The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling (CR3)

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Center Overview

The Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling (CR³) focuses on the sustainable stewardship of resources. Its mission is to help industry address a pivotal societal need — the need to create a sustainable future. CR3 advances technologies that recover, recycle, and reuse materials throughout the manufacturing process, from initial product design through manufacture to end-of-life disposal. These advancements help businesses reduce energy costs and increase profitability, while protecting our natural resources.

Develop technologies to identify and separate valuable materials from waste streams.

Build strategies and technologies to enable greater use of process effluents within materials process systems.

Establish materials recovery and recycling curricula along with university research experience that will create an engineering workforce equipped to address the challenge of achieving cost-effective and profitable materials sustainability.

Universities

Colorado School of Mines
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Dr. Brajendra Mishra
Center Director
+1 508 831 5711
bmishra@wpi.edu

Dr. Bart Blanpain
Site Director - KU Leuven
+32 16 32 12 16
bart.blanpain@kuleuven.be

Carol Garofoli
Director of Operations
+1 508 831 5592
garofoli@wpi.edu

Dr. Gjergi Dodbiba
Site Director - University of Tokyo
dodbiba@sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Dr. Corby Anderson
Site Director - Colorado School of Mines
+1 406 491 4002
cganders@mines.edu

Dr. Brajendra Mishra
Center Director
+1 508 831 5711
bmishra@wpi.edu

Dr. Corby Anderson
Site Director - Colorado School of Mines
+1 406 491 4002
cganders@mines.edu

Dr. Bart Blanpain
Site Director - KU Leuven
+1 321 632 1216
bart.blanpain@kuleuven.be

Maureen Plunkett
Executive Administrator
+1 508 831 5592
mrp@wpi.edu

Research Focus

CR³ research is making breakthroughs for a sustainable future — recycling plasma display panel materials, recycling and recovering lithium-ion batteries, dezincing galvanized steel, recycling magnet separation technologies, recovering metal using automated sorting, recovering zinc and ion, and more.

CR³’s research focus areas include:

Alloy recycling.
Automated sortation.
Inorganic polymer performance.
Metal fines recovery.
Permanent magnets.
Phosphors.
Photovoltaics.
Resource efficiency.
Secondary raw materials.

Current research projects

Alternative fluxes for lead bullion refining.
Copper separation from steel.
Electro-oxidation of metals and inorganics in metallurgical operations.
Moisture analysis of heterogeneous solid material flows.
Near real-time detection of elements in pure metals and alloys at concentrations below parts per million.
Optimization of concrete mixtures for 3D printing.
Optimized sorting and separation technologies for remanufacturing with product-centric recycled and reclaimed scrap.
Recycling of waterborne paint sludge.

Awards

2113788

IUCRC Phase III: Colorado School of Mines: Center for Resource Recovery & Recycling (CR3)

The Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling, CR3, is a multi-institution IUCRC that focuses on sustainable stewardship of the earth’s material resources. As it enters Phase III, CR3 will build on its Phase I and Phase II accomplishments to advance sustainable technologies that recover, remanufacture, and reuse all types of materials throughout the manufacturing process. These advancements will help reduce energy costs and increase profitability for a variety of industrial sectors, while protecting natural resources and the environment. Materials use in 2020 is approximately 90 Gt globally, and is likely to reach 170 Gt in the next forty years. The manufacturing industry that converts these materials into commodities needs technologies that enable this conversion more efficiently while generating less production waste and consuming less energy. The recycling industry that processes the production and post-consumer wastes needs methods that are cleaner and profitable. Research supporting materials recovery and recyclability is multidisciplinary and must respond to the needs of a multiplicity of commercial stakeholders across the supply chain. CR3 brings two leading universities with expertise in materials science and engineering (Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Colorado School of Mines) together with key constituents in the resource recovery and recycling area to develop comprehensive technology transfer pathways to industry. CR3 research efforts address product manufacturing waste, post-consumer waste, instrumentation, sensors and controls, design for disassembly and conversion of trash to treasure. The primary focus of CR3 is on key sectors of iron and steel, non-ferrous structural metals, light metals, rare-earths, energy materials and photovoltaic metals, high value refractory metals and electronic materials. Key unmet industrial needs in these sectors are driving the following research thrusts for the Center: (a) polymeric material remanufacturing and use, (b) environmentally sustainable materials recovery, (c) reduction of the carbon and water footprint, (d) low-cost alternatives to current materials, and (e) natural resource depletion. CR3 research projects utilize core and supporting technical competencies across both academic sites. Colorado School of Mines (CSM) brings both research competencies and physical capabilities to the Center in the areas of metallurgy and rare earth metals, with a focus on the process of extractive metallurgy regardless of application. In Phase III, CR3 will continue to address the research needs of its members while also advancing education and outreach efforts though the training of process engineers and developing short courses and specialty conferences for industry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

