Environmental Profile Assessment of Passenger Car Components

A comprehensive, high-quality product offered in the network of automotive suppliers must meet increasingly stringent environmental criteria and standards. The assessment of the environmental quality of a product must cover all stages of its life cycle, from ‘cradle to cradle’, and must result in an improvement in the producer’s environmental performance. The paper identified, analysed and evaluated the environmental aspects, impacts and risks of individual phases of the production components life cycle of a passenger car, bumper, fender, and door. In the evaluation phase, progressive environmental management tools, LCA and the eco-indicator method were used in the case studies. Their combination for individual components created a methodological procedure that can be used to evaluate the environmental profile of other components of cars and other products in general.


INTRODUCTION
In order to ensure green economic growth, systematically coordinated action is needed at national, European and global levels, guaranteeing sustainable development not only in general but also in car production. By using the right tools to support green growth, it is possible to face the environmental threats facing humanity today while maintaining economic growth. However, to make progress, it is essential to innovate and environmentalize industrial processes, products and business practices. Sustainable progress is a condition for the implementation and widespread use of environmental innovations, environmentally sound materials, technologies and products as such.
The automotive industry is a separate sector that, as a supplier of commercial goods and common technologies used in various industries, acts as an integrative link, causing a domino effect in many European industries. It is a key innovative industry, which is why the European environmental policy must consider it a strategic sector. The design, development and innovation of cars at all stages of the life cycle, as a whole and in components, must be carried out in such a way that the product as a whole meets the requirements of the best available techniques and technologies (BAT) and best environmental management practices (BEMP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Progressive methodological tools for environmental profile assessment include ecodesign -environmental designing and usage of products. The application of its tools enables the achievement and promotion of strategic development goals.
The exact definition of the term "ecodesign tools" has not yet been established and various authors explain it in different ways with larger or smaller deviations -see. e.g. Stevels, Yawood and Eagan, Caluwe, Muransky. It seems that the most suitable but indirect explanation is given by Caluwe. Either he considers eco-design tools as the software or non-software tools, the importance of Environmental Profile Assessment of Passenger Car Components Milan Majerník 1 , Naqib Daneshjo 1* , Peter Malega 2 , Jakub Kóňa 1 , Barbara Barilová 1 1 Faculty of Commerce , University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia 2 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia which lies in the analysis and improvement of the environmental performance of a product, process or overall design strategy. The methodological basis of software tools does not differ much, as they pursued the same goal -to improve the environmental level of products at crucial stages or in their whole life cycle. Based on these facts, the usual sub-goals of the developers of these tools may be different, which results in their differentiation. This is as follows (Badida et al., 2011): • Analysis of the existing products and processes and the use of the information obtained as feedback to improve the environmental performance of the product -LCA / LCI tools. • Analysis of the existing products and processes and the use of the information obtained to improve certain aspects of the product -DFX tools. • Comparison of certain materials and processes in order to determine the different levels of their impact on the environment -PP and WP tools, meaning to prevent the generation of pollutants (PP) and waste (WP).
The application of non-software tools is possible and rational often without the means of computer technology. These tools and their combinations are usually the basis of the ecodesign-oriented software tools (Caluwe, 1997). This fact was enforced by the practice and legislative measures of states in connection with the protection of the environment and the promotion of the sustainable development principles at the local, regional and global levels (Enviromagazín, 2008; Majerník et al., 2002). Improvement analysis is a systematic assessment of the needs and opportunities to reduce the environmental burden associated with the effects of environmental impact throughout the life cycle of a product, process or activity, see Figure 1.
The aim of the life cycle interpretation is to analyse the results and drawn conclusions, explain the limitations, provide recommendations based on the findings of previous phases of the LCA or LCI, and to report in a clear way the results of the life cycle interpretation (Geodkop et al., 2001;Fedra, 1990). The intention of the life cycle interpretation is also to provide a clearly understandable, complete and uniform presentation of the LCA and LCI study results, in accordance with the defined aim and subject of the study (Stevels, 1998).
EI 99 method, Figure 2, in terms of knowledge, is a «damage-oriented» method of environmental impact assessment with many conceptual breakthroughs.
It is also the basis for calculating EI points for materials and processes. These can be applied as an acceptable user tool for environmentally oriented design, for designers and product managers to improve products. The methodology is highly compatible with the requirements of ISO 14042 (STN EN ISO, 2003). Standard EI 99 points can be applied to carry out the product's own environmental assessment. More than 200 predefined EI 99 points for commonly used materials and processes are available, so the application can be carried out without restrictions. An acceptable Eco -it user program with an EI database is available (Yarwood et al., 1999). In addition, specific EI 99 points can be calculated using the LCA software, such as e.g., SimaPro.
However, it turns out in this context that none of the analysed methods has a complex nature of assessment for the object of assessment thus specified. The complexity of the solution could be contributed by the proposed LCA and EI 99 for the car, with the application of LCA or EI 99 for one of its components. The results of the conducted experiments (carried out in the past also in the laboratory of Recycling Dismantling of Car Wrecks) formed the basis for the gradual refinement of the solution and approach to standardised solutions.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The applied and practically usable methods for comprehensive and integrated assessment of technological, economic, environmental and social factors are appropriately combined, The choice of approach then depends mainly on the purpose of the evaluation. One of the most important criteria for evaluating the changes in the system is the criterion of the quality of nature as part of the quality of the human environment, i.e., the social criterion. This aspect is also highly topical today in connection with the recycling of old vehicles -an economic-environmental problem.

