Life Cycle Assessment of Different Recycling Scenarios of Aluminum Car Body Sheet

In accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO/FDIS 14041, different recycling scenarios of aluminum car body sheet have been examined by an LCA study, including

• shredding, sink-float sorting and remelting;
• dismantling and remelting;
• combination of both techniques.

The study was based on the aluminum car body of an Audi A8. For benchmarking reasons, these different life cycle scenarios were compared with a conventional steel car body fulfilling the same functions and with a lightweight steel body with 25 % weight reduction.

It was found that for most of the selected impact categories, the aluminum car body life cycle which ends in shredding, sink-float sorting and remelting compares favourably even with a steel light-weight construction. On the other hand, dismantling and remelting and the more realistic combination of both techniques show advantages in comparison with the shredding and sink-floating technique.