Sustainable Metals Processing

Overview

Upon graduating from the Sustainable Metals Processing programme at Aalto University , graduates will have:

• Extensive knowledge of raw materials, metals production, and their effects on the environment, economy and society. Graduates possess deep scientific and engineering knowledge of many types of primary and secondary raw materials, their suitability for processing and their societal, economic and environmental impacts.
• A systems thinking approach into process design. Graduates are able to apply systems engineering principles to process design and use the best practices to develop processes and products with quantified sustainability in terms of high materials efficiency, low energy use and low environmental impact.
• The ability to conduct scientific research. Graduates are skilled to conduct experimental studies on metals extraction reactors and unit processes at low and high temperatures, gather data and evaluate process performance.
• Expertise to act as a metallurgical engineering expert. Graduates have the ability to apply engineering skills in industry to, for example, develop feasible metals extraction processes, methods to produce clean water and renewable energy or products that enable a high quality of living. 

Career opportunities

A shift towards sustainable materials and manufacturing processes is occurring in all business and industrial contexts and thus there is a great need for metallurgical processing experts. Graduates are set for an exciting career – having meaningful work by solving problems of significant impact, accelerating the development of new clean technologies and getting a first-hand view of early prototypes years before they are launched to the market. Using their expertise, graduates are capable of carrying out evaluation equipment and process designs as well as developing feasible and sustainable metals extraction processes with the help of numeric simulation tools. 

Typical career paths can be divided into three main categories:

• Working in the public sector in a managerial, planning, or research-related function
• Working in the private sector in a leadership, strategic, or research-related function
• Following an academic path and becoming a researcher in the field