Speakers Day 2

The rising demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) in modern technologies underscores the need for efficient recovery from end-of-life products and industrial waste. Recognizing their strategic importance, the EU’s CRM Act aims to secure Europe’s supply amid growing global competition and geopolitical risks. Due to their finite nature, CRMs must be circulated across use cycles, but low concentrations and wide dispersion make recovery difficult. Stena Recycling has over 30 years of experience extracting CRMs from complex waste, including lithium-ion batteries and gigafactory residues. This presentation shares insights from Stena’s recovery efforts, highlighting innovations, challenges, and the role of strategic partnerships in promoting sustainable material management in the Nordic region and Europe.

Mats is one of Sweden’s most experienced circular economy experts, with a long track record of helping companies transition to circular models. At Stena Recycling, he leads the company’s circular strategy development, focusing on creating new value for customers. With a background at McKinsey & Company, he has led multiple projects with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and run an independent consultancy supporting institutions like the EU Commission and Consumer Goods Forum, as well as various private and non-profit organizations. Mats holds a PhD in physical chemistry and combines academic and consulting experience to tackle the challenge of aligning economic activity with environmental limits. He has authored several publications and whitepapers on unlocking circular economy value.

As the global metallurgical industry advances toward climate neutrality, Sweden is taking a leading role in aligning industrial practices with the principles of circular economy and sustainability. A critical aspect of this transformation is the recycling and valorization of solid residues, such as slags, sludges, and dusts generated across mining operations, steel production, and non-ferrous metal sectors including copper and aluminum. This contribution provides an overview of current strategies and developments in Sweden that support the efficient use of materials and reduction of environmental impact through improved residue management.

Senior researcher, Research leader for recycling and environment in Metallurgy department of Swerim AB, Sweden. Dr. Wang also holds an appointment as adjunct professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Befesa Circular Alloys (BCA) specializes in the recycling of metallurgical hazardous residues from stainless steel production. By recovering valuable metals from electric arc furnace (EAF) dust, BCA transforms industrial waste into circular raw materials. With facilities in Landskrona (Sweden) and Gravelines (France), BCA is the European leader in EAF dust recycling, with a global treatment capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year.

ReMade (remade-project.eu) provides free access to 50 research infrastructures (RIs) across Europe including synchrotrons, neutron sources, laser facilities, electron microscopes, ion and positron beams, and high magnetic field facilities. ReMade offers tailored access for industry, including confidential access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a rapid turnaround for test experiments. Our presentation will describe how researchers and industry partners can access these opportunities and make the most of the support provided by ReMade@ARI. We will provide an example of an industrial experiment at the ESRF using X-ray tomography to characterise a heat exchanger fabricated using additive manufacture.

Gary Admans, Business Development Engineer at ESRF – The European Synchrotron, Grenoble, France. Involved in two European projects: ReMade@ARI, which offers free access to research infrastructures for circular materials characterisation, and coordinator of the Nextstep PhD programme, which will employ 38 PhD students in 2025 and 2026. Originally an organic chemist with a  PhD from Exeter University (UK), I worked with industry, pharma and healthcare, before joining the ESRF where I aim to make the link between industry and the ESRF’s advanced characterisation methods.

Paul Iske is Professor ‘Individual and organizational learning in complex, dynamic environments’ at Maastricht University, the Netherlands and he is Visiting Professor ‘Knowledge-driven Innovation’  at the Department of Information Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Paul is founder and CFO (Chief Failure Officer) of the ‘Institute of Brilliant Failures’ (www.brilliantfailures.com), with the mission to highlight the importance of experimentation to achieve paradigm shifts and breakthrough innovation. Paul is Chairman of the Dutch Personalised Healthcare Catalyst Foundation (www.phc-catalyst.nl), with the mission to accelerate the transition towards personalized, data-driven healthcare. He is an international author, consultant and speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge management and creativity. He spent 18 years as Chief Dialogues Officer, Head of Innovation and Knowledge Management at ABN AMRO Bank. Before that, he finished his PhD in Theoretical Physics and fulfilled several jobs in Strategy and R&D at Shell

Europe is accelerating its shift toward a circular economy, placing increasing attention on how waste streams can be transformed into valuable resources. Technological innovation and industrial interest have made such transformations more feasible than ever—but implementation is often blocked not by technical limitations, nor by a lack of willingness from companies, but by regulatory misalignment. This presentation highlights three real-world cases from the bioeconomy and materials sectors where promising waste valorization initiatives have stalled due to legal or administrative constraints. The talk invites a broader conversation on how innovation, compliance, and policy can be better aligned to unlock the environmental, economic, and social value of circular solutions.

