Thomas Fruergaard Astrup carries out research within waste and resources, in particular in relation to sustainable recycling and utilization of resources in waste from households and industry. The research focuses on environmental aspects of resource recovery and management in society:

• Material resources, e.g. metals, mineral resources, plastic, paper
• Energy resources, e.g. solid and liquid fuels, electricity and heat from waste
• Resource quality, e.g. presence of critical substances in recyclable materials

The following are examples of research areas:

• Physico-chemical characterization of waste materials, residual biomass and secondary resources
• Quantification of contaminants and critical substances in waste and recyclable materials
• Quantification of leaching and release of contaminants from waste materials
• Determination of emissions from management, treatment, upgrading and final utilization of waste materials and secondary resources
• Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste systems, waste technologies, recycling and utilization
• Life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy systems, energy technologies, biofuels, biorefineries, and utilization of biomass resources
• Life cycle costing (LCC) of waste systems and waste technologies
• Materia, energy and substance flow analysis in relation to waste, biomass and resource systems

Thomas Fruergaard Astrup collaborates with public authorities, industry, and research institutions, and has extensive experiences as manager of a large number of research projects with both national and international partners. Thomas Fruergaard Astrup is member of the executive board for the Danish Waste Association (DAKOFA), member of evaluation committee for research program for environmentally friendly electricity production (Energinet.dk). Thomas Fruergaard Astrup is Head of Section for Residual Resource Engineering and member of the departments Executive Board.