Processing Of Secondary Materials Research Articles

Developing the fuel and energy complex and energy security of the Russian Federation in the context of reindustrialization

Subject. The article considers the impact of fuel and energy complex on economic development and energy security of the Russian Federation. Objectives. The aim is to identify trends and specific features of Russia’s fuel and energy complex development in conditions of reindustrialization, and to work out practical recommendations for improving its energy security, focusing on elimination of imbalances in the development of extractive and manufacturing industries. Methods. We employed methods of systems analysis and analysis of statistical data. The general scientific method of induction was applied to establish the relationship between the consumption of resources by processing industries and the total internal consumption of energy resources. Results. We performed the analysis of energy consumption by type of economic activity. It established that in the Russian Federation, the ratio of energy consumption by manufacturing industries to total domestic consumption was stable from 2005 to 2021. The focus was on the correlation of energy exports and imports of manufacturing products and related processes increasing the imbalance in the development of extractive and manufacturing industries. We also analyzed the workload of domestic production in three groups: primary resource processing, secondary materials processing and deep materials processing. We offered to consider large-scale implementation of projects in the field of electric power industry abroad with the supply of domestic power engineering equipment as one of powerful incentives for reindustrialization in the field of high-tech industries. Conclusions. The implementation of investment projects related to export of energy engineering products is a powerful incentive for reindustrialization, both in the power engineering industry and in other high-tech industries, creating a multiplicative effect.

Digitalizing the Circular Economy

Metallurgy is a key enabler of a circular economy (CE), its digitalization is the metallurgical Internet of Things (m-IoT). In short: Metallurgy is at the heart of a CE, as metals all have strong intrinsic recycling potentials. Process metallurgy, as a key enabler for a CE, will help much to deliver its goals. The first-principles models of process engineering help quantify the resource efficiency (RE) of the CE system, connecting all stakeholders via digitalization. This provides well-argued and first-principles environmental information to empower a tax paying consumer society, policy, legislators, and environmentalists. It provides the details of capital expenditure and operational expenditure estimates. Through this path, the opportunities and limits of a CE, recycling, and its technology can be estimated. The true boundaries of sustainability can be determined in addition to the techno-economic evaluation of RE. The integration of metallurgical reactor technology and systems digitally, not only on one site but linking different sites globally via hardware, is the basis for describing CE systems as dynamic feedback control loops, i.e., the m-IoT. It is the linkage of the global carrier metallurgical processing system infrastructure that maximizes the recovery of all minor and technology elements in its associated refining metallurgical infrastructure. This will be illustrated through the following: (1) System optimization models for multimetal metallurgical processing. These map large-scale m-IoT systems linked to computer-aided design tools of the original equipment manufacturers and then establish a recycling index through the quantification of RE. (2) Reactor optimization and industrial system solutions to realize the “CE (within a) Corporation—CEC,” realizing the CE of society. (3) Real-time measurement of ore and scrap properties in intelligent plant structures, linked to the modeling, simulation, and optimization of industrial extractive process metallurgical reactors and plants for both primary and secondary materials processing. (4) Big-data analysis and process control of industrial metallurgical systems, processes, and reactors by the application of, among others, artificial intelligence techniques and computer-aided engineering. (5) Minerals processing and process metallurgical theory, technology, simulation, and analytical tools, which are all key enablers of the CE. (6) Visualizing the results of all the tools used for estimating the RE of the CE system in a form that the consumer and general public can understand. (7) The smart integration of tools and methods that quantify RE and deliver sustainable solutions, named in this article as circular economy engineering. In view of space limitations, this message will be colored in by various publications also with students and colleagues, referring to (often commercial) software that acts as a conduit to capture and formalize the research of the large body of work in the literature by distinguished metallurgical engineers and researchers and realized in innovative industrial solutions. The author stands humbly on the shoulders of these developments and their distinguished developers. This award lecture article implicitly also refers to work done while working for Ausmelt (Australia), Outotec (Finland and Australia), Mintek (South Africa), and Anglo American Corporation (South Africa), honoring the many colleagues the author has worked with over the years.

Refinement of secondary plastics processing technology

This article discusses recommendations for the retreatment of wastes of thermosoftening plastic materials used most commonly in the enterprises of the sector (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polystyrene and its copolymers, pentaplastic, polycarbonate, fluoroplastic, film wastes, etc.) as well as of wastes of thermosetting plastics (phenoplastics and aminoplastics). Secondary processing consists of preliminary preparation of the wastes and their direct conversion into articles. Thermosoftening plastics are reprocessed by extrusion and injection molding, and thermosetting plastics by molding under technological regimes employed in the processing of primary materials. The recommendations pertain to the drying and processing of secondary materials, thermal treatment of manufactured articles, dye formulations, specifications of equipment for secondary treatment, safety precautions, etc. The main goal of the recommendations is to lower the consumption of primary polymer raw material.