Lightweight components have become well-established measures in the automotive sector, leading to less material consumption and, therefore, reducing manufacturing and operating environmental impacts. In current research, a particular focus has been laid on recyclable fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Those innovative lightweight materials have the potential to reduce environmental impacts throughout the life cycle compared to conventional monolithic aluminum or magnesium lightweight components. However, considering their early stage of development, quantitative assessments evaluating the environmental impacts throughout the entire life cycle were not conducted. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the early stages of product development has great potential to support decision-making processes and avoid burden shifting.
The aim of this thesis is to develop a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) approach for different automotive lightweight manufacturing scenarios based on an existing reference scenario. The LCA modelling should be performed using the GaBi software. The environmental performance of the modeled scenarios should be evaluated with Excel. The overall results will serve as early guidance for the environmentally sustainable development of innovative lightweight structures and reflect quantifiable improvement potentials for the automotive industries
The thesis is to be written in English.
Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de
ightweight components have become well-established measures in the automotive sector, leading to less material consumption and reducing manufacturing and operating environmental impacts. In the current research, a particular focus has been laid on glass-fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Those innovative lightweight materials have the potential to reduce environmental impacts throughout the life cycle compared to conventional monolithic aluminum or magnesium lightweight components.
Yet, recycling lightweight composites at their end-of-life can pose new modeling challenges and significantly influence the results of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. In contrast to established recycling processes (e.g., steel recycling), new materials’ recycling technologies lack maturity (e.g., recycling of fiber-reinforced polymers), leading to downcycling of the materials. In addition, the energy required to recycle lightweight structures can be higher than for conventional materials (e.g., for the sorting and separation of composites). Lastly, also the need for primary data plays a significant role.
Accordingly, this thesis aims to work out the currently possible methods for the recycling of fiber-reinforced polymer composites and the related energy consumption to enable a life cycle assessment for the end of its life cycle. For this purpose, a life cycle assessment model of fiber-reinforced polymer composites should be built for the end of their life cycle. The environmental performance of the modeled scenarios should be evaluated with Excel. The overall results will serve as early guidance for the environmentally sustainable development of innovative lightweight structures.
The thesis is to be written in English.
Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de
Lightweight components have become well-established measures in the automotive sector. In the current research, a particular focus has been laid on glass-fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Those innovative lightweight materials have the potential to reduce environmental impacts throughout the life cycle compared to conventional monolithic aluminum or magnesium lightweight components. However, in addition to the environmental pillar, a holistic sustainability assessment (LCSA) requires the consideration of two further pillars: the economic and social pillar.
In the following thesis a special focus should be laid on the social pillar. Yet, a complete and meaningful social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) requires an extremely detailed data set evaluation. Thus, within this thesis a social risk hotspot analysis should be carried out. Through a hotspot analysis via the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB), relevant stakeholders, subcategories and indicators can already be identified. Risks related to, for example, working conditions, wages, or even possible health risks for employees along the value chain can be identified at an early stage.
The aim of this thesis is to map the supply chain and production of a new innovative lightweight structure – also defining relevant social indicators. Thereby, the considered indicators are based on literature and a risk analysis of the identified production countries. Ultimately, both optimization approaches and initial requirements for the social sustainability of the value chain should be defined by the hotspot analysis.
The thesis is to be written in English.
Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de
Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is a relatively new methodology that is becoming increasingly important in research. Another important social aspect gaining attention is social acceptance. So far, it is not clear how (far) S-LCA can be used to address social acceptance with S-LCA.
The aim of the thesis is to compare the local community (and consumer) subcategories with social acceptance and propose how social acceptance can be integrated in S-LCA.
The following is part of the study:
The thesis must be written in English.
Lightweight materials have the potential to reduce fuel consumption and environmental impact throughout a vehicle’s life. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-established method for measuring the environmental impact over the entire life cycle of a product or service.
The aim of this thesis is a systematic literature review of Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of lightweight components for the automotive sector. In particular, the methodological approaches and evaluations of LCA studies in this sector are to be analyzed and compared.
The results of the research should answer the following questions, among others:
-What are common functional units?
-How are system boundaries defined in the different studies?
-What methods were used for the impact estimates?
-What are the hotspots identified in the studies?
-In what regions/local contexts were the studies done?
The thesis can be written in German or English.
Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de
Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is the youngest among the three approaches related to Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. It is evolving throughout time and new methodologies are being incorporated into the researchers’ practices. Data collection is still the greatest constraint, being the primary data collection one of the major challenges to SLCA.
According to the Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products and Organizations (Benoît Norris et al., 2020), SLCA comprises six stakeholders of analysis: worker, actors of the value chain, local community, society, consumers and children. Among them, the worker stakeholder is the one most commonly assessed either by collecting primary or secondary data sources.
Therefore, this project aims at running an extensive literature review on the data collections methods and tools, either related to generic or specific data, applied to assessing the six stakeholders, with an emphasis on workers. Furthermore, it aims to map the most assessed indicators, regardless of the economic sector of the studies, in order to propose a harmonised set of indicators for each stakeholder, comprised with a sound definition and suggesting data collection sources and reliable tools within the literature.
This thesis must be written in English.
Contact: Arij Chabrawi (arij.chabrawi@inab.rwth-aachen.de)
