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Hand dismantling of end of life vehicles (ELV) may have limited use on recovering the majority of materials that will be in our future automobiles. Research is being conducted on automated methods to recover pure plastics from automotive shredder residue (ASR). As part of USCAR initiative, the Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), a cooperative effort among Chrysler, Ford and General Motors undertook a study to determine the feasibility of obtaining pure plastics from ASR using density and skin flotation separation technologies. The total project concept is described in this paper including important elements such as the detailed dismantling of a baseline vehicle to define total plastics complexity, shredding vehicles, collecting ASR samples and performing R&D work on automated recovery methodologies.

A study was conducted to understand the acoustic viability of using post consumer rebond seat foam materials in vehicles for floor carpet underlayment applications. These foam materials were obtained from two different sources: 1) polyurethane foam dismantled from seats of end of life vehicles (ELV or scrap vehicles), and 2) polyurethane foam recovered and cleaned from auto shredder residue (ASR) by the Argonne National Laboratories (ANL) using their cleaning method. The study was conducted using three North-American cars, each serving different market segments. Based on both laboratory and on-road tests conducted on each vehicle, the study concluded that the acoustical performance of the floor carpet underlayment part made of post consumer rebond foam is comparable to that of the current production part mostly made of shoddy materials.

Most studies on the properties and recycling of automotive shredder residue (ASR) have been carried out without fully understanding the composition of the input scrap. Equally important is understanding the type of shredding process, and types of processes utilized for separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the shredded material. The Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP) has been conducting a project:“Study of Plastic Material Recovery From Automotive Shredder Residue” [1]. One of the objectives of this VRP project is to determine the relationship between the shredder input and ASR properties. A 1995 Dodge Stratus was dismantled in detail to obtain information necessary for the project, such as material usage in the vehicle [2]. Then, under tightly controlled conditions, 14 late model Chrysler Cirrus and Dodge Stratus automobiles were shredded and processed.