Abstract
A home appliance recycling system, called “thermal elutriation system (TES)” has the following advantages: saves time and problem for disassembly, utilizes melted plastics as energy, collects fine grade for non-shredding, and extracts all CFCs. In this study, the environmental impact of TES was compared to a general recycling system “shredding” sifting out the steel from shredded home appliance. The recycling processes of treated metals and plastics are included in the assessment as avoiding the production impact from virgin materials and energy. In steel recycling, it was assumed that dilution process with iron or fine ore was applied to make the steel quality of TES and the shredding system comparable (shredded steel contains more impurity). Steel from the shredding is recycled in an electric arc furnace with dilution of copper and steel from TES is recycled in an oxygen converter without dilution. TES showed less contribution in all impact categories since TES distracts all CFCs and takes out metals with lower impurity. Even though the shredding collects 90% CFC and 70% thermal insulating CFC, its GWP and ODP were still considerably higher. The dilution process made the big effect in all impact categories.
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