Life cycle assessment of end-of-life vehicle recycling in China: a comparative study of environmental burden and benefit

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe continuous increase in car ownership in recent years has led to a sharp increase in the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In this paper, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to establish a mathematical computation model and nested iterative inventory data in order to assess the environmental impact of recycling a passenger ELV. The model was used to calculate and analyse the environmental burden caused by dismantling, reverse logistics, and recycling and to assess the environmental benefit of recycled materials, remanufactured engines, and recovered energy. The results showed that human toxicity potential was the only factor that had a higher environmental burden than benefit, with a difference of approximately 36%. The incineration of automotive shredder residues was the main contributing factor, accounting for 79% of the total contribution. Moreover, aluminium recycling and plastic recycling contributed the most to abiotic depletion potential and photochemical ozone creation potentials, respectively.