Life Cycle Assessment of 3D-printed Coir Pith/Poly-Lactic Acid Sustainable Composites for Automotive Interior Application

The increasing awareness of sustainability and the use of sustainable materials is driving a shift toward natural particle- or fibre-reinforced bio-based polymer composites. Agricultural waste-based materials mostly end up in landfills, and their use for value-added applications will help minimise environmental pollution due to poor disposal. The personalised manufacturing using 3D printing leverages the desired orientation and selective distribution of materials to achieve the preferred design and ergonomics. Additionally, the use of customised interiors in automobiles is growing to satisfy customer needs, and 3D printing will help to achieve this economically. This study aims to evaluate the life cycle aspects of producing a coir-pith/PLA (polylactic acid) green composite using a personalised additive manufacturing technique. The background data needed are sourced from the Ecoinvent 3.11 database. The energy and resources used for material processing and manufacturing are estimated from industrial and laboratory-scale manufacturing machines. Cradle-to-gate analysis is carried out in these preliminary investigations. The single automotive interior part is considered the functional unit for this study. The unit processes for coir-pith/PLA composite include coir-pith extraction from coconut husks, composite filament extrusion using a filament extruder, and additive manufacturing using an FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printer. The different environmental impacts are compared and discussed.