PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
MAIN PAGE | SPEECHES & EDITORIALS | 1999 | REGENERABLE RESOURCES IN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES

The Use of Regenerable Resources in the Automotive Industries Hiroyuki Shimojima Senior Managing Director, Honda Motor Co.,Ltd. Tuesday, May 18, 1999 The Challenges of the Next Century for the Pacific Basin 32nd International General Meeting of the Pacific Basin Economic Council Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre Hong Kong, China May 17-19, 1999 Beginning I have been assigned the extremely broad and difficult topic of "The Use of Renewable Resources". Therefore, I will talk about how recycled resources should be used to promote economic development in the Pacific Rim for the 21st century, using the automotive industry as an example. Part 1. Recognizing the Current State of Natural Resources Today I would like to discuss the effective use of natural resources, viewing them in terms of both energy and raw material resources, and concluding with the situation in the automobile industry, which faces many of the same problems that you do. With that, let us consider some of the global issues concerning natural resources. 1-1. Issues Concerning Energy Resources Figure 1. Predicted Energy Distribution in 2100 The left-hand graph shows what will happen if we do not curtail our consumption of fossil fuels. Petroleum and natural gas will reach their supply peaks in quick succession, and coal will inevitably become the dominant fuel. Moreover, since increased use of fossil fuel energy will accelerate global warming, we will need to transform our energy structure over the long term. The right-hand graph shows a model in which we curtail our use of fossil fuel energy. In this scenario, the use of renewable energy increases by a wide margin. 1-2. Issues Concerning Mineral Resources Figure 2. Changes in Production Levels of Major Metals When we look at raw material resources, however, we find the amount of mineral resources that can be mined annually decreasing from year to year, and the influence of shortages of such minerals as copper and lead may lead to a critical situation in our production activities. It would be desirable, from the point of view of both protecting the environment and decreasing the amount of waste, to find new mining methods for iron and aluminum. 1-3. Environmental Damage due to Exploitation of Resources Figure 3. Destruction of the Natural Environment due to Resource Mining Furthermore, there have been reports of pollution by hazardous substances due to flows of earth and sand at mining sites, along with decreases in indigenous species due to deforestation. 1-4. The Problem of Wastes Figure 4. The Current State of Waste Disposal Sites I will briefly mention wastes as the final issue. With demands for waste reduction throughout the world, the amount of industrial waste produced in Japan has leveled off in recent years. However, in order to preserve the environment, we will have to make even greater efforts to reduce wastes. 1-5. Summary of Issues Figure 5. Summary of Issues and Countermeasures To summarize these issues, I may say that we need to switch to non-fossil fuel energy, due to problems with depletion, global warming, and environmental damage. We will also have to begin recycling natural resources, due to problems with depletion, waste products, and environmental damage. Part 2. Renewable Energy 2-1. The Energy Outlook for Automobiles Figure 6. Energy Outlook for Automobiles Having taken note of the current issues surrounding natural resources, I would like to provide an overview of energy for the automobiles. The important thing is to promote effective use of renewable energy over the long term in order to solve the problems that I have just mentioned. As a next step, we are currently putting the infrastructure in place for alternative, non-petroleum fuels for automobiles, and in addition, we will probably see increased use of compressed natural gas (CNG), which is very effective in reducing toxic gases and carbon dioxide. However, after the middle of the 21st century, a transformation in the energy structure will begin, and the proportion of renewable energy sources will increase. At present, when we're talking about renewable energy sources for automobiles, we have to mention alcohol manufactured from plant resources, otherwise known as "biomass alcohol." Hydrogen obtained through reformed alcohol and electrolysis of water are promising candidates for the future. 2-2. Biomass Alcohol Figure 7. Biomass/Alcohol Cycle Recently, biomass alcohol, with a higher energy density than the gaseous fuel CNG, has been attracting a lot of attention, so I will explain the concept behind it. This fuel constitutes a cycle of biomass cultivation and production, alcohol generation, and fuel reformation, so cultivating the plants compensates for the CO2 produced during fuel reformation. This is why we call it "renewable" energy. 