Life cycle assessment of a plastic part injected with recycled Polypropylene: a comparison with alternative virgin materials

Galve, José Eduardo ; Elduque, Daniel (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Pina, Carmelo (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Javierre, Carlos (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Plastics recycling is becoming a common action to reduce our products and processes'' environmental impact, and it is of the utmost importance to introduce circular economy strategies. However, for most of the different types of thermoplastics, recycling is not currently its usual end of life due to the technical difficulties in the sorting and recycling processes. This paper presents the complete life cycle assessment of an industrial component made with three different thermoplastics; two virgin thermoplastics typically used for similar parts in the market as Polyamide 6 and Polypropylene, and an alternative source of 100% recycled Polypropylene. All life cycle stages are included in the study. After carrying out the life cycle inventory, calculations of the environmental impact of each life cycle steps have been performed with ReCiPe 2016 EndPoint (H/A) v1.03/World and with IPCC 2013 GWP 100a v1.03 methodologies, comparing all three materials under the same conditions. A sensibility assessment has also been performed, calculating a worst-case scenario of the recycled material, and considering higher material acquisition distances. This study shows that recycled Polypropylene contributes to reducing the overall environmental impact of the component life cycle by 29.8% under ReCiPe, and by 42.8% under Carbon Footprint when compared to virgin Polypropylene. For the worst-case scenario, these reductions in the environmental impact of the component life cycle are also significant: 23.2% and 36.4%, respectively, showing that the use of recycled polymers is a key approach to reduce the environmental impact of plastic components.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1007/s40684-021-00363-2

Año: 2022

Publicado en: International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing - Green Technology 9 (2022), 919–932
ISSN: 2288-6206

Factor impacto JCR: 4.2 (2022)

Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL rank: 31 / 136 = 0.228 (2022) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING rank: 20 / 50 = 0.4 (2022) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY rank: 33 / 46 = 0.717 (2022) - Q3 - T3

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 9.3 - Engineering (Q1) - Energy (Q1) - Business, Management and Accounting (Q1) - Materials Science (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.905 - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (Q1) - Materials Science (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Mechanical Engineering (Q1) - Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment (Q2) - Management of Technology and Innovation (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T08-20R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/RTC-2017-5965-6

Tipo y forma: Article (PostPrint)

Área (Departamento): Área Ingeniería Mecánica (Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica)
Área (Departamento): Área Expresión Gráfica en Ing. (Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri.)