Modular Life Cycle Model of Vehicle End of Life Phase - Basis for Analysis of Environmental Performance

In previous projects, the Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP) and Salyp N.V. have demonstrated the ability to separate plastics, foams, ferrous metals, and non-ferrous metals from shredder residue using the Salyp recovery process. Salyp's recovery process consists of a number of different stages, which are discussed in a previous SAE paper by the VRP and Salyp¹. These include a sized-based material separation, a foam cleaning system, additional material separation based on material type, etc. However, during the previous project, the potential impact of the process on the environment via air emissions, waste emissions, or in terms of energy consumption were not determined. Understanding the overall environmental impact of this recycling process is important. Therefore, the VRP concluded that a life cycle approach was necessary to investigate the energy and specific environmental impacts of this technology. PE Consulting Group was contracted to create a parameterized LCI (Life Cycle Inventory) model, which would enable the VRP to conduct life cycle evaluations of different recycling/recovery scenarios. This paper discusses the initial results of the analysis.