The researchers of our department, Sunčica Sukur, MSc and Marija Stojaković, BSc, participated in this year’s edition of FEMS EUROMAT, a well-known international congress that was held in the period September 3-7, 2023 at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.

FEMS EUROMAT is held every two years and is a unique opportunity for researchers, scientists, engineers and students to exchange ideas, share their research and learn about the latest developments in materials science and engineering. Our colleagues had the opportunity to present their research in the areas “Materials for Circularity and Sustainability” and “Material Processing”.

In general, the importance of the area “Materials for Circularity and Sustainability” is reflected in the challenges of materials science and solutions for sustainable development to end the dramatic increase in demand for material resources. One of the examples is the global exploitation of various raw materials, which in the last 40 years has increased about three times (to more than 90 billion tons). If the scenario of sustainable development in which the circulation of materials (reuse, re-production and recycling) is realized, the increase in exploitation can potentially be reduced by at least 25%. One of the possibilities for improving material circulation was also presented by our colleague Sukur on the example of red mud, from which high-quality magnetite could potentially be produced very efficiently. Her work, due to the importance of the topic itself, was marked as a phighlihgt lecture in this section.

Colleague Stojaković presented in the field of “Material Processing”, which includes the latest experimental and theoretical achievements in the processing and production of various materials. The impact of the production process on the properties of the final products was on special focus in all areas, together with aspects of the modern development of materials and processes, such as the sustainability of materials and processes, the circular economy and the possibility of recycling. Our topic was research on kaolinite and kaolinized granite from our country as a raw material for geopolymers and other potential applications in which we have new, so far unpublished results achieved together with an industrial partner.

Participation in the congress was supported through two research projects:: “RM@Schools 4.0” and “MNRVOID support to the RIS BRIEFCASE project“.

Links:
https://euromat2023.com/