Speaker: Dr. Krishna Mohan T V
Date and time: 27 February 2025 (Thursday), 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Venue: IEOR Seminar Room
Title: A Roadmap to the Circular Economy of Technology Metals
Abstract: Technology metals are indispensable for any country as they are used in high-tech and clean-tech industries such as consumer electronics, electric mobility, and renewable energy generation. The critical nature of technology metal supply chains has made it imperative to establish a circular economy for them. This research aims to develop a roadmap for building a circular economy in the UK by the year 2050 for electric vehicle battery technology metals such as lithium and cobalt. Different interventions are possible for establishing a circular economy such as usage reduction, prolonging product life, intensifying product use, and various circular pathways such as repairing, repurposing, remanufacturing, recycling, etc., leading to different trade-offs when implemented concurrently. Besides, changing regulatory interventions, technological advancements, and consumer preferences make the circular economy a complex system. An agent-based simulation model is developed to elaborate on the roadmap of electric vehicle battery metals circular economy. Various circular economy strategies are evaluated considering the entire value chain from raw material extraction, processing, manufacturing, use, and product end-of-life disposal. The model results indicate a considerable reduction in technology metals demand by 2050 through various interventions such as shifting from electric cars to electric buses (30%), extending battery life (10%), remanufacturing batteries (30%), and developing recycling infrastructure for EU regulations (15%), which also results in a reduction in emissions. Hence, the research recommends a technology metals roadmap that encourages public transport, persuades to maximize the value of products, and performs efficient recycling.
Bio: Dr. Krishna Mohan T V obtained his Ph.D. from IIT Madras. His Ph.D. thesis focuses on closed-loop supply chains, particularly on the dynamics of end-of-life vehicle recycling in unregulated markets. Before his Ph.D, he obtained his M. Tech. in Industrial Engineering and Management from NIT Calicut, and B. Tech. in Production Engineering from the University of Calicut. After his Ph.D. he worked as an Assistant Professor in the Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques area at IIM Bodh Gaya and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Business School, UK. In his postdoctoral research, he worked at the UK Research and Innovation-funded project named Met4Tech, on building simulation models to aid in developing a circular economy roadmap for technology metals in the UK. His research interests are Sustainable Operations Management, Simulation Modeling, and Health Systems. His areas of interest in teaching are Simulation, Revenue Management and Dynamic Pricing, Operations Management, and Game Theory.