R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S

Life Cycle Assessment–based Comparative

Evaluation of Originally Manufactured and
Remanufactured Diesel Engines
Zhichao Liu, Tao Li, Qiuhong Jiang, and Hongchao Zhang

Keywords:
Summary
diesel engine
energy consumption Life cycle assessment (LCA) enables us to estimate potential resource and energy con-
environmental impacts sumption as well as environmental emissions resulting from various activities within our
industrial ecology economy. The present LCA intends to analyze the energy consumption and environmental
life cycle assessment (LCA) emissions of the entire life cycle of an originally manufactured diesel engine compared with
remanufacturing
its remanufactured counterpart. Further, the article attempts to identify the processes in
diesel engine manufacturing and remanufacturing life cycles that contribute most to energy
consumption and environmental impacts. Six environmental impacts were assessed in this
study: global warming potential (GWP); acidification potential (AP); eutrophication potential
(EP); ozone depletion potential (ODP); photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP);
and abiotic depletion potential (ADP). The results show that diesel engine remanufacturing
could reduce 66% of energy consumption, compared to original manufacturing. The great-
est benefit related to environmental impact is with regard to ODP, which is reduced by
97%, followed by EP, GWP, POCP, AP, and ADP, which can be reduced by 79%, 67%, 32%,
32%, and 25%, respectively. In the life cycle of diesel engine manufacturing, production of
materials brings about larger environmental impacts, especially with regard to EP and ODP,
whereas transportation of materials contributes most to POCP. The situation is similar for
diesel engine remanufacturing. Production of materials brings about larger environmental
impacts with regard to AP, EP, and ODP, whereas components remanufacturing and pro-
duction of materials exhibit the same amount of GWP impact. Further, in remanufacturing,
the reverse logistics of old diesel engines brings about lesser environmental impacts than
the other life cycle stages, except with regard to POCP.

Introduction a large amount of steel and aluminum contribute significantly

toward CO2 emissions. Besides, more than 80% of industrial
In 2009, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions
raw materials are dependent on the supply of mineral resources
generated in China reached 7,710.5 tonnes (t), which is more
from within China, and resources reserve shortage has become
than the United States and Canada put together (Rogers and
a major restriction for development of the equipment man-
Evans 2011). Most of these emissions are given out by the
ufacturing industry (USGS 2012). Statistics from the U.S.
processes associated with the manufacturing industry, among
Geological Survey from the ore annual report of 2011 show
which metal processing operations have a major share in en-
that copper, iron, and aluminum ore reserves in China ac-
ergy consumption. For instance, heavy-duty truck engines with
count only for 5%, 13.1%, and 4.1% of the world reserves,
Address correspondence to: Zhichao Liu, Institute of Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District,
Dalian City 116024, Liaoning Province, China. Email: liuzhichaojizhi@163.com

© 2014 by Yale University Editor Managing Review: Michael Hauschild

DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12137

Volume 18, Number 4

www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jie Journal of Industrial Ecology 567

