INTERNATIONAL DESIGN CONFERENCE - DESIGN 2000 Dubrovnik, May 23 - 26, 2000. Copyright 2000.

University of Zagreb; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture

DESIGN FOR RECYCLING AND REMANUFACTURING

Mahendra Hundal Keywords: Recyclability, remanufacturability
Abstract: The paper describes methods of designing for recycling and remanufacturing. In the field of design for the environment, the two greatest challenges are: (1) Materials which combine high performance and recyclability. (2) Design for remanufacturability, which implies design for disassembly.

Introduction
DFE (Design For Environment), also called ``Green Design, ``Environmentally Friendly Design, is one of greatest challenges facing the engineers today and of the greatest potential benefits to the society. It addresses the problem at the design stage, where the potential for impact is the greatest. The decisions made at the design stage effect all of the life phases of the product - manufacturing, transportation, operation, maintenance and disposal. The traditional field of ``Environmental Engineering,'' on the other hand, deals with waste and pollution after the fact - after they are generated and methods of mitigating the environmental damage. The need to develop products which minimize damaging effects on the environment has become increasingly more evident. Products are important in fulfilling human needs, but the side effects of pollution and the depletion of natural resources must also be of concern to designers and manufacturers. Life Cycle Design (LCD) is a term which has come to have a great deal of overlap with DFE, Keoleian and Menerey (1993). It seeks to minimize the environmental burdens associated with a products life cycle and aims to integrate the environmental requirements into the product realization process. LCD uses system analysis of the product life cycle, beginning from the raw material extraction, through materials processing, manufacturing, distribution, use and its final disposal. It identifies and evaluates the different types of requirements: technical, ergonomic, economic, legal, environmental, cultural, etc. An efficient application of LCD requires management techniques such as concurrent engineering, and QFD (Hundal, 1997).

The Materials Flow

Modern economies are material intensive. The overall picture of a product's life cycle and the materials flow associated with it are shown in Figure 1. This figure also illustrates the three terms frequently used in DFE literature: reuse, remanufacturing and recycling. In the product's life cycle, the design stage is the most critical as far as many of the impacts on and of the product. The decisions on materials and manufacturing processes are made at this stage. These decisions

determine the total material flow, thus affecting both the upstream (pre-consumer) and the downstream (postconsumer) impacts.
PRODUCT W

WASTE E ENERGY GENERATION INPUT

NEED

PLAN

MATERIALS E EXTRACT W E PROCESS E DESIGN

MANUFACTURE

W REUSE E RECYCLE DISPOSE E DIFFERENT USE W PROCESS USE

R E M A N U F A C T U R E

LANDFILL

W Information flow Materials: Primary flow Materials: Secondary flow

Figure 1. Product life cycle and materials flow In order to be effective, DFE must affect all stages of the materials cycle. The US Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) has defined ``Green Design'' as addressing two goals: preventing waste and optimal use of materials, (OTA 1992). Waste prevention is addressed by reducing the waste, toxicity, and energy use in the materials flow cycle and improving the product life. Use of less material reduces not only the product costs, as shown in reference (Hundal, 1997), but also reduces the wastes, emissions and energy use at each stage. For example, improvements in lead-acid battery design have led not only to the reduction in lead use by a third, but also the elimination of arsenic/antimony in the batteries. Optimal use of materials addresses

issues such as remanufacturing and recycling and more efficient disposal possibilities which facilitate energy recovery and composting.

DFE and the Product Realization Process

We will look at how the product realization process may be affected by the environmental concerns. Present day technical products tend to be complex in order to fulfil the functional and other requirements imposed on them. As an example, consider the case of the simple snack bag. Five different materials are used in it, each contributing the strengths of its respective properties, to fulfil the required functions. Yet, they cannot be separated, thus precluding recycling for the same use. DFE requires the involvement of more parties in the process, e.g., the material suppliers and waste handlers. To the concerns of cost, manufacturability and quality, environmental considerations require that we must also be concerned with the following: Toxicity - of materials used, during manufacturing, operation and disposal. Recyclability, reusability and remanufacturability of the product. Waste produced during the various steps of material flow shown in Figure 1. The various steps of systematic design are indicated in Figure 1. How DFE effects these is described below. Manufacturing The most important points in manufacturing are the minimization of toxic byproducts and other non-toxic waste. The designer determines the type and amount of scrap by the choice of shapes and materials. Manufacturing technologies such as near-net-shape and high precision forging and casting, sheet metal stamping and plastics molding are examples of low waste generation. The choice of plastics must consider separability and compatibility (Figure 2). Optimum layout of stampings aims to minimize scrap. Fewer different materials used enable easier recycling.
MATERIAL ADDED
PVC PC PE PP ABS

BASE MATERIAL Polyethylene PVC Polycarbonate Polypropylene ABS

INCOMPATIBLE COMPATIBLE IN MINUTE QUANTITIES COMPATIBLE IN LARGER QUANTITIES FULLY COMPATIBLE

Figure 2. Compatibility of plastics (Hundal, 1997)