1747752

Phase II Industry University Cooperative Research Center for Resource Recovery & Recycling (CR3), Colorado School of Mines

The U.S. Government, academia, domestic industry and the public increasingly acknowledge the imperative that we conserve energy and natural resources while exercising judicious stewardship of the environment. The issue of sustainability is and should be paramount in how we design, manufacture, use, and retire the many products consumed within the United States and throughout the world. Unlike solar or wind energy that can be cost effectively harnessed for a long time or agricultural products as a natural resource, inorganic materials, such as metals and minerals, are not renewable. Therefore, the need exists for the development of technologies to address materials recovery and recycling. Although considerable coordinated academic research is rightly underway to meet energy challenges, university efforts to build the basic science and technologies for materials sustainability are less extensive and fragmented despite the prospect for significant energy and environmental ramifications. Research supporting materials recovery and recyclability is inherently multidisciplinary and must respond to the needs of a multiplicity of commercial stakeholders from throughout the supply chain. CR3 brings together four leading universities with expertise in materials science and engineering. The industrial application of new advanced materials will require an increase in the efficiency of materials resource recovery and recycling to achieve a circular economy The advanced manufacturing technologies that are available today do not have a natural route to implementation in industry. CR3 brings together key constituencies in the resource recovery and recycling area to develop comprehensive technology transfer pathways to industry. The primary focus of CR3 is on key sectors of iron and steel, non-ferrous structural metals, light metals, rare-earths, energy materials and photovoltaic metals, high value refractory metals and electronic materials. Technology development addresses the product manufacturing wastes, post-consumer wastes, instrumentation, sensors and controls, design for disassembly and conversion of trash to treasure. There are a number of key industry challenges in the area of resource recovery and recycling: specifically, scarcity of feed stock materials and increasing cost of material resources, increasing amounts of waste from industrial processes as well as end-of-life products, need for solutions for resource recovery, reuse, and recycling of critical materials, need for energetically favorable, environmentally compatible and economically viable industrial processes. These challenges are addressed by CR3 through the development of physical and chemical processes for secondary resource sortation, beneficiation and concentration, as well as value-extraction. Recycling technologies have widespread applications affecting all materials manufacturing, including, metals, plastics, paper, electronics, glass, organics, polymers & chemicals, etc. Read More >

2113498

IUCRC Phase III: Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling (CR3)

The Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling, CR3, is a multi-institution IUCRC that focuses on sustainable stewardship of the earth’s material resources. As it enters Phase III, CR3 will build on its Phase I and Phase II accomplishments to advance sustainable technologies that recover, remanufacture, and reuse all types of materials throughout the manufacturing process. These advancements will help reduce energy costs and increase profitability for a variety of industrial sectors, while protecting natural resources and the environment. Materials use in 2020 is approximately 90 Gt globally, and is likely to reach 170 Gt in the next forty years. The manufacturing industry that converts these materials into commodities needs technologies that enable this conversion more efficiently while generating less production waste and consuming less energy. The recycling industry that processes the production and post-consumer wastes needs methods that are cleaner and profitable. Research supporting materials recovery and recyclability is multidisciplinary and must respond to the needs of a multiplicity of commercial stakeholders across the supply chain. CR3 brings two leading universities with expertise in materials science and engineering (Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Colorado School of Mines) together with key constituents in the resource recovery and recycling area to develop comprehensive technology transfer pathways to industry. CR3 research efforts address product manufacturing waste, post-consumer waste, instrumentation, sensors and controls, design for disassembly and conversion of trash to treasure. The primary focus of CR3 is on key sectors of iron and steel, non-ferrous structural metals, light metals, rare-earths, energy materials and photovoltaic metals, high value refractory metals and electronic materials. Key unmet industrial needs in these sectors are driving the following research thrusts for the Center: (a) polymeric material remanufacturing and use, (b) environmentally sustainable materials recovery, (c) reduction of the carbon and water footprint, (d) low-cost alternatives to current materials, and (e) natural resource depletion. CR3's research projects utilize core and supporting technical competencies across both academic sites. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) brings competencies to the Center that include thermodynamic and kinetic modeling, hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy, physical metallurgy and inorganic chemistry. Competencies also include physical, chemical, and mechanical property testing, and additive manufacturing, as well as sensor and measurement device application development. WPI brings competencies in life-cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact assessments, commercial feasibility assessments, robotics, sorting technology, and industry 4.0 concepts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

Member Organizations

IUCRC affiliated member organizations are displayed as submitted by the Center. Non-federal organizations are not selected, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the National Science Foundation.

Army Research Laboratories
Aurubis
Boliden
Campine
East Penn Manufacturing
Ecobat
General Motors
Glencore
Global Mineral Recovery
Gopher Resource
Heritage Enviromental
Indium
Israel Chemicals Ltd.
SMS Group
Umicore Group