Marie-Claude Béland is Business Development Director at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, working with the development and commercialization of new bio-based materials across multiple market segments. With extensive experience in supporting companies to innovate and grow, she focuses increasingly on material circularity and the valorization of waste streams. She has led projects resulting in award-winning sustainable materials, recognized with the Packaging Dieline and Plastovation awards in 2013. She holds a PhD from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and an MBA from McGill University. 

This review aims at providing an overview on the current progresses in SCF technology for the treatment of End-of-Life Li-Ion Batteries, from the fundamentals of SCF technology process to the main applications in the field of battery recycling. Some results obtained on the SCF extraction of PVDF will also be discussed and compared to the results obtained through more chemical approaches in solution.

Pietro Cattaneo (born Genoa, 1997) earned both his BSc and MSc in “Chemistry” from the University of Genoa (2015–2021). He subsequently obtained a II Level MSc in “Change Management – Sustainability Sciences & Technologies” at IANUA Scuola Superiore (2021–2022), with a thesis entitled “From Mineral Landfills to Urban Mines”. He then pursued his PhD at the University of Pavia (2022–2025), successfully defending his dissertation on “Green and Sustainable Processes for the Recycling and Regeneration of Materials from Spent Li-ion Batteries”. He is currently conducting research at the University of Pavia focusing on the recycling of fluorinated binders from spent Li-ion batteries.

Recent studies in our research group have revealed the potential of using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as an extractant for liquid electrolytes from lithium-ion battery (LiB) waste. For instance, dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), and diethyl carbonate (DEC) were extracted under moderate conditions (40 °C, 100 bar) from NMC black mass. Furthermore, even more polar cyclic carbonates, such as ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC), were successfully extracted at slightly higher pressures of 140 bar, without the use of a co-solvent. Recoveries of up to 99% were obtained. However, under these conditions, less than 5% of the conductive salt, lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), was extracted. Thus, future work will focus on purifying the electrolyte solvent, extracting the polar conductive salt, and scaling up the recycling process.

The rise of electric vehicles highlights the need for sustainable recycling of lithium-ion batteries. This study explores the recovery and reuse of LiFePO₄ (LFP) batteries at different aging stages: new (C0), moderately aged (C1), and heavily aged (C2). Using XRD and SEM-EDX analyses, the degradation of cathodes and anodes was evaluated. A regeneration process restored the LFP cathode’s structural and electrochemical performance, even in aged cells. The graphite anode retained structural integrity but needed chemical treatment to regain efficiency. Results show that both electrodes can be efficiently recovered using low-cost, eco-friendly methods—supporting circular battery use.

PhD in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industrial Innovation (XXXV cycle), MSc in Chemistry (LM-54) from the University of Pavia. He is a non-tenured assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia. His research focuses on advanced materials for energetics and electrochemistry, including anode materials for sodium batteries, high-entropy oxides, and cobalt-free active materials for lithium-ion batteries. He also works on lithium metal batteries (LMBs), developing Janus separators and 3D-printed current collectors. His main focus is on innovative Li-based materials with self-healing and scavenger functions, within the European RENOVATE and AutoMat projects, aimed at advancing circular economy solutions in the battery value chain.

This study presents a supercritical carbon dioxide and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) co-solvent for recovering polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binders from the black mass of spent lithium-ion batteries. The process avoids hazardous fluorinated gas emissions common in conventional recycling and preserves material integrity. By optimizing co-solvent volume, PVDF was extracted while maintaining the chemical structure and crystalline phases of both PVDF and the black mass. Characterization confirmed reduced particle agglomeration and improved homogeneity, offering a cleaner and more efficient route for battery recycling.

Yigit Akbas is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. His research focuses on sustainable recycling of lithium-ion batteries, with an emphasis on supercritical CO₂-based recovery of PVDF binders from Li-ion battery black mass. He has expertise in materials characterization, solid-state synthesis, and advanced analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. He contributes to EU Horizon Framework initiatives aimed at advancing circular economy solutions for energy storage technologies.

