Author, as appears in the article.: Boer D; Segarra M; Fernández A; Vallès M; Mateu C; Cabeza L

Department: Enginyeria Mecànica

URV's Author/s: Boer, Dieter-Thomas / Vallès Rasquera, Joan Manel

Keywords: Thermal energy storage Recycling Recipe Life cycle assessment Circular economy

Abstract: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd The objective of this study is to establish an initial framework to evaluate and improve the sustainability of technologies integrating thermal energy storage to come closer to a circular economy. This is applied to a case study for a building-like cubicle that includes different options of phase change materials. For the construction of a cubicle, materials can come from ores and virgin or recycled feedstock. In order to decrease the impact of materials and approach to a circular economy, the recycled content of materials at the start of life should be as high as possible. This recycled fraction in current supply depends on the available technologies for reintroducing the recycled materials in the production processes, together with virgin materials coming from primary sources. The results of the analysis show that the decrease of the environmental impact of recycling at the end of life is lower than 5%, while using recycled materials replacing virgin raw materials could reduce the overall impact by up to 30%. Most relevant materials are bricks, steel, and aluminum. Thus, reuse and recycling of materials and components must be integrated into the initial design in order to come closer to the concept of circular economy.

Thematic Areas: Renewable energy, sustainability and the environment Química Materiais Interdisciplinar Green & sustainable science & technology Geografía Geociências Farmacia Engenharias iv Engenharias iii Engenharias ii Engenharias i Energy & fuels Ciências biológicas iii Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas i Ciências ambientais Ciências agrárias i Ciência de alimentos Ciência da computação Biotecnología Biodiversidade Astronomia / física Arquitetura, urbanismo e design Arquitetura e urbanismo Administração, ciências contábeis e turismo Administração pública e de empresas, ciências contábeis e turismo

ISSN: 09601481

Author's mail: manel.valles@urv.cat dieter.boer@urv.cat

Author identifier: 0000-0002-0748-1287 0000-0002-5532-6409

Record's date: 2023-02-26

Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion

Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148119319755

Licence document URL: http://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Papper original source: Renewable Energy. 150 589-597

APA: Boer D; Segarra M; Fernández A; Vallès M; Mateu C; Cabeza L (2020). Approach for the analysis of TES technologies aiming towards a circular economy: Case study of building-like cubicles. Renewable Energy, 150(), 589-597. DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.12.103

Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.12.103

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Journal publication year: 2020

Publication Type: Journal Publications