Collaboration

Students inspire large company with return system

Six DTU students have developed a proposal for a return system for the international company BDR Thermea, which aims to increase circularity in their production of solar collectors.

BDR Thermea manufactures, among other things, solar collectors that capture solar radiation and convert its energy into heat that can heat water. Photo: BDR Thermea.

Wednesday 12 June 2024

Linnea Lundberg

Through real-life cases on the MSc course ‘Design for Circular Economy’, students learn to advise companies on how they can reuse materials and products several times without losing resources.

Henrik Stenrud Bergersen, an MSC Eng student, participated in the course at the beginning of 2024. Together with five fellow students, he chose a case from the company BDR Thermea, which produces solar collectors, among other things.

BDR Thermea partners with higher education institutions around the world, offering case studies and internships to give back to the community while gaining valuable insights from the professionals of tomorrow.

“We analysed their production of solar collectors based on the course theory and concluded that a return system for consumers would be the obvious solution for them if they want to reuse more,” says Henrik Stenrud Bergersen.

He continues:

“In this way, they can also make consumers aware that by reusing parts of existing products, we use fewer resources.”

The course is based on the concept of circular economy, which means that materials and products are part of cycles where they are reused several times without resources being lost. By comparison, in linear economy products are used, thrown away, and end up as waste. Circular economy is therefore a way of making our consumption more sustainable.

“The theory we’ve studied on the course is about making it attractive for companies to reuse and reduce their resource consumption while at the same time making the company grow its market and generating additional profits,” explains Henrik Stenrud Bergersen.

“It’s been great and rewarding to immerse yourself and use the theory to solve a specific case that will make a difference for a real company,” he adds.

Facts

Definition of solar collectors

A system that captures solar radiation and converts its energy into heat. Not to be confused with a solar cell, which is a component of a system that converts sunlight energy into electricity.

A source of inspiration

Claudia Wagenfuhr, Sustainability Lead Engineer at BDR Thermea, sees the collaboration as a source of great inspiration.

“It has been very inspiring to work with the six students—and they have taught us a lot about how to integrate circularity in our production. Specifically, they have designed an initial proposal for how we could implement a return system allowing our consumers to return their used solar collectors to us,” she explains.

The students spent three weeks solving the BDR Thermea case. During this period, they had several meetings with Claudia Wagenfuhr where they asked her many clarifying questions about the company’s production of solar collectors. Finally, the students presented their solution to both the course lecturer and BDR Thermea.

”The plan is to share all the knowledge that the students have given us with the rest of the company so that more of our production chains can identify potential to become more circular. This is certainly not the last time we participate with a case,” Claudia Wagenfuhr adds.

Through real-life cases on the MSc course ‘Design for Circular Economy’, students learn to advise companies on how they can reuse materials and products several times without losing resources. Photo: DTU.

Facts

Three ways of reusing materials

Reuse: When you have discarded a product or material and used it in the same form and for the same purpose as when it was discarded.
Recycling: When talking about recycling, the product or material is included in the production of a new product. For example, concrete and bricks are crushed and the materials are used as base layers under roads.
Other ways of using waste: When the waste replaces other materials but is not simultaneously prepared for reuse or recycled.

Contact

Daniel Guzzo Researcher Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering dgdco@dtu.dk