Reduction of the Carbon Footprint in Automotive Filtration Applications by means of Alternative Materials and Optimized Product Design

Determining the carbon footprint of a product portfolio allows focusing on the most contributing materials and processes. The most important step is developing a meaningful CO2 database by compiling primary data with the suppliers. Secondary data from databases can complement the database but should be avoided especially for specialty materials. Conducting LCA’s for a broad product portfolio is not possible following a manual approach by using typical software. An automated process, using existing data from internal systems such as SAP and IMDS, is needed to compile the footprint for all kind of products and processes, providing a robust database for further strategy planning. Having identified the most impactful materials, developing alternative materials such as modified resins for filter media, renewable resources for sealing foams and fostering the usage of recyclate plastics offers high CO2 savings and reduction of crude-oil based materials. Alternative materials can lead to reduced emissions during production in case they need e.g., no curing of filter media or reduced temperatures in the curing ovens. Although the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is an overarching target of the industry, it is important to maintain product performance and longevity. A reduction of CO2 by 20% is not helpful if the product needs to be replaced twice as often due to missing robustness. Only customer acceptance will lead to market penetration of sustainable alternatives, and this requires keeping the product experience on a similar level.