Strategies to reduce energy and metalworking fluid consumption for the sustainability of turning operation: A review

Abstract

The industrial sector is responsible for over 50% of the global energy utilization and out of which non-OECD countries account for 67%. The energy and resources utilization of the manufacturing sector are 40% and 25% of the global consumption respectively. The concept of sustainable manufacturing has gained traction in recent times with the realisation of this significant ecological footprint. The machining sector, in particular, creates a significant environmental footprint due to energy and resource use. In order to identify the true environmental costs and find means to mitigate the said impacts, holistic life cycle thinking is necessary. Particularly in countries with rapidly emerging industrial sectors, setting performance standards and regulations to guide the sustainability of the industrial activities is necessary. The industrial sector uses different machining operations in which turning operation is significant due to its higher energy consumption among other machining operations. Furthermore, there is a research gap of assessing the contributors of environmental impact of turning operation. Therefore, this review focuses on turning operations and the major contributors to environmental impacts during turning operations, to identify effective strategies to reduce them. The information ascertained from the review was thematically coded and analysed to establish the current status of the topic. Out of reviewed articles, 34% and 37% of papers respectively have identified energy and metalworking fluid (MWF) as key sources of environmental impact. Based on the literature analysis results, the paper proposes several strategies to achieve more sustainable turning operations. The findings are expected to be of use to the machining industry in improving its sustainability, as well as to policy makers in defining performance standards to regulate industrial activities. • Energy and metalworking fluid are the key contributors to environmental impact during turning. • Identification of multiple strategies leads to effective environmental performances of turning. • Life cycle assessment can be used to obtain a holistic approach to the sustainable machining process.