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Title of the thesis: Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems

Thesis defender: Liisa Hakola
Opponent: Prof. Ivona Mitrovic, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Custos: Prof. Jouni Paltakari, Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering

Solutions that identify and monitor the conditions of a packaging are becoming more popular. At the same time the EU legislation expects implementation of digital product passports that offer information of product lifecycle. This thesis has investigated and developed smart tags that allow data access to different actors of the value chains. A smart tag combines item identification with condition monitoring of the item or the surroundings to provide dynamic lifecycle information. Examples include a combination of a 2D barcode with a visual sensor or a combination of an electronic tag with an electronic sensor. Since the smart tags can be used at item-level for several years, they must be easy to manufacture, durable and sustainable. It is essential to ensure that a new waste stream originating from the smart tags is not created.

The thesis has resulted in selection criteria for the smart tag concepts that consider requirements from manufacturing, usage and end-of-life management. The research work has been built on two application cases: reusable packaging and digital product passports for electronics, both supported by the EU legislation.

Factors that affect readability of the printed 2D barcodes have been identified and different methods for ensuring smart tag durability have been developed. Therefore, the smart tags can be heated and washed repeatedly, which is important in reusable packaging context. A printed visual humidity sensor has been developed to be used in digital product passports to assess the condition of electronic products in repair or recycling phase, for example. A holistic and streamlined sustainability and circularity methodology has been developed to benchmark electronic smart tag concepts. It can be used easily already in the design phase.

The thesis concludes that a smart tag concept must be selected case-by-case to fulfil the specific requirements from the application case, and no universal smart tag solution cannot be proposed. However, the developed selection criteria and sustainability benchmarking methodology can be used as tools to make the best choice. Furthermore, the sustainability benchmarking methodology can be adapted to other product sectors, such as electronics and batteries. It can also be developed further to be used as sustainability and circularity impact indicators.

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at .

Contact information: 
liisa.hakola@vtt.fi