| Abstract Scope |
Copper industry makes a strong effort to achieve sustainable developments. Supply of copper as a raw material in electrical/electronic society is essential. On the other hand, copper resources are limited and its production requires a large amount of energy, especially in the field of ore processing. Then, major end product manufacturers demand a carbon footprint of copper material, especially recycled copper. It is doubtful that the LCA evaluation has been done at only the time of manufacturing recycled copper alloys. All metal materials cannot be recycled without primary metal. If the amount of copper alloy to be used can be covered by recycled copper, the LCA evaluation of the recycling process will be sufficient. However, it is unrealistic situation considering the recent growth in copper consumption. Therefore, I would like to propose an integrated LCA evaluation that includes copper ore extraction, smelting, and recycling processes in this presentation. |