Junbeum Kim

Junbeum Kim

Arizona State University, Ph.D.
EREF Scholar 2007

Sustainable System Design for Collection and Recycling of E-waste in the United States

Where Are They Now? Currently, Dr. Kim is a post-doctoral associate conducting a study about renewable energy systems (e.g., Biofuel and energy) in Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems engineering at University of Minnesota.

Project Description (while EREF Scholar):
Electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), or end-of-life (EOL) electronics, denotes electronic and electrical equipment, including all components, sub-assemblies, and consumables, deemed obsolete or unwanted by a user (Bhuie et al., 2004; Cairns, 2005). Functionality of information and communication technology (ICT) is growing rapidly, and from a sustainability viewpoint, there are clearly social benefits to ICT’s technological revolution that contribute to its continuity. As technology advances, people purchase increasingly more electronic devices (such as computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones and others) even though they are not essential. Meanwhile, the significant increase in e-waste has not corresponded to growth in the processes related to collection, recycle and reuse of these electronic devices. For example, it is estimated that 9% of the electronics sold between 1980 and 2004 in the United States (U.S.), or 180million units, are still in storage awaiting disposal; TVs and desktop PCs account for 34-52% and 24% (by weight), respectively (U.S. EPA, 2007a). Also, in 2005, the U.S. discarded 1.36-1.72million metric tons of e-waste, mainly into landfills, and only 0.31-0.34million metric tons were recycled (U.S. EPA, 2007a). Consequently, the typical life cycle of an electronic product is a linear progression between manufacturing, use, storage and waste disposal.

Given this context, a form of deposit refund system was designed to ensure proper end-of-life while at the same time establishing a competitive market for reuse and recycling services. The proposed system is termed the e-Market for Returned Deposit. The core concept of the system is that consumers pay a deposit at time of purchase, a variable portion of which is returned when turned in at the end-of-life. This deposit should be sufficient enough to cover transportation and recycling cost of the product. Reuse and recycling firms compete on an electronic market to receive the deposit by bidding different values of rebates to consumers.

 

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Biography:
Dr. Kim is conducting a study about renewable energy system (e.g., Biofuel and energy) in Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems engineering at University of Minnesota. He holds a Ph.D. from Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University in 2009, a Master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and Environmental Engineering from Inha University in South Korea, and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Cheongju University in South Korea.

In the University of Minnesota, current Dr. Kim is doing a project funded by DOE/USDA, which is “Sustainable Pathways to Achieving Biofuel Policy Goals”. As project coordinator, he is developing life cycle assessment module for this project. With the proposed work, our overall objective is to provide strategic guidance for improving environmental quality and cost effectiveness in achieving the biofuel production goal. To do this he is identifying and quantifying the tradeoffs associated with possible pathways to achieving national biofuel production goals under given physical, economic and institutional constraints, such as spatially distributed climate conditions, feedstock availability, land and water availability, transportation and logistics infrastructure, production cost and relevant regulations.

