An Analysis of Carbon Footprint Sensitivity to Recycling Content of High-Performance Turbomachinery Components Applying Circular Footprint Formula

Abstract

Abstract. The fight against global warming and climate change, in the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 scenario, has made clear the need of a more sustainable industrial design as part of a sustainable product development (SPD) process, which is substituting the traditional new product development. Aiming to define new products considering environmental impact as a main design driver, engineers can leverage on different design aspects like material selection, mechanical configuration, maintenance requirements, and recyclability, applying life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology as a tool to assess all the sustainability issues of the product under development. Material selection can be of focal importance in reducing the carbon footprint (CF) of a new product in the field of turbomachinery, due to the large use of metals, rare earths, and alloys. These are materials that can be produced using a certain recycled content and can go back for recycling to the foundry at the end-of-life (EoL). In this work, an assessment of carbon footprint sensitivity on recycled content in a turbomachine's component is proposed, applying the Circular Footprint Formula (CFF) methodology proposed by the European Commission to several case studies. The presented case studies refer to a set of components of high-performance turbomachinery designed with state-of-the-art methodologies and tools; particularly, components of a gas turbine (GT), of an axial turboexpander (TE), of a centrifugal compressor (CC), and a reciprocating compressor (RC) were analyzed to assess the effect on carbon footprint of recycling step of the life cycle. The assessment was carried out on several case studies to assess the sensitivity of different metallic material types, varying from super alloys to steels, and different production technologies, which foresee different material input surplus. The results coming from this study can be considered in life cycle assessment of products disclosure, since the management of the EoL phase can lead to a carbon footprint reduction, enhancing the product position on the market.