Application of the LCA method -car bumper
A bumper was investigated as a product system, which can be divided into partial processes (see Fig. 3 and Table 1, first column).

Application of the LCA method -car fender
The aim of this study was to compare the materials used in the manufacture of a car component. The subject is the fender of a car, which can be made of: • steel, • aluminium alloy, • plastic.     Already at the material decision stage, it is necessary to consider the environmental impacts that may result from production, use and disposal.

Application of the method EI 99 -car door
This study compared the structural structures of car doors. Possible variants are: a) welded construction from sheet metal stampings -different construction method b) multi-component composite constructioncomposite, construction method c) cast aluminium construction with integrated expanded aluminium -integrated construction method.
Step 1. Initiation (justification) of the importance of the EI calculation.   • Product description. It is the only component, produced in the number of 450 thousand pcs / year, for which 3 design solutions were proposed, including different production technologies. • It is a comparison and analysis of three product variant • High accuracy of analysis is required, as it is a large-scale production.
Step 2. Defining the life cycle. Block diagrams of the life cycle of individual variants are shown in Figure 6. a) welded construction, b) composite construction, c) integrated aluminium construction.
Step 3. Quantification of materials and processes, based on life cycle block diagrams. Formulations of details and specialization of conditions are found in Table 7.
The data in Table 7 can be reproduced as follows: The values of the indicators, expressed in units (mP/kg), (mP/kWh), or (mP/MJ), are according to the tables of generally recommended eco-indicators. Multiplying the quantities of material with the appropriate indicator gives partial results. This applies to the design phase. In the production phase, the indicators that are characteristic of the respective processes apply, which are again multiplied by the respective quantities. It should be noted that in the case of welding for variant a) these are spot welds, while the indicator for 1 spot weld with a diameter of 7 mm has a value of 5 mP/point. For 102 spot welds (according to the manufacturer) a value of 510 was thus obtained.
Other values apply to the production of aluminium as a solid primary material (0% recycled) -780 mP/kg and others to a solid secondary material (100% recycled) -60 mP/kg. In the case of casting, it is already a process, so the indicator value of 60 mP/kg has been chosen here.
Negative values of indicators in the removal phase express the suitability of recycling these materials, which saves the environment (non-renewable resources, energy savings, etc.), which is especially significant in the recycling of aluminium. In the case of variant b), since it is a non-separable material (PA is reinforced with  glass fibers), recycling is practically impossible here. A landfill was therefore chosen for the management of this waste.
Step 4. By applying the EI form, represented in tab. 6, the data on materials, processes, quantities, energy consumption for carrying out some processes have been filled in. Relevant values of indicators were found in the normalized tables, relative and partial results were calculated, including summary results -these represent grand totals.
Step 5. Interpretation of results. On the basis of the comparison of the total sum of the results, in all phases of the life cycle of the car door, it can be stated that from the environmental point of view of variant c) i.e. the production of aluminium doors with integrated expanded aluminium reinforcements, will be the most environmentally friendly. The question is whether a similar result would be achieved based on an economic analysis. Unfortunately, the necessary starting data was not provided by Ford Motor Co. production (Bareš, 1988).
