramet Norway
Tuesday 8:00 AM
March 1, 2022
Room: 211A
Location: Anaheim Convention Center
Session Chair: Brajendra Mishra, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
8:00 AM Introductory Comments
8:05 AM Invited
The Legacy of Prof. Diran Apelian: In Retrospect: Brajendra Mishra1; 1Worcester Polytechnic Institute
This presentation will celebrate the life and work of Professor Diran Apelian. A glance at the career of Prof. Apelian that spans over half a century will be highlighted in snippets. His contributions as an educator have been most noteworthy where he has tirelessly worked as an on-field coach. Diran is a builder of careers where he has nurtured scholars in many facets of material science. Description of Prof. Apelian’s role as an innovator in the research arena will be included. Examples of the aspects of his unique personality and demeanor in professional as well as social settings will be portrayed in this tribute to Diran.
8:30 AM Invited
Electrochemical Pathways Towards Sustainable Energy: Donald Sadoway1; 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A sustainable energy future is axiomatically an electric future whose realization depends in part upon electrochemical innovations. Two examples: stationary energy storage and carbon-free steelmaking. Grid-scale electricity storage not only treats the intermittency of renewable electric power generation (wind and solar) but also confers resilience to today’s grid. For example, the liquid metal battery provides colossal power capability on demand and long service lifetime at requisite low cost. In 2019, worldwide steel production, 1.869 billion tonnes, generated 9% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions. As an example of novel approaches in this sector, molten oxide electrolysis represents an environmentally sound alternative to today’s carbon-intensive thermochemical process which produces an average 1.83 tonnes CO2 per tonne of steel. In the narratives of both of these emerging technologies, there are lessons more broadly applicable to innovation: pose the right question, engage young minds (not experts), establish a creative culture, and invent inventors.
8:55 AM Invited
How the Implications of Force Majeure Resulted in the Adoption of More Sustainable Materials: Kevin Anderson1; Jason Mallek1; Miles Gathright2; James Miller3; Tina Glass3; Lee Berry4; 1Brunswick-Mercury Marine; 2Brunswick - Boston Whaler; 3Celanese Corporation; 4Mafic Corporation
There are many thoughtful, valid, and institutionalized barriers for adopting “new” materials in production. Examples include structural engineering analysis of components and subsystems, plant trials, dimensional characterization, mechanical and physical testing, changing engineering prints and manufacturing bills of materials, adding suppliers to computerized procurement systems, and quality audits of suppliers to name just a few. In 2020 and 2021, a wave of force majeure actions in the materials industry wreaked havoc with manufacturing supply chains, and consequently some materials were just not available for production. This talk will address, from a typical materials customer perspective, this “crisis” situation and will provide two (2) case histories of how sustainable materials provided long term supply chain alternatives to historic materials. These sustainable materials resulted in high quality parts, diversified the supply chain, and kept manufacturing lines running to the benefit of the employees, shareholders, communities where these manufacturing facilities reside, and our environment.
9:15 AM Invited
Industry-University Collaboration in Metals Processing and Recycling: Challenges and Lessons Learned from a Regional and Global Perspective: Bart Blanpain1; 1KU Leuven
If we want to move our world into a direction of increased sustainability we need to collaborate. In this arena universities and industries are dream partners to some and sworn enemies to others. In this presentation we look at the potentiality of the relationship through strategic partnerships, highlighting the challenges and some of the lessons gleaned from regional, European and global industry-university partnerships.
9:40 AM Break
9:55 AM Invited
Materials-aware STEM Education as a Foundation for a Sustainable World: Glenn Daehn1; 1Ohio State University
I've had the pleasure of working with Diran Apelian as successive Chairs of the ASM Materials Education Foundation Board of Trustees with him preceding me. Here we tried to make the world a better place through spreading the gospel of materials science in the highest leverage way we could imagine -- supporting the materials education of K-12 teachers. The ASM Foundation spent over $1M/year, year after year on this endeavor. I will reflect on the successes and opportunities in bringing materials science teaching to the K-12 level. The hands-on, problem-based approach works very well, but to take it to the next level takes considerable coordination between stakeholders and rallying around core principles. I will present a roadmap that can help provide STEM-skills at scale, involving underrepresented populations, and make a case that this is the what is needed to develop a prosperous and sustainable future.
10:20 AM Invited
New Approaches for Implementing and Teaching Sustainability: Carol Handwerker1; 1Purdue University
Research in sustainable materials is often focused on R&D alone, without paying much attention to how to convince people to incorporate them into products and how to create the supply chains needed for their widespread use. In this talk I’ll describe a path forward for this scenario and how similar community building concepts might translated into teaching sustainability principles in Capstone Senior Design Courses. The concepts are based on the work of Dr. Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics) who laid out a framework for how people and organizations develop voluntary, community-based solutions involving adaptive, self-governing systems that effectively manage common pool resources without the need for government regulations or privatization. I’ll present examples where this has been applied, including creating a circular economy for hard disk drives. We will discuss how these concepts can be applied to create a university community to incorporate sustainability into Senior Design Courses.
10:45 AM Invited
Sustainable Development of Materials:
Combining Chemicals Management, Life Cycle Thinking and the Circular Economy
: Julie Schoenung1; 1University of California, Irvine
The goal is sustainability. But what does that mean? In materials science and engineering we develop materials for technologies that promote sustainability, such as for renewable energy and electric vehicles. But are these materials and the processes by which they are made sustainable in and of themselves? How can we do our part by intentionally designing for the ‘sustainable development of materials’ – in all products? We must promote materials recovery and recycling, i.e., the circular economy, and the minimization of waste. Resources and process inputs such as raw material feedstocks, energy and water must also be considered. Toxic chemicals in products and manufacturing must be identified and eliminated. In this presentation, several case studies will be highlighted to provide insight into the methodologies, datasets and decision tools that now exist to evaluate tradeoffs among these multiple criteria, which ultimately support better decision-making and enable the sustainable development of materials.
11:10 AM Invited
A Foundation for Learning and Collaboration to Solve Future Societal Challenges: Christina Meskers1; Maurits Van Camp2; 1Norwegian University of Science & Technology; 2University of Queensland
Recent threats to society such as extreme weather, health pandemic, material shortages, and other societal disruptions have increased the urgency of the transition to a resilient and sustainable society. The proposed technical solutions depend heavily on metals and materials. Metallurgists and material scientists need to play their part. Multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial approaches are needed, in which industry, academia and government organisations work and learn together. The foundations for learning and collaboration have been developed. These are firmly rooted in the non-technical sciences: social, behavioral and economical. Taking the education, policy and technology & industry perspectives we explore the key concepts for success. Going forward, it is time to connect the dots, create a massive movement for fast learning and innovation, and leverage the (digital) tools available today.