Vragenlijst Flashcards
What is the most innovative aspect of your proposal?
The novelty of this project will mainly be in two aspects:
- First the multidisciplinary approach, by combining product development and chemistry.
- The second and most important one is the methodology being used. For the first time Design inclusive research will be used to analyze the problem of plastic lab waste. As it is proven that design choices have a significant and direct impact on the usage and disposal behavior of products, using the techniques of design will be a perfect method to generate knowledge on how to avoid disposables.
Where do you expect problems and what is your plan B?
Due to the impact of the coronavirus, user observations and user test cases throughout the different work packages can be obstructed. I, as an external person, might not be able to be present in all the different labs. A solution will be to send the redesigned products to the different labs with clear instruction on how to use them, afterwards a survey and a videocall will take place. Within the research group other projects had to change to this approach as well.
Situate your research proposal within your research group
I’m part of the ecodesign group within the product development research group. In this group there are 3 focus points: “sustainable experience”, “close the loop” and “material identity”. My project will fit in the “close the loop” focus point. Another project within the ecodesign group is for example about identifying motivators for consumers to use sustainable alternatives
Explain 1 particular technique you are going to use. Why do you use that technique? Are there alternatives?
(assesment based usability testing, user interviews, uv reflection analysis, spectrophotometry, electrochemistry, icp-ms, Raman, Ionchromatography, gaschromatography)
- Assessment based usability testing: Clear instructions will be given to the user on what type of test needs to be performed while using the redesigned product. This type of test is specifically ideal to test different features of a product. Alternative
- User interviews:
Chemical techniques: - UV reflection analysis: The product will be filled with a fluorescent liquid, afterwards it will undergo intensive cleaning. UV light will be used to observe fluorescent spots where residue has left behind.
- Spectrophotometry: reflection or transmission of material is measured and this can be used for material identification or quality control.
- Electrochemistry: Redox reactions will be observed by applying electricity to a solution, based upon this measurement substances within the solution can be identified.
- ICP-MS: inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry is known to be able to detect especially but not solely metals in liquid samples at very low concentrations. Ideal for identifying any residue left.
Ions are being generated in the plasma which will be split up in the mass spectrometer. - Raman: Vibrations of molecules are measured to identify the molecules and study the chemical bonding.
The scattering of photons will be measured. - Ionchromatography: A chromatography process where ions and polar molecules are separated based upon their affinity to the ion exchanger within the column. A common method to test materials for cleanliness and contamination
- Gaschromatography: A chromatography process to separate compounds able to be vaporized without decomposition. A method commonly used to analyse purity of compounds and to identify compounds.
- What will be the exact/concrete outcome of your research what will be the following steps before actual implementation?
The goal will be to develop a theoretical framework for designers on how to deal with the previously mentioned four groups of variables. Transferring this understanding, by translating the theoretical framework into a guideline for designer will help the industry developing products for the chemical industry which fit in the circular economy.
The last 6 months of the PhD research will be dedicated to applying the knowledge to existing cases. These cases can be used as a demonstrator to the industry to prove the principles of the theory.
- What is your biggest contribution to business and industry? (SB)
By developing a methodology for designers and strategic management that can be applied in the R&D departments of different manufacturers an evolution can be started. Early adopters of the methodology can become the new standard on the market to fit within the circular economy. This research proposal will be contributing to different aspects of the industry. In the first place the exact output will be the most applicable to the designers of chemical analysis tools. As all the key global decision-makers of the plastic producing companies are located in Europe and the United States, a local impact can be created. More specific a lot of the lab consumable producers are seated in Belgium.
The second most affected sector will be the recycling sector. As Flanders has an extensive expertise in recycling with large companies as Indaver, Vanheede, Renewi or Suez, we can become the new standard of recycling of lab waste in Europe to fit into the circular economy.
- What is the biggest risk for your Ph.D. to fail?
The biggest risk will be that no labs will be willing to cooperate. If this was the case the theory could not be verified and the results will be almost useless. To avoid this we contacted a lot of lab beforehand and they already expressed their willingness to collaborate in this project. I already worked for 3 years together with the AXES research department, making use of their lab, contributing to experiments and my Co-Promotor Professor Karolien De Wael is head of thi research group at the University of Antwerp, which will guarantee access to this lab. Verifications using analytical methods will be performed here as well as user tests.