 R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S
Figure 1 The materials recovery value chain of recycling, remanufacturing, and reuse.
respectively, whereas the annual consumption of copper, iron,
and aluminum ores in China accounts for 47%, 67%, and 50%
of the world’s production, respectively (USGS 2012). Statis-
tics show that according to present automobile growth, the
volume of end-of-life (EOL) automobiles will reach up to 6
million by 2015, and the large quantity of the discarded cars
and engines will lead to resource waste and environment pol-
lution. Increasingly, serious environment problems and rapidly
depleting metal resources bring about a rigorous challenge to car
component manufacturers and halt economic development of
China. Government is encouraging manufacturers to explore
methods for minimizing the effects of their activities on the
environment.
Before remanufacturing, material recycling is always applied
as a product EOL strategy. Material recycling could return
consumed products to their original raw material form to be
used again, but requires added labor, energy, and processing
capital to recover the raw materials. Normally, the relative
costs of material, labor, energy, and the contribution of plant
and equipment are the major concerns in product manufac-
turing. Remanufacturing could preserve much of this value
while adding a second life to the product. In contrast, recy-
cling shreds the product in an attempt to recover only the
material value. Little or none of the other residual values in
the product are retained. Reuse could save the labor from orig-
inal processing and also retain the function and design. The
material recovery value chain of recycling, remanufacturing,
and reuse is shown in figure 1. Remanufacturing could repair
degraded components and put the product back into service,
thus retaining the value of the extracted and refined materi-
als (Kumar et al. 2007). Steinhilper said that remanufactur-
ing can avoid between 38% and 53% of CO2 generated from
new production in the 2010 International BIG R Show (Tu
2011). The remanufacturing of vehicles could date back to
1940s. In 1947, a take-back scheme, called the “Exchange Parts
Program,” was launched by Volkswagen to meet raw material
shortages after World War II. The program significantly reduced
material and energy consumption for a large proportion of the
components.
The environmental and economic benefits of remanufac-
turing have been well documented in earlier articles. Warsen
and colleagues and Amezquita and colleagues have analyzed
568 Journal of Industrial Ecology
the environmental benefit of remanufactured manual trans-
mission and injectors (Warsen et al. 2011; Amezquita et al.
1995). Studies by the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuggart, Ger-
many, have demonstrated the following: “The yearly energy
savings by remanufacturing worldwide equals the electricity
generated by five nuclear power plants or 10,774,000 barrels
of crude oil which corresponds to a fleet of 233 oil tankers.”
The yearly raw materials saved by remanufacturing worldwide
would fill 155,000 railroad cars forming a train 1,100 miles long
(Jessen 2003). Goldey and colleagues studied the benefits of
remanufactured product within a “green” supply chain (Goldey
et al. 2010), and Seliger and colleagues assessed the reman-
ufacturing plans of mobile phones under a different quantity
and quality perspective (Seliger et al. 2004). Lund and col-
leagues have documented the economic benefits of remanufac-
turing from a macroeconomic perspective (Lund and Hauser
2003). The environmental and economic benefits of engine re-
manufacturing have been documented by Smith and Keoleian,
Sutherland and colleagues, and Zhu and colleagues as well, from
different perspectives (Smith and Keoleian 2003; Sutherland
et al. 2008; Zhu and Yang 2009).
The modern manufacturing industry is facing the problem
of how to reduce the environmental impacts of manufactur-
ing. Some experts have put forward four steps: understand
the sources of the impact; quantify the environmental im-
pact; identify improving opportunities; and then apply impact
reduction strategies and assess the effectiveness. Quantifying
the environmental impact bridged the preceding and the fol-
lowing when considering reducing the environmental impacts
and quantifying the differences between a new strategy and
traditional mode. There are two major problems in quantify-
ing an impact in manufacturing: (1) Manufacturing is not a
stand-alone system, and (2) both inputs and outputs of man-
ufacturing are closely linked to other systems and processes.
During environmental impact control, the impact may shift
from one process to another or from one life cycle stage to
another. As a result of the two complexities, life cycle as-
sessment (LCA) has to be used for a comprehensive, reliable
assessment.
It is being realized that a diesel engine remanufacturing
also has better environmental performance than its original
manufacture because of the fact that the material-shaping

