Eliminating waste, regenerating nature and advancing a sustainable economy through renewable biological resources and responsible consumption.
Circular Economy
Circular Economy research at Ohio State seeks to convert waste into valuable resources throughout the supply chain to shift toward a closed-loop economy in which resources are conserved and environmental impacts are minimized. Research teams combine materials science, food systems, engineering, business, data science and policy expertise to develop scalable, cross-sector strategies that strengthen supply chain resilience and reduce lifecycle impacts.
Ohio State researchers identify novel ways to recover and recycle industrial and agricultural wastes as feedstocks for new materials and energy resources, including how value chains are designed and managed. These researchers use tools such as life-cycle assessment, multi-scale modeling and data analytics to evaluate costs, benefits, and unintended consequences across the full system. Circular economy efforts at Ohio State span education, research, industry partnerships and community implementation.
Carbon Capture and Utilization
Ohio State engineers developed chemical looping, a process that uses metal oxide particles in high-pressure reactors to “burn” fossil fuels and biomass without the presence of oxygen in the air, for production of syngas, which in turn provides the building blocks for a host of other useful products including ammonia, plastics and even carbon fibers.
Sustainable Biomass Supply Chain
Ohio State researchers are developing near-term and future corn stover-based feedstock supply systems for biofuels that are technically sound, economic and sustainable.
Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Optimization
Researchers develop advanced manufacturing and materials optimization strategies that reduce in-process losses, enable reuse of secondary feedstocks and support circular product and supply chain design.
Yael Vodovotz, Faculty Research Lead for Circular Economy