3

Recycling and Remanufacturing Recycling and remanufacturing offer alternatives to waste generation and material consumption. Recycling of parts and materials reduces the need for virgin material, thus reducing the waste associated with extraction, Henstock (1988), VDI (1991). Recycling, typically after reconditioning of a part, may lead to the original use, or to lower value-added use. An example, one of many, is the use of waste rubber from used automobile tires in road surfacing mix; see Figure 1. Materials usually degrade during recycling. It is important to note that recycling of a part may use more energy and cause more pollution than the production from virgin material. Remanufacturing does not necessarily mean reproduction of the original product. It affords the opportunity to upgrade its performance, e.g., by installing a faster CPU in a computer, by substituting an electronic for an electro-mechanical coin changer in a vending machine. Design For Recycling (DFRec) has received increasing attention from researchers. Rules have evolved for designing for recyclability, as they have for other attributes, e.g., cost. They conform to the general rules for systematic design. The steps in remanufacturing are: Disassembly, Cleaning, Sorting, Checking, Reconditioning, and Reassembly. Design for remanufacturing involves rules to help in each of these stages. Disassembly Disassembly is not simply the opposite of assembly; rather it requires special considerations of its own. For example, the properties of components for assembly, say insertion, are different for the corresponding disassembly step, extraction. The disassembly process should be laid out during design. Just as Design for Assembly (DFA) (Boothroyd and Dewhurst 1987) techniques have led to the reduction of number of parts and assembly steps, Design for Disassembly (DFDA) should reduce the number and complexity of disassembly steps. At present many products are designed not to be disassembled in order to save on initial cost and discourage user ingress due to liability problems.
TYPES OF JOINTS PROPERTIES
STRENGTH

Adhesive

Welded

Velcro

Bolted

Snap

Axial Transverse Fatigue Joining Separating Excision

COST OF

RECYCLABILITY

PROPERTIES:

GOOD AVERAGE

POOR

Figure 3. Properties of various types of joints (Hundal, 1997)

Design rules for disassembly are: 1. Arrange the sub-assemblies for easy disassembly. 2. Use joints which are easy to separate, Figure 3. 3. The joints should have the same life span as the whole product. Cleaning It has been estimated that in remanufacturing 90% of the parts have to undergo cleaning. Design rules for the cleaning phase are: 1. Design of parts should provide for easily accessible re-entrant corners and cavities or avoid these altogether. 2. It should enable the rational design of the cleaning line. 3. Markings on parts should withstand cleaning. 4. Use of only environmentally friendly cleaning agents should be required. 5. Surfaces to be cleaned should be smooth and wear resistant. 6. All deposits, impurities and other materials should be removable without damage to parts. Sorting After cleaning, a part can be classified as being useable as is, useable after reworking, or unsuitable for further use. A sorting problem which occurs not only in manufacturing but in original manufacture as well, is that due to parts being similar but not exactly the same. Design rules for ease of sorting are: 1. Parts, particularly those similar-looking, should be identified for easy sorting and classification. 2. Parts which fulfil the same function should either be identical or be clearly identifiable as being different. Checking Before any reworking of a part can be done, it necessary to check whether it is at all needed, and if so, to what extent. Thus the checking operations require that: 1. Wear and corrosion of parts should be easy to verify. 2. Data such as material properties, load limits, tolerances and adjustments should be available. Reconditioning Shape of the parts should permit the use of jigs and fixtures for reconditioning, e.g., machining, material deposition, insert replacement. Threaded bushings should be easily replaceable. In this respect through bolts are better than blind studs. Reassembly Here the same general rules as for DFA apply. The remanufacturing facility should have access to the knowledge of the assembly procedures of the original product. Reassembly should be simple and

unambiguous, and permit the use of mass production techniques. In general, DFA benefits both the original assembly operations, as well as reassembly.

Summary
Environmental protection is a complex and controversial subject. Thus DFE inherits the conflicts inherent therein. Decisions on environmental issues require value judgements and involve public policy. Trade-offs which depend on economic values are influenced by the country's tax policies. The goal of engineering design has been and is still to design and produce products and systems to fulfil the needs of society. DFE enlarges the scope of the problem to include the natural environment. Engineers and designers need information to operate successfully. There is need on part of the governments to determine priorities (e.g., recycling vs. energy conservation), determine relative risks of different materials to health and eco-systems. An example is the snack bag which is nearly impossible to recycle to its original use, yet conserves materials, energy and lengthens shelf life of food. For an automobile's lifetime, 10% of the energy is used in manufacturing, another 10% in disposal, the rest 80% during its use (Holt, 1993), - thus the greatest potential in energy saving lies in making cars more efficient. A list products and processes posing high risks is needed. There is need to find safer substitutes for hazardous substances. DFE by itself does not make products cheaper, nor more expensive. On the other hand the overall costs, when one considers the environmental impacts, can be lowered. Environmental attributes must be considered at all stages of the design, as are other attributes, e.g., cost, manufacturability, quality, etc. The application of DFE requires knowledge more than any other resource. Products designed for recyclability are more easily serviceable. Remanufactured products can be of as high quality as new products - and cheaper. Products containing high-technology components which are likely to show consistent and frequent improvements in performance should be designed so that they may be easily disassembled. Such products cannot be designed for long life - they tend to quickly become obsolete. Thus they should be designed for easy renovation. References
Boothroyd, G. and Dewhurst, P., 1987, ``Product Design for Assembly,'' Wakefield, RI, Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. Henstock, M. E., 1988, Design for Recyclability, London, Institute of Metals. Holt, D. J.,1993, ``Recycling and the Automobile,'' Automotive Engineering, pp 42-73, Warrendale, PA, SAE International, October 1993. Hundal, M. S., ``Systematic Mechanical Designing: A Cost And Management Perspective, New York, ASME Press, 1997. Keoleian, G.A., and Menerey, D., 1993, ``Life Cycle Design Guidance Manual,'' EPA/600/R-92/226, 1993. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1992, ``Green Products by Design: Choices for a Cleaner Environment,'' OTA-E-541, Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office. VDI Guideline 2243, 1991, ``Konstruieren recyclinggerechter technischer Produkte (Design for recycling of technical products),'' Duesseldorf, VDI Verlag.