processes, such as molding, casting, and so forth, can be avoided.
Professor Xu from the National Key Laboratory for Reman-
ufacturing said that, in essence, parts remanufacturing can
save over 70% of material costs, cut energy consumption by
60%, and lower overall cost by 50% (Xu 2007). Since 2008,
China has been trying to set up several autoparts remanu-
facturing bases under the direction of the National Develop-
ment and Reform Commission. However, qualification and
quantification of the benefits of diesel engine remanufactur-
ing, compared to original manufacturing, remains unsolved be-
cause of the difficulties of data collection in complex produc-
tion processes and the lack of accurate, convincing evaluation
methods.
LCA is a “cradle-to-grave” approach for assessing industrial
products and systems, which enables the estimation of the cu-
mulative environmental impacts resulting from all stages in a
product life cycle, often including impacts not considered in
more traditional analyses (USEPA 2006).
According to the International Organization for Standard-
ization (ISO) 14040 and 14044 standards, an LCA consists of
the following four components:
(a) Goal and scope definition: Determine the type of in-
formation that is needed to add value to the decision-
making process.
(b) Life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis (LCIA): Quantify en-
ergy and raw material requirements, atmospheric emis-
sions, waterborne emissions, solid waste, and other re-
leases for the entire life cycle of a product, process, or
activity.
(c) Life cycle impact assessment: Assess the potential hu-
man and ecological effects of energy, materials usage,
and environmental releases, as identified in the inven-
tory analysis.
(d) Life cycle interpretation: Identify, quantify, check, and
evaluate information from the results of LCI and LCIA
and communicate them effectively (ISO 1998).
An LCA can help decision makers select the product or pro-
cess that results in the least impact to the environment. In this
article, a comparative LCA is conducted for an originally man-
ufactured diesel engine and compared with its remanufactured
counterpart, aiming to identify the negative impact on the en-
vironment during the whole life cycle and analyze the potential
that remanufacturing possesses in terms of energy savings and
environmental protections.
Goal and Scope Definition
Goal
The goal of this study is to analyze and compare the energy
consumptions and environmental impacts of original manufac-
turing and remanufacturing of a diesel engine with the perspec-
tive of total life cycle. Resource and energy consumptions and
air/water emissions are carried out, and five environmental im-
pacts, which are global warming potential (GWP), acidification
R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S
Table 1 Technical parameters of WD615.87 diesel engine
Parameter Quantity Unit
Weight 850 kg
Volume 9,726 mL
Rated power 213 kW
Rated speed 2,200 r/min
Torsion 1,160 Nm
Torque speed 1,1001,600 r/min
Note: kg = kilograms; mL = milliliters; kW = kilowatts; r/min = rotations
per minute; Nm = Newton meter.
potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), ozone depletion
potential (ODP), and abiotic depletion potential (ADP), are
assessed in this LCA.
Functional Unit
The engine evaluated in this study is SINOTRUCK
WD615–87, with six in-line cylinders and a water-cooled and
turbocharged engine having a total displacement of 9.726 liters.
In this LCA, functional unit is defined as “300,000 kilometers
(km) driven using a WD615–87 diesel engine.” The major tech-
nical parameters of the diesel engine under analysis are shown
in table 1.
System Boundary
A cradle-to-grave boundary scope was selected when ana-
lyzing the life cycle of the new manufactured diesel engine.
The life cycle of the engine manufacturing started from the
raw materials production, manufacturing, and assembly of the
parts, whereas the life cycle of the remanufacturing begins with
the used engine recycled back to the workshop through disas-
sembly, cleaning, refurbishing, and reassembly. Because of time
constraint and technical restrictions, it is difficult to track the
usage information of a remanufactured diesel engine; we have
to assume, according to the remanufacturer’s assurance, that a
remanufactured engine has the quality as good as a new engine
and therefore meets the same fuel requirements as an origi-
nally manufactured engine. Moreover, as for the period of EOL
disposal, both of the originally manufactured and remanufac-
tured products are recycled back for another remanufacturing
period; therefore, the phase of usage and EOL disposal are ex-
cluded from the evaluation scopes. The components considered
in our analysis include the six parts that can be manufactured in
the SINOTRUK workshop, including cylinder block, cylinder
head, crankshaft, connection rod, gear box, and the accessories
that are purchased from outside but can also be remanufactured.
It was investigated that an engine can be remanufactured three
to five times. Because the failure modes and repair methods
are usually different each time and the remanufactured engine
has not reached its service life, we have considered the given
remanufacturing cycle as the first. Figure 2 shows the system
boundary of this LCA.
Liu et al., LCA of Manufacturing and Remanufacturing 569
 R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S

Figure 2 A simplified life cycle of diesel engine processes, indicating the system boundary.

