Sander van Nielen
Postdoc
- Name
- Dr. S.S. van Nielen
- Telephone
- 071 5272727
- s.s.van.nielen@cml.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-5441-0836
Sander is a postdoctoral researcher in Industrial Ecology, with an expertise in life cycle assessment of manufactured products.
More information about Sander van Nielen
Professional experience
Sander van Nielen has been a postdoc at CML since 2025. His areas of expertise include life cycle assessment (LCA) and Digital Product Passports. Sander obtained a BSc degree in Chemistry and an MSc in Industrial Ecology. Both are joint degrees from Leiden University and TU Delft. Afterwards, he worked for two years as a sustainability policy maker at the Municipality of Rotterdam.
He completed his PhD research at the Industrial Ecology department of CML in 2024. The dissertation is titled “Environmental sustainability of NdFeB magnet recycling: foresight study on recycling systems and technologies”. As a postdoc, he contributed to the Getting the Data Right project, coordinated by Aalborg University. In this role, he created data pipelines for the collection and cleaning of monetary supply and use tables.
Research topic
: Sander is participating in the Lasers4MaaS project, in which he is developing methods for the automated calculation of sustainability metrics in manufacturing. These methods will be applied to create Digital Product Passports for laser-welded products.
Postdoc
- Faculty of Science
- CML
- Industriële Ecologie
- Koese J.M., Nielen S.S. van, Bradley J.E. & Kleijn E.G.M. (2025), The dynamics of accelerating end-of-life rare earth permanent magnet recycling: a technological innovation systems approach, Applied Energy 388: 125707 .
- Nielen S.S. van, Kleijn E.G.M. & Tukker A. (2025), Accounting for learning in prospective LCA: theory and practical guidance, Journal of Industrial Ecology 29(3): 683-697.
- Nielen S.S. van, Miranda Xicotencatl B., Tukker A. & Kleijn E.G.M. (2024), Ex-ante LCA of magnet recycling: progressing towards sustainable industrial-scale technology, Journal of Cleaner Production 458: 142453.
- Nielen S.S. van (1 November 2024), Environmental sustainability of NdFeB magnet recycling: foresight study on recycling systems and technologies (Dissertatie. Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Faculty of Science, Leiden University). Supervisor(s): Tukker A. & Kleijn E.G.M.
- Harpprecht C.I., Miranda Xicotencatl B., Nielen S.S. van Meide M.T. van der Li C., Li Z., Tukker A. & Steubing B.R.P. (2024), Future environmental impacts of metals: a systematic review of impact trends, modelling approaches, and challenges, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 205: 107572.
- Miranda Xicotencatl B., Kleijn E.G.M., Nielen S.S. van, Donati F., Sprecher B. & ukker A. (2023), Data implementation matters: Effect of software choice and LCI database evolution on a comparative LCA study of permanent magnets, Journal of Industrial Ecology 27(5): 1252-1265.
- Nielen S.S. van, Sprecher B., Verhagen T.J. & Kleijn E.G.M. (2023), Towards neodymium recycling: analysis of the availability and recyclability of European waste flows, Journal of Cleaner Production 394: 136252.
- Harpprecht C.I., Miranda Xicotencatl B., Nielen S.S. van, Meide M.T. van der, Li C., Li Z. & Steubing B.R.P. (2023), Future environmental impacts of metals: a review of impact trends, modelling approaches and challenges. [conference poster].
- Nielen S.S. van, Sprecher B., Verhagen T.J. & Kleijn E.G.M. (2023), Towards neodymium recycling: analysis of the availability and recyclability of European waste flows, Journal of Cleaner Production 394: 136252.
- Nielen S.S. van, Kleijn E.G.M., Sprecher B., Miranda Xicotencatl B. & Tukker A. (2022), Early-stage assessment of minor metal recyclability, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 176: 105881.
- Nielen S.S. van, Schrijvers D. & Hool A. (2022), How companies improve critical raw materials circularity: IRTC-Business Workshop co-organised with the EU Raw Materials Week, How companies improve critical raw materials circularity. IRTC-Business workshop 21 November 2021 - 21 November 2021: IRTC Business.
- Hool A., Schrijvers D., Nielen S.S. van, Clifton A., Ganzeboom S., Hagelüken C., Harada Y., Kim H., Ku A.Y., Meese-Marktscheffel J. & Nemoto T. (2022), How companies improve critical raw material circularity: 5 use cases: findings from the International Round Table on Materials Criticality, Mineral Economics 35: 325-335.