Browse Topic: End-of-life vehicles
The purpose of this research is to examine the fundamental principles of a circular economy (CE) in relation to the automotive industry in India, which plays a vital role in the country's economy. As a result, energy consumption and environmental impacts also pose significant challenges. CE provide a transformative approach through the life cycle of a vehicle, guiding the automotive industry toward a more sustainable transportation system. In order to decarbonize this industry, the global automotive commission recommends that recycled plastic content in vehicles be increased to 20-25% by 2030. This target necessitates the recovery of plastics from end-of-life vehicles, though these materials are rarely integrated into compounds today. The automotive industry's reliance on plastics has grown substantially due to their lightweight properties, which enhance fuel efficiency, reduce CO₂ emissions, and improve versatility and mechanical performance. polypropylene polymer and several other polyolefins are used for components like bumpers. The most prevalent recycling method for polypropylene bumpers is mechanical recycling, yet it presents notable challenges. It is important to note that paint, in particular, affects both the aesthetic quality and the structural integrity of recycled materials. This review work also explores the primary recycling methods documented in literature, particularly those that have minimal environmental impact. Further, the study provides a comprehensive analysis of India's transition toward sustainability in the automotive sector, including procedures for waste disposal and reuse. The report emphasizes the industry's growing pressure to adopt circular and sustainable approaches in production, vehicle design, and waste management while emphasizing the principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic waste.
Additive Manufacturing (AM), particularly Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), has revolutionized the manufacturing sector by enabling the production of complex geometries using various materials. Polylactic Acid (PLA) is a biodegradable thermoplastic often used in additive manufacturing (AM) because to its eco-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and processing simplicity. This research seeks to enhance the parameters of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) for PLA material with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodology. The researchers conducted experimental trials to investigate the influence of key FDM parameters, including layer thickness, infill density, printing speed, and nozzle temperature, on essential outcomes such as dimensional accuracy, surface quality, and mechanical qualities. The design of experiments (DOE) technique facilitated a systematic investigation of parameters. The TOPSIS method, a decision-making tool based on several criteria, was used to assess the trial data and identify the optimal parameter values. TOPSIS offers a thorough approach for improving parameters in FDM by considering both proximity to the ideal solution and distance from the negative ideal solution. The findings revealed the effectiveness of the TOPSIS technique in identifying the optimal parameter combinations for enhancing the printing quality and efficiency of PLA components. The proposed optimization framework provides significant insights into the optimization and control of processes, hence promoting the broader use of FDM technology across many sectors. This work improves the understanding of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) for Polylactic Acid (PLA) and offers effective methods for improving FDM settings. Manufacturers may enhance printing productivity, quality, and sustainability via the use of the TOPSIS methodology. This will subsequently facilitate the broader use of additive manufacturing technologies across many applications.
Major cause of air pollution in the world is due to burning of fossil fuels for transport application; around 23% GHG emissions are produced due to transport sector. Likewise, the major cause of air pollution in Indian cities is also due to transport sector. Marginal improvement in the fuel economy provide profound impact on surrounding air quality and lightweighting of vehicle mass is the key factor in improving fuel economy. The paper describes robust and integrated approach used for design and development of lightweight bus structures for Indian city bus applications. An attempt is made to demonstrate the use of environment friendly material like aluminium in development of lightweight superstrutured city buses for India. Exercise involved design, development and prototype manufacturing of 12m Low Entry and 12m Semi Low Floor (SLF) bus models. Aluminium lightweight Bus prototypes conforms to the Indian regulatory requirement viz. bus body code AIS:052, AIS:153 and strength requirements of Urban Bus Specification. Aluminium superstructures developed are 30% lighter compared to steel buses of similar class which has resulted in fuel economy improvement of 8-10% during field trials. In addition to improved fuel economy, attention is provided for human comfort by designing quiet passenger compartment and better NVH. Technology of light weighting through aluminum can be directly adapted for EV/HEV buses to compensate increased weight due to electrification. Recycling benefits of aluminium provides tremendous cost benefit after end of vehicle life. Fuel economy improvement along with recycling cost benefit can give impetus for increased use of aluminium on a large scale for Indian mass transportation and that can be a major step towards greener environment.
