Resource Engineering

• Explain and be able to apply key definitions and terminology in relation to resources
• Explain the main resource types with respect to important characteristics (e.g. availability, consumption patterns, and typical flows in society)
• Identify important environmental impacts in relation to the main resource types
• Describe key types of resource indicators for evaluation of resource consumption
• Assess the criticality of resources for society and/or specific technological systems and discuss the dependence of specific resources in this context
• Evaluate resource management in simple systems based on selected concepts, e.g. life cycle based indicators, exergy, material flows and ressource criticality
• Explain the main challenges related to resource recovery and use of recovered resources
• Apply the above concepts and methods for solving smaller assignments in relation to circular economy

Today, most environmental impacts in society are associated with resource production, consumption and management of resources after the use-phase. The course provides students with an essential understanding of the role of resources in society, the most important environmental aspects related to resources, and how resources can be addressed from an engineering perspective. With focus on environmental aspects, the course addresses all key phases in the “life cycle” of resources, e.g. production, resource characteristics, consumption patterns, flows in society, and resource recovery and recycling. The course provides an overview of resource definitions, resource availability, depletion, criticality and functionality, typical resource flows in society, key economical aspects of resource management, challenges related to resource recovery, as well as introduces selected engineering tools related to resource systems, e.g. resource criticality, exergy, material flows and life cycle based indicators.

Lectures, exercises, assignments, group work