Table 2 Main materials used in manufacturing/remanufacturing The data related to energy requirements, air/water emissions
of materials, mining, and production phases are referred from
Materials for Quantity Materials for Quantity
manufacturing (kg) remanufacturing (kg) the Chinese Life Cycle Database (CLCD) developed by IKE,
China (Liu et al. 2010). The CLCD database can reflect the
Steel 188.19 Nickel 0.388 average production levels existing currently.
Cast iron 578.83 Cast iron 9
Aluminum 39.9 Aluminum 10
Materials Transportation and Old Diesel Engine Reverse
Alloy 32.92 Diesel 14.91
Logistics
/ / Kerosene 8.8
Shanghai Baosteel is the steel and cast iron materials
Note: kg = kilograms. provider of SINOTRUK. The materials are transported by train
for a distance of 800 km. Transportation of the other materi-
als to the workshop was not taken into consideration. The old
Data Resources diesel engines for remanufacturing are all recycled back from
the CNHTC 4S shop by truck (carrying capacity: 10 t), and
Materials Production the average distance covered for the old engine recycling is
The materials consumed in the engine component man- estimated to be 600 km.
ufacturing are mainly steel, cast iron, and aluminum. As for
remanufacturing, there are some additional materials, such
Parts Manufacturing/Remanufacturing
as kerosene, copper, nickel, as well as diesel for refurbishing
The volumes of the materials for the component manufac-
the components. The respective quantities of the main ma-
turing and remanufacturing are quantified in the section of
terials used in manufacturing/remanufacturing are shown in
Materials Production. The energy consumptions for the six parts
table 2.
are measured during their manufacturing and remanufacturing
The raw materials need to be extracted and refined from the
processes. The detailed method for data gathering is stated in
minerals and then undergo various manufacturing processes to
the section Life Cycle Inventory Analysis.
build the engine parts. Energy and resources are used for this
purpose. Aluminum, cast iron, and steel are the three major
materials of a diesel engine, which bring about large amounts of Air/Water Emissions
energy consumption and environmental emissions. The roles of The data for the air/water emissions have been discussed in
other materials, such as rubber and a small amount of polymeric detail in the data collection sheets. The different gases involved
compounds, are ignored because of the fact that the remanu- are CO2 , carbon monoxide (CO), sulfuretted hydrogen (H2 S),
factured parts made by these two materials are replaced by the nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and so forth. The
new ones (in fact, the parts that need to be replaced by the water emissions contain ammonia, nitrogen, biological oxygen
new ones in remanufacturing are not considered in the system demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD), which
boundary). are extremely harmful for the environment. The data about the

570 Journal of Industrial Ecology


Figure 3 Detailed flow diagram of the cylinder block
remanufacturing process.
energy demand and environmental emissions are all obtained
from the CLCD fundamental database.
Life Cycle Inventory Analysis
Discussion of the Data Collection
Remanufacturing processes are generally composed of sev-
eral stages, including disassembly, cleaning, testing, repair, in-
spection, updating, component replacement, and reassembly
(Sherwood and Shu 2010). The flow diagram of the six-part re-
manufacturing processes are illustrated for data gathering, and
the resource and energy consumption of each part are collected
from its remanufacturing line. Figure 3 illustrates the data col-
lection process of the cylinder block (Reman.1 and Reman.2
refer to the cylinder liner substitution and the cylinder liner
brush plating, respectively).
The energy consumptions of the other accessories, such as
bolts, belt pulley, water pump, and so forth, are estimated by the
experienced “specific energy” of different materials (Gutowski
et al. 2006). Energy consumed in the accessories production can
be estimated by equation (1):

n
E= e i × r i × (m 2 − m 1 ) (1)
i =1
where E is the energy consumed in component manufacturing,
ei is the specific energy of the ith process, ri is the material
removal rate of the ith process, m1 is the mass of component
in the ith process, and m2 is the mass of component in the
(i-1)th process. Taking the water pump as an example, the
material is cast iron, mass is 33.42 kilograms (kg), and bil-
R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S
let mass is 40 kg. Specific energy (joules per cubic centime-
ter) for machining, finish machining, and grinding is 3.5E3,
4.68E6, and 6.92E4, respectively. The amount of material re-
moval rate of the three processes is 90%, 8%, and 2%, re-
spectively. Thus, the specific energy consumed in water pump
production is 241 megajoules (MJ). Energy consumptions of
the other engine accessories can be estimated with the same
method.
Energy Consumption Analysis
Energy consumptions for new and remanufactured diesel en-
gines are compared in table 3. The manufacturing of a new diesel
engine requires 8,266.36 MJ (2,296.21 kilowatt-hours [kWh])
of energy, which is 2.96 times more than that of a remanufac-
tured engine that requires 2,786.44 MJ (774.01 kWh).
Natural Resources Consumption Analysis
There are three kinds of natural resources used in the pro-
duction of new and remanufactured diesel engines. Remanu-
facturing offers significant savings in coal and natural gas con-
sumption, which are 73.85% and 71.1%, respectively. On the
other hand, it causes a little more crude oil consumption as
a result of the production of kerosene, diesel materials, and
gasoline fuels that are consumed in old engine remanufactur-
ing. The results regarding the natural resources consumptions
for engine manufacturing and remanufacturing are shown in
table 3.
Environmental Emissions Analysis
Environmental emissions are produced in the process of the
production of steel, cast iron, aluminum alloy, nickel, diesel,
copper, kerosene, and electricity as well as in fuel combustion
during transportation. Table 3 compares the environmental
emissions during diesel engine manufacturing and remanu-
facturing, which shows that the remanufacturing process re-
sults in significant reductions in the most relevant air/water
emissions categories. For example, the production of a new
diesel engine produces 4.84 t of CO2 , whereas diesel en-
gine remanufacturing produces only 1.25 t of CO2 . It should
be noted that remanufacturing brings about more H2 S emis-
sions from the fuel combustion in old engine reverse logis-
tics. Figure 4 compares the total environmental emissions in
the life cycle of diesel engine manufacturing with those of
remanufacturing.
Life Cycle Impact Assessment
Although much more can be learned about the processes by
considering the LCI data, an LCIA provides a more mean-
ingful basis to make comparisons. Based on the LCI data,
LCIA is conducted for the environmental impacts mentioned
above according to ISO 14042 (Yang et al. 2002). At each
Liu et al., LCA of Manufacturing and Remanufacturing 571
 R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S