Climate change is primary driver in the current discussions on CO2 reduction in the automotive industry. Current Type approval emissions tests (BS III, BS IV) covers only tailpipe emissions, however the emissions produced in upstream and downstream processes (e.g. raw material sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, vehicle usage, recycle phases) are not considered in the evaluation. The objective of this project is to assess the environmental impact of the product considering all stages of the life cycle, understand the real opportunities to reduce environmental impact across the product life cycle. As a part of environmental sustainability journey in business value chain, lifecycle assessment (LCA) technique helps to understand the environmental impact categories. To measure overall impact, a cradle to grave approach helps to assess entire life cycle impact throughout various stages. LCA is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, disposal or recycling. A study was conducted on a passenger vehicle for life cycle assessment as per ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. Data has been collected from various sources for this study. This technique evaluates impact of all the stages in manufacturing a vehicle till vehicle reached its end of life. This analysis helps conduct environmental cost benefit analysis and comparison between various choices for existing materials processes, product. This study gave a comparative analysis of various material choices and processes available to make same components and assemblies by analyzing material composition for complete vehicle. Study for complete life cycle with service life use of 300,000 km, maximum impacts like global warming potential, human toxicity, eutrophication and acidification potential occurred during the use phase followed by manufacturing phase and end of life phase. Data for actual environment impact for processes and material for product under study need to be considered from global data base where actual data is not available. This study helped to assess extent of various environmental impact like GWP, water consumption, acidification potential, ozone depleting potential etc., with only soft data collected from various internal stakeholders without making actual parts or vehicles. LCA helps in design improvements, right material selection, high impact processed to be focused upon. Thus, life cycle assessment can be used as an effective tool to provide sound knowledge on environmental impacts of product and help in environmentally sound decision making.
The number of vehicles being sold is steadily increasing, as well as the amount of processed resources. Moreover, alternative powertrain concepts open up a new field of materials such as rare-earth metals, lithium, and cobalt. This results in a growing importance and complexity of the vehicle end-of-life phase and thus demands for a more detailed environmental evaluation and an integration into life cycle assessment. Due to high recycling rates, established recycling routes, and a low environmental impact regarding the materials used for conventional propulsion systems, by now the recycling is mostly neglected within the life cycle assessment of vehicles. The introduced materials for alternative concepts challenge this method with new and complex processes, the lack of available recycling routes, selective recovery of only few materials, as well as the threat of landfill, an increased share of incineration, resource shortfalls, and resource exploitation. This study investigates the state of the art of recycling processes for drive components used within conventional and alternative concepts. Furthermore, a new methodical framework to evaluate the environmental impact of the end-of-life phase as well as to compare different recycling processes is developed, followed by the development and assessment of methodical options to integrate the evaluation of the end-of-life phase into the life cycle assessment. The methodology is finally applied to one exemplary component.
Current End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling processes are mainly based on mechanical separation techniques. These methods are designed to recycle those metals with the highest contribution in the vehicle weight such as steel, aluminum, and copper. However, a conventional vehicle uses around 50 different types of metals, some of them considered critical by the European Commission. The lack of specific recycling processes makes that these metals become downcycled in steel or aluminum or, in the worst case, end in landfills. With the aim to define several ecodesign recommendations from a raw material point of view, it is proposed to apply a thermodynamic methodology based on exergy analysis. This methodology uses an indicator called thermodynamic rarity to assess metal sustainability. It takes into account the quality of mineral commodities used in a vehicle as a function of their relative abundance in Nature and the energy intensity required to extract and process them. This method is proposed as a tool to identify the most critical components in a vehicle so as to define specific ecodesign recommendations for them. The methodology is applied to a SEAT Leon 2.0 Diesel III model (segment C). Main recommendations are focused on reducing the use of metals with high thermodynamic rarity values such as Ag, Au, Cu, Ga, In, Pd, Pt, Sn, Ta, and Te. These metals are mainly used in electrical and electronic equipment. It is also recommended to reduce the disassembly time of a number of critical components such as airbag unit, electronic control unit, lighting switcher, antenna amplifiers, panel instrument, sensors, infotainment unit, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and motors. A fast and easy disassembly would allow in subsequent phases to apply specific recycling processes based on mechanical and hydrometallurgical hybrid approaches instead of only mechanical separation techniques.
