Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Materials Resource Recovery and Recyclability

伍斯特理工学院（Worcester Polytechnic Institute）和科罗拉多矿业学院（Colorado School of Mines）将获得这笔合作资助，用于研究在材料回收和可循环利用领域建立研究中心的可行性。项目负责人计划与行业领导者会面，帮助确定政府、行业和学术合作伙伴关系的必要性和可持续性，以研究与创新回收和再循环技术相关的问题，最大限度地从废物流中回收废料，并优化这些材料的循环，使其重新投入到材料和产品的生产中。将在工业投入下规划战略，以发展和建立优化回收和再循环技术的系统，包括：提高可回收性；开发识别金属的传感器和分类废物流的分离技术；并建立材料传感器、流程和控制，以实现对下游回收过程中废金属输入的更大容忍度。材料回收和再循环研究将涉及多学科，包括物理、数学、计算机科学、经济学、管理科学、材料科学、机械工程和电气工程。中心开发的共性科学技术在金属合金领域具有一定的应用性，同时具有一定的经济效益和社会效益。节能和避免污染是建立这个中心的一个令人信服的理由，也是整个供应链的广泛社会需求的利益，包括废料场、拆卸公司、城市废物中心、粉碎公司、冶炼厂、铸造厂和消费者。

This collaborative grant to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Colorado School of Mines is to fund a study on the feasibility of creating a research center in the area of materials recovery and recyclability. The PIs plan to meet with industry leaders to help determine the need and sustainability for a government, industry, and academic partnership to work on research issues related to innovative recovery and recycling technologies that maximize the recovery of scrap from the waste stream and optimizes the cycling of these material back into the production of materials and products.Strategies will be planned with industry input to develop and build systems that optimize recovery and recycling technologies including: increased recyclability; developing sensors to identify metals and separation technologies to sort the waste stream; and establishing materials sensors, processes, and controls to achieve greater tolerance of scrap metal input for downstream recycling processes. Materials recovery and recycling research would be multi-disciplinary involving physics, mathematics, computer science, economics, management sciences, materials science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Generic science and technology developed by the center could have applicability in metallic alloys while providing economic and societal benefits. Energy savings and avoidance of pollution represent a compelling reason to establish this center as well as interests from a broad societal need throughout the supply chain involving scrap yards, disassembling companies, municipal waste centers, shredding companies, smelters, foundries, and consumers.