A Case Study on Industrial Collaboration to Close Material Loops for a Domestic Boiler

Fitness of product and service design for closed-loop material recycling: A framework and indicator

“…This scenario thus shows great potential. The practical application and the technological feasibility have already been demonstrated by Toxopeus et al (2017). Unfortunately, they encountered obstacles in practical implementation due to tactical or strategical considerations of stakeholders in such an adapted production network.…”

“…In contrast to the disassembly scenarios (SD P and SD H ), meeting thermophysical or mechanical requirements such as corrosion resistance that impart the required functional properties in the heat cell, might be challenging with these alternating material compositions and could lead to less durable products. However, the design time of residential heating appliances, at 15 years (Toxopeus et al, 2017), far exceeds the environmental optimum (Hummen and Desing, 2021), also leading to over-engineered products from an environmental and material recycling perspective. Implementing such lower material requirements (for example, regarding corrosion resistance of aluminum) may enable an earlier replacement and could enable the use of more secondary resources, which ultimately supports the transition towards a more circular economy.…”

Optimizing Lifespan of Circular Products: A Generic Dynamic Programming Approach for Energy-Using Products

“…Gas boilers are replaced for various reasons [55]: reorganization due to other building projects, efficiency concerns, or the old product breaks down or is prone to breakdown. The design time of gas boilers is 15 years [56], which is chosen to be the optimization period here with a time step resolution (dt) of 1 year, resulting in 14 decisions over time (N = 14). Therefore, using the product until the end of the design time is the baseline for comparing the impacts of the optimized replacement scenarios.…”

“…In addition, this study can also be valuable for product designers, indicating that the design time of 15 years [56] is set far too long. A shorter design time would mean that less strict tolerances or materials with less strict requirements (for example, regarding the corrosion resistance of aluminum) can be used, potentially resulting in cheaper products and enabling earlier replacement.…”