Benjamin Sprecher
Assistant professor at the Department of Industrial Ecology at the
Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University
Benjamin Sprecher is an assistant professor at the Department of Industrial Ecology at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University. He obtained his PhD degree at the CML with a dissertation on the supply chain resilience of rare earth elements, which includes one of the most widely cited life cycle assessments of rare earth element production and recycling processes. He also introduced a new conceptual way of analyzing the criticality of metals based on a system dynamics and supply chain resilience. He subsequently did a postdoc at Yale University on material criticality. Currently his work focus on both the criticality of non-ferrous metals and implementing the Circular Economy on the city scale.
Talk
In this presentation we will explore as a case study the computer hard disc drive (HDD, using two methodologies: Life Cycle Assessment and Mass Flow Analysis. With these two methods we will see how sustainable a certain part of the venerable HDD is, and what the potential for a circular economy would be, and how the methods used to quantify this actually work.