Scrapping steel components for recycling—Isn’t that good enough? Seeking improvements in automotive component end-of-life

Abstract

Life cycle management (LCM) suggests that companies take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products, either alone or together with other lifecycle actors. This paper examines the case of an automotive component manufacturer that has committed to LCM and wants to investigate product end of life (EoL) management despite the fact that it is a couple stages removed from the vehicle end-user and EoL vehicle (ELV) handling. Material flow analysis (MFA) is used to estimate and create Sankey diagrams of the downstream flows of two components made of low-alloyed steel, one wheel component and one gearbox component. Product sales data was analyzed and composition and design trends were considered to add perspectives beyond those yielded by looking at the bulk material flow. The components of interest are not remanufactured themselves but the gearboxes in which they sit are. Remanufacturers of gearboxes visited indicated a great variability in how much they replace the components of interest suggesting an opportunity for the case company to support remanufacturers in quality control and extension of use life. In regards to component EoL, many components are sent through shredding as part of ELV treatment but a comparable amount is liberated from vehicles and scrapped during vehicle maintenance. Regardless, the components end up in mixed scrap and alloying elements are rarely functionally recycled. According to commodity experts, an alternative to handle such components separately for functional recycling is practically limited. Component quantities and their values do not appear to justify additional administration and transport that would be require to sort, store and collect them. Accordingly, when considering societal interest to increase functional recycling and to activate the circular economy, it seems warranted to investigate what a recycling program for similar material grades could yield and subsequently, to consider what collaborative efforts or policy intervention would be relevant.

End-of-life vehicle management: a comprehensive review

“…Zhou et al [151] developed a multi-criteria model based on the fuzzy VIKOR technique to evaluate ELV recycling service providers from the perspective of sustainability. Diener and Tillman [152] examined the case of an automotive component manufacturer to investigate its ELV management. Xu et al [153] conducted a scenario analysis to determine the amount of rare earth elements that can be recovered from ELVs in Japan based on a dismantling survey, chemical identification, and substance flow analysis.…”

Aplicação dos princípios da economia circular em uma indústria de veículos comerciais

“…Na Economia Circular, o princípio 1 trata de entradas, como insumos e matérias-primas, o princípio 2 apresenta os loops, que são as hierarquias de tratamento de materiais, e o princípio 3 refere-se à saída, por meio das externalidades (EMF, 2015 SAVOLAINEN, 2001;LIU et al, 2010;MELLINO et al, 2014;WACKERNAGEL;REES, 1997 produto, quando não é viável para determinado usuário, passa por uma manutenção e é vendido para outros usuários, sem passar por um processamento que gera resíduos. A remanufatura (LUND, 1983;JAYARAMAN;GUIDE JR;SRIVASTAVA, 1999;GUIDE, 2000;KEER;RYAN, 2001; SAVASKAN; BHATTACHARYA; VAN WASSENHOVE, 2004;BRISSAUD;TICHKIEWITCH;ZWOLINSKI, 2006;SARVARY;VAN WASSENHOVE, 2008;AMELIA et al, 2009;ZHANG et al, 2011;AGRAWAL;VAN ITTERSUM, 2015;CHEN, 2015;DIENER;TILLMAN, 2016) é o penúltimo elemento da hierarquia do Princípio 2 (EMF, 2015). Nele, o produto é reprocessado em condições controladas, retornando ao mercado com características de um produto novo.…”

“…Tendo em vista a circularidade de materiais na Economia Circular, o objetivo do estudo foi verificar quais as possibilidades de melhora na gestão de componentes em final de vida. Considerando quatro fases do ciclo de vida, e utilizando visitas em plantas produtivas, entrevistas e análises documentais, foram apresentados como resultados apontamentos para cada uma dessas fases, e duas oportunidades para a melhora das atividades de gestão de fim de vida dos componentes mecânicos (DIENER; TILLMAN, 2016).…”

“…Remanufatura. Luind, 1983Jayaraman;Guide Hr;Srivastava, 1999;Guide, 2000;Keer;Ryan, 2001;Savaskan;Bhattacharya;Van Wassenhove, 2004;Brissaud;Tichkiewitch;Zwolinski, 2006;Atasu et al, 2008;Amelia et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2011;Agrawal;Van Ittersum, 2015;Chen, 2015;Diener;Tillman, 2015. Reciclagem.…”

“…As externalidades (PIGOU, 1932;COASE, 1960;BLACK, 1997;DEAN;MCMULLEN, 2007;EMF, 2015) BHATTACHARYA; VAN WASSENHOVE, 2004;BRISSAUD;TICHKIEWITCH;ZWOLINSKI, 2006;ATASU et al, 2008;AMELIA et al, 2009;ZHANG et al, 2011; AGRAWAL; ATASU; VAN ITTERSUM, 2015;CHEN, 2015;DIENER;TILLMAN, 2015) de peças e componentes e, quando não estão em condições devido a desgaste ou quebra, encaminha-os para reciclagem (NOCI, 1995;THORMARK, 2002;FRANCHETTI;MARCONATO, 2003;KANG;SCHOENUNG, 2005;AMELIA et al;BRASIL, 2010;CAMPOS et al, 2009;ALI et al, 2013;EMF, 2015;CUCCHIELLA et al, 2016;LELLIS FERREIRA;FARIAS FILHO;QUELHAS, 2016;LESLIE et al, 2016;SHAHBAZI et al, 2016;SOO;COMPSTON;DOOLAN, 2016) …”