Weight reduction effect by aluminum utilization

for passenger cars using CO2 emission estimation tool

Masanori Yamaguchi, Toshio Onoye， Hiroshi Yagita, Atsushi Inaba,
Makoto Ootani*, Masao Okubo**, Tomoya Ohzono***, Kenzo Ayata****
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
*Sumitomo Light Metal Industries, Ltd. **Japan Aluminium Association
*** Japan Research Center for Metals ****Shinko Research Co.,Ltd.

Keywords:
CO2emission, car, aluminium, simulation

ABSTRACT
The aim of this model is to understand numerically the effect of aluminium utilization and practical use of recycled
aluminium. The model consists of material flow calculation part from raw material production to car scrapping and recycle
and CO2 emission calculation part. CO2 emission from domestic passenger cars was calculated on the base of transition
scenario from standard car to aluminium car. The result showed that for the weight reduction of 20.5% of initial value CO2
emission due to production, driving and scrapping reduced 22% of initial value and this amount of reduction corresponded to
about 1% of total CO2 emission in Japan. The results also revealed that contribution of car to car recycle to CO2 reduction
was 13.8% of initial value and practical use of recycled aluminium was shown to be very effective for CO2 emission
reduction.

INTRODUCTION extruded ,etc.) in regeneration can be specified.

In Japan the ratio of CO2 emission from the transportation
sector is 21% of total emission and CO2 emission from on
road vehicles occupies more than 85% of that of
transportation sector. And about 85% of CO2 emission of
car lifecycle is caused by driving. In this paper, an object of
calculation is CO2 emission from the car which is producd
and used in Japan. The effect of weight reduction of car on
CO2 emission reduction was investigated. When aluminium
is applied to a car, emission due to manufacturing is sup-
posed to increase, while emission due to driving decreases.
To estimate these effects for the transition from the stand-
ard car to aluminium car, simulation model was developed.
FEATURES AND THE FLOW CHART
OF THE MODEL
This model describes maerial and prosecces in car
production rather minutely and has following features.
(1) Kinds of material dealt with in the model are
aluminium, steel and plastic.
(2) Kinds of product dealt with in the model are sheet
product, extruded product, forged product and cast
product for aluminium and plate product (hot rolled,
cold rolled and plated) , special steel, common steel
and cast iron for steel.
(3) Processes included are production of raw material,
production of products, manufacturing of car members,
car assembly , scrapping (dismantling amd shredding)
and recycle.
(4) In the recycle process the ratio of object product (sheet,
(5) Car parts can be taken into account.
Figure1 shows the material flow of aluminium in car life
cycle. The material flows of steel and plastic are similar to
this flow except that incineration process is included in
plastic material flow.
Figure 2 shows the flow chart of calculation. As an outline,
material weight is calculated at first and then CO2 emission
is calculated. Start point of weight calculation is the
material weight of parts of a finished car. From this value,
material weight of member, product and raw material are
calculated in succession on one hand and material weight in
scrapping and recycle process is calculated on the other
hand. This calculation process is repeated for the years of
calculation range.
CO2 EMISSION CALCULATION
・object car of calculation and assumed scenario
Table1 shows the main specifications of standard car and
aluminium car A, B which are produced and used in Japan.
Number of cars is assumed to be 3*106/year. Car weight
reduces from 1037kg for standard car to 825kg for
aluminium car B, that is, 20.5% reduction and ratio of
aluminium weight to car weight increases from 6% to 44% .
The value of secondary aluminium content of each product
(sheet, extruded, etc) is conventional value for standard car
and for aluminium car A,B this value is determined by
car to car recycle, that is, determined by the ratio of
recycled aluminium and total needed aluminium.
A scenario assumed in this calculation is shown in Fig3.
 scrap st ock for sheet use
from ot her indust ry from aut omobil indust ry

scrap from
scrap supply for sheet use scrap from ot her indust ry scrap from ot her member
sheet member
secondary aluminium for ot her indut ry scrap for ot her use

product ion of scrap separat ion according t o use

secondary aluminium collect ed scrap

recycle part s
secondary adopt ed reuse part s st ock of part s
aluminium shredder
reuse part s residual part s
scrap from manufact uring scrap

