CircNexSt · The steel industry, circularity and the stock-flow-service nexus
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-05-03 → 2023-05-02
- EU contribution
- €224,934
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The steel industry, circularity and the stock-flow-service nexus
The CircNexSt project, which spanned from 3 May 2021 to 2 May 2023, primarily aimed to bolster the steel industry's adaptation to the Circular Economy (CE) through innovative demand-side strategies. These strategies were informed by the Stock-Flow-Service (SFS) nexus approach, an innovative framework that quantifies the circularity of steel products throughout their lifecycle - from extraction to service provision. This project also employed a range of analytical tools, such as Material Flow Analysis, Dynamic Stock Modelling, Circularity Assessment, and Structural Decomposition Analysis to measure resource consumption and accumulation relative to the services offered by steel. The project's three main objectives were: 1) Comprehensive analysis of resource interactions: The goal was to demonstrate the crucial role of materials and energy in service provision within an economic system. The project employed the stock-flow-service framework and identified four complementary strategies: material circularity, product material efficiency, service sufficiency, and process resource efficiency. These strategies were quantified to estimate their potential carbon savings. 2) Feasibility assessment of circularity for specific steel product lines: This objective involved developing a novel Circularity Index to assess the effectiveness of Circular Economy initiatives and minimise raw material losses in product lifecycles. The index, applied to a UK car-based mobility case study, highlighted the need for further social and technological innovations to fully attain circularity and address issues of material criticality. 3) Forecasting future steel availability and demand under different Circular Economy scenarios: The project utilised a Structural Decomposition Analysis on a novel exergy input-output model of energy and materials in the transport services value chain. The findings suggested that efficiencies in energy and material use have somewhat offset increases in carbon emissions driven by the rise in automobile use and demand for services. The study also emphasised the significant influence of the Iron & Steel industry on CO2 emission trends in transport services.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Steel is the world’s most recycled metal, yet only 21% of the global demand is met through scrap, which highlights the gap between the present reality and the ideals embedded in the concept of the circular economy. The latter is designed to increase material recoverability and product optimisation throughout the entire life cycle, resulting in less carbon emissions, waste and resource dependency. Within the steel industry, leading companies and professional bodies have sought to promote and embody the circular economy to advance sector sustainability.This project will use the Stock-Flow-Service (SFS) Nexus to quantify the circularity of an international steel company’s products from extraction to service. The SFS nexus is a conceptual framework that explicitly highlights the interactions, including trade-offs, between energy and material flows (e.g. coal, iron ore), material stocks (e.g. buildings, vehicles) and service provision (e.g. shelter, mobility). By applying this nexus, one can assess the overall environmental performance of a light weighting strategy by juxtaposing reduced fuel consumption and carbon emissions with the increased incorporation of complex material composites. The latter make energy savings possible but are difficult to re-use and recycle, thus reducing the circularity of the process.The project will use Material Flow Analysis and Dynamic Stock Modelling to quantify resource consumption and accumulation linked to the service provided by steel. A set of resource efficiency and circularity indicators will be developed to evaluate the environmental performance of steel products (and prototypes) under various business strategies, including stock optimisation, green leasing, and product-service systems. The project’s results and recommendations will support the steel company in their corporate sustainability targets and facilitate the accurate prediction and tracking of steel’s residual value and resource efficiency across their product range.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union