Abstract
Biomaterials have gained attention in automotive industries for their renewability and environmental benefits. This study evaluates the life cycle environmental impacts and benefits of the automotive component produced from biocomposite (biomaterials, i.e., polypropylene (PP) reinforced with biocarbon and Miscanthus fiber) relative to the component produced from conventional composite (PP reinforced with talc and colorant; hereafter referred to composite) using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. To accomplish this study, the LCA software (SimaPro 8.0.4.26) and the Ecoinvent database (v3.1) are used. Miscanthus, an energy crop grown on the marginal land in Ontario, Canada, is used for producing biocarbon. Then PP is reinforced with biocarbon for producing biocomposite and the automotive components. The functional unit is considered to be an automotive component (441 cm3). Among the materials used in automotive components, colorant has the highest environmental impacts for each unit mass, followed by Miscanthus fiber, PP, talc, and biocarbon, respectively. Interestingly, each unit mass of biocomposite has slightly greater environmental impacts compared with composite. However, the innovative component is emerged to be environmentally favorable over the conventional component. The global warming potential (GWP) of innovative components and conventional components are 11.08 kg CO2 eq. and 12.53 kg CO2 eq., respectively. Consequently, any replacement of conventional components with innovative components would lead to meeting the fuel economy emission regulations of the automotive industries.
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