product ion of melt ing manufa- domest ic collect ion & shredding &
assembly landfil
primary aluminium & rolling ct uring use dismant ling separat ion

primary aluminium ingot rolled sheet pre-assembly car

product sheet member

Fig1 The material flow of ca r lifecycle (for case of aluminium sheet product)

start table 1 main specifications of assumed states in scenario

standard aluminium aluminium
item
・ w eight of pre-
car car A car B
・ adoption w eight of
assemly member reuse parts weight of car 1037 kg 845 kg 825 kg
・ w eight of scrap from weight ratio of Al to car 0.06 0.45 0.44
manufacturing ・ w eight of reuse parts 1500 ｃｃ
engine displacement 1300 ｃｃ
・ w eight of recycle parts
・part for w eight

・ w eight of sheet product lifetime milage 100000 km

・ w eight of shredder scrap
calculation

・ w eight of ingot ・ w eight of shredder dust life span 10 years

・ w eight of primary A l
number of cars produced
・ w eight of separated scrap
3*106 /year constant
・ w eight of secondary A l for domestic use

content of sheet 0 value determined

・ scrap ・ scrap for ・ scrap from
supply other industry other industry
secondary extruded 0 by car to
aluminum car recycle
cast 0.95
w eight of scrap stock

closing year of caluculation

no st at ionary st at e t ransient st at e stat ionary st at e
yes (standard car) (st andard→ aluminium) (aluminum car)
caluculation of CO 2 emmission on the basis of w eight calculation
development of aluminium applicat ion
aluminium car A aluminium car B
state

end
efficient use of recycled aluminium
Fig 2 Flow chart for the calculation of
mat erial weight and CO 2 emission calculation range
reduction step
of car weight

engine →
bumper →
Weight reduction process from a standard car to aluminium body →
suspension and brake →
car A starts from 2003 and finishes in 2012 after 4 steps of engine(1500cc to 1300cc) →
parts-weight reduction. As a result of this weight reduction
process, engine displacement can further be reduced from CO 2 emission during driving
emission
CO 2

1500cc to 1300cc and this results in fifth step to aluminium CO 2 emission in manufact uring
car B in 2015. By these weight reduction steps CO2
emission from processes of car production increases 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
between 2003 and 2012 due to increasing amount of year
primary aluminium on one hand and CO2 emission due to
Fig3 T ransit ion scenario from st andard car t o aluminium car
driving decreases on the other hand. Between 2015 and
2025 amount of recycled aluminium increases and CO2
emission from car production processes decreases.
( t -CO 2 /10 5 km )
After 2025 material flow becomes constant and stationary 25
state of aluminium car B occurs.

CO 2 emission from a car

CO2 emission characteristics due to driving are shown in 20
Figure 4. These characteristics are the composite CO2 emi-
ssion characteristics from cars with different specifications. 15

・calculation results 10
( lifet ime milage is assumed t o be 100,000 km )
Figure 5 shows the time variation of car weight and weight
ratio of used primary aluminium, recycled secondary 5
800 1000 1200 1400 1600
aluminium and used secondary aluminium. The base of
car weight (kg/car)
weight ratio is standard car weight.
The amount of recycled and used secondary aluminium is Fig 4 CO 2 emission charact erist ics deu t o driving
the same, because car to car recycle is assumed. In this case
the third step which involves the application of aluminium
to body of a car has the largest effect on weight reduction.
(0 ∼ 1: ratio to standard car w eight ） (kg ）
The maximum amount of primary aluminim used comes in 0.4 1200
2012 and 2013 and this value amount to 27% of standard

secondary and recycled Al

car weight. This is caused because the recycled aluminium weight ratio of primary,
0.3 1000
from car is not sufficient in this time span, while the

car weight
amount of aluminium needed for car production increases.
After 2014, especially after 2019 when aluminium used for 0.2 800

