Environmental loads resulting from manufacturing technology

© 2021. Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( CC BY-SA ) Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska Volume 23 Year 2021 ISSN 1506-218X pp. 613-628 https://doi.org/10.54740/ros.2021.043 open access Received: 08 July 2021 Accepted: 24 August 2021 Published: 06 December 2021 Environmental Loads Resulting from Manufacturing Technology Izabela Gabryelewicz Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0691-4108 Radim Lenort Department of Economics and Management in Industry Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6194-5364 Maciej Wędrychowicz Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6203-229X Patryk Krupa Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8388-0175 Waldemar Woźniak* Department of Production and Transport Engineering, Institute of Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4703-6823 *corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] Abstract: The study of environmental loads resulting from manufacturing technology is of great importance for environmental protection. Applying the principles of sustainable development means "a way of farming in which meeting the needs of the present generation will not reduce the chances of meeting the needs of future generations." Faced with such a challenge, the product must be assessed throughout its entire life cycle (LCA). From the available technologies and materials, one should choose those that are least harmful to the environment. In order to make a correct choice, it is necessary to know and understand the technological processes and phenomena that take place in them. Using off-theshelf LCA applications, without knowing basic knowledge of manufacturing technology, can bias the results. The aim of the article is to present benefits resulting from the environmental assessment of manufacturing processes. Keywords: Fe-C alloys, technological process, environmental assessment 614 Izabela Gabryelewicz et al. 1. Introduction Iron alloys are materials with versatile applications. Products from the steel, metallurgy and foundry industries are indispensable in the automotive sector, in construction, for the production of household appliances and in many other industries. Until some time ago, it was only possible to invent a new substance or technology and the choice was based on operational, technical and economic criteria (Filipiak et al. 2018, Gabryelewicz et al. 2021). No environmental consequences were presented, for example with asbestos, freon or leaded naphtha. Technical progress and the progress in civilization were understood as an increase in production. The concept of quality did not include ecological standards, but technical and utility standards only (Adamczyk 2004). This situation is changing radically today. Assessing innovation from an ecological point of view is becoming the standard (Loucanova & Olsiakova 2020). The production technology used has the greatest impact on the environment and determines what happens to the product after its useful life, vis-à-vis recovery, recycling, disposal and storage (Wędrychowicz et al. 2019, Wędrychowicz et al. 2021, Chamier-Gliszczynski & Krzyzynski 2005, Chamier-Gliszczyński 2011a, Chamier-Gliszczyński 2011b, Czwajda et al. 2019, Jajczyk et al. 2020, Straka et al. 2020). The choice of production technology and methodology for its optimization, taking into account ecological aspects, is made intuitively or based on the experience of the designer and technologist. (Adamczyk 2004, Sabadka et al. 2017). Commercial software, such as SimaPro, can be used to assess sustainable development and life-cycle (Burchart-Korol et al. 2020). This software has quantitative and qualitative databases on environmental pressures. In order to use them correctly, it is necessary to know the course of the technological process of the product assessed. Without knowledge of the manufacturing technology, it is easy to make a mistake in assessing environmental loads. Environmental research should be concerned with (Adamczyk 2004):  achieving a certain quality of product – the level of individual features in the analysis of ecological effects in the entire or defined part of the product life cycle;  and selection of manufacturing methods to meet the assumptions with a minimal negative environmental impact. One method to motivate entrepreneurs to protect the environment is the introduction of environmental fees. Since 1 January 2018, the obligation to pay fees for polluting the environment under Environmental Protection Legislation applies only to the fees for the release of gases or dust into the air and the storage of waste. On the other hand, the rules for paying fees for discharging sewage into water or soil and water uptake are regulated by the provisions of the Environmental Loads Resulting from Manufacturing Technology 615 Water Legislation and of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 22nd. December 2017 on Unit Rates of Charges for Water Services. Fee rates for polluting the environment are getting higher every year, as shown in Table 1 with knowledge of the impact of a given technology on the environment seeming to be all the more beneficial for enterprises (Announcement of the Minister of Climate of 9 September 2020, Announcement of the Minister of the Environment of 18 August 2009, Announcement of the Minister of the Environment of 3 October 2018). Table 1. Fees for selected iron and steel waste in 2010, 2019 and 2021 Type of substance Fee in [PLN/Mg] 2010 2019 2021 Waste from tools used for turning and sawin g and its allo y s 10.94 12.92 13.43 Emission of CO2 0.25 0.30 0.31 Waste from the iron and steel industries: Slag from smelting processes (blast furnaces, steel production) 16.95 20.03 20.82 Untreated sla g from other processes 16.95 20.03 20.82 Solid waste from