Influence of the Composition on the Environmental Impact of a Casting Magnesium Alloy

Isabel García Gutiérrez,Daniel Elduque,Carmelo Pina,Rafael Tobajas,Carlos Javierre

doi:10.3390/su122410494

Isabel García Gutiérrez, Daniel Elduque + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410494

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Abstract

The influence of the composition of magnesium alloys on their environmental impact was analyzed. In order to perform a more accurate environmental impact calculation, life cycle assessment (LCA) with the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint and IPCC 2013 GWP (100 y) methodology was used, taking the EcoInvent AZ91 magnesium alloy dataset as reference. This dataset has been updated with the material composition range of several alloys included in the European standard EN 1753:2019. The balanced, maximum, and minimum environmental impact values were obtained. In general, the overall impact of the studied magnesium alloys varied from 3.046 Pt/kg to 4.853 Pt/kg and from 43.439 kg CO2 eq./kg to 55.427 kg CO2 eq./kg, depending on the composition. In the analysis of maximum and minimum environmental impacts, the alloy that had the highest uncertainty was 3.5251, with a range of ±7.20%. The element that contributed the most to increase its impact was silver. The AZ91 alloy, provided by the EcoInvent dataset, had a lower environmental impact than all the magnesium alloys studied in this work. The content of critical raw materials (CRMs) was also assessed, showing a high content in CRMs, between 89.72% and 98.22%.

Highlights

Environmental challenges are increasingly recognized as a serious, worldwide, public concern [1,2]
Material selection is an essential area in the design and development stage of a product
Due to the fact that alloy compositions were given by the standards as a range with a maximum and minimum content of each alloying element, the balanced environmental impact values will be analyzed first, followed by a sensitivity analysis to assess the maximum and minimum environmental impacts of magnesium alloys

Summary

Introduction

Environmental challenges are increasingly recognized as a serious, worldwide, public concern [1,2]. Process, or service has an environmental impact, which can occur throughout its entire life cycle. It is essential to adopt an environmentally conscious perspective at the first phase of the product design and development, in order to minimize these impacts [4,5,6]. In the 1990s, the concept of ecological design was first adopted by many companies [7], with the main objective of assuming the environmental responsibility of their products and organizational systems throughout their life cycle [8]. Ecodesign is defined by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14006:2011 as the integration of environmental aspects into product design and development to reduce adverse environmental impacts throughout a product’s life cycle [9]

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