Authors
Sandra M Luz, Armando Caldeira-Pires, Paulo MC Ferrão
Publication date
2010/10/1
Journal
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume
54
Issue
12
Pages
1135-1144
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
The auto industry is compelled to improve its environmental performance, namely by making use of renewable materials and cleaner manufacturing processes with lower energy intensity, and at the end-of-life of the auto, recyclable products and materials are desirable specifications that need to be considered at an earlier design stage, i.e., promoting the ecodesign. This paper provides an analysis of such a strategy for a material that is used extensively in the auto industry, namely polypropylene composites, as we have quantified the environmental impacts when sugarcane bagasse-reinforced polypropylene substitutes for talc-filled polypropylene (PP). To achieve these goals, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed for the two alternatives, from raw extractions to the end-of-life (EOL) phase of sugarcane bagasse-PP and talc-PP composite, where data gathered in different industries in Brazil …
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