Maria Ström, CEO at The Loop Factory, is an experienced and entrepreneurial leader in sustainable materials and circular innovation, with a Tech.Lic. in Chemical Engineering. With over 20 years in the pulp and paper industry, she has held key roles in process development, technical sales, procurement, and project management. As the former operations manager at a Science Park, she played a pivotal role in establishing a test and demonstration facility for textiles and bio-based materials. Today, Maria is at the forefront of advancing circularity in textiles, utilising nonwoven technologies to transform textile waste into valuable resources. She will share insights on innovative recycling solutions, including high-performance padding from textile waste and wool-based snow covers for ski resorts.

This study presents a sustainable recycling method that converts pre- and post-consumer PET textile waste into electrospun nanofiber mats (NFMs). By blending recycled PET with virgin PET, the mechanical and thermal properties of the nanofibers were improved while maintaining environmental benefits. Morphological analysis (SEM), mechanical testing, FTIR, TGA, and DSC confirmed the quality and stability of the recycled fibers. The results demonstrate the potential of recycled PET nanofibers for applications such as filtration and technical textiles, supporting circular economy goals through fiber-to-fiber recycling.

Faculty of Engineering & Science, Aalborg University (Denmark), Dr. Fatemeh Mohtaram is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Materials Science and Engineering group at Aalborg University, currently contributing to the One Textile Direction project, which aims to develop sustainable electrospun nanofibers from recycled textile materials. Her research focuses on converting recycled polyester and cellulose-based fabrics into highly aligned nano- and microfibers via electrospinning. She has extensive experience working with cellulose nanofibers and previously developed ZnO and PEDOT nanofiber layers for organic and perovskite solar cells during her Ph.D. at the University of Southern Denmark. Dr. Mohtaram also has a background in printed textile antennas, wearable electronics, and industrial textile recycling, with a strong interdisciplinary focus on circular material innovation.

Circular economy is in part driven by a decreased reliance on petroleum-derived materials in favor of regenerative feedstocks, particularly those which are traditionally considered waste. This research focuses on one such petroleum material, carbon black, which is typically produced through the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products and natural gas. Carbon black is utilized for its rich black pigment and physical properties in products ranging from car tires to cosmetics; this work proposes an exploration of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) as an alternative and regenerative carbon source for pigment applications.

Mitul Iyengar is currently pursuing her Masters in Design Engineering at Harvard University, a collaborative degree between the Graduate School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Mitul has previously worked at McKinsey & Company, Spotify, and the UN Disaster Risk Reduction teams, designing data-driven digital applications across domains like healthcare, monetization, and disaster resilience. 

Valentine has previously worked on the Climate Change & Sustainability Services team at Ernst & Young and at the Château de Courances conducting research on sediment, hydrology, and natural water systems. Valentine Geze is currently pursuing her Masters in Design Engineering at Harvard University, a collaborative degree between the Graduate School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The fashion industry’s fast fashion model has led to overproduction, waste, and environmental harm, prompting an urgent shift toward a circular fashion system focused on sustainability, reuse, and recycling. Digital technologies such as IoT, AI, CAD, AR/VR, and blockchain are emerging as key tools to support this transition by enabling better data management, lifecycle optimization, and innovative circular business models. Through a literature review and interviews with European fashion stakeholders, this study explores how these technologies are being integrated into industry practices, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and enabling new service-oriented models. IT was found that adoption remains limited, especially among SMEs, due to financial, technical, and cultural barriers. Moreover, while digitalization offers sustainability benefits, it also poses risks like increased energy use and the potential to accelerate fast fashion trends. Balancing these trade-offs is essential to fully realize the potential of digital technologies in creating a more sustainable and circular fashion industry.

Anse Smeets is circular economy researcher and project manager in the materials and chemistry unit at VITO. Anse has seven years experience in strategic decision support and quantitative model development for business model innovation, supporting both companies and governments in the circularity transition. She is coordinator of the European Topic Center on Circular Economy and resource use for the European Environment Agency and in this light she co-authored impactful reports on textile consumption and impacts in Europe, (micro)plastics in textiles and the role of digitisation in a circular textiles system. She has been involved in various research projects on circular textiles.