However, it provided the data on another door production technology, which is still in the experimental stage. It is a production of doors from PP, which is reinforced with hemp fibers. The data for this variant, which is marked as variant (d), can be found in the Table 8.
According to the total, it is evident that from an environmental point of view, variant (d) is the most attractive and it can be assumed that if this production technology is managed to such a form that it is suitable for large-scale production, it will also be the most economical.
The issue of removing these products (passenger car doors) after survival remains problematic here. It is common knowledge that nature cannot deal with composite materials (landfilling), their incineration is problematic, recycling PP is advantageous (unlike some types of PA), the separation of fibre reinforcement is questionable. This issue becomes a problem when disposing of huge quantities of these products (manufacturing of 450,000 cars/year, 4 doors per car, an average car life of 8 years -a dizzying number of 14,400,000 pcs of the doors for disposal is considered).
In conclusion to this example, it should be stressed that the designer, at the beginning of the design process by varying the types of materials, processes, types of energy needed, can significantly affect the environmental performance of the future product, in this case, the componentpassenger car doors.

CONCLUSIONS
The life-cycle assessment method is making a significant contribution to sustainable development, as it combines economic and environmental aspects in a holistic view of the entire production, user and waste system. Life cycle assessment is directly linked to the production system, which can be understood as a transformation process of transforming inputs into outputs. When selecting input materials, an organization applying the LCA principles must consider whether the material itself will not cause a negative environmental impact at some stage of the product life cycle and whether its production is not a source of negative environmental impacts in itself. This approach has also led to activities of development, recognition and gradual application of the principles of eco-labelling not only in the production system itself but also in supplier relations. Many customers already directly supply their suppliers with eco-labelled materials, which guarantee that their production does not harm the environment. The relationship to transport, packaging materials of the automotive industry, etc. is developing in a similar direction. Life cycle assessment is one of the methods of environmental management that assesses the environmental aspects and possible impacts of a product or activity on the environment throughout its life cycle. In the El 99 project, the weighing step is performed in groups as part of a carefully prepared procedure. The whole effort is oriented so that this step is made as understandable as possible.
The unit of the eco-indicator is a dimensionless quantity, the value of which represents the eco-indicator point marked as (Pt). In practice, thousandth values (mPt -milipoint) are applied, so 700 mPt = 0.7 Pt. The absolute value of the points is not relevant, as their main significance lies in the comparison of the relative differences between the products and their components. The scale should be chosen in such a way that the value of lPt is representative of one-thousandth of the annual environmental burden of the average European population. This value was calculated according to the share of the total environmental burden in Europe per capita and multiplied by 1000 (scale factor) . For the overall evaluation of the life cycle, it is possible to use the complete methodological procedure of successive phases of LCA, their mutual combination or it is possible to use only the results of inventory analysis and on their basis decide on a product with better environmental parameters or propose measures, which in the future would lead to an improvement in the properties of the existing state, e.g. by combining LCA and EI 99 methods and supporting them with Sima Pro Classroom software in the university laboratory.