Press Release of December 6, 2023
With targeted qualification to a sustainable Circular Economy
Graduate school launched for efficient resource management
Industrial processes generate inevitably of fine-grained residues. Researchers in the FINEST project are looking for solutions to bring these various material streams of anthropogenic origin back into the industrial value chain. A significant contribution will be made by doctoral students, who will receive interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary training in the research school that is part of the project. The twelve doctoral students will receive targeted training during the three-year doctoral period in order to gain a holistic view of research in the field of resource recovery. They will use their knowledge to create and apply solutions for a sustainable Circular Economy.
The participants of the 3rd project meeting of the Helmholtz Sustainability Challenge project FINEST
Source: Lisa Jungheim
In July last year, the five-year project FINEST, coordinated by the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), was launched, in which researchers from the six participating institutions are working on ultrafine materials of anthropogenic origin, such as microplastics, mineral additives and metal-containing dust. Currently, there are hardly any recycling options for these substances. Using innovative processes, the researchers aim to develop novel concepts for their processing in order to keep them in the cycle and to safely dispose of remaining residual materials.
Training specialists for the Circular Economy
A key component of the project is a research school within students are trained to become interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary experts in efficient resource management. In recent months, the research school team led by Prof. Urs Peuker from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg selected twelve doctoral students in an international call for applications. The future experts in resource management were ceremoniously welcomed to the research school during the project meeting in Karlsruhe.
"I am delighted that we can finally get started and hope that these activities will support the scientific and professional careers of the doctoral students. The interplay between our own research activities and the transfer of additional relevant knowledge is an important building block for a holistic education. The wide-ranging field of the Circular Economy in particular, where there is a very high demand for excellent specialists and managers in the industry, benefits scientifically and technologically from the concept of a research school," explains Urs Peuker.
In addition to special subject-specific courses, doctoral students are also offered interdisciplinary courses such as "Life-Cycle Thinking", "Industrial Ecology" or "Data Management", as well as workshops designed to expand students' transdisciplinary knowledge and understanding. With the specialist and transfer knowledge they acquire, the young professionals should preferably work in the industrial sector. The aim of this "transfer via heads" is to ensure a transformation towards holistic value chains and thus contribute to a sustainable Circular Economy.
About the project FINEST
FINEST is one of three projects that won the Sustainability Challenge of the Helmholtz Association and thus received funding of 5 million euros. The consortium consists of the HZDR, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the University of Greifswald. Waste streams consisting of organic, mineral and metallic fine particles are being investigated in three sub-projects in order to achieve innovative, high-quality recycling and safe depositing of the remaining residues. Material characterizations, findings on technological processes, and a technological and economic-ecological evaluation are intended as cross-sectional tasks to promote the exchange of information between the subprojects and thus promote the recycling and reuse of the materials overall.
Website: http://www.finest-project.de
Further Information:
Dr. Stefan Dirlich | Project Coordinator
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4413 | Email: s.dirlich@hzdr.de
Dr. Axel Renno | Department Analytics
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4755 | Email: a.renno@hzdr.de
Prof. Dr. Urs Peuker | Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mineral Processing
TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Phone: +49 3731 39-2916 | Email: urs.peuker@mvtat.tu-freiberg.de
Press Contact:
Anne-Kristin Jentzsch | Press Officer
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4429 | Email: a.jentzsch@hzdr.de
