Materials, in any form, have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives starting from our clothes to building construction to their use in automobiles and house appliances and many other applications. The methodology of production of various materials has taken an exponential leap to meet ever-increasing consumer demands worldwide. In the long run, this will be a threat to energy availability and the environment as production waste will increase and so will the emission of gases, which are generally the by-products. The shift from traditional production processes to industry 4.0 practices should address and structure the possible threats in the most accurate way such that the new processes and products are environmentally sustainable. A production process can be termed sustainable only when the focus is on renewable resources, effective utilization of non-renewable resources, and reduction in waste production which the ecosystem cannot digest. Some of the most common wastes generated out of many production processes are CO, CO2, and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), which are collectively termed greenhouse gases (GHGs). The International Energy Agency (IEA) traces the energy use and emissions of greenhouse gases from various processes and sets an indicator known as the greenhouse gas footprint, which is also known as the carbon footprint.
The key highlights that the IEA has published regarding the influence of materials on carbon footprint in various sectors worldwide are given below [1]:
- Global CO2 emissions grew by 0.9% or 321 Mt in 2022, where the emissions from energy combustion increased by 423 Mt while the emissions from industrial processes decreased by 102 Mt, a 60 Mt increase in CO2 was attributed to cooling and heating demand due to extreme weather fluctuations and another 55 Mt to nuclear plants being offline.
- Emissions from natural gas decreased by 1.6% or 118 Mt, which can be attributed to continued tightened supply due to the Russia – Ukraine war. The reductions were more pronounced in Europe (by -13.5%) and in Asia-Pacific by -1.8%.
- Emissions from oil grew more than coal by 2.5% or 268 Mt. Emissions from electricity and heat generation increased by 1.8% or 261 Mt mainly due to coal-fired electricity.
- Emissions from the industry, mostly cement and steel have declined by 10% and 2% respectively.
- Emissions from various industries in the US increased and saw a slight decline in China.
The direct emissions from the production processes of high-volume materials like iron and steel, cement, chemicals and petrochemicals, aluminum, pulp, and paper generate high carbon footprints. Another material commonly used in our daily lives is plastic in various forms in the consumer goods sectors and packaging sectors. The important factor that differentiates plastics from other materials is their decaying period, which varies from days to months to years. To counter this problem, recyclable and reusable plastics have been introduced into the consumer market, which helps in reducing the carbon footprint. It has been investigated and observed by researchers in Ireland [2] that the recycled content of plastic raw materials had a significant impact on the reduction in carbon footprint.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important methodology to monitor the environmental burdens related to the production and service life of a product during all the life cycle stages, from the extraction of raw materials to their end of life. This methodology will help in designing new products with a lower carbon footprint when compared to their previous designs. LCA includes a detailed study from raw material extraction to production of components to system engineering and assembly to application to end of life. The transition between each stage is also studied and analyzed under LCA to get a better understanding of energy consumption and the percentage of emissions at each stage.
With rapid growth being observed globally, cleaner technologies are the need of the hour in every sector to address the recurring problems of greenhouse gas emissions and increase in carbon footprint. These are always dynamic and need constant monitoring to maintain socio-ecological order.
Reference:
Aaron Dormer et.al., Carbon footprint analysis in plastics engineering, Journal of cleaner production, vol. 51, pp. 133-141, 2013.
 Dr R Thyagarajan | About the Author “Metallurgist and Mechanical engineer” with a passion to solve complex industrial problems. He is a doctorate from IIT Bombay – Monash University’s collaborative program in the field of materials science and metallurgy with a specialization in powder metallurgy. He has experience in handling projects spanning from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) – 3 to TRL – 7, combining science, engineering, and systems level design. He is taking care of the Research & Development at Wendt India Limited. He has been researching in the field of grinding technology in the pursuit of developing high-performance products for niche applications. |
His research interests are in alloy design, powder metallurgy, vacuum technology, Electroless plating on powders, high entropy alloys, and extraction of rare earth metals. He has handled high-value projects funded by the Government of India in the field of extractive metallurgy and powder production for additive manufacturing, demonstrated and executed successfully at a pilot plant scale. As a part of alloy development for space and defence applications, he was involved in the design, fabrication, erection, and commissioning of vacuum furnaces and vacuum centrifugal casters for sintering and melting purposes.
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