A Technology Selection Support Model in Industry 4.0 for Quality Assurance and Traceability in the Production of...

The circular economy increases the importance of quality and traceability in functional materials produced from industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste. However, the selection of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies in waste valorization remains unsystematic and weakly linked to material and process requirements. This study develops a decision-support model for selecting I4.0 solutions for quality assurance and traceability in the production of waste-derived functional materials. The model was grounded in a two-track scoping review reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Track A mapped the functions of I4.0 technologies in quality control and manufacturing traceability, while Track B identified challenges related to waste-derived biopolymers, composites, sorbents, catalysts, and nanomaterials. Among 322 primary material studies, microstructure, morphology, and porosity dominated (69.9%), whereas traceability was underrepresented and requires further validation. In Track A, 629 studies were unambiguously mapped, with inspection and monitoring as the dominant functions. Material-specific challenges were then linked to required functions and candidate technologies, which were ranked by their fit to the decision situation and literature support. The resulting model covered 48 material situations and 95 function-technology pairs. It supports technology selection based on material category, waste type, process stage, and quality or traceability requirements rather than technology availability alone. The proposed approach may be extended to waste-derived materials for other application sectors, including construction and transport, subject to sector-specific, material-specific, and industrial validation.