Due to the large number of end of life vehicles in our country, our work is aimed at recycling a very important material present in all cars, which is the platinum found in automotive catalysts. Platinum is a rare metal and high value-added, recovery from secondary sources is crucial to ensure its supply for various applications in the market, especially in regions with scarce resources. For this reason, the recycling of platinum, particularly of automotive catalysts becomes very important for the market. The methodology to be applied along the development of the work approaches from the characterization of the catalyst (by technical analysis of microscopy), recycling of platinum (by hydro-metallurgical processes), finally the tests and analysis of the recycled platinum, through physical tests, chemicals. Through the platinum recycling process, it is expected that an economically feasible form has been determined as well as the process method for platinum recycling, in addition to achieving a sample of recycled platinum with physical and chemical characteristics that provide for its reuse. However, the process of recycling platinum comes as an ecological alternative for the extraction, and through this research they propose a recycling method to return it to the market, suppressing its scarcity.
The survival of humanity in the upcoming decades will depend on the sustainability of the consumed products. There is a global effort to develop solutions to reduce environmental and energy impacts with the production of these products. This paper presents a careful analysis of automotive recycling and the role of aluminum in the life cycle of these vehicles. It is known that the number of vehicles is getting close to 1 billion units while the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) has also been increasing dramatically throughout the entire planet. The average car has between 30 to 150 kg of aluminum, there is an increasing trend in this amount in exchange of a reduced final weight of the vehicle. Aluminum can be recycled repeatedly without losing its physical-chemical properties. There are two ways of obtaining the metal; one is by the direct extraction of natural resources through the mining of bauxite and the second through its recycling. The two processes are analyzed through existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the literature. In an unprecedented way, the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) tool will be directly applied to the LCA, pursuing to point out the most important details of the impact assessment. A comparison of their environmental and energy impact will show the global economic benefits of a systemic recycling of ELV and aluminum.
Global sales of electric and hybrid vehicles continue to grow as emission legislation forces vehicle manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles, with some 8 million already in service. Hybrid and Electric vehicles contain some of the most complex systems ever used in the automotive field, sophisticated and unique electric hybrid systems are added to modern motor vehicles which are already quite complex. As these vehicles reach the end of their lives they will be processed by the global vehicle recycling industry and the high voltage components will be reused, recycled or re-purposed. This paper explores safe working practices for businesses involved in a global marketplace who are completing battery disabling, removal, disassembly, storage and shipping; includes the various technologies and safe working practices along with some of the legal restrictions on dismantling, storage and shipping of high voltage batteries around the world. The paper will also explore how detailed safety, dismantling, storage and shipping information is currently made available to the vehicle recycling community and how this can be improved in the future to enhance the safety of people handling, dismantling, storing and shipping high voltage electric and hybrid components.
The Indian Economy is becoming significant in the late years. There will be more middle class individuals in the coming years having higher purchasing power, bringing about sharp increment in the ownership of vehicles. The quantity of End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) in 2015 is evaluated at 8.7 million and by 2025, this figure is assessed to ascend to 21.8 million. Car breaking yards' ELV recycling practices result in inadequate resource recovery and various forms of pollution. 75-80% of the ELV constitutes of metal and recycled due to its economic benefits. The rest of the 25-30% comprises of plastics, rubber, glass and operating fluids which are mostly disposed off in land or water. Existing international literature has analyzed ELV recycling and remanufacturing practices in India as separate topics. By adopting Circular Economy practices such as 3R (spare parts reuse, component remanufacturing and materials recycling), the institutional framework proposed in this paper considers both ELV recycling and Automotive Component Remanufacturing. Previous methods found in literature, best industrial practices and well-documented case studies are taken into consideration. The framework comprises of three elements such as an authorized dismantling plant, recycling information centre and ELV recycling fund management board; illustrates the integration of various stakeholders such as the Government, Industries, Industry Association, Universities and Research Institutes and their roles in establishing a sustainable ELV recycling infrastructure. The framework could assist policy makers in developing ELV directive and aftermarket service policy; OEMs and other enterprises in establishing synergetic networks as well as Academicians in key research areas to be focused upon.
