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Attribution of Global Warming Potential impacts in a multifunctional metals industry system using different system expansion and allocation methodologies (2024)
Journal Article
Fernandez, M. C., Grund, S., Phillips, C., Fradet, J., Hage, J., Silk, N., …McKechnie, J. (2024). Attribution of Global Warming Potential impacts in a multifunctional metals industry system using different system expansion and allocation methodologies. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-023-02274-7

Purpose: In order to reach a more circular economy, materials previously classified as waste can be upgraded and turned into valuable co-products, with associated environmental benefits. The generation of co-products raises many questions around the... Read More about Attribution of Global Warming Potential impacts in a multifunctional metals industry system using different system expansion and allocation methodologies.

Development of an open-source carbon footprint calculator of the UK craft brewing value chain (2023)
Journal Article
Bowler, A. L., Rodgers, S., Meng, F., McKechnie, J., Cook, D. J., & Watson, N. J. (2024). Development of an open-source carbon footprint calculator of the UK craft brewing value chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 435, Article 140181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.140181

Craft breweries may fall behind large brewing companies in reducing the carbon footprints of their value chains due to limited resources, financial constraints, and a lack of technical knowledge to fully understand their emissions. However, by increa... Read More about Development of an open-source carbon footprint calculator of the UK craft brewing value chain.

Solutions for recycling emerging wind turbine blade waste in China are not yet effective (2023)
Journal Article
Yang, J., Meng, F., Zhang, L., McKechnie, J., Chang, Y., Ma, B., …Cullen, J. M. (2023). Solutions for recycling emerging wind turbine blade waste in China are not yet effective. Communications Earth & Environment, 4(1), Article 466. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01104-w

Wind power supply chains are evolving as markets expand to reach climate goals. With the largest installed wind power capacity globally, China must deal with increasing composite turbine waste and anticipate its associated costs. Here we predict the... Read More about Solutions for recycling emerging wind turbine blade waste in China are not yet effective.

Comparative techno-economic and life cycle analyses of synthetic “drop-in” fuel production from UK wet biomass (2023)
Journal Article
Lilonfe, S., Dimitriou, I., Davies, B., Abdul-Manan, A. F., & McKechnie, J. (2024). Comparative techno-economic and life cycle analyses of synthetic “drop-in” fuel production from UK wet biomass. Chemical Engineering Journal, 479, Article 147516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.147516

Renewable synthetic hydrocarbon “drop-in” fuels can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from transport, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors like freight and aviation. However, no study has extensively addressed the concerns over biomass availabi... Read More about Comparative techno-economic and life cycle analyses of synthetic “drop-in” fuel production from UK wet biomass.

Estimating the environmental impacts of global lithium-ion battery supply chain: A temporal, geographical, and technological perspective (2023)
Journal Article
Llamas-Orozco, J. A., Meng, F., Walker, G. S., Abdul-Manan, A. F. N., MacLean, H. L., Posen, I. D., & McKechnie, J. (2023). Estimating the environmental impacts of global lithium-ion battery supply chain: A temporal, geographical, and technological perspective. PNAS Nexus, 2(11), Article pgad361. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad361

A sustainable low-carbon transition via electric vehicles will require a comprehensive understanding of lithium-ion batteries’ global supply chain environmental impacts. Here, we analyze the cradle-to-gate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of c... Read More about Estimating the environmental impacts of global lithium-ion battery supply chain: A temporal, geographical, and technological perspective.

A surrogate model for the economic evaluation of renewable hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks via supercritical water gasification (2023)
Journal Article
Rodgers, S., Bowler, A., Wells, L., Siah Lee, C., Hayes, M., Poulston, S., …Conradie, A. (2024). A surrogate model for the economic evaluation of renewable hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks via supercritical water gasification. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 49(A), 277-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.08.016

Supercritical water gasification is a promising technology for renewable hydrogen production from high moisture content biomass. This work produces a machine learning surrogate model to predict the Levelised Cost of Hydrogen over a range of biomass c... Read More about A surrogate model for the economic evaluation of renewable hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks via supercritical water gasification.

Probabilistic commodity price projections for unbiased techno-economic analyses (2023)
Journal Article
Rodgers, S., Bowler, A., Meng, F., Poulston, S., McKechnie, J., & Conradie, A. (2023). Probabilistic commodity price projections for unbiased techno-economic analyses. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 122, Article 106065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2023.106065

Techno-economic analysis is a core methodology for assessing the feasibility of new technologies and processes. The outcome of an analysis is largely dictated by the product's price, as selected by the practitioner. Representative future price distri... Read More about Probabilistic commodity price projections for unbiased techno-economic analyses.

