Life Cycle Assessment of The Belt Conveyor Idler Ball Bearing

Abstract

This paper deals with the LCA of a ball bearing used in belt conveyor idler. Previous work had shown that ball bearing is manufacture intensive product. Therefore herein conducted LCA is cradle-to-gate analysis and it was focused on the production stage of the ball bearing. Chromium steel and stainless steel were considered as ball bearing materials. Results had shown that chromium steel from the ball bearing has the highest environmental impact in all impact categories, followed by processes related to machining of the chromium steel and forging. Change of the lubricant harmed the environmental properties in this case. Future work should consider different materials for raceways and balls.