An analysis of end of life terminology in the carbon fiber reinforced plastic industry

While many studies and reviews into the practices conducted by industry and academia to recycle and remanufacture carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) exist, to date no investigation exists which regards the correctness of the use of terms recycling and remanufacturing. As such, this paper seeks to analyse the CFRP reuse industry’s attempt to recycle and remanufacture manufacturing waste CFRP and end of life (EOL) CFRP with an emphasis on the terminology used to describe these practices. Firstly, this paper presents a justification of the importance of using EOL terminology correctly; outlining the benefits and problems associated with using the correct and incorrect terminology. This paper finds that in the case of CFRP remanufacturing, terminology is being applied incorrectly and in the case of CFRP recycling, particular care should be taken when applying the term recycled to CFRP or stating that CFRP has been recycled. Further, this paper proposes new terminology (in keeping with EU directives) which could be adopted by industry and academia working in this area. This paper also finds that in the case of remanufacture, CFRP is incapable of being remanufactured

Manufacturing data for the implementation of data-driven remanufacturing for the rechargeable energy storage system in electric vehicles

Manufacturing industries are experiencing a data-driven paradigm shift that is changing how technical operations are run and changing present business models. Leveraging on manufacturing data from industries and digital intelligence platforms have become important in creating new forms of value. While extending the life of a product through the circular economy 3 R’s of reuse, re-manufacturing and recycling remains a technical and resource challenge for practitioners, optimizing the increasing forms and volumes of data presents a complementary and necessary challenge to the circular economy. This research aims to explore how the manufacturing data can inform remanufacturing parameters for implementing remanufacturing on the Rechargeable Energy Storage System

Incorporating remanufacturing into the end-of-life vehicles directive : current presence and the waste problem

Within the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) directive, various terminology and practices are outlined to ultimately divert waste from landfill, including reuse, recycle, recovery, treatment, prevention and economic operators. Remanufacturing terminology is not explicitly stated however. Further, leading global automotive remanufacturers, have recently agreed upon a collective definition of what constitutes automotive remanufacturing. With a view to establishing remanufacturing as a stand-alone process within the ELV directive going forward, this research analyses where remanufacturing is currently situated within the ELV directive, highlighting obstacles, with a strong focus on ‘waste terminology’, of directly incorporating remanufacturing into the ELV directive and presents guidance on incorporating remanufacturing moving forward. By ignoring the concept of waste, this study found that remanufacturing processes are generally classed under reuse, recycling and recovery terminology with remanufacturing also having a tenuous relationship with treatment facilities and economic operators. In addition to highlighting the issues caused by remanufacturing spanning across recycle and reuse terminology, by incorporating waste, this research also found that automotive associations definition of remanufacturing is not able to be incorporated into the ELV directive directly. A workable solution, taking both the objectives of the ELV directive and the view of the automotive associations into consideration, was however found, and is presented in this wor