Environmental burdens of cataphoresis process

The objective of this study is to appraise the environmental burdens of a cataphoresis process, most widely used surface coating operation in automotive sector. An industry having an annual production of around 6,100 trucks and busses is investigated by adopting life cycle assessment methodology. This study is a pioneering one performed with the actual data obtained from a Turkish automotive factory. The impact categories evaluated are climate change, acidification potential, particulate matter and respiratory inorganics, photochemical ozone formation, ecotoxicity freshwater potential, terrestrial eutrophication potential, freshwater eutrophication potential, marine eutrophication potential, human toxicity midpoint cancer effects, ozone depletion potential, and resource depletion (water). The total energy consumption of the cataphoresis process is approximately 12.5 kWh/m². Electrodeposition coating and the following ultrafiltration water rinse baths are the main sources of the environmental impacts. The contribution of transportation has insignificant effects on environmental impacts for all categories. Furthermore, energy consumption has substantial influence on almost all of the environmental impact categories. The results related to various energy scenarios conducted with wind, photovoltaic and hard coal instead of Turkish grid electricity indicate the usage of wind energy lowers all impacts.