Working Towards a Zero Waste World Workshop Series
Addressing the next big questions in waste, recycling, and manufacturing.
Working Towards a Zero Waste World tackles the overarching challenges of developing sustainable practices and moving towards a circular economy.
Each workshop in this virtual series provides a forum to discuss common problems and brainstorm approaches to overcoming them across fields—including non-degradable plastics and other artificial compounds in the environment, high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and emissions from all sectors, and the need to develop sustainable, zero waste manufacturing practices and materials with low environmental impact. The series brings together academic researchers, industry leaders, and federal agencies to consider these problems from multiple angles.
Co-hosted by the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, Energy & Sustainable Technologies Lab, and the College of Engineering.
Expand to learn more about each workshop’s speakers, their presentation topics, and to watch the recordings:
Plastics
Recording
While plastics have revolutionized modern society in numerous beneficial ways, the benefits of plastics have come at a rising environmental and health cost. Because of their intrinsic properties, and low cost of production, it is unlikely plastics will ever be completely replaced, though work to reduce plastic waste has accelerated in recent years. Work in plastic waste reduction consists of many research topics, including producing plastics from biobased sources, improving the recyclability of plastics, and chemical breakdown/recycling of discarded plastic waste. This multi-pronged approach is necessary due to the gargantuan scale of plastic production (and plastic waste discarded). In this workshop, experts discuss their approaches to sustainability in plastic production and recycling.
Speakers and Topics:
- Alex Balzer, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware
- Tracking polymer chain transformations during polyethylene deconstruction
- Luiz Falcon, Recycling I&T Platform Leader, Braskem
- An industrial perspective on plastic recycling
- Aaron Sadow, David C. Henderson Professor, Chemistry, Iowa State University
- Upcycling polyolefins via selective catalytic conversions
Facilitated by Eric Cueny and Malika Jeffries-EL (Boston University).
Speaker Profiles
Alex Balzer, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware
Alex H. Balzer received a BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2015. He completed his PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Natalie Stingelin. His work focused on structure–property relationships for polymers in photonics and electronics. Alex joined the Center for Plastics Innovation at the University of Delaware in 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher working on valorizing plastics waste.
Luiz Falcon, Recycling I&T Platform Leader, Braskem
Luiz Falcon, Braskem Recycling R&D Platform leader, has more than 30 years of expertise in Petrochemicals in different positions from Industrial, Business Development, and Portfolio management to R&D. Master’s in Chemical Engineering and MBA in business management.
Aaron Sadow, David C. Henderson Professor, Chemistry, Iowa State University
Sustainable Materials & Manufacturing
Recording
Material conversion from source to useful products often has tremendous detrimental environmental implications in terms of energy demands, greenhouse gas emissions, and other toxic waste releases. This workshop highlights and discusses how the transition to a cleaner, greener, and sustainable future requires understanding the relationship between materials selection, processing and manufacturing options, product design and its use, and various end-of-life strategies while improving economic, social, and environmental capitals.
Speakers and Topics:
- Toni Marechaux, Lead Analyst, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Implications for the electrification of metals processing
- Benjamin Sovacool, Director, Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability
- Industrial decarbonization through a sociotechnical lens
- Tatiana Vakhitova, Sustainability Lead, Ansys Academic Program
- Ansys Granta software for material selection and sustainable product design
Facilitated by Uday Pal and Joerg Werner (BU College of Engineering).
Speaker Profiles
Toni Marechaux, Lead Analyst, Booz Allen Hamilton
Dr. Toni Marechaux is an accomplished technology strategist with extensive experience spanning basic research, technology development, management, and leadership. She currently serves as a lead analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton. Previously, she was a senior analyst for the Defense Science Board and a science advisor to ZIN Technologies in support of space experiment design. Dr. Marechaux also spent five years at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. During her tenure there, she directed more than 30 studies for the National Materials Advisory Board and the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design.
Prior to the National Academies, Dr. Marechaux was a Program Manager at the US Department of Energy where she worked with industry to collaboratively develop vision and roadmap documents, managed research and development programs, and tracked impacts of technology applications. She was also a project manager at NASA, where she researched superalloys and refractory metals for space applications. Finally, in her first professional position, she was a quality engineer at National Steel.
Dr. Marechaux graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and from Case Western Reserve University with a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. She maintains an abiding interest in abolishing barriers to new technology applications and in engineering solutions for sustainable development.
Benjamin Sovacool, Director, Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability
Benjamin K. Sovacool is the Director of the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) and a Professor in the Department of Earth & Environment. He works as a researcher and consultant on issues pertaining to global energy policy and politics, energy security, energy justice, climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation. His research has been endorsed by U.S. President Bill Clinton, the Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, and the late Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, among others. He was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), published in 2022, and an Advisor on Energy to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation in Brussels, Belgium.
