Knowledge Agora



Similar Articles

Title An environmental assessment framework for circular steel products
ID_Doc 16562
Authors Hagedorn, W; Greiff, K; Pauliuk, S
Title An environmental assessment framework for circular steel products
Year 2024
Published
Abstract The implementation of the circular economy is crucial to combat climate change especially in energy- and carbon-intensive sectors like the steel industry. It requires the environmental assessment of circular interventions to steel products to ensure that they are in line with targets of the circular economy - increase of resource efficiency and sustainability. Based on previous case studies and established methodologies, an environmental assessment framework is suggested and applied. It comprises a Material Flow Analysis to quantify selected massbased indicators to evaluate the parameters of circular economy, as well as a Life Cycle Assessment to quantify the difference of the environmental impact. The application to a case study in the metalworking industries shows that the implementation of repurposing to a machining knife and hand tools contributes to all circular economy strategies - narrowing, slowing, and closing. At first, however, the circular intervention did not lead to a reduction of the environmental impact. It was found that the optimization of share of secondary material, energy mix, grinding, and transportation can lower the environmental impact of the circular compared to the conventional product system. Considering the increased product functionality, the environmental performance of the circular product system is superior. The study shows the importance of integrating assessment methods covering the resource level and environmental sustainability since focusing only on the resource efficiency can be misleading. At the same time, it stresses the need to apply environmental assessments in the product development stage to design environmentally sustainable and resource-efficient product systems.
PDF https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.05.031

Similar Articles

ID Score Article
2733 Hagedorn, W; Jäger, S; Wieczorek, L; Kronenberg, P; Greiff, K; Weber, S; Roettger, A More than recycling - The potential of the circular economy shown by a case study of the metal working industry(2022)
3506 Spreafico, C An analysis of design strategies for circular economy through life cycle assessment(2022)Environmental Monitoring And Assessment, 194, 3
23129 Casazza, M; Barone, F Relevance of Environmental Factors in the Steel Life Cycle for a Transition toward Circular Sustainable Production and Consumption Systems: A Joint Bibliometric and Bibliographic Analysis(2023)Metals, 13, 3
1887 Nikolakis, N; Catti, P; Chaloulos, A; Kamp, WV; Coy, MP; Alexopoulos, K A methodology to assess circular economy strategies for sustainable manufacturing using process eco-efficiency(2024)
27536 Bracquené, E; Dewulf, W; Duflou, JR Measuring the performance of more circular complex product supply chains(2020)
2028 Walker, S; Coleman, N; Hodgson, P; Collins, N; Brimacombe, L Evaluating the Environmental Dimension of Material Efficiency Strategies Relating to the Circular Economy(2018)Sustainability, 10, 3
7526 Angioletti, CM; Despeisse, M; Rocca, R Product Circularity Assessment Methodology(2017)
988 Wang, P; Kara, S; Hauschild, MZ Role of manufacturing towards achieving circular economy: The steel case(2018)Cirp Annals-Manufacturing Technology, 67, 1
319 Esparragoza, I; Mesa-Cogollo, J A Case Study Approach To Introduce Circular Economy In Sustainable Design Education(2019)
16311 Pruhs, A; Kusch, A; Woidasky, J; Viere, T Design for circularity in manufacturing industries-operationalisation and decision support(2024)
Scroll