Search results for "Resource efficiency"
showing 10 items of 17 documents
Evaluating the material resource efficiency of secondary aluminium production: A Monte Carlo-based decision-support tool
2019
The contamination of aluminium streams during the different life cycle stages by alloy mixing and/or accumulation of foreign elements, in combination with the limited melt purification options during remelting, represents an important limiting factor in recycling. Consequently, in secondary aluminium production, primary aluminium is used to dilute the concentration of the residual elements, and alloying elements are added to adjust the composition to the target alloy specifications. However, adding elements, for which their refinement in a subsequent recycling step is problematic, results in permanent down-cycling or ‘quality losses’. Hence, it is crucial to more efficiently control the com…
Manufacturing processes as material and energy efficiency strategies enablers: The case of Single Point Incremental Forming to reshape end-of-life me…
2021
Abstract Making materials consumes about 21% of the global energy demand; concerning metals production, it accounts for about 8% of total global energy consumption. Circular economy strategies such as longer life, more intense use, repair, product upgrades, modularity, remanufacturing, component reuse, and open/closed-loop recycling are strategies to put in place urgently to reduce the environmental impact of raw material production. Although recycling of metals is the most used strategy and is being improved in terms of efficiency, it is mandatory moving towards more virtuous circular economy strategies, such as product/component reuse. In this paper a novel reuse strategy for sheet metal …
Manufacturing strategies for efficiency in energy and resources use: The role of metal shaping processes
2017
Abstract Manufacturing sector nowadays has to deal with the global need to reduce the environmental impact of human activity. As manufacturing accounts for a significant portion of the global CO 2 emissions, scientific research should be addressed to understand the environmental impact of manufacturing processes and, in the meantime, to take advantage of their full potential in reducing the overall CO 2 emissions. The present review paper aims at describing the role of metal shaping processes in reducing the environmental impact across different stages of metal components life. Actually, an increased consciousness concerning both the environmental performances of manufacturing processes and…
Valorization of Wastewater from Table Olives: NMR Identification of Antioxidant Phenolic Fraction and Microwave Single-Phase Reaction of Sugary Fract…
2021
The table olive industry is producing a huge amount of wastewater, which is a post-processing cost and an environmental concern. The present study aims to valorize this processing by-product to obtain a value-added product, thereby enhancing resource efficiency and contributing to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). In this sense, a chemical reaction-based platform was developed to obtain valuable components, such as levulinic acid (LA) and 5-hydromethylfurfural (HMF). The products were then analyzed using NMR identification of the antioxidant phenolic fraction and microwave single-phase reaction of the sugary fraction. According to the results, the highest concentration of phen…
Full-scale validation of bio-recycled asphalt mixtures for road pavements
2019
Abstract Recycling of asphalt has become a well-established practice in many countries, however the road pavement industry remains a bulk consumer of extracted raw materials. Novel solutions that find root in circular economy concepts and life-cycle approaches are needed in order to enable optimisation of infrastructure resource efficiency, starting from the design stage and spanning the whole value chain in the construction sector. Itis within this framework that the present study presents a full-scale validation of asphalt mixtures specifically designed to ensure durability of flexible road pavements and at the same time enabling the reuse of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) through the i…
Subtractive versus mass conserving metal shaping technologies: an environmental impact comparison
2015
The scientific studies in the domain of environmental sustainability of metal processing technologies predominantly focus on conventional material removal processes, as milling and turning. Despite some exceptions, many other non-machining technologies, such as metal forming processes, are still not well documented in terms of their energy and resource efficiency. Moreover, to properly evaluate the environmental impact of a given process, a standing-alone approach is no longer sufficient. In order to offer a valuable contribution in the domain of metal shaping sustainability, the present paper proposes a thorough methodology entailing to compare, from the environmental point of view, two tr…
Environmental Comparison between a Hot Extrusion Process and Conventional Machining Processes through a Life Cycle Assessment Approach
2014
Nowadays manufacturing technologies have to be evaluated not only for the technical features they can provide to products, but also considering the environmental perspective as well. As long as the technological feasibility of a given process is guaranteed, processes minimizing resources and energy consumption have to be selected for manufacturing. With respect to this topic, the research studies in the domain of metal processing technologies predominantly focus on conventional material removal processes as milling and turning. Despite some exceptions, many other non-machining technologies, such as metal forming processes, are still not well documented in terms of their energy and resource …
Environmental management of granite slab production from an industrial ecology standpoint
2014
Abstract The granite production chain is high energy and water intensive with low resource efficiency. This paper focus on characterizing the potential for environmental improvement of the granite production chain by promoting the optimization of sawing technology, the implementation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and the material recovery of wasted granite (sludge). The environmental performance of multi-blade gangsaw (MBGS) and diamond multi-wire saw (DMWS) technologies is compared by mean of life cycle assessment. Results demonstrate that DMWS technology contribute 30% of water savings, 40% of energy savings and 80% of material savings per square meter of polished granite tiles (60 x 40 x…
An exploratory study for analyzing the energy savings obtainable by reshaping processes of sheet metal based components
2017
Abstract Producing materials causes about 25% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Reshaping could be one of the most efficient strategy to foster material reuse and lower the environmental impact due to material production. Sheet metal forming processes can be applied to reshape sheet metal based component. This research field is still almost unexplored and the actual environmental impact saving potential has not been quantified. The present paper aims at starting to cover this research gap, a modeling effort to quantify the environmental impact saving of reshaping is proposed. Primary energy demand for conventional recycling and reshaping are quantified and compared. Primary energy savings…
Sustainability issues in sheet metal forming processes: an overview
2011
Abstract Environmental sustainability in manufacturing is nowadays an urgent and remarkable issue and the main concerns are related to more efficient use of materials and energy. In sheet metal forming processes there is still a lack of knowledge in this field mainly due to the need of a proper modelling of sustainability issues and factors to be taken into account. The aim of this paper is mainly to underline the state of the art from a forming point of view about the sustainability contributions offered in any phase of a product life cycle. Actually, a lack in terms of comprehensive contributions is present in the technical literature, thus, the authors try to give a sort of holistic visi…