A comparative cradle-to gate impact assessment: Primary and secondary aluminum automotive components case

Road transports release a significant percentage of global CO2. In this field, one of the most effective solution is the reduction of vehicles' mass, which can be obtained through the substitution of heavy metals with light alloys (i.e. aluminum). In addition, in order to maximize the environmental benefits a current trend is to use secondary material (from scrap) in substitution to primary one (from ore). For this purpose, the present case study compared the environmental burden related to the same light-weighted automotive component (suspension cross beam) made in primary aluminum (from ore) or in secondary one (from scrap). In particular, a cradle to grave Life Cycle Assessment has been analyzed through the software SimaPro 7.3 with the Recipe impact method. The study highlighted and confirmed the relevance of the environmental benefits related to recycling and secondary material use.