2-3. Fuel Cells 2-3-1. How Fuel Cell Works Figure 8. Operation Principle of Fuel Cell Now I would like to describe some examples of applications of renewable energy. Fuel cells are the power source that has attracted the most attention from the automotive companies. They are generating device that produces electricity by causing hydrogen to react with oxygen. Electricity is produced when hydrogen ion shift in a high polymer electrolyte membrane and react with oxygen at an electrode. This is a low-temperature chemical reaction with a high energy conversion rate of about 60%. In addition, the only by-product is water, and carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and other hazardous exhaust gases are not created. 2-3-2. Fuel Cells System Figure 9. Comparison of Types of Fuel Cells What you see here is a block diagram of a fuel cell system. Type 1 is the methanol reforming fuel cell. This system sends methanol and water to the reforming device, and isolates hydrogen from methanol using heat and a catalytic reaction, and sends it to the main fuel cell. In the reforming fuel cell, a small amount of CO2 is generated in the process of isolating hydrogen. The water created by the reaction in the fuel cell itself, however, can be reused for reforming. Since the generation of hydrogen involves combustion, a small amount of CO2 is produced. This kind of system is complex, and we have not yet solved the problems of increased weight and increased costs. Type 2 is the hydrogen direct supply fuel cell. Compared to methanol reformation, this is a simple process, but we still haven't figured out how to guarantee the safety of the hydrogen, to store it within the automobile, or to provide the necessary infrastructure. Based on the above considerations, if we want to promote early adoption of alternative fuels, the methanol reforming type using readily available liquid alcohol fuels seems to be the more promising option. Besides, if the biomass alcohol that I mentioned earlier becomes readily available, this technology can become a CO2 recycling type power unit without modification. If the infrastructure for hydrogen is put in place some day, we will be able to make use of hydrogen produced by solar energy electrolysis of water, and this will provide us with a never-ending supply of clean energy. Figure 10. Diagram of Methanol Fuel Cell Car The research and development of these technologies is fraught with difficulties, but they will be absolutely essential measure as an extremely clean power supply unit for the automotive industry in the 21st century because of the use of renewable energy that do not depend on fossil fuel energy. Honda is pushing ahead with its research, aiming to develop practical applications as soon as possible. Part 3. Recycling Raw Material Resources Based on our current understanding of the situation, I am going to talk about the current state of efforts in resource recycling. 3-1. Efforts in the Japanese Automotive Industry 3-1-1. Recycle Initiative Figure 11. Recycle Initiatives of End of Life Vehicle(MITI) In the Japanese automotive industry, companies have been cooperating with related businesses and making voluntary efforts in accordance with the guidelines in MITI's Recycling Initiative, put forward in 1997. The role of the automotive manufacturers is to commit to producing automobiles with a high recyclable rate and to reduce the use of hazardous substances such as lead. 3-1-2. Flowchart of Automobile Recycling Figure 12. Flowchart of Automobile Recycling in Japan This is how Japan's recycling sequence works. About one million of Japan's five million cars no longer in use are recycled. About 500,000 to 600,000 vehicles are exported overseas for sale as second-hand vehicles. The remaining four million cars are dismantled or shredded. About 20% of the dismantled parts are reused as second-hand parts. After the cars have been shredded, about 55% of the scrap iron and aluminum are used as recycled raw material resources. The amount of "shredder dust" that ends up in landfills is 25%, which means that the current recycling rate in Japan is 75%. After 2002, this recycling rate ought to be 85% or more. The recycling rate for electronics products ought to be 50% or more after 2001. For example, the current rate for refrigerators is 24%. Let us say that the recycling rate for automobiles is greater than that for electronics products. Figure 13. Flowchart of Material Recycling But currently, these recycling materials are used for such lower quality materials as building materials without returning to automobiles. Automotive industry has now the objectives of recycling process for superior quality can be used to automobiles, and increasing the recycling rate to 85% or more. 3-2. Honda's Efforts I'm going to give you an actual example of the efforts that Honda has already started to create such a recycling. 