Experts
Get to know seven experts
David Peck
Geopolitical developments
David Peck is a man with a big story to tell: about critical raw materials, why we need them and don’t have them, and what we need to do to change. He is Associate Professor of Critical Materials and Circular Design at the Faculty of Architecture and an expert on critical raw materials and European strategic autonomy. For his dissertation, he studied how Britain dealt with material scarcity during World War II. He has scientific ties with the universities of London and Cambridge on the subject and talks about it in Brussels. In our Story of Team Science, he says:
“Historically, we’ve seen that resource scarcity drives people to wage war. We have exactly zero examples of ostensibly civilised societies like ours in which two groups want the same material, have a good conversation and start sharing. My biggest driver was probably to help prevent wars.”
Mail: D.P.Peck@tudelft.nl
Talen: ENG
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Benjamin Sprecher
Industrial ecologist
• Benjamin is an associate professor in the Faculty of Industrial Design and is considered one of the leading experts on critical resources. One of his main pursuits is creating decision-support tools for designers that factor in carbon emissions as well as materials, enabling designers to make better trade-offs between lifespan and reparability, as well as the availability of critical raw materials. Design is a fascinating part of the chain, Sprecher argues, as design determines whether a product catches on, works and is embraced by society. Sprecher obtained his PhD in Leiden, before doing a post-doc at Yale University. In our Story of Team Science, he says:
“Research on critical raw materials is a prerequisite for keeping the earth habitable in the first place. If we don’t crack this problem, we won’t have a chance. Solving critical metals is not tantamount to solving the energy transition. That being said, we need to solve the puzzle to even entertain the notion of an energy transition.”
Mail: B.Sprecher@tudelft.nl
Talen: NL + ENG
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Shoshan Abrahami
Recycling expert
Associate professor Shoshan Abrahami specialises in developing recycling routes for complex materials, such as hybrids and composites. She in our expert on battery recycling and does a lot of research on the hydrometallurgical recycling route, which uses water instead of the fire/heat used in the more common pyrometallurgical route. PhD researcher Joep van de Ven, who works closely with Abrahami, specialises in lithium-ion batteries. In a major Tweakers dossier on battery recycling, Abrahami explains:
Lithium and manganese cannot be recovered by pyrometallurgy, and the same goes for graphite. Recovery of critical raw materials is becoming increasingly important for environmental reasons, of course, but also to avoid becoming dependent on importing materials from Russia, China and other non-EU member states.”
Mail: S.T.Abrahami@tudelft.nl
Talen: NL + ENG
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Geeske Langejans
Historical perspective
Geeske Langejans is an associate professor of Archaeological Materials at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. With her vast knowledge of the history of materials, she can put our present-day materials crisis into perspective: After all, we’ve also had our fair share of material and energy transitions in the past. She can tell you everything you need to know about Bronze-age trade networks for tin and copper and how the discovery of iron around 800 BCE ushered in widespread change.
Langejans also does important research on prehistoric glues, stones and shells. Insight into historical adhesives can help us develop new adhesives for the future, and figuring out better ways to have adhesives decompose can vastly improve recycling.
“I’ve lost my faith in endless technological progress. We need to change our mindset and will have to adopt a radically different approach to materials to solve our problems. We have to re-evaluate people and work. To see how societies navigate drastic changes, we need only look at the past. It’s like a mirror that shows what to do and what not to do.”
Mail: G.Langejans@tudelft.nl
Talen: NL + ENG
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Tobias Schmiedel
‘Urban mining’
Minerals expert Tobias Schmiedel’s hunt for minerals brings him to unusual locations. Schmiedel investigates urban mining, an interesting prospect for the Netherlands, as our soil is not particularly rich in minerals that can be mined traditionally. Part of his research focuses on geothermal energy, as the water used to unlock geothermal energy contains minerals, including the much sought-after lithium. Schmiedel explores how much lithium we can source this way and how it can be extracted. Another of his studies focusses on motorways: asphalt waste can contain useful materials, as the materials made to build roads were once mined, too, and diesel cars emit platinum. Schmiedel is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.
“Raw materials are found all over the world. They only become economically interesting, however, once they can be extracted at large scale. The same raw materials - metals and other elements - are found in seawater, but in very low concentrations. My role is to characterise minerals, rocks and ores."
Mail: T.Schmiedel@tudelft.nl
Talen: DUI + NL + ENG
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Lot van der Graaf
Biotechnology for sustainable mining
Lot van der Graaf works on biotechnology for sustainable mining. The waste created by mining can lead to significant environmental issues. By using microorganisms, i.e. biotechnology, we can partially treat mining wastewater, which is exactly what Van der Graaf's research is about. What’s more, biotechnology also makes it possible to recover metals such as copper from wastewater. Together with her colleagues at Resource Engineering, she’s also looking for ways to 're-mine' the huge amounts of solid mining waste produced in the past. She wrote her PhD dissertation at Wageningen University before doing a PostDoc in Spain, and recently started working at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.
"People don’t realise that the energy transition won’t come 'for free', there are consequences. We have to get those metals from somewhere, so there’s no escaping the fact that we’ll need to mine more in the future. The topic of mining tends to evoke strong NIMBY sentiments and while I understand them, it’s a cold hard fact that we’ll need to mine more for the energy transition."
Mail: c.m.vandergraaf@tudelft.nl
Talen: NL + ENG
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Willem Auping
The price of critical raw materials
Assistant Professor Willem Auping creates models that calculate the future supply and demand for critical raw materials, predicting price fluctuations and developments. He’s a frequent collaborator with students, who map out the situation for specific critical raw materials such as lithium or nickel. Auping is also an expert about the geopolitics of raw materials and co-wrote several books on geopolitical developments around materials. He is a researcher at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management.
"The EU is a superpower and should behave accordingly. In my opinion, the EU should protect its own industry from the outside world, for example offering state support. Now that the Chinese economy is struggling, there’s a risk that it will start unloading raw materials at cut-rate prices, as it did ten years ago with steel.”
Mail: w.l.auping@tudelft.nl
Talen: NL + ENG
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Press officer’s contact details
Dave Boomkens
Science educator Climate & Energy
d.j.boomkens@tudelft.nl
0634081461