Modelling the environmental impact of an aluminium pressure die casting plant and options for control

Abstract

This study describes a model (MIKADO) to analyse options to reduce the environmental impact of aluminium die casting. This model will take a company perspective, so that it can be used as a decision-support tool for the environmental management of a plant. MIKADO can be used to perform scenario analyses to analyse the impact on the environment of different strategies, while taking into account both economical and ecological consequences of decision-making. The MIKADO approach is based on relevant parts of Life Cycle Assessment, environmental systems management and Multi-criteria Analysis. One of the strengths of MIKADO is the integrated approach that it takes in analysing, simultaneously, a set of eight environmental problems, including: human toxicity, abiotic depletion, global warming, solid waste production, acidification, terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical ozone formation and aquatic toxicity, caused by the aluminium die casting plant. The model is developed for and applied to a specific aluminium die casting plant supplying car manufacturers with aluminium die casting products. We present model results for a reference case, indicating that most of the environmental impact of the plant is associated with releases of compounds during the melting and casting of alloy, as well as with the use of natural gas. Finally, we present results of a partial sensitivity analysis, indicating the sensitivity of the model to changes in parameter values.