He is the recipient of multiple national and international awards and honors, including the “Distinguished Graduate Alumni Achievement Award” from his Alma Mater Virginia Tech, the 2019 USERN Prize for his work on “Social Justice in an Era of Climate Change and Energy Scarcity,” the “Dedication to Justice Award” given by the American Bar Association, and a “Distinguished Visiting Energy Professorship” at the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School. He is also an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in the United Kingdom. Additionally, with much coverage of his work in the international news media, he is one of the most highly cited global researchers on issues bearing on controversies in energy and climate policy.
Tatiana Vakhitova, Sustainability Lead, Ansys Academic Program
Dr Tatiana Vakhitova, as a part of Ansys Academic Program, leads its Sustainability strategy. She also manages a team of experts, technically engaging with engineering educators. Tatiana has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and extensive software industry experience. Tatiana has worked extensively in the sustainability engineering education field, published sustainability-related teaching material, and developed strategy for digital educational content. Tatiana currently has a strong interest in Social Life Cycle Assessment.
Reducing Greenhouse Gases through Carbon Conversion
Recording
Carbon dioxide represents the major waste product in the manufacturing, energy, and transportation sectors. Transforming carbon dioxide through chemical reactions enables the creation of more valuable compounds, enhancing their commercial and environmental value. This upcycling process not only contributes to industrial applications but also aligns with sustainability goals by incentivizing the capture of CO2 emissions. The resulting value-added products represent a positive economic and ecological impact, turning a waste product into a resource. In this workshop, experts on carbon conversion discuss their research and the challenges facing widespread adoption of new conversion technologies.
Speakers and Topics:
- Hanna Breunig, Staff Scientist and Deputy-Leader of the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Systems Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Co-director, Hydrogen Materials Advanced Research Consortium, Department of Energy
- Electrochemical refineries for ethylene production via oxidative coupling of methane
- Marta Hatzell, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Bipolar membrane electrolysis for combined carbon capture and conversion
- Feng Jiao, Professor, Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis
- CO2 electrolysis systems for chemical and food production
Facilitated by Sean Lubner and Emily Ryan (BU College of Engineering).
Speaker Profiles
Hanna Breunig, Staff Scientist and Deputy-Leader of the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Systems Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Co-director, Hydrogen Materials Advanced Research Consortium, Department of Energy
Dr. Breunig is co-director of the Department of Energy HyMARC consortium on hydrogen storage materials, and Head of the Systems Analysis Team for the DOE California hydrogen hub ARCHES. Her research group focuses on process design, modeling, and systems analysis of low Technology Readiness Level energy systems including hydrogen, energy storage, and negative emissions technologies. She earned her B.S. from Cornell University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, all in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Marta Hatzell, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Marta Hatzell is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Hatzell’s research group focuses on exploring how to electrify catalytic and separation-based processes to enable sustainable industrial systems. Her group works on materials, characterization, and system analyses for electrolysis, fuel cells, desalination, and solar energy conversion processes.
Hatzell completed her BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University and an M.Eng in Environmental Engineering from Penn State University. Hatzell’s Ph.D. research conducted with Prof. Bruce Logan explored environmental technologies for energy generation and water treatment. She was a NSF graduate research fellow and PEO fellow during her PhD. Hatzell received the outstanding award for early career research at Georgia Tech in 2023. In addition, Hatzell received other awards including the Moore Inventor Fellowship (2021), ONR Young Investigator Award (2020), Sloan Foundation Fellowship in Chemistry (2020), and the NSF Early CAREER award (2019). Hatzell currently serves as a Senior Editor of the ACS Energy Letters Journal.
Feng Jiao, Professor, Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis
Professor Feng Jiao holds a BSc in Chemistry from Fudan University in China and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom. Following the completion of his postdoctoral training at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2010. Then, he was promoted to full professor in 2021 and served as the Director of the Center for Catalytic Science & Technology. In August 2023, Professor Jiao joined the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis as the Elvera and William R. Stuckenberg Professor. He also serves as the director of the Center for Carbon Management.
The Jiao research group is developing innovative electrochemical devices to address critical energy and sustainability challenges. Professor Jiao has published over 100 research papers, which have collectively received more than 19,000 citations. His contributions have been recognized with several awards and honors, including his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the receipt of the NSF CAREER Award, and recognition as a 2020 Emerging Investigator by the Journal of Materials Chemistry A and a 2020 Scialog Fellow for the Negative Emission Science (NES) initiative.