body recycles, the amount of recycled aluminium increases

and accordingly that of primary aluminim decreases. 0.1 600
Figure 6 shows the amount of each material in main
processes for the year of 2000 (standard car), 2010 0.0 400
(transient state) and 2028 (aluminium car B). By comparing 2000 2010 2020 2030
bars of 2000 with those of 2028, it is known that the year
increase of aluminium (dotted parts) and the decrease of Fig5 Car weight and amount of primary , secondary Al used
steel (slant lined part) and also the increase of aluminium in product ion and of recycled Al in car t o car recycle
sheet product (the bottom part of dotted parts) occurs.
Figure 7 shows the CO2 emission of aluminium, steel and recycled A l secondary A l used
primary Al used car weight
plastic due to production and scrapping. This graph shows
that CO2 emission by aluminium increases and that by steel
decreases between 2003 and 2012. CO2 emission increase ( 10 4ｔ / year )
by aluminium is caused by the increase of primary 500
aluminium used. As a result total CO2 emission due to ・ Al part :sheet,extruded and cast
product from bottom to top
production and scrapping increases. The peak amount of
p ro d u ct

400
・ Fe part :sheet,normal,special steel
in g o t

emission in 2012 and 2013 is about 2 times as much as

co llected s crap
weig ht o f m aterial

and cast iron from bottom to top

initial value. After 2013 CO2 emission begins to decrease,
because the aluminium used for weight reduction begins to 300
car

recycle and the amount of CO2 emission in 2020 becomes

s teel p lastic

0.85 times as much as the initial value. This means that the 200
utilization of secondary aluminium greatly decreases CO2
emission.
100
Figure 8 shows CO2 emission due to (production +
scrapping + driving) and car weight. As a result of
Al

aluminium utilization, weight of aluminiun car B becomes 0

20.5% less than that of standard car and CO2 emission from 2000 2010 2028

aluminium car B becomes 22% less than that from standard Fig 6 W eight of materials in main processes
car. This amount of CO2 reduction corresponds to 0.97% of under stationary and transient state
total CO2 emission in Japan ( 1.225*109t CO2).
CO2 emission in transient state (2010) is 6.4% more than
initial state and this is caused by the use of primary ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
aluminium. This graph also shows that CO2 emission Authers wish to thank Japan Automobile Manufacturers
from aluminium car B becomes 8.8% more than initial Association for their presentation of inventory data about
value, when the secondary aluminium content remain car manufacturing.
unchanged from the initial low value. This means that
contribution of car to car recycle to CO2 emission reduc- REFERENCES
tion is 13.2% of initial emission. This reduction value is (1)J.A.M.A. 2004 THE MORTOR INDUSTRY OF
larger than that due to driving. JAPAN
(2) Tadayoshi Hayashi Reduction of Life Cycle CO2
Emissions-The Example of Honda Insight Honda
R&D Co.,Ltd
CONCLUSIONS
(10 4 t CO 2 /year）
1) Model which describes material flow of aluminium, 1500

steel and plastic and estimates CO2 emission was

developed and CO2 emission was calculated for
demestic passenger cars. 1000

CO 2 emission
2) On the base of transition scenario from standard car to
aluminium car, material weight and CO2 emission was
t ot al
calculated and following results were obtaind.
500
・For the weight reduction of 20.5%, CO2 emission due to
plast ic aluminium
production, driving and scrapping reduces 22% of st eel
initial CO2 emission.
・This amount of reduction correspond to about 1% of 0
total Japanese CO2 emission. 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
・Contribution of car to car recycle to CO2 reduction is year
13.8% of initial CO2 emission. This effect was larger Fig 7 domest ic CO 2 emission due t o mat erials during
than that due to driving. (product ion+scrapping)

(10 4 t CO 2/year） (kg/car）

7500
(The value in 2000 is the basis of comparisons)
6.4%
increase 8.8%
others
decrease 18.5% 20.5%
5000 22% 1000
CO 2 emission

plastic decrease
decrease decrease
production and scrapping

car weight

steel
driving

2500 500

aluminium
0 0
standard 2010 car B car B standasrd car A car B
B
A
車

車
化

secondary
車
車

C1 C2 C2 C1
準

準
変

極
極
基

基
率

Al content
究

car weight
究
合

合
配

B配

B配

CO 2 emission
10 年

車
極

Fig 8 domest ic CO 2 emission due t o product ion,driving and scrapping

20

and weight of st andard and aluminium car A , B

(secondary A l content C1 ： initial value C2 ： value by car to car recycle ）