gas treatment containing hazardous substances 54.40 64.29 66.82 Rollin g scale 16.95 20.03 20.82 Waste from cooling-water treatment containin g oils 54.40 64.29 66.82 Dribbles from iron metallur gy 16.95 20.03 20.82 Waste ferrous sulphate 16.95 20.03 20.82 2. Environmental assessment method The application of value analysis to the environmental assessment of production technology is aimed at finding the optimal solution from the ecological point of view, while maintaining quality, efficiency and low own costs. Value analysis is (Crum 1973) a planned procedure aimed at achieving the necessary functionality of a product at the lowest cost without compromising the level of quality, reliability and without compromising the operating and delivery conditions. It is a procedure which gradually attains its goal by means of tried and tested techniques and new methods combined into one logical ensemble. 616 Izabela Gabryelewicz et al. It is possible to evaluate the entire technological process as well as individual stages of its life (Chamier-Gliszczyński 2010, Chamier-Gliszczyński 2011) or its fragments (Clift 1997). The assessment is facilitated by comparing a given technology with similar ones, distinguished by a high level of environmental friendliness and proven in industrial conditions (Ekvall et al. 2005, Guinee et al. 2001). Often, there is a need to evaluate and select the optimal manufacturing technology from among several possibilities. (Hochschorner & Finnveden 2003, Jajczyk 2016). In order to conduct a reliable assessment of manufacturing technology, extensive experience, along with a complete knowledge, thereof, based on the manufacturing technology being assessed, as well as appropriate knowledge about possible solutions, are necessary. Value analysis can be applied to products at any stage of their development, such as in the design, production and use). This method can be used to test design or operating systems. 3. Environmental assessment of a manufacturing technology The manufacture of the product involves the choice of material and technology. Generally, there is a choice between different materials and manufacturing technologies. The shape and / or dimensions of the product may vary, but the function and quality of the product remain unchanged (Ashby 1998). In the case of the environmental assessment of iron alloy products, a difference analysis can be applied. Only those production stages that differ from the analysed products are analysed and assessed (Nielsen & Weidema 2001). In the case of products made of iron alloys, the stage under analysis is the manufacturing process. This means that acquisition of the raw material, its use and its disposal are omitted. It was assumed that these stages have an equal effect on the environment. Such a simplification can be accepted because these products are made of the same, or very similar, raw materials. The stage of use of machine parts does not affect the environment and the utilisation stage, in the case of iron-alloy products, in most cases, consists of landfilling or recycling, which is the same for all the above-mentioned groups of products. Graphically, the concept of defining a system’s boundaries is shown in Figure 1. The manufacturing process has been divided into three main stages:  preparation stage for the input material, i.e. the amount of input material,  preparation stage of a semi-finished product,  completion stage. Environmental Loads Resulting from Manufacturing Technology 617 Only processes influencing further unit processes are included in a system’s boundaries. When determining a system’s boundaries, attention should be paid to the availability and validity of the data assigned to each production stage (Weidema 1993). All the data used for environmental assessment in this study was obtained and compiled on the basis of the literature, primarily the data from the Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BREF) and the literature on environmental problems in machining were used (Pieńkowski 2005, Srinivasan & Sheng 1999, Schulz & Schiefer 1986). The method for analysing the manufacturing process reflects the sequence of successive technological operations leading to the production of the product tested (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Graphical concept illustrating the scope of the analysis Numerical data used for calculations i.e., data on energy inputs, the number of pollutants emitted, water used and the amount of sewage, the amount of waste, the amount of raw materials, the semi-finished products and materials used, can be presented in two ways (Sala 1986, 1996, Sheng & Munoz 1995, Gabryelewicz et al. 2020). Firstly, they can be given either in a natural, physical form, i.e., in units of energy, mass and volume and so on; this type of calculaRaw materials Extraction Processing Production Use Disposal Input materials Stages of comparative analysis 618 Izabela Gabryelewicz et al. tion is ‘technological’; or it can be given in the form of value, as in economic value, in terms of cost or price; this type of calculation is ‘economic’. In order to analyse the impact on the environment of the technology of manufacturing products from iron alloys, the methodology based on the value analysis was followed, that is: - determination of the object of the test, - determination of the system’s boundaries, i.e. the stages of the manufacturing process, - determination of the unit processes, that is, the links between them and the assignment of quantitative data related to the functional unit, which will be the pulley, - data analysis. 