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Life cycle assessment and energy intensity of CFRP recycling using supercritical N-butanol

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Abstract

Recycling carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste is unavoidable for the sustainable manufacturing and cost reduction of CFRP products. Supercritical fluid technology is an emerging chemical method for recycling CFRP waste, but its energy intensity and environmental implication are limited understanding. In this paper, the energy intensity and environmental impact of supercritical fluid technology were quantitatively assessed in CFRP recycling process. Then, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to analyse the life cycle environmental impact of CFRP in two scenarios, scenario (a) using conventional waste disposal method, while scenario (b) with CFRP waste recycling process. The results show that the energy consumption of CFRP waste recycling is 49.21 MJ/kg using the supercritical n-butanol method, which is far lower than that of virgin carbon fiber production (286 MJ/kg). Scenario (b) with CFRP waste recycling has a lower impact than scenario (a) at nine environmental impact categories, including a 26% reduction of global warming potential. Besides, the energy consumption of the supercritical n-butanol method is 31% lower than that of the steam thermolysis method (71.64 MJ/kg) in recycling 1 kg of CFRP waste, which validates that the supercritical n-butanol method is a potential strategy for recycling CFRP waste.

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Abbreviations

CFRP:

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer

LCA:

Life cycle assessment

rCF:

Reclaimed carbon fiber

vCF:

Virgin carbon fiber

PAN:

Polyacrylonitrile

AN:

Acrylonitrile

CF/EP:

Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin

cCFRP:

Continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer

sCFRP:

Short carbon fiber reinforced polymer

LCIA:

Life cycle inventory assessment

DCB:

Dichlorbenzol

GWP:

Global warming potential

AP:

Acidification potential

EP:

Eutrophication potential

OLDP:

Ozone layer depletion potential

ADE:

Abiotic depletion elements

ADF:

Abiotic depletion fossil

FAEP:

Freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential

HTP:

Human toxicity potential

MAEP:

Marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential

POCP:

Photochemical ozone creation potential

TEP:

Terrestrial ecotoxicity potential

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51775162 and 51722502)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230000, Anhui, PR China

    Weihao Liu, Haihong Huang, Yun Liu, Lei Li & Zhifeng Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Green Design and Manufacturing of Mechanical Industry, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230000, PR China

    Weihao Liu, Haihong Huang, Yun Liu, Lei Li & Zhifeng Liu

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211167, PR China

    Huanbo Cheng

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Correspondence to Haihong Huang.

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Liu, W., Huang, H., Liu, Y. et al. Life cycle assessment and energy intensity of CFRP recycling using supercritical N-butanol. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 23, 1303–1319 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-021-01206-7

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