Renewable butadiene: A case for hybrid processing via bio- and chemo-catalysis (2022)
Journal Article
Rodgers, S., Meng, F., Poulston, S., Conradie, A., & McKechnie, J. (2022). Renewable butadiene: A case for hybrid processing via bio- and chemo-catalysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364, Article 132614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132614

1,3-butadiene (butadiene) is a by-product produced during naphtha steam cracking, predominantly used in tyre manufacturing. Recently, steam crackers have converted to using more cost effective, lighter feedstocks such as shale gas, yielding less buta... Read More about Renewable butadiene: A case for hybrid processing via bio- and chemo-catalysis.

Techno-economic and environmental analysis of community energy management for peak shaving (2021)
Journal Article
Cossutta, M., Pholboon, S., McKechnie, J., & Sumner, M. (2022). Techno-economic and environmental analysis of community energy management for peak shaving. Energy Conversion and Management, 251, Article 114900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114900

Energy storage (ES) is seen as the key to unlocking the true potential of renewable generation as it potentially supports their integration into the grid by providing capability for services such balancing and frequency regulation. It also has the po... Read More about Techno-economic and environmental analysis of community energy management for peak shaving.

Wind turbine blade wastes and the environmental impacts in Canada (2021)
Journal Article
Heng, H., Meng, F., & McKechnie, J. (2021). Wind turbine blade wastes and the environmental impacts in Canada. Waste Management, 133, 59-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.032

Electricity production by wind turbines is considered a clean energy technology, but the life cycle of wind turbines could introduce environmental risks due to waste generation, especially at the decommissioning process. This study predicts the futur... Read More about Wind turbine blade wastes and the environmental impacts in Canada.

Asymmetrically heated multi-stage travelling-wave thermoacoustic electricity generator (2021)
Journal Article
Kisha, W., Riley, P., McKechnie, J., & Hann, D. (2021). Asymmetrically heated multi-stage travelling-wave thermoacoustic electricity generator. Energy, 235, Article 121312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2021.121312

Recent developments of thermoacoustic engines have demonstrated that thermoacoustic technology is a viable option for waste heat recovery and low-cost electricity generation, Thermoacoustic technology is capable of converting low-grade heat to electr... Read More about Asymmetrically heated multi-stage travelling-wave thermoacoustic electricity generator.

Reconciling the sustainable manufacturing of commodity chemicals with feasible technoeconomic outcomes: Assessing the investment case for heat integrated aerobic gas fermentation (2021)
Journal Article
Rodgers, S., Conradie, A., King, R., Poulston, S., Hayes, M., Bommareddy, R. R., …McKechnie, J. (2021). Reconciling the sustainable manufacturing of commodity chemicals with feasible technoeconomic outcomes: Assessing the investment case for heat integrated aerobic gas fermentation. Johnson Matthey Technology Review, 65(3), 375–394. https://doi.org/10.1595/205651321X16137377305390

The manufacturing industry must diverge from a ‘take, make and waste’ linear production paradigm towards more circular economies. Truly sustainable, circular economies are intrinsically tied to renewable resource flows, where vast quantities need to... Read More about Reconciling the sustainable manufacturing of commodity chemicals with feasible technoeconomic outcomes: Assessing the investment case for heat integrated aerobic gas fermentation.

Enzyme digestion of biofiber from mechanical heat treated municipal solid waste: Accessing kinetic and rheological design data using a pilot-scale high-solids mixer (2020)
Journal Article
Ibbett, R., Tucker, G., McKechnie, J., & Meng, F. (2020). Enzyme digestion of biofiber from mechanical heat treated municipal solid waste: Accessing kinetic and rheological design data using a pilot-scale high-solids mixer. Biomass and Bioenergy, 143, Article 105817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2020.105817

© 2020 Mechanical heat treatment of municipal solid waste offers a route for the production and separation of a biofiber fraction with high organic content, which is a potential source of sugars for biochemical conversion to chemicals and fuels. This... Read More about Enzyme digestion of biofiber from mechanical heat treated municipal solid waste: Accessing kinetic and rheological design data using a pilot-scale high-solids mixer.

