Comparative assessment on greenhouse gas emissions of end-of-life vehicles recycling methods

The ‘whole recycling method’, in which an end-of-life vehicle (ELV) is pressed and transferred to an electric furnace or converter, simultaneously recycles iron and treats automotive shredder residues. This contrasts with the usual practice of shredding ELVs to produce scrap. An advanced dismantling process is required to recycle pressed ELVs using a converter because the quality of scrap entering a converter is restricted (the copper content must be low). Here, life cycle assessments are performed to determine the amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted recycling an ELV using the whole recycling method and using the shredding method. Recycling a pressed ELV in a converter was found to cause GHG emissions approximately 320 kg-CO2e lower than caused by the recycling of the pressed ELV in an electric furnace. Approximately, 120 kg-CO2e less GHGs were emitted when recycling in a converter than when using the shredding method. However, the amount of greenhouse gases reduced by a converter depends on the conditions used, such as the presence of a Linz–Donawitz converter gas recovery facility. It is hoped that incentives can be developed to improve scrap metal quality by encouraging automobile manufacturers to design for disassembly and recyclers to disassemble more ELV components.