- What makes you the one to do this?
I’m the one where three important fields emerge for this proposal. As first, I’ve got the academic experience, by publishing 5 papers, 1 paper in progress and submitted 2 patents in there last phase for acceptance. In addition to this I’ve gained lab experience as well by performing experiments in de AXES lab as part of these papers. And third, I’ve got the prototype experience making me able to realize the physical redesigns during the research. All of this comes together in me, I hate to brag about myself so I will use the words of a colleague who described me as a real hard-working, team player, who won’t give up after a single disappointment.
Are you working together with companies? Why (not)?
We did have had contact with companies expressing their interest in the topic, a large chemical consumable producer Rainin – Mettler Toledo expressed their support to provide technological knowledge regarding the production if needed. I think this research can not be preformed for only one company, this will limit the research to the product range of a specific company and the eventual knowledge should be available for the whole community. It is in benefit of the whole society that every company could apply these design guidelines. This will create the most significant impact, for example a lot of laboratories are bound to contracts with certain companies, if not every company can provide a sustainable alternative a large amount of labs won’t have access to these alternatives.
What are some research groups that closely relate to your research?
The most closely related research group will be the Circular Product Design Research group from Proffesor Conny Bakker at TU Delft , where for example sustainable design for medical devices has been a point of interest. As my promotor Professor Els du Bois, successfully defended her PhD at the TU Delft the lines to get in touch with this group are open.
Next to this, within the university of Antwerp you have the iPracs group. They specialize in the chemical recycling of plastics but also researching the economical aspects of recycling and new materialcycli.
- You worked on this project for a year already, can you share any findings? What has already been done? Would you change anything?
During the first year the focus was on the context of use of consumables and a second large focus on the rewriting of this proposal. The list of all the different techniques used in analytical labs is being composed each technique linked with the types of consumables being used as a starting point to map all the current consumables. After submitting the rewritten proposal, the COVID-19 pandemic started. As in every aspect of society this had a big influence on my timeline as well. As the Product Research group we quickly combined all of our capabilities to start helping beating this pandemic. As all of you probably know a large shortage of personal protective equipment emerged in hospitals. We started designing a fast and reliable emergency production line for N95 and N99 respirator masks. I was involved from the first day into this project. This new context of a worldwide pandemic which might be contradictious to reuse gave interesting insights as due to a lack of supply reuse became more common.
I personally validated sterilized masks to check if they where eligible for reuse. A paper is in progress on how a standardized quick validation protocol can be used to verify masks for reuse with the trust of the user in mind.
- Hoeveel weegt de Titanic? Beschrijf eens een oppervlakte die deze hoeveelheid jaarlijks afdekt 😉
The weight of the titanic is 52 thousand tonnes (52 000), based on calculations of the tearfund foundations this would almost cover the size of gibraltor filled with a layer of 10 cm plastic waste
- Wordt dit meestal ‘thermisch gerecycleerd’ of waar gaan deze single use plastics naartoe?
Due to the classification of hazardous waste, all this waste is being incinerated at a very high temperature. This is a very intense process with minimal energy recovery capabilities.
- Design inclusive research, OK … jij gaat het ook ontwerpen en erop itereren met je kennis?
Correct, during each work package design inclusive research will be used. For each variable there will be an explorative phase, afterwards with the knowledge gathered during the exploration a redesign of an existing product will be made, this redesign will be used the verify and adjust the theory based on the gathered knowledge.
- Heb je zicht op bestaande initiatieven wereldwijd die dit reeds proberen en is dit anders?
For the chemical industry no-large scale initiatives could be found. In de medical sector multiple services exist for refurbishing of medical equipment. Another interesting development was the grenova tipnovus, a cleaning device for pipette tips.
On a smaller scale some chemical consumable producers are starting to develop a so called green line next to their current products. Most of the time the focus her is on reducing the amount of material being used by implementing some design techniques. A quick example is a vacuum formed tray with ribs to achieve a similar rigidity as a tray made with a larger material thickness. Another commonly used technique is making products stackable to reduce the impact of transportation.
