Completed Projects

Material efficiency and resource conservation - An Analysis of material flows, sectors, categories of need, and the development of strategies and instruments

The Institute of Applied Research at Pforzheim University is – besides 30 other project partners – involved in the project MaRess, commissioned by the German Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency. The project is run under the direction of Wuppertal Institute.
The starting point of this project is the ever increasing problem of environmental damages caused by the extraction and exploitation of resources, going hand in hand not only with ecological but also with societal (e.g. insecurity of supply, resource conflicts) and economic drawbacks (esp. high/volatile raw material prices). The aforementioned factors point out the brisance of the topic that should therefore be analysed further.
The aim of the project is to make substantial progress in our knowledge regarding four core questions on increasing efficiency and conserving resources:

• Firstly, the project aims to discover ways in which resource efficiency may be augmented.
• Secondly, it aims to develop approaches for target-group-specific resource efficiency policies.
• Thirdly, the project is to collate and analyse results from impact analysis at macro- and microeconomic level.
• The fourth component is the expert monitoring of concrete implementation steps and of how the agenda is set, as well as the publication of results.

Within the MaRess-project the Institute of Applied research at Pforzheim University will contribute to work package 4: “Innovative resource policy approaches at the microscopic level: instruments and approaches close to companies”.

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Resource Efficiency Management for SME

Resource efficiency resounded throughout the land – but despite high efficiency potential and associated cost savings it is no topic that runs by itself in German companies. REFFIM aims therefore for the component of public communication. The project investigates the orientation of measures to be realized by companies (in particular SMEs) and there by the relevant target groups (in particular executives). From this an efficiency marketing concept shall be developed, which picks up new approaches from so called business campaigning. Furthermore appropriate means and information offers will be developed and provided. more...

Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction in Semiconductor and Solar Cell Production

This project aims to assess new technologies and concepts that further the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and mark energy efficient and effective solutions for the semiconductor and solar panel industries. The main objective is the evaluation of new exhaust gas treatment technologies in semiconductor and photovoltaic cell production (e.g., point-of-use abatements, electrically operated plasma burners in combination with catalysts) and the optimization of overall factory strategies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The focal point for IAF is the evaluation of reduction potentials of greenhouse gases based on different scenarios for technical plant configuration and the assessment of typical potentials for CO₂ reduction with different technical approaches. As a result, a tool for decision-making in the factory planning process of semiconductor and photovoltaic cells plants will be developed, which will meet the requirements of the industry for an effective and economical method. more...

Combination of Optimization Methods and Material Flow Analysis to Improve Operational Material Use

The project serves the innovative connection of IT approaches for operational and interplant flow analysis with optimization methods from business administration and information management.
The goal is to increase productivity in production systems through the identification of inefficiencies in the use of raw materials and energy and by simultaneously presenting optimization strategies. To date, both approaches (material flow analysis and optimization) have been, at most, analyzed separately on an instrumental software level, which has led in particular to some utilization in small and medium enterprises. To increase the relevance of this “material flow-based optimal planning” for operational decision-making, it is necessary to look beyond the inefficiencies and determine how throughput parameters of production can be selected in order to achieve a local or global - economic or ecological – optimum.
Open research questions include: how can advanced algorithms of "global optimization" be linked with approaches of material flow modelling in such a way that they can be applied quasi universally to production systems? more...

Cumulative Emission Intensities to Assess Climate Protection Performance along Supply Chains

The task of the research project EINBLIK is to develop an indicator in order to sum up the climate intensities of all companies along a supply chain. This indicator does not only measure the climate impact of one product, but also takes into account the climate impact of a company’s different sites and the company as a whole. This distinguishes the method from the ordinary method of Life Cycle Assessment. Thus, one can say that the cumulated climate intensity of a company shows the climate protection performance of a company’s output because the indicators of its suppliers and waste contractors are incorporated into its own indicator. This indicator of cumulative climate intensities follows a different approach from other concepts that assess climate protection performance. The indicator for every company in the supply chain is calculated in the following way: the climate intensities of all suppliers and waste contractors of a company multiplied by their share of the company’s turnover and the direct emissions of a company are set in proportion to the company’s turnover to calculate the indicator. This results in a recursive indicator system in which each supplier and waste contractor merely passes its climate rating along the supply and disposal chain. more...

Efficient Logistics and Recycling through Integrated Application of Smartlabels for Electronic Waste

Closed-loop recycling management is considered an ideal approach for the sustainable use of resources. For electronic devices, the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) obligates manufacturers to establish and pay for a collection and recycling system for their old devices. The collection, sorting and disposal of toxic substances from old equipment, as well as the recovery of components and materials, require an extensive information system that will carry important data reliably throughout the entire product life cycle. Through the use of "intelligent" technologies, the costs of such a closed-loop system could be reduced. The project examines the standards for an information system that can fulfill these requirements. more...

Life cycle modelling with decentralized Partial Modells

The modelling of a life cycle can be performed in two different ways: a life cycle can be modelled with a general model, which is the international norm in life cycle analysis (LCA), or partial models of industries can be used for LCA. As well-elaborated partial models with high-quality data related to different industries and sectors are available in Germany, it is vital to know whether LCAs based on such partial models are sufficiently reliable. In general, the advantage of using partial models is the accuracy of the modelled processes. By applying different approximation procedures or other methods, such as the Neumann series expansion, it is possible to calculate the deviation that results between using a partial model approach and a general model approach. These new methodological aspects are demonstrated through an exemplary case study. more…

Success Factors for Operational Energy and Matieral Flow Management

Energy and material flow management can help companies discover considerable production cost savings, which may also lead to ecological savings of natural resources. A goal of EFAS was to identify the success factors (and/or obstacles) for energy and material flow management projects, to then categorize the enterprises and to develop specific guidelines for the use of a successful method and instrument. more...

Material flow analysis is used to systematically collect and evaluate data from both internal and external material flows within enterprises. It was the aim of this project to point out ways in which to integrate material flow analysis into controlling procedures. more...

Assesment of climate-protecting activities on the basis of added value

The aim of the project was to develop a method for assessing the success of operational environmental protection activities, using GHG emissions as an example, thereby allowing comparisons between time periods, site locations and organisational limitations. In order to standardize the significant economic success factors, the operational added value was suggested as a reference parameter. Using this, as well as other non-economic parameters from input/output balances, performance indicators can be generated for companies with a wide array of products, a small vertical range of manufacturing or rapidly changing production outputs. These indicators serve not only for the analysis but also for the control and planning of operational environmental protection activities. Systems like these will be of great importance to political efforts to include industrial companies in emission trading systems for climate protection. more...

Based on preparatory work from previous years, in cooperation with DaimlerChrysler, methods were developed for the evaluation of operational environmental performance on the basis of climate-relevant emissions. Methodical work for integrating relevant links and the question of accounting for semi-finished products were the centre of attention. more...

In this project, available scientific methods in the area of ecological material flow analysis were adapted in concrete cases in manufacturing enterprises. This was accomplished through the development of sample solutions, which are applicable to ever recurring problems in the enterprise. These could be, for example, questions regarding internal recycling, the allocation of environmental effects with combined products or the consideration of upstream process stages outside of the operating location. For this, a kind of "model construction box" was developed, which illustrates modular archetypal examples of material flow systems. more...

The aim of the project for the global concern Deutsche Post World Net was to develop a concept for environmental reporting in a logistics company. The goal was to gather and allocate the environmental effects of logistics between the purchaser and the service provider in national financial statements and other means. Also addressed was the development of an approach for ecologically efficient environmental management in the transportation industry. more...