Life cycle assessment on a passenger’s airbag at Volvo cars
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Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Industrial ecology (MPTSE), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Huber, Lorena
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Environmental concerns have received considerable attention in recent decades, and there is
a greater understanding of how human activities affect and degrade the environment.
In recent decades, transportation systems have been one of the major contributors to poor air
quality, noise, and climate change. It is also well known that the automotive sector confronts
major environmental challenges not only for fuel consumption in terms of emissions during
usage but also during manufacturing processes.
Due to the importance of both safety and sustainability standards, Volvo Cars is concerned
about reducing the environmental impact of its products. A life cycle assessment (LCA) can
help them gain a better understanding of the environmental performance of some of their
products.
The aim of the study was to analyse, assess and provide relevant information regarding the
environmental performance of a car airbag during its manufacturing process, with this objective,
an LCA has been performed from cradle to gate for each of the ingoing parts of a passenger
airbag.
The study demonstrated that the bag, inflator and housing of the airbag were the components
that contributed most to the environmental impact. The selected impact categories were climate
impact, depletion of abiotic resources and freshwater consumption. More specifically, the
production and use of plastics such polyamide-6,6 (PA-6,6) and polypropylene, and other
materials such as steel and glass fibre production contributed significantly.
Some improvements with the objective of minimizing these impacts may be implemented based
on the findings of this LCA study. Increasing the recycling content of materials like plastic and
steel could be very advantageous, but this is only achievable when the recycling content
exceeds 50%.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Life cycle assessment , airbag , carbon footprint , water use , resource depletion