Prof. Markus Reuter
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology
Director of the Resource Technology Institut
Freiberg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Markus A. Reuter
Director at Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (Sept 2015):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markus-reuter-prof-dr-dr-h-c-mult-09019511/
Industry: Chief Technologist Ausmelt Australia & Director Technology Management Outotec Australia and Finland 2006-2015. Mintek & Anglo American Corporation (South Africa).
Academic: Professor at TU Delft (Netherlands 1996-2005); Honorary & adjunct professorships @ (i) TU BAF Freiberg (Germany 2015-); (ii) Aalto University (Finland 2012-2018); (iii) Central South University (China 2012-2017); (iv) Melbourne University (also full professor 2005-2018) & (v) Curtin University Perth (Australia 2018-).
Education: D.Eng. & PhD Stellenbosch University (South Africa); Dr. habil. RWTH Aachen (Germany).
Recent awards: 2 Honorary Doctorates @ (i) University of Liège (Belgium) & (ii) University of Stellenbosch (South Africa); 2016 TMS EPD Distinguished Lecture Award; 2015-2016 SME Henry Krumb Lecturer; 2013 Outotec technology award; 2020 TMS EPD Luncheon Lecture
Publications and Patents: See https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=5cLC8VEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao over 38 patents in 4 patent families.
Research and industrial interests: Process metallurgy, system engineering, process design, optimization and simulation, recycling and design for recycling; all in the context of sustainability and the circular economy paradigm.
The exergetic analysis and optimization of very large-scale circular economy systems
Process metallurgical systems are central and key enablers of the Circular Economy (CE). This contribution shows the simulation-based state-of-the-art approach to understanding the resource efficiency of very large-scale CE systems. Process simulation permits system-wide exergy analysis also linked to environmental foot-printing. It is shown that digital twins of large CE systems can be created, and their resource efficiencies quantified. This approach provides the basis for detailed estimation of financial expenditures as well as high-impact CE system innovation. Various examples will be shown that include (i) cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic technology life cycle, which brings several metal infrastructures into play, (ii) primary and secondary zinc processing, (iii) linking of metallurgical processing to cement production, (iv) design for recycling and the effects of product design on the CE, (v) aluminum recycling linking physical separation to specific alloy types production during remelting and refining and (v) magnet production from rare earth ore to magnet production and recycling. The results generally show that considerable work remains to optimize the CE system. Low exergy efficiencies resulting specifically from energy-intensive processes highlight areas with the greatest renewables-based improvement potential. This detail sheds light on the true performance of the CE and the inconvenient truth that it cannot be fully realized but only driven to its thermodynamic limits.