A comparative life-cycle assessment of talc- and biochar-reinforced composites for lightweight automotive parts

Abstract

The use of renewable materials and cleaner production is currently the target of the automotive industry to reduce the use-phase environmental impacts of vehicles. Renewable lightweight materials are used to replace conventional materials to produce lightweight automotive parts, leading to reduced fuel consumption, which contributes toward meeting the industry’s environmental impact target. In this study, we compared the life cycle of a conventional composite to that of a biocomposite for automotive applications using the standard set by the International Standards Organization (ISO 2006). The conventional one is talc-reinforced polypropylene composite (talc–PP) at a 70% PP to 30% talc weight ratio. The biocomposite is Miscanthus biochar-reinforced polypropylene composite (MB–PP) at a 70% PP to 30% MB. The functional unit is 982 cm3 of composite used for a certain vehicle part (i.e., an automotive component). The environmental impacts are determined using the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI, v2.1). The system boundary includes material extraction to the disposal stage of the composites. The results revealed that MB–PP composite had the least impact for all categories than talc–PP composite and appeared to be a favorable option for automotive parts from an environmental perspective. This study indicates that MB-PP can reduce about 25% environmental impacts of the life of composite if it replaces the talc–PP composite. The MB–PP composite emerged as a promising option than talc–PP composite and has environmentally benign green credentials for automotive parts application.