3.1. Determination of the object of the test This analysis concerns the environmental assessment of two production technologies: machining and die forging. The manufacturing technology was assessed using, as an example, a pulley treated as a functional unit (Fig. 2) and made as:  a pulley, machined from a cylindrical bar,  a die-forged and machined pulley. Fig. 2. Pulley – a functional unit Environmental Loads Resulting from Manufacturing Technology 619 Due to the needs of the analysis of manufacturing technology, the same concept regarding the pulley structure was adopted, despite knowing about the possibility of giving different shapes to a given part, fulfilling the same function but made with different technologies. However, for the sake of comparability, the possibility of obtaining the same shape for a given pulley, obtained by different manufacturing techniques, was taken into account. 3.2. Definition of a system’s boundaries The boundaries of the system being tested are the technological processes that make up the production of a given pulley. The processes that make up the analysis are shown in Fig. 3 for a pulley produced by machining from a steel bar and Fig. 4 for a drop-forged and machined pulley. Fig. 3. System boundaries for the environmental analysis of a pulley; steel rod Fig. 4. System boundaries for the environmental analysis of a pulley; drop-forged Forging Heating Blast furnace LD converter Continuous casting Rolling Cutting Machining Steel rod Pulley Pig-iron for processing Blast furnace LD converter Continuous casting Rolling Cutting Machining Stee Pulley Pig-iron for processing 620 Izabela Gabryelewicz et al. 3.3. Environmental loads – a pulley machined from a cylindrical rod The starting material for the production of the pulley is a steel rod: 225 x 45 mm. Table 2. Data for analysing a pulley produced by the machining method Pulley Pig-iron for making the pulley. Steel rod 225 by 45 m m Volume 481,823.4 mm3 1,788,328.0 mm3 Mass 3.782 k g 14.038 k g The mass is calculated by assuming the density of steel: g = 0.00785 g/mm3 Table 3. Physical quantities of environmental aspects per functional unit Process Energy consumption MJ/pc. Emissions generated into the atmosphere k g /pc. Waste kg/pc. Sewage dm3/pc. total in that CO2 Pig-iron production 192.450 11.824 11.467 10.661 58.64 Melting of cast steel in the LD converter 11.764 2.817 2.807 1.9772 7.440 Continuous castin g 3.875 0.222 0.218 0.0296 1.196 Rollin g 109.398 10.578 10.449 2.076 98.266 Cuttin g 0.282 – – 1.3 no data Machinin g 22.21 – – 10.256 no data Total: 339.979 25.441 24.941 26.2998 165.542 In figures 12 to 15 the environmental unit assessment is shown as bars while the cumulative environmental load is shown as a curve. Fig. 5. Energy consumption in the production of a pulley made by machining a cylindrical rod [MJ/pc.] Environmental Loads Resulting from Manufacturing Technology 621 Fig. 6. Emissions generated into the atmosphere, in the production of a pulley made by cutting a cylindrical rod [kg/pc.] Fig. 7. Waste water generated in the production of a pulley made by machining from a steel bar [dm3/pc.] Fig. 8. Waste generated in the production of a pulley made by cutting from a steel bar (in kg/piece) 628 Izabela Gabryelewicz et al. Obwieszczenie Ministra Środowiska z dnia 3 października 2018 r. w sprawie wysokości stawek opłat za korzystanie ze środowiska na rok 2019 Pieńkowski, G., Krzyżanowski, J. (2005). Mączka J., Problemy oceny energochłonności wyrobów wytwarzanych metodami obróbki ubytkowej. Przegląd Mechaniczny 2005, nr 11 (in Polish). Rozporządzenie Ministra Środowiska z dnia 26 lipca 2002 r. w sprawie rodzajów instalacji mogących powodować znaczne zanieczyszczenie poszczególnych elementów przyrodniczych albo środowiska jako całości. (Dz. U. z dnia 1.08.2002) (in Polish). Sabadka, D., Molnár, V., Fedorko, G., Jachowicz, T. (2017) Optimization of production processes using the yamazumi method. Advances in Science and Technology Research Journal, 11(4), 175-182. Sala, A. (1996). Koncepcja systemu normatywów energochłonności. Normalizacja 9/1996. Sala, A. (1986) Zasady energooszczędnego konstruowania. Część I., Zastosowanie rachunku energochłonności skumulowanej oraz wybór właściwej strefy nakładów energetycznych. Przegląd Mechaniczny 12/1986 (in Polish). Sala, A., (1986) Zasady energooszczędnego konstruowania. Część II. Minimalizacja energochłonności produkcji i eksploatacji, przykłady jej obniżania oraz zalecenia postępowania., Przegląd Mechaniczny 13/1986 (in Polish). Schulz, H., Schiefer, E. (1986). Optimierung von Prozessen, Prozebfuhrung und Energiebedarf bei spanenden Fertigungsverfahren. Sheng, P., Munoz, AA., (1995). An analytical approach for determining the environmental impact of machining processes. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 53. Srinivasan, M., Sheng, P. (1999). Feature-based process planning for environmentally conscious machining – Part 2; macroplanning. Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 15. Srinivasan, M., Sheng, P. (1999). Feature-based process planning for environmentally conscious machining – Part 1: microplanning. Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 15. Straka, M., Tausova, M., Rosova, A., Cehlar, M., Kacmary, P., Sisol, M., Ignacz, P., Farkas, C. (2020). Big Data Analytics of a Waste Recycling Simulation Logistics System. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 29(3), 2355-2364, DOI: 10.15244/pjoes/108684 Weidema, B.P. (1993). Envronmental Assessment of Produkt. A textbook on life cycle assessment. UETP-EEE, Helsinki Wędrychowicz, M., Bydałek, A., Migas, P., Skrzekut, T., Noga, P., Madej, P., Kałasznikow, A. (2021). The effect of adding iron powder from plasma cutting on the microstructure, mechanical properties of the composite based on aluminum powder matrix made using powder metallurgy. Archives of Metallurgy and Materials 66(1), 273-279. Wędrychowicz, M., Bydałek, A., Skrzetut, T., Noga, P., Gabryelewicz, I., Madej, P. (2019). Analysis of the mechanical strength, structure and possibilities of using waste phosphogypsum in aluminum powder composites. SN Applied Sciences, 1.