Table 3 Energy/resources consumptions and environmental emissions analysis of the diesel engine

Categories Manufacturing Remanufacturing Energy savings

Energy (MJ) Electricity 8,266.36 2,786.44 5,479.92

Resources (kg) Coal 2,703.74 707.71 1,996.03

Crude oil 104.13 66.24 37.89
Natural gas 24.81 7.17 17.64

Air emissions (kg) CO 15.37 10.33 5.04

CO2 4,844.01 1,250.33 3,593.68
SO2 14.44 11.43 3.01
NOx 11.83 4.72 7.11
CH4 13.42 4.21 9.21
H2 S 0.03 0.44 –0.41
HCL 0.84 0.29 0.55
CFCs 6.11E-06 1.98E-07 5.91E-06

Water emissions (kg) BOD 5.23 0.95 4.28

COD 5.94 1.10 4.84
NH4 0.05 0.02 0.03

Note: MJ = megajoules; kg = kilograms; CO = carbon monoxide; CO2 = carbon dioxide; SO2 = sulfur dioxide; NOx = nitric oxides; CH4 = methane;
H2 S = sulfuretted hydrogen; HCL = hydrogen chloride; CFCs = chlorofluorocarbon; BOD = biochemical oxygen demand; COD = chemical oxygen
demand; NH4 = ammonia nitrogen.

to be investigated under this project are GWP, AP, EP, ODP,

photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), and ADP.

Figure 4 Environmental emissions of diesel engine manufacturing
and remanufacturing.
CO = carbon monoxide; CO2 = carbon dioxide; SO2 = sulfur
dioxide; NOx = nitric oxides; CH4 = methane; H2 S = sulfuretted
hydrogen; HCl = hydrogen chloride; CFCs = chlorofluorocarbon;
BOD = biochemical oxygen demand; COD = chemical oxygen
demand; NH4 = ammonia nitrogen.
process in manufacturing and remanufacturing, the inventory
data sets, including resource extraction and air/water emis-
sions, were collected and classified into the impact categories.
Subsequently, through characterization and normalization pro-
cessing, the environmental impacts were calculated for each
category.
Characterization
Characterization provides a way to directly compare the LCI
results with each impact category. Based on the inventory data,
the results of LCI, such as raw material consumption, energy
consumption, and air/water emissions, were converted into im-
pact indicators by multiplying the characterization factor with
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CML
2002 (Guinée et al. 2002) method, and World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) methodologies (Yang et al. 2010; WMO
1992). Table 4 shows the results of the characterization of man-
ufacturing and remanufacturing processes.
Normalization and Weighting
Normalization expresses the potential impacts in ways that
can be compared with an equivalent value, and weighting as-
signs weights to the different impact categories based on their
perceived importance or relevance, which are based on the
characterization results. Normalization and weighing of five en-
vironmental impacts of manufacturing and remanufacturing are
shown in table 5. The results show that the environmental im-
pacts of manufacturing and remanufacturing are 1.72 and 0.86,
respectively (not including ADP).