The green transition of the construction material sector requires updated skills and competences of future engineering graduates, who shall be involved in and execute on the ambitious agendas of CO₂ –reductions and the circular use of raw materials. The Horizon Europe project GREENCO (Education for GREEN transformation of COnstruction sector) focuses on developing skills and competences at all educational levels to support the green transition in the construction sector. This presentation focuses on the current curriculum within construction materials given by the section of Materials and Durability at the Technical University of Denmark.  The presentation also explores how circular/sustainability competences can be strengthened within both courses and projects related to construction materials, including collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

Gunvor Marie Kirkelund is an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, specialising in Materials and Durability. Her research focuses on electrodialytic upgrading of hazardous waste into secondary resources, as well as the remediation of soil, ash, and sediment through electrodialysis. She is also engaged in the chemical and physical characterisation of environmental samples, with a particular emphasis on heavy metal bonding. In addition, her work explores the reuse of waste and sustainable resource use in building materials and construction, including waste engineering in Arctic environments.

This research explores how wind turbine blades, once decommissioned, can be systematically repurposed into certified construction materials. While technical reuse and recycling options exist—ranging from direct reuse to mechanical or chemical recycling—what’s missing is a dedicated linking phase that translates these materials into certifiable building inputs. We propose a digital traceability and certification interface tailored to the needs of the building materials industry, adapting to different processing routes (component reuse, granulated FRPs, recovered fibers). This interface ensures that all materials carry the right provenance, structural or chemical data, and documentation to be accepted within construction standards. The result is a scalable, cross-sector circular economy model for composite reuse, built on shared data and regulatory interoperability.

Ashal is a PhD researcher at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), working on digital infrastructures for circular construction materials within the EU-funded Blades2Build project. With a background in architecture and façade technologies, and experience from both academia and practice, including Priedemann Facade-Lab in Berlin, she brings a unique cross-disciplinary perspective to material circularity—integrating design, engineering, and digital coordination.

This paper presents the findings of the FoWaBa-Bio research project that focuses on the use of food-waste material resources as fillers in bio-composites for facades cladding in combination with furan, a curable thermoset biobased polymer that serves as the matrix. It investigates the current landscape of food-waste disposal practices, their processing, and their compatibility with the furan matrix. Results indicate that several of the food-waste resources can produce bio-composites that meet facades cladding standards namely hazelnut shells and mango pits representing a low-carbon alternative to facades cladding materials as well as an opportunity for design research that can capitalize on the diverse aesthetic qualities of the generated samples. 

Olga is Assistant Professor at AET and co-leader of the Circular Built Environment (CBE) Hub of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. Her current research focuses on circular products and processes with an emphasis on the design of bio-based circular building products and the creation of bio-based value networks. She is particularly interested in the systemic character of circularity and how it challenges the established processes for the production of the built environment, stakeholder relations and societal values towards a circular society.

The carbon footprint of solar energy from photovoltaic (PV) panels is directly linked to emissions during fabrication and the total energy production during the use phase, as is commonly calculated using established life-cycle analysis methods. When PV panels finally reach their end of life, a circular materials approach through high-value material recycling would lead to lower emissions and a reduced need for pristine materials. However, most PV panels deployed in Sweden and Europe are manufactured in China. What will happen when they reach their end-of-life here, as European panel production is limited, and how can policy development affect the outcome? Based on ongoing research projects at RISE we will present an overview of installed volumes in the Nordic countries and how they may develop, and an outlook on possible scenarios for recycling both from a technical and policy perspective. For example, how can different contextual developments and policy proposals promote using the panels during the full expected lifetime and beyond, facilitate a 2nd hand market, and/or improve the preconditions for high value material recycling with a stable value chain?

Mattias Lindh holds a PhD in Experimental Physics from Umeå University where he worked with advanced materials in the context of developing novel light-sources based on organic electronics. Since 2019 he is a researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden based in Umeå, specializing in adaptation and implementation of photovoltaics in high-latitude (i.e. cold and snow rich) conditions along with circularity of photovoltaic panels, and lately, the co-location of photovoltaics and agriculture, so called agrivoltaics.

Solar panels, which are ubiquitous around us today, will soon need a large scale, energy efficient and high throughput recycling solution, to recover the valuable (e.g., silver, copper, silicon) and toxic materials (e.g., lead, PFAS) they contain. However, current recycling methods often waste resources due to inefficient delamination. To obtain good delamination, we developed a method, dubbed “LARS” (for Laser-Assisted Recycling of Solar modules) that cleanly separates the packaging layers from the silicon wafers. It is a promising versatile, scalable and sustainable solution for maximizing high purity material recovery at the industrial scale.

