For maintaining competitiveness, manufacturing systems and their products need to not only be economically feasible, but also enhance resource efficiency and reduce life cycle impact. Recent efforts toward meeting such goals aim toward achieving a sustainable circular economy for various products. This presentation will describe novel methods and present a software tool to help industry in addressing such challenges.
The goal of the web-based tool, Transition to resource efficiency and net-Zero life cycle impacts (TranZero), is to streamline decision-making and provide actionable pathways toward cost-effective resource efficiency. By enabling evaluation of diverse scenarios, TranZero aims to reduce stakeholders’ hesitancy to act on sustainability initiatives caused by a lack of clarity and understanding of viable pathways. It has an intuitive interface and advanced visualization capabilities, enabling decision-makers to navigate trade-offs clearly and confidently. By integrating techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, and multi-objective optimization, TranZero identifies optimal solutions for achieving net-zero and circularity goals simultaneously.
This software is developed for guiding our industry partner, Kohler Co., and other users of multilayer barrier films toward identifying the best technologies for achieving circularity and reducing life cycle impacts in a cost-effective manner. Alternatives considered include reuse, recycling, and downcycling technologies to optimize end of life treatment for these films. The general nature of the methodology along with the generic and modularized design of the tool is being used to expand its application to any product, company, or sector. We aim to develop a versatile tool for driving progress toward a sustainable circular economy with net-zero life cycle impact in a cost-effective manner.
Guest Speakers
Bhavik Bakshi holds the Wrigley Professorship at Arizona State University with appointments in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, School of Sustainability and School of Complex Adaptive Systems. He is also an emeritus professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. His research is developing systematic methods to transform industrial processes and products toward sustainability. This is resulting in novel insights and designs of systems that are economically feasible, socially desirable, and respect nature’s limits. His recognitions include the highest awards from the Computing, Environmental, and Sustainability divisions of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. His Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree is from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, MS in Chemical Engineering Practice and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a minor in Technology and Environmental Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