Currently in the general industry, the awareness of the population and the governments concerns for the environment and processes, such as sustainable products is increasing each year. The automotive industry follows the same trend. In a vehicle, 99% of its components can be recycled. These recyclables can supply the own automotive industry, and other industries as well, such as the manufacture of batteries made with recycled metal vehicles. Recycling vehicles also provides energy saving, conserving natural resources, and reducing water and air pollution, eliminating in a proper way harmful emissions in the environment as the lead and mercury. It is estimated that the market for recycling vehicles in the United States, injects 32 billion dollars every year in the economy, employing more than 140,000 people and have approximately 9,000 local collection and recycling. This paper aims to address the vehicle recycling process, the population and manufactures responsibility around the globe and the benefits to the economy, society and environment.
Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) conducted, to date, of the end-of-life phase of vehicles rely significantly on assumed values and extrapolations within models. The end phase of vehicles, however, has become all the more important as a consequence of increasing regulatory requirements on materials recovery, tightening disposal restrictions, and the rapid introduction of new materials and electronics, all potentially impacting a vehicle's efficacy for achieving greater levels of sustainability. This article presents and discusses selected research results of a comprehensive gate-to-gate life-cycle-inventory (LCI) of end-of-life vehicle (ELV) dismantling and shredding processes, constructed through a comprehensive and detailed case study, and argues that managing and implementing creative dismantling practices can improve significantly the recovery of both reusable and recyclable materials from end-of-life vehicles. Although the amount of parts and materials recovered and directed for reuse, remanufacturing or recycling may be as much as 11.6% by weight of the ELVs entering a dismantling process [1], greater rates of reuse and/or recycling may be achieved by the strategic management of the ELVs entering the dismantling process according to age. Late model, high-salvage ELVs (HSELVS) of an optimum age range (e.g., 5-9 years) could be targeted for maximum recovery of parts for reuse and remanufacture. Older low-salvage ELVs (LSELVs) would be targeted principally for materials recovery and recycling. This paper discusses the challenges anticipated with the development of an ELV management system promoting maximum parts reuse/remanufacturing and materials recycling.
The automotive industry is one of the industries that have visibility suffered a strong demand for higher environmental performance. This industry have enjoyed years as the main source of employment and economic growth, today it is being pointed out as one of the major contributors to air pollution in urban centers. Indeed the benefits of automobile provide the means of gaining access to life's necessities and employment and a source of pleasure. However, despite these benefits there are environmental burdens as well: local air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, road congestion, noise, mortality and morbidity from accidents and less open space to roads. Thus companies in the sector have been trying different strategies to overcome these challenges Evaluation of Emission development for commercial vehicles had always been great challenge to continuously migrate from one level of emission norm to other maintaining the business continuity. With every migration its necessary to cross the technological barriers one such challenge had been during the migration from BSII to BSIII the option available had been to go for CRS engines with an incremental cost of approximately one lakh rupee per engine compared to conventional IL engines this would have eventually impacted the customer base for reasons of high cost and high maintenance. The goal has been set to achieve this migration without CRS technology by optimization of combustion and developing advance Catcon technology to achieve BSIII levels. This paper illustrates the development of an integrated muffler achieving emission targets and also gives the advantage of space and cost. Some of India specific challenges are customer awareness, cost of the vehicle, urbanization, need for a synchronized transportation system and vehicle retirement. The research and work has led to developing world's first mechanical inline pump engine with customized exhaust and after treatment meeting BSIII emission norms with significant cost advantage compared to CRS engine
Develop terminology and definitions specifically for the automotive industry that defines greener and more sustainable materials and practices. The document will provide information and context for how and where the terms are used in the auto sector. In some cases, there may be more than one definition provided as some terms have different meanings in different countries.
