Exergetic analysis as an agile approach to recycling processes: a literature review

The rapid increase of waste presents a global challenge pursuing sustainability. In response, recycling is widely recognised as a friendly strategy to the environment and the proper approach to minimise the impact on the environment and the economy. However, the available recycling technology requires raw materials and energy, thus contributing to the depletion of resources. Therefore, it is vital to assess the efficiency of recycling processes to determine their real benefit. The literature suggests a series of approaches, which may be, at first sight, confusing. This study focuses on efficiency evaluation of recycling through exergy as an agile response. It performs a systematic review, based on nine significant factors in recycling, of the relevant literature, evaluating the recycling through the exergetic approach. The review makes two important contributions. First, it presents an approach for assessing such diverse literature in a single structure. In addition, revealing improvement opportunities and future research.