Optimal Recycling of Steel Scrap and Alloying Elements: Input-Output based Linear Programming Method with Its Application to End-of-Life Vehicles in Japan
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Importance of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) as an urban mine is expected to grow, as more people in developing countries are experiencing increased standards of living, while the automobiles are increasingly made using high-quality materials to meet stricter environmental and safety requirements. While most materials in ELVs, particularly steel, have been recycled at high rates, quality issues have not been adequately addressed due to the complex use of automobile materials, leading to considerable losses of valuable alloying elements. This study highlights the maximal potential of quality-oriented recycling of ELV steel, by exploring the utilization methods of scrap, sorted by parts, to produce electric-arc-furnace-based crude alloy steel with minimal losses of alloying elements. Using linear programming on the case of Japanese economy in 2005, we found that adoption of parts-based scrap sorting could result in the recovery of around 94–98% of the alloying elements occurring in parts scrap (manganese, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum), which may replace 10% of the virgin sources in electric arc furnace-based crude alloy steel production.
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Dismantling and sorting can reduce the need for adding alloying elements to electric arc furnaces by 10% and reduce the GHG emissions of the alloying elements required in the recycling process by up to 28%.
“Focusing on the recycling of Japanese cars, Ohno et al [173] show that dismantling and sorting can reduce the need for adding alloying elements to electric arc furnaces by 10% and as a result reduce the GHG emissions of the alloying elements required in the recycling process by up to 28%.”
From Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review (2019) · cites this paper as [173]
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- Authors
- Ohno, H., Matsubae, K., Nakajima, K., Kondo, Y., Nakamura, S., Fukushima, Y., & Nagasaka, T.
- Affiliations
- Tohoku University (JP)
- National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP)
- Waseda University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Ohno, Hajime
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2017-11-07
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 13086-13094
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2767980527
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 6.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (15K12265, 23686131, 258801, 26281059)
- Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (NA)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Iron and Steelmaking Processes
- Keywords
- end-of-life vehicles, steel scrap recycling, electric arc furnace steel, urban mining, manganese recovery, chromium recovery, nickel recovery, molybdenum recovery, Japanese steel industry
- MeSH terms
- Alloys, Humans, Japan, Programming, Linear, Steel, Recycling
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