How can material that currently ends up as waste be turned into a resource? Chalmers students Wilma Jansson and Filippa Wärme explored this question in their Bachelor’s thesis project. Their findings could contribute to a more circular approach to managing a company’s production waste. The project has now been awarded the Olle Jonson Prize.
Filippa Wärme and Wilma Jansson have been awarded the Olle Jonson Prize for their Bachelor’s thesis project on how production waste can be put to new use and turned into a resource. Photo: Private.
Winning an award for their Bachelor’s thesis project was certainly not something Wilma Jansson and Filippa Wärme had expected. And when the news arrived by email, they were not quite sure what to make of it at first.
“It felt unreal. I had to read it again and then call and say, ‘I think we’ve won.’ We didn’t really understand it at first,” says Filippa Wärme.
“After reading the email ten times, we realised that it really was us,” Wilma Jansson adds.
The Olle Jonson Prize recognises student projects in the fields of quality and organisational development and is awarded by SFK, the Swedish Association for Quality. Students from across Sweden can submit their work for consideration. The four best projects are selected, and the students behind them are invited to present their work to a jury.
Having their thesis project ultimately chosen as the winner is a recognition that means a great deal to Wilma Jansson and Filippa Wärme.
“We were very proud of the project when we finished it. But at the same time, you don’t really know how good or useful it actually is. So it’s really nice to get this kind of confirmation that it is, in fact, a good piece of work,” says Wilma Jansson.
They believe one reason the jury selected their project is that it combines sustainability with tangible results that Diab can use in its continued development. They also see potential for the approach to be relevant to other companies facing similar challenges with waste material.
Great potential
Diab manufactures core materials for so-called sandwich structures, used in applications including boats and wind turbines. Wilma Jansson, who had previously worked at the company, provided the initial connection. When it was time to find a Bachelor’s thesis project, she contacted Diab to ask about the possibility of carrying it out there.
A challenge soon emerged: a large proportion of the material, about 40 per cent, used in production becomes waste and is currently sent for energy recovery. The largest category is so-called cutter waste, accounting for around 24–25 per cent of the total material produced. This was the type of waste the students chose to focus on. Together with Diab, they began investigating whether the material could instead be given a new use.
“There is a very significant underlying need to find something else to do with the waste. If you could find a good method and applications that suit the material, there is a lot to gain, both environmentally and economically,” says Filippa Wärme.
During the spring, they spent several intensive weeks on site in Laholm. They compressed the waste material into new panels and investigated how the manufacturing process affected the material’s properties. A large part of the project also involved learning new methods. Among other things, they used design of experiments to systematically investigate which factors affected the results.
“The best part was how much we got to learn, particularly about quality development and how different methods can be used to solve real-world problems in industry. At the same time, it was challenging because so much was new to us and we had to learn the methods from scratch,” says Filippa Wärme.
The work also brought some surprises along the way. When a process they believed they had improved failed to produce the results they expected, they began looking for other explanations. It turned out that the properties could vary between different batches of waste material. This was an unexpected finding, but also highly useful information for the company.
“It was a surprise to both us and the company that there was such a big difference. If this work is to continue, some form of quality control will be needed so that you know the quality of the waste material,” says Wilma Jansson.
The discovery also became one of the project’s most important insights. If the reused material is eventually to be incorporated into a product sold on the market, the company needs to be able to ensure consistent quality in the raw material. The students were also able to demonstrate how different process parameters affect the material’s tensile strength and what level of strength can be achieved.
They also identified a clear relationship between the colour of the material and its strength, which could provide further insight into the material’s properties.
Inspired to continue exploring
The thesis project is a first step, and more material properties need to be investigated before it is possible to determine which applications might be suitable. But it is the potential that excites the students.
Instead of the company paying to dispose of the material, it could eventually acquire a new value.
“It becomes a completely different kind of circular economy if you can find a new use for the material. It could become a resource instead,” says Wilma Jansson.
The project has also inspired them to continue exploring the field. After completing their three-year Bachelor’s programme in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialisation in Design and Product Development, both are now studying the Master’s programme in Production Engineering. Their experiences from the thesis project have sparked a particular interest in quality issues and in how different factors in a production process affect the final outcome.
“Working out which factors and parameters are important and how they affect one another has been really interesting. It would be great to continue working with that,” says Wilma Jansson.
The prize was established in 1991 in memory of Olle Jonson, one of the founders of Kontrollingenjörernas förening, which later became SFK, the Swedish Association for Quality. Olle Jonson worked actively to strengthen education in the field of quality engineering, both nationally and internationally. For a period, he also served as President of the European Organization for Quality (EOQ). In the spirit of Olle Jonson, the purpose of the prize is to support education and research in quality and organisational development.
The prize money of SEK 20,000 is awarded in connection with World Quality Day (WQD), an annual conference organised by SFK. The jury selects the four best entries, which are presented at a webinar during the autumn. Each entrant is given 15 minutes to present their work.
The jury then selects a winner, who presents their entry at a webinar during the autumn. The presentation lasts approximately one hour. The winner is also given the opportunity to present the thesis at the WQD conference.
The jury’s motivation: “The project innovatively combines sustainability, material reuse and experimental optimisation to generate new knowledge about the reuse of polymer-based waste material. The project is methodologically well executed, has clear industrial relevance and provides practical results that can support more circular and resource-efficient production for the commissioning company.”