Classification Interpretation
The LCI results are organized and combined into the im- Life cycle interpretation review information was obtained
pact categories by classification. The main impact categories from the first three phases of the LCA process in order to identify

572 Journal of Industrial Ecology

 R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S

Table 4 Results of characterization of diesel engine manufacturing and remanufacturing

Environmental Manufacturing Remanufacturing Characterization

impacts Substances quantity (kg) quantity (kg) factor Manufacturing Remanufacturing

ADP Steel and cast iron 767.02 9 1.66E-06 kg Sb-eq 3.96E-03 2.98E-03
CML2002 Aluminum 39.9 10 2.53E-05
Nickel / 0.388 4.18E-03
Coal 1,379.95 567.16 8.08E-07
Crude oil 46.36 60.06 9.87E-06
Natural gas 15.09 5.4 7.02E-06

GWP CO2 4,844.01 1,266.26 1 kg CO2 -eq 8,995.85 2,886.24

IPCC 2007 CH4 13.42 4.32 25
NOx 11.83 4.98 320
CO 15.37 10.33 2

AP SO2 14.44 11.43 1 kg SO2 -eq 23.52 15.82

CML2002 NOx 11.83 4.98 0.7
H2 S 0.03 0.44 1.88
HCL 0.84 0.29 0.88

EP NH4 0.05 0.02 3.44 kg NO3 -eq 1.54 0.32

CML2002 COD 5.94 1.15 0.23

ODP CFCs 6.11E-06 1.98E-07 1 kg CFC-11 -eq 6.11E-06 1.98E-07

WMO1992

POCP CO 15.37 10.33 0.03 kg C2 H4 -eq 0.46 0.31

CML2002

Note: ADP = abiotic depletion potential; GWP = global warming potential; AP = acidification potential; EP = eutrophication potential; ODP = ozone
depletion potential; POCP = photochemical ozone creation potential; kg = kilograms; kg Sb-eq = kilograms antimony (stibium) equivalent; kg CO2 -eq
= kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent; kg SO2 -eq = kilograms sulfur dioxide equivalents; kg NO3 -eq = kilograms nitrate equivalent; kg CFC-11 -eq =
kilograms chlorofluorocarbon-11 equivalent; kg C2 H4 -eq = kilograms ethylene equivalent.

Table 5 Normalization and weighing of environmental impacts of manufacturing and remanufacturing

Result

Environmental impacts Equivalent valuea Manufact-uring Remanufacturing WFb Manufacturing Remanufacturing

GWP 8,700 1.03 0.34 0.83 1.72 0.86

AP 36 0.65 0.44 0.73
EP 62 2.48E-02 5.16E-03 0.73
ODP 0.2 3.06E-05 9.90E-07 2.7
POCP 0.65 0.71 0.48 0.53
a Equivalentvalue of the national standardization, 1990, China.
b Weighting factors according to the reduction target, 2000, China.
GWP = global warming potential; AP = acidification potential; EP = eutrophication potential; ODP = ozone depletion potential; POCP = photochemical
ozone creation potential.

the data elements that contribute most to the results of LCI
and LCIA. The environmental impacts of the manufacturing
and remanufacturing strategies are compared and presented in
figure 5. It is evident that remanufacturing of a diesel engine
has a lesser contribution toward all the environmental impact
categories, when compared with its manufacturing equivalent.
The greatest benefit regarding environmental impacts is ODP,
which is reduced by 97%, followed by EP, GWP, POCP, AP,
and ADP, which can be reduced by 79%, 67%, 32%, 32%, and
25%, respectively.
Contribution analysis is conducted in order to quantify the
contribution of the life cycle stages or groups of processes, com-
pared to the total result, and examined for relevance (USEPA
2006). The environmental impacts of GWP, AP, EP, ODP, and
POCP, along with different life cycle stages of manufacturing
and remanufacturing options, are shown in table 6.

Liu et al., LCA of Manufacturing and Remanufacturing 573

 R E S E A R C H A N D A N A LY S I S

Table 6 Environmental impacts of different life cycle stages of manufacturing/remanufacturing

Environmental impacts Manufacturing Remanufacturing

Materials Materials Components Materials Old engine Components

production transportation manufacturing production reverse logistic remanufacturing

GWP 0.48 0.07 0.48 0.15 0.05 0.16

AP 0.29 0.03 0.33 0.30 0.03 0.11
EP 2.19E-02 1.81E-03 9.21E-04 3.44E-03 1.36E-03 2.95E-04
ODP 8.76E-08 1.33E-10 3.42E-09 9.87E-07 9.94E-11 1.15E-09
POCP 7.75E-02 6.10E-01 2.17E-02 1.16E-02 4.58E-01 7.38E-03
Note: GWP = global warming potential; AP = acidification potential; EP = eutrophication potential; ODP = ozone depletion potential; POCP =
photochemical ozone creation potential.

