THESES

Master’s theses

At INaB, we deal with the environmental, economic, and social assessments of various products on a daily basis – also in the context of our PhD topics. What we have not yet looked at, however, is the sustainable performance of our PhDs – starting from our first day at INaB until graduation.

The goal of the master thesis thus is to evaluate the environmental, economic, and/or social impact of our PhDs. Therefore, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing and/or social life cycle assessment are to be applied.

The thesis is to be written in English.

Contact: Anna Luthin – anna.luthin@inab.rwth-aachen.de

The automotive industry’s substantial contribution to global emissions and resource consumption underscores the urgent need for robust sustainability regulations. Alongside environmental concerns, social and ethical issues such as labor practices and supply chain transparency are critical ESG concerns, gaining increased attention. Recognizing the urgency, many automotive companies are increasingly focusing on ESG factors to comply with regulatory requirements, attract environmentally-conscious customers, and secure investment from ESG-focused investors. At the same time, global governments and regulatory bodies are increasingly implementing policies to transition the automotive sector towards a low-carbon and sustainable future.

Despite the increasing regulatory pressure, challenges persist in the assessment and comparability of required disclosures within the automotive sector. Thus, this research aims to:

  • Evaluate the current landscape of sustainability regulations within the automotive industry.
  • Assess the availability/ requirement of standardized and harmonized assessment methods, exemplified by the GHG protocol ISO 14064, for the Scope 1-3 emission disclosures.
  • Investigate the potential of LCSA to fulfill the required disclosures and enhance transparency as well as comparability in meeting regulatory indicators, while identifying opportunities and challenges.

Contact: Suzana Ostojic (suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de)

Lightweight 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 

Bachelor’s theses

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)

Within the context of the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, economic, and social – there is a growing need and interest in the development of innovative products and processes to enhance overall sustainability. In current automotive sector research, particular emphasis is placed on recyclable fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials. These innovative lightweight materials have the potential to reduce environmental impacts over the entire lifecycle compared to conventional lightweight components made of aluminum or magnesium. However, since they are still in an early stage of development, no quantitative assessments of the impacts in the other two dimensions of sustainability over the entire lifecycle have been conducted thus far.

The methodology of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis is utilized for assessing economic sustainability. This involves cumulatively determining all costs associated with a product or project over its entire physical lifespan. The objective of this work is to conduct a literature review that illuminates the application scope of LCC in the automotive industry, in order to subsequently perform a comparative, literature-based LCC analysis for a specific lightweight structure utilized in a motor vehicle.

The thesis can be written in either German or English.

Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de

Within the context of the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, economic, and social – there is a growing need and interest in the development of innovative products and processes to enhance overall sustainability. In current automotive sector research, particular emphasis is placed on recyclable fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials. These innovative lightweight materials have the potential to reduce environmental impacts over the entire lifecycle compared to conventional lightweight components made of aluminum or magnesium. However, since they are still in an early stage of development, no quantitative assessments of the impacts in the other two dimensions of sustainability over the entire lifecycle have been conducted thus far.

For the assessment of the social dimension, Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is considered one of the most effective methods. However, despite the social dimension being a crucial aspect of sustainability, S-LCA is rarely and not always appropriately evaluated within sustainability assessments. Thus, the aim of this literature review is to investigate whether and to what extent S-LCA studies have been conducted or published concerning automotive lightweight components or the automotive sector in general. The goal is to determine a theoretical selection of indicators for S-LCA. Additionally, it will be examined to what extent the selected studies adhere to the UNEP guidelines and what challenges persist in their application.

The thesis can be written in either German or English.

Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de

In recent decades, sustainability has emerged as a critical concern within the automotive industry, prompting stringent government regulations to foster sustainability. Consequently, extensive research and industrial efforts have been directed towards eco-design, focusing on innovative materials, manufacturing techniques, and product development. Amidst this landscape, various methods and approaches have been developed to address automotive eco-design challenges.

This thesis aims to comprehensively analyze existing eco-design methodologies in automotive product development, identifying gaps and proposing an innovative approach centered on integrating life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). By encompassing the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability, LCSA offers a holistic framework for evaluating product systems beyond the environmental dimension.

To achieve this objective, the thesis will first analyze current norms and guidelines pertaining to eco-design in the automotive sector. Subsequently, a thorough literature review will be conducted to ascertain the existence of approaches integrating LCSA within eco-design practices. Through this synthesis, the thesis will discern challenges and gaps in current methodologies, evaluating whether the adoption of LCSA within automotive eco-design offers a viable solution

The thesis can be written in either German or English.

Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de

The automotive industry’s substantial contribution to global emissions and resource consumption necessitates an urgent and sustainable transformation. In addition to environmental concerns, attention to social and ethical issues such as labor practices and supply chain transparency have gained increased attention. To address these multifaceted challenges, life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) has emerged as a well-established methodology for comprehensively evaluating the environmental, social, and economic impacts across the entire life cycle of automotive products and services. However, the complexity of sustainability considerations demands a nuanced approach, wherein trade-offs between dimensions and impacts must be carefully evaluated.

In contemporary research, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) serves as a pivotal tool for integrating the outcomes of life cycle sustainability assessments and systematically ranking comparative product systems. Consequently, this thesis undertakes a rigorous literature review of MCDA tools specifically tailored for sustainability assessment within the automotive sector, meticulously scrutinizing prevalent criteria, data sources, and methodological frameworks. The central aim of this investigation is to elucidate the potential synergies inherent in these integrated approaches within the context of sustainability-focused MCDA in the automotive industry.

Specifically, the study scrutinizes methodological approaches and evaluations, aiming to compare and analyze them comprehensively. The research endeavors to address several key questions, including:

  • What MCDA methods are commonly employed?
  • How do these methods vary concerning criteria selection, weighting, evaluation, and final aggregation?
  • To what extent are stakeholders involved in the process?
  • What challenges and gaps exist in current practices?

The thesis can be written in German or English.

Contact: Suzana Ostojic – suzana.ostojic@inab.rwth-aachen.de