Chapter 2 - The fundamental limits of circularity quantified by digital twinning

Ultimately, the flow of materials and their implicit energy in the circular economy (CE) is defined by the first and second laws of thermodynamics. These laws quantify the losses in the circular economy system in terms of material, energy, and exergy. The unit that defines the energy flows in both the materials and as power is the kilowatt. It has a fundamental maximum, which is a function of the material complexity of the material or the product being recycled. Thus the complete supply chain has to be understood fundamentally to quantify the losses and find the fundamental maximum—not only from a material perspective, but more so from a complete product perspective. This will allow the quantification of the quality loss both in terms of enthalpy and entropy for the energy as well as material streams. This embraces product design with all its intimately connected functional materials. Thus this relationship and its impact on the performance of the circular economy system is made explicit. To capture this detail of the circular economy system, digital twinning is briefly elaborated on. This allows and provides the depth to understand the true losses from the system and, therefore, to understand the economic performance of the CE.