End-of-Life Recycling Options of (Nano)Enhanced CFRP Composite Prototypes Waste—A Life Cycle Perspective

Petrakli, Foteini; Gkika, Anastasia; Bonou, Alexandra; Karayannis, Panagiotis; Koumoulos, Elias P.; Semitekolos, Dionisis; Trompeta, Aikaterini-Flora; Rocha, Nuno; Santos, R. M.; Simmonds, Guy; Monaghan, Glen; Valota, Giorgio; Gong, Guan; Charitidis, Costas A.

doi:10.3390/polym12092129

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The traditional waste disposal routes, namely landfill and incineration (energy recovery), have unfavourable environmental impacts. As mentioned in the literature [1,22,34], the hefty landfill taxation has established waste management industries to avoid landfills altogether. Furthermore, considering the price of vCFRP and vGFRP composites, the popularity of disposal via incineration has also reduced drastically.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment of a Thermal Recycling Process as an Alternative to Existing CFRP and GFRP Composite Wastes Management Options

et al. 2021

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There are forecasts for the exponential increase in the generation of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite wastes containing valuable carbon and glass fibres. The recent adoption of these composites in wind turbines and aeroplanes has increased the amount of end-of-life waste from these applications. By adequately closing the life cycle loop, these enormous volumes of waste can partly satisfy the global demand for their virgin counterparts. Therefore, there is a need to properly dispose these composite wastes, with material recovery being the final target, thanks to the strict EU regulations for promoting recycling and reusing as the highest priorities in waste disposal options. In addition, the hefty taxation has almost brought about an end to landfills. These government regulations towards properly recycling these composite wastes have changed the industries’ attitudes toward sustainable disposal approaches, and life cycle assessment (LCA) plays a vital role in this transition phase. This LCA study uses climate change results and fossil fuel consumptions to study the environmental impacts of a thermal recycling route to recycle and remanufacture CFRP and GFRP wastes into recycled rCFRP and rGFRP composites. Additionally, a comprehensive analysis was performed comparing with the traditional waste management options such as landfill, incineration with energy recovery and feedstock for cement kiln. Overall, the LCA results were favourable for CFRP wastes to be recycled using the thermal recycling route with lower environmental impacts. However, this contradicts GFRP wastes in which using them as feedstock in cement kiln production displayed more reduced environmental impacts than those thermally recycled to substitute virgin composite production.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment of a Thermal Recycling Process as an Alternative to Existing CFRP and GFRP Composite Wastes Management Options

et al. 2021

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“…The applications of these products are given in Table 1 . For the PPE incineration process, the high-temperature energy produced from the waste PPE combustion can be used for generating mid-voltage electricity (energy recovery), which avoids the emissions of mid-voltage electricity production [ 58 ]. Like the landfilled waste plastic, the landfilled waste PPE produces negligible landfill gas, and it is not economically viable to use this gas to generate electricity [ 59 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy and environmental sustainability of waste personal protective equipment (PPE) treatment under COVID-19

Klemeš

You

2022

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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“…The results showed that NMs (nano-silica asphalt mixtures) performed better in global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication, photochemical oxidation, and ecotoxicity than conventional asphalt mixtures. Other examples of reviewed studies that did not perform until endpoint level are [79,87], which evaluated 10-12 midpoint categories for the use of nanostructured materials in building blocks and nano-enhanced, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer prototypes, respectively. By using NMs rather than conventional materials, environmental impacts can be reduced, especially for climate change, photochemical ozone depletion, particulate matter (human health and ecosystem), and acidification.…”

Section: Life Cycle Impact Assessment (Lcia)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Content Review of Life Cycle Assessment of Nanomaterials: Current Practices, Challenges, and Future Prospects

2021

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This paper provides a comprehensive review of 71 previous studies on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of nanomaterials (NMs) from 2001 to 2020 (19 years). Although various studies have been carried out to assess the efficiency and potential of wastes for nanotechnology, little attention has been paid to conducting a comprehensive analysis related to the environmental performance and hotspot of NMs, based on LCA methodology. Therefore, this paper highlights and discusses LCA methodology’s basis (goal and scope definition, system boundary, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation) to insights into current practices, limitations, progress, and challenges of LCA application NMs. We found that there is still a lack of comprehensive LCA study on the environmental impacts of NMs until end-of-life stages, thereby potentially supporting misleading conclusions, in most of the previous studies reviewed. For a comprehensive evaluation of LCA of NMs, we recommend that future studies should: (1) report more detailed and transparent LCI data within NMs LCA studies; (2) consider the environmental impacts and potential risks of NMs within their whole life cycle; (3) adopt a transparent and prudent characterization model; and (4) include toxicity, uncertainty, and sensitivity assessments to analyze the exposure pathways of NMs further. Future recommendations towards improvement and harmonization of methodological for future research directions were discussed and provided. This study’s findings redound to future research in the field of LCA NMs specifically, considering that the release of NMs into the environment is yet to be explored due to limited understanding of the mechanisms and pathways involved.

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End-of-Life Recycling Options of (Nano)Enhanced CFRP Composite Prototypes Waste—A Life Cycle Perspective

Cited by 25 publications

References 75 publications

Life Cycle Assessment of a Thermal Recycling Process as an Alternative to Existing CFRP and GFRP Composite Wastes Management Options

Life Cycle Assessment of a Thermal Recycling Process as an Alternative to Existing CFRP and GFRP Composite Wastes Management Options

Energy and environmental sustainability of waste personal protective equipment (PPE) treatment under COVID-19

A Content Review of Life Cycle Assessment of Nanomaterials: Current Practices, Challenges, and Future Prospects

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