The report, Life cycle Greenhouse Gas Assessment of Remanufactured Compressors, details the results of a life cycle assessment that compared the emissions generated from refrigeration and air conditioning compressor remanufacture versus those produced through the manufacture of a new original equipment manufacture (OEM) compressor.

Assessment procedures

The assessment included two steps; firstly, the energy and material flow data of the two production processes were formulated using computer software to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions, and secondly, the software then converted each selected greenhouse gas emission into their carbon dioxide equivalents (i.e. kg of carbon dioxide).

Study outcomes

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It was determined that remanufactured compressors produce between 89 and 93 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than those associated with production of an OEM compressor.

An OEM compressor produces 9.52 kg of carbon dioxide per kg of total compressor unit weight (in this instance 167 kg), whilst a remanufactured compressor only produces 0.7 kg of carbon dioxide per kg of total compressor unit weight (also 167 kg).

It was also found that the greenhouse gas savings associated with a remanufactured compressor extend to purchase cost, with a remanufactured compressor of 15 kilowatts (kW), 50 per cent cheaper than an OEM compressor.

The analysis also confirmed that additional reuse and less replacement of parts can further reduce the overall carbon footprint of remanufactured compressors.

Why remanufacture?

By providing customers with remanufactured products, companies can offer the same level of service using fewer resources. In this way, remanufacturing can reduce the resource intensity and increase the eco-efficiency of product systems.

Additionally, by utilising recovered parts, remanufacturing can reduce the environmental costs associated with both the manufacturing and disposal of heavy and material-intensive industrial machinery.

Contextualising remanufacturing

If the carbon price was set at $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide an OEM compressor would face an offset cost of $79.50, while a remanufactured compressor would face a cost of $5.85.

Coles Supermarkets, the second-largest supermarket chain in Australia, use around 7,500 compressors in their stores with an average size of 27 kW. If these compressors overtime were completely replaced with remanufactured compressors some 19,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided.

Furthermore, whilst the carbon footprint of a remanufactured compressor can be improved by reducing the replacement of pre-used parts with new parts, if the functional objective was extended to include the disposal of the compressor, significantly higher greenhouse gas management benefits could be achieved.

Remanufacturing a cleaner future

This research can assist compressor manufacturers in both managing their carbon footprint, as it pertains to future carbon trading schemes in Australia, and can also assist in the market development of remanufactured compressors as more energy efficient alternatives to the traditional purchase of OEM compressors.

In addition, as mining resources start to deplete, remanufacturing and recycling will increasingly become the norm for industrial machinery and componentry, both on an economic basis and with the need to increase greenhouse gas management of production activities in carbon-constrained economies.