Addressing sustainability in the aluminum industry: a critical review of life cycle assessments

Liu, Gang; Müller, Daniel B.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.05.030

Cited by 178 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

105

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Aluminium's life cycle is similar to that of steel and consists of four stages [13] -(1) mining and production, (2) manufacturing, (3) usage and (4) waste management and recycling -but the production processes through which ingots are converted to various semi products are not the same. As opposed to rolling, when steel is in question, structural elements of aluminium alloys are most commonly formed by extrusion.…”

Section: Manufacture Of Aluminium Products and Structural Alloysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high production price is in the most part a consequence of the electricity needed to implement the Bayer procedure [11]. However, production of aluminium from waste (secondary aluminium) requires 20 times [12] less energy and the melting procedure does not influence its properties [13]. According to the European aluminium association [14] the portion of secondary aluminium in total production is in constant rise, and in Europe in 2011 it was recorded at 48 %.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Applications of aluminium alloys in civil engineering

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subject reviewAlthough aluminium is a long known structural material, its use is not in accordance with the benefits achieved by its implementation. There are several reasons for such an adverse state. Those that stand out are the late development of a regulative framework for the design of structures, and still the need for improvement, lack of knowledge on application examples and not stressed enough potential areas of use. However, positive trends are present and aluminium alloys are competitive, especially if their positive properties can be utilized and negative properties diminished through purpose oriented design approach. Given examples present good application utilization of aluminium alloys characteristics, and shown new application research can provide directions for further expansion of competitiveness. Structural uses are grouped in suitable areas of application and put into local and global context. Keywords: bridge; façade; refurbishment; roof system; seismic Primjene aluminijskih legura u građevinarstvuPregledni članak Iako je aluminij već dugo prisutan konstrukcijski materijal, uporaba mu nije u skladu s dobrobitima koji se ostvaruju njegovom primjenom. Nekoliko je uzročnika takvog stanja. Ističu se relativno kasni razvoj normativnog okvira za dimenzioniranje konstrukcija, i još uvijek potreba za poboljšanjem, nedovoljna raširenost saznanja o primjenama te nedostatno naglašena potencijalna područja primjene. Međutim, pozitivni trendovi su prisutni, a legure aluminija su konkurentne, posebno ako se njegova pozitivna svojstva mogu iskoristiti, a negativna umanjiti kroz proračunski pristup orijentiran prema namjeni. Prikazani primjeri predstavljaju dobro iskorištavanje karakteristika aluminijskih legura kroz namjenu, a nova istraživanja primjena mogu pružiti oslonac za daljnje proširenje konkurentnosti. Konstrukcijske primjene su prikazane kroz moguća područja i stavljene u lokalni i globalni kontekst.

show abstract

Section: Manufacture Of Aluminium Products and Structural Alloysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of aluminium alloys in civil engineering

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, many construction professionals suggest implementing best practices in the aluminum life cycle can improve the sustainability for the whole aluminum in construction industry. Liu and Müller [14], in their critical review, indicate that to solve and mitigate the high embodied energy consumption and reduced environmental performance, addressing sustainability best practices of Alumnium production is the key. The authors believe that it can be achieved by various methods such as using new technologies that entails less energy consumption therefore leading to lower energy cost and production optimization in the operation process.…”

Section: Sustainability Issues Of Aluminum In the Construction Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of the Environmental Management System at the Aluminum Industry in Uae

Sajwani¹

2017

Geomate

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aluminum is the third most abundant element, after oxygen and silicon, and the most abundant metal in Earth's crust. It is widely used in buildings, construction, transport, packaging and general engineering due to its corrosion resistance, durability, insulation capability, structural strength and low-weight, making it the metal of the future. Aluminum is widely used in all UAE construction related projects; however, the sustainability and environmental performance of the aluminum production process is questionable. The production of this metal is associated with many environmental impacts which compromise the sustainable production of aluminum. Aluminum manufacturing is an energy intensive industry and a major contributor to Greenhouse Gases such as CO2, CFC, and PFC. This industry generates huge amounts of waste such as the Bauxite Residue from the Alumina Refinery process and the Spent Pot-Lining (SPL) from the Smelting process. One of the sustainable solutions is to create a sustainable metal whilst also making a positive net impact on the environment over the life cycle of aluminum products. This solution suits UAE because the aluminum industry is on upstream production, with less emphasis on the use of recycling and secondary aluminum production. As an effective tool to control environmental impacts and improve the environmental performance of any production industry, Environment Management System (EMS) is further studied with regards to the aluminum production process. This research investigates the efficiency of the EMS at UAE aluminum production industry to determine its ability to control the industry's impact, and to attain sustainability standards. The aim of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of the existing EMS and to identify the factors affecting implementation of EMS in the UAE aluminum production. The implementation of EMS in the UAE aluminium industry is heavily affected by regulatory compliance and enforcement gap, transparent leadership, accountability, and human factors.

show abstract

“…Really, it is impossible to determine whether a product is made from bauxite as raw material or from secondary aluminum as recycled material (Frees, 2008). Recycling aluminum from scrap consumes approximately twenty times less energy than the primary aluminum production (Liu and Müller, 2012). The increment in new scrap generation could be related to the increase of semi-finished and final products, as losses throughout their incurred production are classified as new scrap and represented into the production path.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once produced, aluminum ingots can undergo numerous fabrication processes, http://www. (Liu and Müller, 2012). Carbon dioxide emissions increased in the world, more than 2.7 percent over 2011.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment of Secondary Extruded Aluminum Production Process in Industrial City of Arak

Zare¹

2016

Appl Ecol Env Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. In this study, the life cycle assessment model for the secondary extruded aluminum represents a cradle-to-gate process that starts with recycling aluminum scrap and ends in the ultimate product of extruded aluminum transferred to final product manufacturer. In the following, data are mainly collected from the literature, and ecoinvent3's database. The quantitative analysis of the use of the energy and pollutants for production of the secondary extruded aluminum are estimated with eco-indicator-99 methodology and SimaPro8.0.4 package. The impact of the secondary extruded aluminum production on the environment is studied by evaluating three damage impacts: human health, ecosystem quality and resources. Results indicate that the resources make the highest contribution by 0.58pt (4284.35 MJ) and human health by 0.16pt (0.00136 DALY) is located in the next rank. The endpoint ecosystem quality (44.64 PDF * m 2 yr) is insignificant in this process. Also, the total required energy for manufacturing of 600 kg aluminum profile in the model was 8842 MJ. Based on the results, the impact of the secondary aluminum extrusion process on the ozone layer depletion is shown to be insignificant. Also, despite using aluminum scraps, the model incurs significant environmental load. The study is implemented in the industrial city of Arak.

show abstract

Addressing sustainability in the aluminum industry: a critical review of life cycle assessments

Cited by 178 publications

References 67 publications

Applications of aluminium alloys in civil engineering

Applications of aluminium alloys in civil engineering

The Application of the Environmental Management System at the Aluminum Industry in Uae

Life Cycle Assessment of Secondary Extruded Aluminum Production Process in Industrial City of Arak

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About