Life Cycle Assessment of Manufacturing System of Lead-Free Bronze Products

Abstract

  Inventory analysis of manufacturing system for both former Pb-free bronze made from virgin materials and new Pb-free bronze made by removing Pb from scrap Pb-bronze was assessed from the view point of life cycle assessment (LCA). The result shows that new manufacturing system of Pb-free bronze made by removing Pb from scrap Pb-bronze reduces such environmental impacts as global warming, acidification, energy consumption, resource consumption significantly. Thus, in LCA perspective, the new manufacturing system using a recycling Pb-free bronze is superior to the former one using virgin materials.