Nissan to recycle Automotive Shredder Residue

Nissan Motor Company in Japan will begin recycling used automotive shredder residue (ASR) this fall at its Oppama Plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan will rebuild part of its waste incinerator for the purpose, marking the first time any car maker has used existing incineration facilities at its own plant to process ASR.

Greenbiz reports that the Automotive Recycling Law, which becomes effective in the latter half of 2004, will require carmakers to recycle ASR either on their own or through an outside recycling firm. According to Nissan, the company will continue to outsource ASR processing to an existing recycling company, but processing ASR at its own facilities will also allow Nissan to obtain data for study. Analysis of the data will be used to improve understanding of ASR processing, which could lead to reduced costs and better new vehicle design.

ASR consists primarily of plastic and rubber, and currently most of this residue ends up in landfills. Finding effective disposal methods other than burial is an important challenge. In addition, due to the heat generated by the thermal recycling process and the difficulty of regulating that heat, problems can occur with the adhesion and accumulation of burnt waste on the inside of the furnace and on the surface of boiler steam pipes. Nissan experimented with ASR recycling from 1997 to 1999 using a direct molten furnace, resolving a number of the problems that arise in the shredder residue recycling process.

The technology and know-how to be adopted by Nissan could be applied at other waste incinerators, and the carmaker is working to share its expertise. Moreover, rebuilding existing facilities is expected to require just one-twentieth of the investment that building new ones would require. A patent has been filed for this technology.

The processing of ASR at Oppama Plant was made possible by its Waste Zero Emission campaign, which significantly lowered the volume of waste created by the plant, freeing up the surplus furnace capacity required for recycling. The vapour generated by the process will be used for heating in the paint process and elsewhere.