The purpose of this study is to define requirements for technological and business success in the world's first implementation of Reverse-Supply-Chain, in which bumper materials of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) are recycled for use as ingredients in new bumper materials. In Japan, ELVs are recovered following to the government regulation. About 20% (700,000 ton) of such collected ELVs are automotive shredder residues (ASR), most of which are burnt as fuel or used as landfill trash. ASRs are mainly plastics, which are largely used as materials of bumpers. The reverse-supply-chain was started as a small business by a collaboration between the car manufacture (Mazda), dismantler, and resource-recycling business operator, and enhanced by the development of easy-to-recycle bumpers, technologies of paint removal from crushed bumpers and sorting-out, a material quality control method, and improvement in transportation efficiency. In this paper, requirements for the establishment of the reverse-supply-chain are defined, which enable continuous horizontal-recycle of discarded bumpers of low utility value, further promoting recycling activities of disused plastics, contributing to the reduction in the use of underground resources and green-house gas emissions. Future tasks include the establishments of a classification standard for material and thermal recycle of the ASR plastics, and data base/reconstruction technology applicable to discarded vehicles of any makes, and the reverse-supply-chain on a national level.
This study aims to determine environmental aspects of an end-of-vehicle recycling process through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Functional unit of the study was an end-of-vehicle with a weight of 1432 kg. System boundaries included transportation of the scrap car to disassembly and shredding facility, disassembly and shredding processes and transportation of the materials to recycling facilities. Data regarding process was gathered from a shredding facility, literature and the libraries of the SimaPro 7.3.2. Gathered data was evaluated through CML 2 baseline 2000 methodology by the means of abiotic depletion, acidification, global warming, ozone depletion, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and photochemical oxidation. According to results, transportation and diesel consumption are the important factors for ELV recycling. It is thought that decreasing of diesel consumption and selection of closest sites to material recycling facilities for disassembly and shredding facilities will decrease the environmental effects of ELV recycling.
The objective of “Experimental Investigation of Light Metal on Out-of-Plane Tearing and Shredding Test (wall thickness less than or equal to 10mm)” is to find solutions to shredding and recovery processing of end-of-life vehicles and household appliances. By way of tensile test, the mechanical characteristics of the light metal scrap material were obtained. On the basis of strengthening effect, the constitutive relations of materials were reduced to bilinear model. Through the trousers test, Light Metal Scrap produced equal and opposite elastic-plastic bending deformation twice in the tearing process was observed. So in process of trousers tearing test, the total work external force did was mainly composed of specific tearing work and elastic-plastic bending work of trousers legs. The features of light metal scrap materials in tearing and shredding process are investigated, and the specific tearing work per unit area of new crack surface was regarded as a tearing property of light metal. The specific tearing work under different loading rate was compared and that the specific tearing work is not insensitive to loading rate in a certain range was found. The investigation showed that: The tensile specific work of rupture of light metal scrap is one order bigger than specific tearing work, meaning that tearing mode will be better on shredding recovery treatment of end-of-life vehicles and household appliances.
