Environmental assessment of the automotive cage’s production process by life cycle assessment methodology

This study evaluated potential environmental impacts and sought to identify hotspots of the manufacturing processes of an automotive cage used in a constant velocity joint. The objective was to identify which step in the manufacture of cages contributed the most impact. The scope of the analysis consisted of cradle-to-gate and included all steps in the manufacturing process, raw materials, supplies, and logistical data. The functional unit considered was of a single cage (mass of 0.15032 kg). Potential environmental impacts were evaluated with a midpoint scope and an attributional approach for impact categories of global warming—GWP 100a, Ozone depletion, acidification, human toxicity, and resources—with the EDIP 97 method. Results identified that potential environmental impacts were concentrated in transportation; when transportation factors were removed from the analysis, the environmental impact of the consumption of raw materials and gains from recycling of metallic waste were prevalent. In conclusion, the assessment of potential environmental impacts in the manufacture of automotive cages has provided data for environmental assessment studies in the automotive industry and contributed to studies in companies with similar manufacturing processes. This study could be used in future studies comparing automotive components with similar processes and, as such, provide secondary data. The primary data used in this study was obtained from direct measurements from a supplier of 70% of the parts used in the Brazilian domestic market in 2018, and the results demonstrated the potential applications of the SimaPro Classroom software in academia, despite its limitations. Graphical Abstract