IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v10y2021i7p72-d592926.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tracking the Fate of Aluminium in the EU Using the MaTrace Model

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriela Jarrín Jácome

    (Research Group Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • María Fernanda Godoy León

    (Research Group Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Rodrigo A. F. Alvarenga

    (Research Group Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Jo Dewulf

    (Research Group Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

Abstract

Aluminium is a metal of high economic importance for the European Union (EU), presenting unique properties (e.g., light weight and high corrosion resistance) and with applications in important sectors (e.g., transportation, construction and packaging). It is also known for its high recyclability potential, but relevant losses occur in its life cycle, compromising the amount of aluminium available for secondary production. A novel methodology that allows the identification of these losses and their impact on the aluminium flows in society is the MaTrace model. The objective of this article is to perform a dMFA of the secondary production of aluminium in the EU technosphere using the modified version of MaTrace, in order to estimate flows of the metal embedded in 12 product categories. Twelve scenarios were built in order to assess the impact of changes in policies, demand and technology. The flows were forecasted for a period of 25 years, starting in 2018. The results of the baseline scenario show that after 25 years, 24% of the initial material remains in use, 4% is hoarded by users, 10% has been exported and 61% has been physically lost. The main contributor to the losses is the non-selective collection of end-of-life products. The results of the different scenarios show that by increasing the collection-to-recycling rates of the 12 product categories, the aluminium that stays in use increase up to 32.8%, reaffirming that one way to keep the material in use is to improve the collection-to-recycling schemes in the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriela Jarrín Jácome & María Fernanda Godoy León & Rodrigo A. F. Alvarenga & Jo Dewulf, 2021. "Tracking the Fate of Aluminium in the EU Using the MaTrace Model," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:10:y:2021:i:7:p:72-:d:592926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/10/7/72/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/10/7/72/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marlen Bertram & Kenneth J. Martchek & Georg Rombach, 2009. "Material Flow Analysis in the Aluminum Industry," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(5), pages 650-654, October.
    2. Niero, Monia & Olsen, Stig Irving, 2016. "Circular economy: To be or not to be in a closed product loop? A Life Cycle Assessment of aluminium cans with inclusion of alloying elements," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 18-31.
    3. Hatayama, Hiroki & Daigo, Ichiro & Matsuno, Yasunari & Adachi, Yoshihiro, 2012. "Evolution of aluminum recycling initiated by the introduction of next-generation vehicles and scrap sorting technology," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 8-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Streeck & Stefan Pauliuk & Hanspeter Wieland & Dominik Wiedenhofer, 2023. "A review of methods to trace material flows into final products in dynamic material flow analysis: From industry shipments in physical units to monetary input–output tables, Part 1," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(2), pages 436-456, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Buchner, Hanno & Laner, David & Rechberger, Helmut & Fellner, Johann, 2014. "In-depth analysis of aluminum flows in Austria as a basis to increase resource efficiency," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 112-123.
    2. Mohamad El Mehtedi & Pasquale Buonadonna & Mauro Carta & Rayane El Mohtadi & Alessandro Mele & Donato Morea, 2023. "Sustainability Study of a New Solid-State Aluminum Chips Recycling Process: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Chen, Qianqian & Gu, Yu & Tang, Zhiyong & Wei, Wei & Sun, Yuhan, 2018. "Assessment of low-carbon iron and steel production with CO2 recycling and utilization technologies: A case study in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 192-207.
    4. Rodrigo Barraza & Juan M. Sepúlveda & Ivan Derpich, 2022. "Location of the Intermediate Echelon to Add Purchase Value and Sustainability Criteria in a Mining Supply Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Sgouridis, Sgouris & Ali, Mohamed & Sleptchenko, Andrei & Bouabid, Ali & Ospina, Gustavo, 2021. "Aluminum smelters in the energy transition: Optimal configuration and operation for renewable energy integration in high insolation regions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 937-953.
    6. Stotz, Philippe Maurice & Niero, Monia & Bey, Niki & Paraskevas, Dimos, 2017. "Environmental screening of novel technologies to increase material circularity: A case study on aluminium cans," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 96-106.
    7. Hatayama, Hiroki & Daigo, Ichiro & Tahara, Kiyotaka, 2014. "Tracking effective measures for closed-loop recycling of automobile steel in China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 65-71.
    8. Berzi, Lorenzo & Delogu, Massimo & Pierini, Marco & Romoli, Filippo, 2016. "Evaluation of the end-of-life performance of a hybrid scooter with the application of recyclability and recoverability assessment methods," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 140-155.
    9. Shen, Angxing & Zhang, Jihong, 2024. "Technologies for CO2 emission reduction and low-carbon development in primary aluminum industry in China: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    10. Christoph Helbig & Yasushi Kondo & Shinichiro Nakamura, 2022. "Simultaneously tracing the fate of seven metals at a global level with MaTrace‐multi," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(3), pages 923-936, June.
    11. Dirk Lauinger & Romain G. Billy & Felipe Vásquez & Daniel B. Müller, 2021. "A general framework for stock dynamics of populations and built and natural environments," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1136-1146, October.
    12. Lacarrière, Bruno & Deutz, Kévin Ruben & Jamali-Zghal, Nadia & Le Corre, Olivier, 2015. "Emergy assessment of the benefits of closed-loop recycling accounting for material losses," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 315(C), pages 77-87.
    13. Anna Luthin & Marzia Traverso & Robert H. Crawford, 2024. "Circular life cycle sustainability assessment: An integrated framework," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(1), pages 41-58, February.
    14. Manju Saroha & Dixit Garg & Sunil Luthra, 2022. "Analyzing the circular supply chain management performance measurement framework: the modified balanced scorecard technique," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(2), pages 951-960, June.
    15. Maung, Kyaw Nyunt & Yoshida, Tomoharu & Liu, Gang & Lwin, Cherry Myo & Muller, Daniel B. & Hashimoto, Seiji, 2017. "Assessment of secondary aluminum reserves of nations," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 34-41.
    16. Julien Pedneault & Guillaume Majeau‐Bettez & Manuele Margni, 2023. "How much sorting is required for a circular low carbon aluminum economy?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 977-992, June.
    17. Buchner, Hanno & Laner, David & Rechberger, Helmut & Fellner, Johann, 2017. "Potential recycling constraints due to future supply and demand of wrought and cast Al scrap—A closed system perspective on Austria," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 135-142.
    18. Michael Martin & Sjoerd Herlaar & Aiden Jönsson & David Lazarevic, 2022. "From Circular to Linear? Assessing the Life Cycle Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Steel and Plastic Beer Kegs," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 937-960, September.
    19. Niero, Monia & Olsen, Stig Irving, 2016. "Circular economy: To be or not to be in a closed product loop? A Life Cycle Assessment of aluminium cans with inclusion of alloying elements," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 18-31.
    20. Zafar Husain & Annayath Maqbool & Abid Haleem & R. D. Pathak & Danny Samson, 2021. "Analyzing the business models for circular economy implementation: a fuzzy TOPSIS approach," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 256-271, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:10:y:2021:i:7:p:72-:d:592926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.