Life Cycle Analysis of a Novel Process from the Automotive Industry in Mexico for Recycling Nylon 6,6 into Polymeric Coatings

Sustainability has converted the topic of the humanity and life-cycle analysis (LCA) is one of the main methods for evaluating the impact of each product, process, and system. Polymers, especially nylon 6,6, have found substantial relevance in several areas such as automobiles, packaging, food, batteries, etc., in the last years and estimation of their impact on the environment as well as persons from their increased disposal is of intense importance. LCA procedures are being employed to investigate the same in terms of several ecosystems, resources, and human-based restrictions but there are still some limitations to the same. This paper presents an overview of using recycled nylon 6,6 coating as an alternative to the traditional way of final disposal of this polymer, focusing on its life cycle, production, coating characterization, data reproducibility, and limitations. OpenLCA software was used for the LCA of the recycled coating formation processes. EIA09 software was employed to estimate the environmental impact assessment. Results obtained using EIA09 software show that the recycled nylon 6,6 coating has a low environmental impact with respect to soil contamination. This result shows a clear advantage of plastic recycling compared to the traditional final disposal.