Time-temperature analysis methods are usually applied to predict the useful life of automotive components. Components life is affected by exposure to heat during vehicle service life. The extent of reduction in component life, which may be caused by material thermal degradation, depends on the component temperature and the time duration at that temperature. The rate of material thermal degradation of automotive components varies widely depending on material thermal stability, vehicle duty cycle, and the thermal environment that the component is exposed to. Thermodynamic properties such as the activation energy of each material are used to determine the rate of thermal degradation [1,2]. In this approach, material thermal degradation models are used to predict component life during the service life of a vehicle. As the rate of thermal degradation increases with increasing material temperature, the useful life of a component will be reduced as the material temperature increases. Therefore, it is desired to keep the rate of thermal degradation low enough so that a certain level of component performance can be maintained at the end of the vehicle life. The acceptable performance level may be component dependent and vehicle dependent. For example, a passenger car will require different performance than a heavy duty truck even if same material is used on both vehicles. To maintain the required component performance, the definitions of “long term temperature goal” and “short term temperature goal” are introduced. Therefore, the factors affecting the predicted component life can be summarized as follows: measured component temperatures, material long and short term temperature limits (goals), material activation energy, and vehicle duty cycle. All of these factors typically have an inherent uncertainty. These uncertainties will affect the overall confidence level in the predicted time-temperature calculations. Therefore, it is the main purpose of this paper to estimate the uncertainty in component life predictions and their sensitivity to each of the input factors. Given these uncertainties, it is statistically possible to determine the most influential parameters and the overall uncertainty in the predicted component life. Several examples are given where the sensitivity/uncertainty analysis for different vehicle components are presented.
Since the industrial application of the internal combustion engine, the number of vehicles and their technologies has continuously grown world-wide to over 50 million vehicles yearly since 2000 and are forecast to grow to 180 million yearly by 2050. Over time societal and consumer needs with regard to vehicles have changed and environmental considerations have become much more important such as increasing fuel efficiency and reducing vehicle emissions. The precious metals group (PGM) plays an important role in meeting these needs. The continuously increasing use of metals combined with the fact that natural resources are finite make that business as usual is not sustainable. The automotive industry is the single largest user of PGM's and those contained in end of life catalytic converters are richer than any known primary source of PGM. The vehicle is a “mine on wheels” not only for the PGM contained in the converters but also for other metals used in the advanced technology vehicles. Umicore is a major supplier of catalytic converters and is active in spent automotive catalyst recycling. Umicore is also a major supplier to and potential recycler of future technologies such as electrical and fuel cell vehicles. Valuation of material from end-of-life vehicles is an essential part of any recycling process but can be tainted by varying practices or malpractices. Umicore promotes the use of a scientific method based on the real metal content of the spent product where all commercial transactions are assay-based. Accurate analysis is essential, but even more so is the accurate weighing and sampling of incoming material. Umicore provides state-of-the-art material weighing and sampling combined with a unique European based smelting & refining process which guarantees optimum metal yields. Providing a reliable and transparent recycling process allows Umicore to transform the “mines on wheels” into an important contributor to sustainability.
Diverse factors of sustainability drive the life cycle analysis of the product which already exists and need to go through Eco-redesign strategy. Sustainability in all sphere of the design approach requires compliance with regulations and standards. The concept of the reverse logistics and take back is getting very important in the wake of product recalls for exclusive compliance of safety requirements to satisfy the regulations. That is why it is very important that the reverse logistic supply chain net work for the product return lead time and life cycle impact of product planning should begins long before disposal and at the new product design time. This is why it is now believed to be best the way to measure the impact through a Life cycle analysis and reverse logistic planning which necessarily to be decided at the conceptual stage as to how the steps and stage of reverse logistic will be followed. The EU End of life vehicle directive and its effect are very important in this direction. A conceptual model is presented in this regard which shows the role of reverse logistic and life cycle assessment of the product like packaging of plastic for which there is dearth of significant reverse logistic aspect that can influences the manufacturer's choice for the potential consumer. The dynamics in the lead time affect performance if this can be maximized stochastically in the wake of product take back and recalls for establishing global green economy. However, the model describes the function from the retailer path with which is the vital connection for other products like fridge, deep freezers, air conditions, juicers, mixers, cooking range heaters etc can be done by using the reverse logistic for re-manufacturing. Reverse Logistic and Life cycle analysis planning determines the big picture of the entire life cycle of the product in a holistic fashion for making policy decision and recommendations for all stake holders of the global market economy. Besides after the unloaded products to the specified consumer market station the return path of the same delivery service can be utilized logically for the reverse logistic and product take back. In the next generation of logistics, proactive companies must be innovative enough to integrate all strategic and operational factors in their reverse-logistics systems studies for their product take back as a part of a Comprehensive design for the new product & process system life cycle analysis.