3-2-1. Material Recycling (Bumper Recycling) Figure 14. Bumper Recycling I'm going to tell you about one type of materials recycling, namely, bumper recycling. Since 1983, Honda has been using the easy recyclable material polypropylene resin in bumpers, and since 1991, it has taken advantage of this characteristic to recycle replacement bumpers. The upper diagram shows the recycling of old bumpers by reusing them in bumpers of superior quality. The use of recycled resins without processing results in a deterioration of quality because of impurities in the paint. This problem was resolved in 1996 by the perfection of the "sandwich molding technology". In this process, recycled materials are used for 30% of the core section, while the exterior is covered with new resin. This enabled the mass production of bumpers as replacement parts and for use on mass-produced automobiles. The lower diagram shows the recycling of old bumpers by reusing them in bumpers of lower quality. In this method, recycled material accounts for 20% of the 50 kilograms of the polypropylene resin used for one automobile. 3-2-2. Material Recycling ?Aluminum Recycling? Figure 15. Aluminum Recycling Process Next, I would like to describe "aluminum upgrade recycling process" that we at Honda have mastered recently. Ordinarily, aluminum parts are recycled for use as aluminum casting materials. "Fraction process by crystallization" enables the recycling of these parts for "superior quality aluminum extrusion materials" to be used in automobiles. Figure 16. Aluminum Engine Recycling The "upgrade recycling process" also is being employed for the recycling of aluminum engines. We would like to expand the use of this technology in the future, beginning with a frame component, so called steering hunger beam. 3-2-3. Parts Recycling Figure 17. Remanufactuaring Next, I'd like to talk about a form of parts recycling known as "remanufacturing." Remanufacturing involves separating the usable from the unusable parts in totaled cars and replacing the worn-out parts with new parts. To use the power steering components as an example, such constituent elements as the housing, pinion gears, and steering racks are reused as parts. The pipes and bolts are used for raw materials, while the bearings and boots are disposed of. By weight, 24% of the parts for each power steering components are exchanged for new parts, while the remaining 76% are reused. In addition, we are remanufacturing the five components that make up the drive shaft. As a result, the prices of remanufacturing parts are less than 30 % in compared with new parts. 3-2-4. Environmental Impact of Renewing Resources Figure 18. Energy Usage during Recycling Even if we can reduce the use of mineral resources through renewal, as in the examples of renewable resources that I have provided, we end up using a great deal of fossil fuel energy, exerting a negative influence on the environment. From the point of view of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), I've made up a graph comparing the energy used in creating natural resources from mineral resources and recreating them from recycled scrap materials. It's a comparison of iron, aluminum, and plastics, the main materials used in automobiles. As you can see, making components from scrap is much more energy efficient than using newly mined mineral resources, and resource renewal is effective to reduce environmental impact. 3-2-5. Economical Costs of Renewing Resources Figure 19. Estimate Costs of Dismantling / Recycling The cases I already have cited must be established as economical costs of recycling. First, I'd like to explain the costs involved in turning the major components of totaled cars into renewable resources. This graph shows that the greatest costs are incurred during dismantling of the totaled cars. The other phases of the process, such as sorting parts, collecting and transporting them, and processing them into new parts, contribute much less to the total cost. We will aggressively promote the development of such important projects as dismantling technology for the efficient conduct of dismantling operations, as well as designs that will make it easier to dismantle the cars of the future. Part 4. Towards Sustainable Growth Figure 20. Summary Now I'd like to build on what I've already said to use Honda as an example in summarizing what directions automotive industry will take and should deal with this. Our goals ought to effectively employ recyclable resources to achieve sustainable industrial growth and to protect the global environment. This will require greater use of renewable resources. The challenges facing us include: 1. Long-term usage of used cars 2. Parts recycling 3. Material recycling 4. Development of the concept that make it easier to dismantle 5. Economical resource collection and renewal system We believe there are new business opportunities in these fields. In conclusion, we believe that improving the legal system for recycling, developing technology for recycling, unifying standards for recycling worldwide activities will be effective in promoting use of renewable resources. We look forward to discussing these issues at international conferences such as this meeting.