Circular Economy and E-waste
This Video is created by Sustainability Victoria. It aims to educate our citizens why we need to recover and reuse our e-waste.
Credit: Sustainability Victoria
Circular Economy & E-Waste
Australia suffers from the often quoted ‘tyranny of distance’ to markets and a distributed population. The low battery recycling collection rates constitute a missed opportunity to both capture and add value to a waste stream. Recent disruptions to the recycling sector in Australia following the China waste ban have not affected the Lithium ion battery (LIB) recycling sector markets. However, the fire risk presented by end-of-life LIB has resulted in an international shipping company banning transport of this waste stream. This action poses a risk to Australia’s reliance on export for end-of life LIB. It is therefore timely to review the challenges and opportunities associated with LIB waste and determine if it is a strategic resource opportunity for Australia.
In this video one of our top researchers takes us to the journey of Circular Economy and E-waste in the symposium. Presented by Dr. Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo on 4th, May, 2020
Our Researchers
Dr. Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo
Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Pozo-Gonzalo attained her Degree and honours in the University of Zaragoza (Spain). After graduating, she received her PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) working with Prof. Peter J. Skabara on the electrochemical synthesis of Conducting Polymers. From 2004, she joined the Centre for Electrochemical Technologies in San Sebastian, (Spain) as the Head of Electrooptical unit where she stayed for 7 years, managing a total of 23 projects. After moving to Australia, she has been working with Prof. Alan Bond at Monash University and in 2012 she joined Deakin University where she has been working in reversible metal air battery with advanced electrolytes, ionic liquids funded by ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).
Currently, she leads research on the use of ionic liquid electrolytes for energy storage devices, focusing on oxygen and sulfur electrochemistry. In the last years, she has been focusing on circular economy in energy materials as a theme champion.
During her research career, she has authored and co-authored 80 peer-review international publications, two book chapter and holds 3 patents.
Prof. Jenny Pringle
Professor, Research
Prof Pringle works in the Institute for Frontier Materials at Deakin University, Melbourne. She is a chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science and in the new Industrial Transformation Training Centre “StorEnergy”. She received her degree and PhD at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland before moving to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia in 2002. From 2008-2012 she held an ARC QEII Fellowship, investigating the use of ionic electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Prof Pringle moved to Deakin University in 2013. There she leads research into the development and use of ionic liquids and organic ionic plastic crystals for applications including thermal energy harvesting, CO2 separation membranes and lithium batteries.
Published Work
Years of Research
February 21, 2020
Sanchez-Cupido. L, Pringle. J, Siriwardana. A, Pozo-Gonzalo. C, Forsyth. M. 2020 Electrochemistry of Neodymium in phosphonium ionic liquids: the influence of cation, water content and mixed anions
January 8, 2019
Sanchez-Cupido, L., Pringle, J.M., Siriwardana, A.L., Unzurrunzaga, A., Hilder, M., Forsyth, M. and Pozo-Gonzalo, C., 2019. Water-Facilitated Electrodeposition of Neodymium in a Phosphonium-Based Ionic Liquid. The journal of physical chemistry letters, 10(2), pp.289-294.