Research Publications:
Peer Reviewed Paper and Presentation
1. Junbeum Kim, Energy and CO2 Flow Network Mapping and Analysis: Case Study of Electronics Industry Sector in South Korea, 2009 Symposium on Industrial Ecology for Young Professionals (SIEYP), Tempe, AZ, May 17, 2009.
2. Junbeum Kim and Braden Allenby, Energy and CO2 Flow Networks of Electronic Industry Sector in South Korea. 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, Tempe, AZ.
3. Jinhyuk Lim, Junbeum Kim, Hun Kang, Industrial Energy and CO2 Flow Network Analysis in South Korea from 1975 to 2000, 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, Tempe, AZ.
4. Junbeum Kim and Braden Allenby, Energy and CO2 flows in a sustainable networked book delivery system. Research in Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Symposium (RISE), Tempe, AZ, October, 2008.
5. Ming Xu, Junbeum Kim, Ramzy Kahhat, and Braden Allenby, Environmental Impacts of the Market Dynamics in Urban E-commerce System: Case Study of Book Retail Market, 2008 Gordon Research Conference.
6. Ramzy Kahhat, Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, E-market for E-waste, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.(Poster)
7. Eric D. Williams, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby, Edward Kavazanjian, Ming Xu and Junbeum Kim, Sustainability review of the international reverse chain for reuse and recycling of computers, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.
8. Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, Energy and Environmental Flow Model for a Sustainable Networked Book Delivery System in the United States, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.(Poster)
9. Ming Xu, Junbeum Kim, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, Environmental Impacts of the Market Dynamics in Urban E-commerce System: Case Study of Book Retail Market, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.
10. Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, Design and Assessment of a Sustainable Networked Book Delivery System in the United States, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.
11. Ramzy Kahhat, Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, E-market for E-waste: An E-waste Management System for the United States, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, San Francisco, CA.
12. Junbeum Kim, Sustainable E-waste collection and recycling system in the United States, Research in Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Symposium (RISE), Tempe, AZ, October, 2007.
13. Junbeum Kim, Sustainability industrial network structure and dynamics, Research in Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Symposium (RISE), Tempe,  AZ, October, 2007.
14. Junbeum Kim, Ramzy Kahhat, and Ming Xu, Sustainable E-waste Management in the United States: Problems, Perspectives, and Suggestions, June, 2007 A&WMA 100th Annual Conference & Exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA (Poster Presentation).
15. Ramzy Kahhat, Junbeum Kim, and Ming Xu, A Framework for E-waste Collecting and Recycling System in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, Orlando, FL. (Poster presentation).
16. Junbeum Kim and Braden Allenby, Development of Sustainability Network Theory (SNT) and Model for Managing Electronics Industrial System, 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, Orlando, FL. pp 336-339.

Journal papers
17. Junbeum Kim, Yi Yang and Sangwon Suh, Regional LCA for biodiesel system in the U.S., preparing to submit for publication.
18. Junbeum Kim and Dalia Abbas, Economic and environmental assessment in forest biomass production, preparing to submit for publication
19. Junbeum Kim and Sangwon Suh, E10 mandate policy is going the right way in the U.S.?: Reconfiguring the Ethanol and Feedstock Transportation aspect, preparing to submit for publication.
20. Junbeum Kim, Yi Yang, Junghan Bae, and Sangwon Suh, An updated normalization Factors for the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI), preparing to submit for publication.
21. Yi Yang, Junbeum Kim and Sangwon Suh, Localized LCA for bioethanol system in the U.S., preparing to submit for publication.
22. Junbeum Kim, Kwangho Park, and Yongwoo Hwang, A Life Cycle CO2 Comparison between Nuclear and Thermal Power Generation System: Case Study in South Korea, submitted to Applied Energy.
23. Junbeum Kim, Junghan Bae, and Braden Allenby, An Economic Assessment for Materials and Parts in End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) Recycling System, International Journal of Automotive Technology. Submitted for publication.
24. Junbeum Kim, Yongwoo Hwang, Kwangho Park, An Assessment of the Recycling Potential of Materials Based on Environmental and Economic Factors; Case Study in South Korea, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2009, 17 (14), pp. 1264-1271.
25. Eric Williams, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby, Edward Kavazanjian, Junbeum Kim and Ming Xu, Globalization, Sustainability and Reuse/Recycling: the Case of Personal Computers, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42(17), pp. 6446-6454.
26. Ramzy Kahhat, Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Braden Allenby, Eric Williams and Peng Zhang, Exploring E-waste management systems in the United States, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 52, 955-964, 2008.
27. Ming Xu, Braden Allenby, Junbeum Kim, and Ramzy Kahhat, A Dynamic Agent-Based Analysis for the Environmental Impacts of Conventional and Novel Book Retailing, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43 (8), 2851-2857
28. Junbeum Kim, Ming Xu, Ramzy Kahhat, Braden Allenby and Eric Williams, Designing and Assessing Sustainable Networked Delivery (SND) Systems: Hybrid Business-to-Consumer Book Delivery Case Study, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43 (1), pp 181-187.