After an MSc in Grenoble, France, Rémi completed a PhD on Cu(In,Al)Se2 thin film solar cells in Northumbria (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK). Rémi then went on a European tour, with a postdoc on hard coatings for machining tools (Luxembourg), a postdoc on kesterite thin film solar cells (Seville, Spain) and finally a postdoc on CIGS (Nijmegen, Netherlands). Since 2018, Rémi work at TNO in the Netherlands, where he study the reliability of thin film solar cells. For the past 4 years, Rémi also specialized in silicon solar panels recycling technologies. In that framework, together with Maarten van der Vleuten and Mirjam Theelen, they developed a laser-based method allowing high purity, fast and energy efficient recycling. This method so far exceeded our expectations that what was initially meant as a low TRL study is fast growing into an industrial application.

The surge in photovoltaic (PV) system deployment for generation of green electricity is producing a considerable amount of waste, which contain valuable materials. In this work, an efficient, selective and low environmental impact process has been developed, for complete separation and recovery of the materials found in the solar cells of the so-called CIGS PV technology. The process consists of three main steps, which take advantage of the different leaching properties of the layered materials present in this type waste. Notably, purities of at least 71 %wt ITO, 95 %wt Ag and 95 %wt CIGS were achieved with this simple process, facilitating further purification of the separated materials for their reuse in new PV products. Other elements were also recovered in the various leachates. Finally, the substrate can be recycled at the end as well, via an established recycling route, e.g. for stainless steel substrates, closing in this way the materials loop.

Ioanna Teknetzi earned her Chemical Engineering degree in 2015 from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specialising in materials. She has worked on topics ranging from inorganic powder synthesis to mining product purification and art conservation. Driven by her interest in research and environmental applications, she completed a PhD at Chalmers University in 2025, developing a low-impact process for full recovery of materials from CIGS solar cell waste. Her interests also include CO₂ capture, inorganic materials synthesis, and process development.

The Apollo Project addresses the urgent need for sustainable recycling technologies amid the global rise in decommissioned photovoltaic (PV) panels. These legacy modules present complex challenges due to their multilayered construction involving glass, polymers, silicon, and metal traces—materials resistant to conventional recycling techniques. This work highlights a novel approach that integrates Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) with ultrasound-assisted electrochemical extraction to enhance metal recovery from end-of-life PV systems. The hybrid DES–ultrasound system accelerates dissolution kinetics and improves the selectivity of critical metal recovery, including silver, copper, and aluminum. This method offers a green, scalable solution by overcoming mass transport limitations and enhancing the space-time yield in electrochemical systems. The presentation will outline the design and performance of this system, emphasizing the role of DESs in enabling low-impact, high-efficiency recycling processes. By combining advanced electrochemistry with environmentally benign solvents, the Apollo Project paves the way for a circular economy in solar energy infrastructure and exemplifies the potential of DESs in complex waste stream valorization.

Dr. Deepa Oberoi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Leicester, actively contributing to the UK- and EU-funded APOLLO Project, which focuses on pioneering circular approaches for the recycling and reuse of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Her research centers on the extraction of critical metals using ultrasonic-assisted deep eutectic solvent (DES) systems for efficient and sustainable materials recovery. She was previously awarded the prestigious British Council STEM Research Fellowship, being one of only three researchers selected from South East Asia. Through this fellowship, she conducted advanced research on eco-friendly electrolytes for battery materials at Imperial College London. Dr. Oberoi holds a PhD in Synthetic Materials Chemistry from IIT Roorkee, one of India’s premier research institutions. Her expertise includes hybrid materials, smart functional systems, sustainable recycling technologies, and synthetic materials chemistry.

This study presents an environmentally friendly electrochemical method to recycle important
metals like silver, copper, indium, galium and zinc from GICS solar panels waste. These metals
can be separated and recovered so that they can be reused. This method helps reduce waste, save
natural resources, and support cleaner energy technology for an environmentally friendly planet.

Dr. Kwanele Kunene is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Chalmers University of Technology with over nine years of experience in electrochemistry. Her expertise includes energy storage, electrocatalysis, and sustainable energy systems. She is dedicated to advancing innovative solutions for clean and efficient energy technologies.

Marthe combines her international experience with her knowledge of business development and innovation to promote Nordic cooperation within the circular economy. She belives Nordic cooperation can drive the systemic change and give Nordic companies a competitive edge going forward.