IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1902-d496938.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Viability of Extracting High Value Metals from End of Life Vehicles

Author

Listed:
  • Mona Arnold

    (VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Elina Pohjalainen

    (VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT Espoo, Finland)

  • Sören Steger

    (Wuppertal Institut Für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH, Doeppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany)

  • Wolfgang Kaerger

    (Wolfgang Kaerger Umweltberatung, Graf-Spee-Straße 30, 45133 Essen, Germany)

  • Jan-Henk Welink

    (The Department of Materials Science and Engineering, TU Delft, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Electronics containing growing quantities of high value and critical metals are increasingly used in automobiles. The conventional treatment practice for end-of-life vehicles (ELV) is shredding after de-pollution and partial separation of spare parts. Despite opportunities for resource recovery, the selective separation of components containing relevant amounts of critical metals for the purpose of material recycling is not commonly implemented. This article is aimed to contribute to recycling strategies for future critical metal quantities and the role of extended material recovery from ELVs. The study examines the economic feasibility of dismantling electronic components from ELVs for high value metal recycling. The results illustrate the effects of factors as dismantling time, labour costs and logistics on the economic potential of resource recovery from ELVs. Manual dismantling is profitable for only a few components at the higher labour costs in western/northern parts of Europe and applicable material prices, including the inverter for hybrid vehicles, oxygen sensor, side assistant sensor, distance and near distance sensors. Depending on the vehicle model, labour costs and current material prices, manual dismantling can also be cost-efficient for also some other such as the heating blower, generator, starter, engine and transmission control, start/stop motor, drive control, infotainment and chassis control.

Suggested Citation

  • Mona Arnold & Elina Pohjalainen & Sören Steger & Wolfgang Kaerger & Jan-Henk Welink, 2021. "Economic Viability of Extracting High Value Metals from End of Life Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1902-:d:496938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1902/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1902/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andersson, Magnus & Ljunggren Söderman, Maria & Sandén, Björn A., 2019. "Challenges of recycling multiple scarce metals: The case of Swedish ELV and WEEE recycling," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Abel Ortego & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero & Eliette Restrepo, 2018. "Vehicles and Critical Raw Materials: A Sustainability Assessment Using Thermodynamic Rarity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1005-1015, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anthony E. Hughes & Nawshad Haque & Stephen A. Northey & Sarbjit Giddey, 2021. "Platinum Group Metals: A Review of Resources, Production and Usage with a Focus on Catalysts," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-40, September.
    2. Hilal Shams & Altaf Hossain Molla & Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman & Hawa Hishamuddin & Zambri Harun & Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar, 2023. "Exploring Industry-Specific Research Themes on E-Waste: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Hasani Mohd Ali & Vladimir Simic & Charli Sitinjak & Jady Zaidi Hassim & Muhamad Helmi Md Said & Rasyikah Md Khalid & Grace Emmanuel Kaka & Rozmi Ismail, 2023. "Exploring Public Perceptions and Disposal Procedures in the Development of a Comprehensive End-of-Life Vehicle Regulation in Malaysia: A Pilot Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. F. P. Brito & Jorge Martins & Francisco Lopes & Carlos Castro & Luís Martins & A. L. N. Moreira, 2020. "Development and Assessment of an Over-Expanded Engine to be Used as an Efficiency-Oriented Range Extender for Electric Vehicles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Tian, Xu & Geng, Yong & Sarkis, Joseph & Gao, Cuixia & Sun, Xin & Micic, Tatyana & Hao, Han & Wang, Xin, 2021. "Features of critical resource trade networks of lithium-ion batteries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Philip Cooke, 2021. "The Lithium Wars: From Kokkola to the Congo for the 500 Mile Battery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Bruno Jetin, 2020. "Who will control the electric vehicle market?," International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(2), pages 156-177.
    5. Palacios, Jose-Luis & Calvo, Guiomar & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2018. "The cost of mineral depletion in Latin America: An exergoecology view," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 117-124.
    6. Vuk Petronijević & Aleksandar Đorđević & Miladin Stefanović & Slavko Arsovski & Zdravko Krivokapić & Milan Mišić, 2020. "Energy Recovery through End-of-Life Vehicles Recycling in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-26, October.
    7. Tercero Espinoza, Luis A., 2021. "Critical appraisal of recycling indicators used in European criticality exercises and circularity monitoring," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Sofia Russo & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero & Marta Iglesias-Émbil, 2021. "Exergy-Based Assessment of Polymers Production and Recycling: An Application to the Automotive Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Panchal, Rohit & Singh, Anju & Diwan, Hema, 2021. "Economic potential of recycling e-waste in India and its impact on import of materials," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Marta Iglesias-Émbil & Alejandro Abadías & Alicia Valero & Guiomar Calvo & Markus Andreas Reuter & Abel Ortego, 2022. "Criticality and Recyclability Assessment of Car Parts—A Thermodynamic Simulation-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Abel Ortego & Marta Iglesias-Émbil & Alicia Valero & Miquel Gimeno-Fabra & Carlos Monné & Francisco Moreno, 2024. "Disassemblability Assessment of Car Parts: Lessons Learned from an Ecodesign Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Calvo, Guiomar & Ortego, Abel, 2018. "Material bottlenecks in the future development of green technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 178-200.
    13. Thomas Fruergaard Astrup & Kostyantyn Pivnenko & Marie Kampmann Eriksen & Alessio Boldrin, 2018. "Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Management: Are We Addressing the Key Challenges Ahead of Us?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1000-1004, October.
    14. Kazançoglu, Yigit & Ada, Erhan & Ozturkoglu, Yucel & Ozbiltekin, Melisa, 2020. "Analysis of the barriers to urban mining for resource melioration in emerging economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Kieran Campbell‐Johnston & Erik Roos Lindgreen & Giovanni Mondello & Teresa Maria Gulotta & Walter J. V. Vermeulen & Roberta Salomone, 2023. "Thermodynamic rarity of electrical and electronic waste: Assessment and policy implications for critical materials," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(2), pages 508-521, April.
    16. Fizaine, Florian, 2020. "The economics of recycling rate: New insights from waste electrical and electronic equipment," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Eliette Restrepo & Amund N. Løvik & Rolf Widmer & Patrick Wäger & Daniel B. Müller, 2019. "Historical Penetration Patterns of Automobile Electronic Control Systems and Implications for Critical Raw Materials Recycling," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-20, March.
    18. Mazzarano, Matteo, 2020. "Estimating total potential material recovery from EEE in EU28," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. D'Adamo, Idiano & Gastaldi, Massimo & Rosa, Paolo, 2020. "Recycling of end-of-life vehicles: Assessing trends and performances in Europe," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1902-:d:496938. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.