Over 250 million vehicles are operating on United States roads and highways and over 12 million of them reach the end of their useful lives annually. These end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) contain over 24 million tons (21.8 million metric tonnes) of materials including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, polymers, glass, and automotive fluids. They also contain many parts and components that are still useable and some that could be economically rebuilt or remanufactured. Dismantlers acquire the ELVs and recover from them parts for resale “as-is” or after remanufacturing. The dismantler then sells what remains of the vehicle, the “hulk”, to a shredder who shreds it to recover and sell the metals. Presently, the remaining non-metallic materials, commonly known as shredder residue, are mostly landfilled. The vehicle manufacturers, now more than ever, are working hard to build more energy efficient and safer, more affordable vehicles. In the process, new valuable materials and parts are constantly introduced in new models. These materials present the recyclers with new business opportunities and with new challenges when the vehicles enter the recycling stream. New tools and technologies are needed to realize these opportunities and to maximize the recycling of the ELVs. This paper discusses opportunities and challenges facing the automobile recycling industries in the future.
The goal of this research was to determine and quantify today's actual end-of-life vehicle disposition rates based on their age and material content. The current facts and status of today's automotive recycling industry were sought. Disposition rates and material trends were projected using adjusted ELV age data from Duranceau and Linden's 1999 research and average materials content data from open-sources. End-of-life vehicle age and population data adjustments were used to estimate representative material compositions for the US and Canadian ELV fleet. The disposition rates were broken down by percentages of (1) part weight reused, (2) part weight remanufactured, (3) part weight recycled pre-shredder, (4) weight of recovered fluids, and (5) weight of metals recycled post shredder. The 86.3% percent material recovery established in this study was compared to the 84% reported in Paul's 2001.
Environmental regulations all over the globe and the demand on fuel efficient engines have increased bearing loads dramatically over the last 20 years, especially in small and high speed Diesel engines. Lead containing Bronze bearings, often with a Lead based overlay have become a standard in the automotive industry and are used over decades. Due to the harmful and poisonous effect of lead on the environment the European Union has set up the Vehicle end-of-life Regulation to reduce use of lead, also in tribological products. In order to fulfill the high load capability and the necessary tribological behavior of engine bearings new approaches in fatigue, temperature stability and Tribology has to be taken. Basic investigation of the tribological working principles in bearings combining short term failure mechanism and long term behavior were carried out to understand the interaction of materials, layers and lubrication. Design guidelines for different bearing types were set up based on these investigation results and a range of different bearing families combining new lining materials and different coatings have been developed. A special validation program representing standard bearing loading as well as extraordinary events like starvation or dirt shocks have been set up to prove the new bearing families. Tribological testing, bearing testing on bearing test rigs with special programs as well as engines were part of this release program. The complete range of lead free bearing types serving all engine slide bearing locations based on Lead Free Bronze lining with electroplated Tin based overlay, Al based sputtered overlay and/or Synthetic overlay shows extraordinary performance in relation to standard Bronze bearing types. The new publication give a detailed picture of the development work starting with the tribological basics, bearing development as well as bearing validation. Bearing performance judgment will be allowed by references to well known standard bearings. Engine test results will conclude the presentation.
A Royal Academy of Engineering panel says that EVs will do for cities and most commutes, but many British motorists will still need plug-in hybrids for longer trips. Recent legislation passed by the British Parliament has committed the U.K. to new, more stringent limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The new law mandates at least a 26% cut by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) and an 80% reduction by 2050. Soon afterwards, an independent expert panel of Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) members was tasked with ascertaining how best to alter the road vehicle fleet of the Michigan-size nation to meet the challenge posed by climate-change scientists. Roger Kemp of the University of Lancaster is the chairman of the panel, which consists of nine top automotive industry consultants, university researchers, and engineers from leading technology firms such as Ricardo and Prodrive. The initial question of the panel, he said, was, “How the heck are we going to do this?”
Items per page:
50
1 – 50 of 108