Figure 5 Environmental impacts of manufacturing and
remanufacturing. GWP = global warming potential; AP =
acidification potential; EP = eutrophication potential; ODP = ozone
depletion potential; POCP = photochemical ozone creation
potential.
Figure 7 Environmental impacts of the different remanufacturing
life cycle stages.
terials contributes most to POCP. The situations are similar for
diesel engine remanufacturing, that is, production of materials
brings about larger environmental impacts with regard to AP,
EP, and ODP; components remanufacturing and production of
materials exhibit the same amount of GWP impact; old diesel
engine reverse logistics can bring about less environmental im-
pacts, except POCP.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Figure 6 Environmental impacts of the different manufacturing life
cycle stages.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the results of the environmental
impacts as are presented in table 6. From the results, it can be
seen that during the life cycle of diesel engine manufacturing,
the production of materials brings about larger environmental
impacts, especially EP and ODP, whereas transportation of ma-
This study conducted a comparative LCA for a newly man-
ufactured diesel engine and a remanufactured one produced
by China SINOTRUK. The results obtained could be used in
the future for engine designing from a life cycle perspective.
The energy consumed in the engine accessory manufacturing
are estimated from the experienced specific energies of differ-
ent materials and so is done because they are not produced
by SINOTRUK. Accurate energy consumption for these parts
requires more detailed investigation and survey in the manu-
facturing of the accessories to guarantee the quality of LCA
data.
Being different from material recycling, remanufacturing “re-
cycles” the value originally added to the raw material, including
the cost of labor, energy, manufacturing operations, and so forth.

574 Journal of Industrial Ecology


However, recycling requires added labor, energy, and process-
ing capital to recover the raw materials. Remanufacturing could
make a greater economic contribution per unit of product than
recycling by cutting down energy consumption and resources
used for processing. From the analysis provided in this article,
it can be concluded that remanufacturing of a diesel engine
has a lesser involvement toward all the environmental impacts
categories, when compared to its manufacturing alternate. The
greatest reduction is in ODP, which is reduced by 97%. Though,
because of some restricting factors, the automotive component
remanufacturing industry in China is not complete, there are
few enterprises participating in the remanufacturing industry
and the scale of these enterprises is small. Because only five
assemblies could be bought from their own services, they are
still prohibited from being purchased from the dismantlers. The
Chinese government should formulate more supporting policies
to encourage enterprises to conduct remanufacturing. To date,
some relative policies have been released to support autoparts
material recycling, but these policies are far from enough to im-
prove remanufacturing industry development. Remanufacturers
should positively establish a thorough technical and standard
system in the industry to improve the quality and reliability of
remanufactured products (Zhang et al 2011).
The results in figure 6 show that production of the mate-
rials, mainly steel and cast iron, brings about serious environ-
mental problems. Future work will focus on building greater
efficiencies into the manufacturing and remanufacturing pro-
cesses, reusing a greater percentage of EOL components, and de-
veloping more sustainable, energy-efficient materials for diesel
engines. In the diesel engine manufacturing and remanufac-
turing life cycles, the environmental impacts are largely deter-
mined by electric power and material consumptions; thus, sub-
sequent analyses should focus on these two aspects for further
optimization.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from
SINOTRUK, Jinan Fu Qiang Power Co., Ltd., and the National
Basic Research Program of China (grant no.: 2011CB013406).
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About the Authors
Zhichao Liu and Qiuhong Jiang are Ph.D. students and
Tao Li is an associate professor, all at the Institute of Sustain-
able Design and Manufacturing, Dalian University of Tech-
nology, Dalian, China. Hongchao Zhang is the head of the
working group on Life Cycle Assessment, Remanufacturing and
Environmentally Benign Product Design and Manufacturing at
the Institute of Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, Dalian
University of Technology, and the interim chair and Derr En-
dowed Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering,
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
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