Green Manufacturing: From Waste to Value Added Materials

Abstract

Every year, tens of millions of the 1.4 billion cars on the world’s roads are decommissioned. While the ferrous and other metals that constitute about 75% of a vehicle by weight can be readily and profitably recycled, the remaining mix of plastics, glass, composites, complex materials, fragments and contaminants are mainly destined for landfill as automotive shredder residue (ASR). For every car, approximately 100–200 kg of ASR is disposed of in landfill, posing a growing technical and environmental challenge worldwide. The recovery of the ASR for high-end application is the focus of this study, aiming to optimise the use of these valuable resources and minimise the extractive pressure for raw materials, a future green manufacturing, contributing towards a zero waste circular economy. As the dissolution of carbon into iron is a key step in the manufacture of iron-carbon alloys, the feasibility of utilizing the waste polymers within ASR as sources of carbon in different areas of pyrometallurgical processing was investigated. Polypropylene and rubber, in a blend with metallurgical coke, were used as carbonaceous substrates and the slag-foaming phenomenon was investigated via the sessile drop technique in an argon environment at 1,550°C. The results indicated the rubber/coke blend achieved significantly better foaming behaviour, and the PP/coke blend exhibited a moderate improvement in slag foaming, in comparison to 100% metallurgical coke. The overall results indicated the incorporation of ASR had significant improvement in foaminess behaviour, increasing furnace efficiency.

Citation

Maroufi, S., Echeverria, C.A., Pahlevani, F. and Sahajwalla, V. (2018), "Green Manufacturing: From Waste to Value Added Materials", Crocker, R., Saint, C., Chen, G. and Tong, Y. (Ed.) Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards the Circular Economy, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-619-820181021