From aviation to aviation: Environmental and financial viability of closed-loop recycling of carbon fibre composite (2020)
Journal Article
Meng, F., Cui, Y., Pickering, S., & McKechnie, J. (2020). From aviation to aviation: Environmental and financial viability of closed-loop recycling of carbon fibre composite. Composites Part B: Engineering, 200, Article 108362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.108362

© 2020 By 2050, the aviation sector is expected to generate about 500,000 tonnes of accumulated carbon fibre reinforced plastic waste from the production and end-of-life phase. In this study, aircraft interior applications of recycled carbon fibre (r... Read More about From aviation to aviation: Environmental and financial viability of closed-loop recycling of carbon fibre composite.

Energy assessment and economic sensitivity analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system (2019)
Journal Article
Cui, Y., Zhu, J., Meng, F., Zoras, S., McKechnie, J., & Chu, J. (2020). Energy assessment and economic sensitivity analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system. Renewable Energy, 150, 101-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.12.127

This paper presents techno-economic assessment results of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system for domestic building application. The PV system electricity output, energy conversion efficiency and cell temperature are explored based on the local... Read More about Energy assessment and economic sensitivity analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic system.

Challenges in Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Waste-Based Biofuels in EU and US Biofuel Policies: Case Study of Butanol and Ethanol Production from Municipal Solid Waste (2019)
Journal Article
Meng, F., & McKechnie, J. (2019). Challenges in Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Waste-Based Biofuels in EU and US Biofuel Policies: Case Study of Butanol and Ethanol Production from Municipal Solid Waste. Environmental Science and Technology, 53(20), 12141-12149. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04286

Conversion of wastes to biofuels is a promising route to provide renewable low-carbon fuels, based on a low- or negative-cost feedstock, whose use can avoid negative environmental impacts of conventional waste treatment. However, current policies tha... Read More about Challenges in Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Waste-Based Biofuels in EU and US Biofuel Policies: Case Study of Butanol and Ethanol Production from Municipal Solid Waste.

Sustainability assessment of continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis of nanomaterials in the context of other production technologies (2019)
Journal Article
Stieberova, B., Zilka, M., Ticha, M., Freiberg, F., Caramazana-González, P., McKechnie, J., & Lester, E. (2019). Sustainability assessment of continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis of nanomaterials in the context of other production technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 241, Article 118325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118325

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive techno-economic and life cycle environmental evaluation of the continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis (CFHS) of nanoparticles in the context of current production technologies. This method is compared with a... Read More about Sustainability assessment of continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis of nanomaterials in the context of other production technologies.

Process simulation and life cycle assessment of converting autoclaved municipal solid waste into butanol and ethanol as transport fuels (2019)
Journal Article
Meng, F., Ibbett, R., de Vrije, T., Metcalf, P., Tucker, G., & McKechnie, J. (2019). Process simulation and life cycle assessment of converting autoclaved municipal solid waste into butanol and ethanol as transport fuels. Waste Management, 89, 177-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.04.003

In 2015/2016, the total municipal solid waste (MSW) collected by local authority in the U.K. was 26 million tonnes and over 57% is still put into landfill or incinerated. MSW is a promising feedstock for bio-butanol production as it has a high lignoc... Read More about Process simulation and life cycle assessment of converting autoclaved municipal solid waste into butanol and ethanol as transport fuels.

Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emission of lightweight vehicle – a body-in-white design (2019)
Journal Article
Sun, X., Meng, F., Liu, J., McKechnie, J., & Yang, J. (2019). Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emission of lightweight vehicle – a body-in-white design. Journal of Cleaner Production, 220, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.225

A life cycle assessment (LCA) study is performed to compare the life cycle primary energy demand (PED) and global warming potential (GWP) of steel baseline automotive body-in-white (BIW) with three types of lightweight Scenarios. Scenario I, Scenario... Read More about Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emission of lightweight vehicle – a body-in-white design.

The Influence of Heat Input Ratio on Electrical Power Output of a Dual-Core Travelling-Wave Thermoacoustic Engine (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Kisha, W., Riley, P. H., Mckechnie, J., & Hann, D. (2018). The Influence of Heat Input Ratio on Electrical Power Output of a Dual-Core Travelling-Wave Thermoacoustic Engine. In HEAT POWERED CYCLES 2018 conference proceedings (67-74)

This paper presents an analytical and experimental investigation of an electricity generator that employs a two-stage looped tube travelling-wave thermoacoustic prime-mover to deliver acoustic power from heat energy, a loudspeaker to extract electric... Read More about The Influence of Heat Input Ratio on Electrical Power Output of a Dual-Core Travelling-Wave Thermoacoustic Engine.