Development of efficient recycling system for steel alloying elements in end of life vehicles

Abstract

Special steels, which have been imparted various properties by the addition of alloying elements, have become increasingly important as materials for human life in recent years. As the largest industrial consumer of special steel materials, the motor vehicle industry requires large volumes of various types of special steel for vehicle production. Scrap containing base metals and alloying elements is generated from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In current scrap treatment processes, alloying elements in steel materials are rarely considered, instead becoming impurities in steel recycling processes at electric arc furnaces (EAF) and losing their worth. In this study, with the aim of avoiding loss of useful steel alloying elements, we discuss effective treatment of ELVs for efficient recycling and use of steel alloying elements using waste input-output material flow analysis (WIO-MFA).