ALCOA Sustainable
Campus
Fall 2013 – EDSGN-100 Section 003
Team #4: Ryan Butler, Rin Choi, Puvanan Selvam, Cameron Gray
Introduction
Aluminum is one of the most widely used and
available metals in society. However, not many people
know that among the consumer products containing
aluminum, most of them can be recycled.
Chip bags are made out of aluminum foil laminated
with plastic. This causes confusion when recycling because
people do not realize that it contains aluminum foil. Therefore,
most snack bags are thrown into the trash which makes it
impossible to recycle.
Our group has come up with an idea to easily recycle
both the plastic and aluminum foil. This proposal is made
feasible by creating a method to separate the recyclable
materials. Our idea is to incorporate a plastic tab in a chip bag
which makes it possible to pull away the plastic laminate.
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Contents:
Introduction
A. Understanding the Needs, Requirements and Definition of the Problem
B. Detailed Description of Competing Alternative Conceptual Options
C. Concept Options Analysis
D. Final Concept Proposal
Division of Labor:
Ryan Butler: Wrote each chapter of report, Edited each chapter and website, Made presentations,
Contributed idea concepts
Rin Choi: Web Master, Designed concept model in solid works, Designed Block Flow and
Process Flow diagrams
Cameron Gray: Wrote each chapter of report, Edited each chapter, Contributed idea concepts
Puvanan Selvam: Edited each chapter, Contributed conceptual ideas
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Ryan Butler, Rin Choi, Cameron Gray, Puvanan Selvam
EDSGN 100 Section 003
ALCOA Sustainable Campus
A. Understanding the Needs, Requirements and Definition of the Problem
The top ten aluminum manufacturers produce approximately 20 million tonnes annually.
The leading manufacturers being UC RUSAL, Alcoa, and Alcan. The raw materials come mostly
from South East Asia, West & Central Africa, and parts of South America. Some of the largest
aluminum processing plants are located in Hongjun, China (1060000 t/year); Jebel Ali, UAE
(1040000); and Krasnoyarsk, Russia (1010000). Some aluminum products include auto parts,
license plates, siding for houses, window frames, power lines, beverage cans.
Aluminum is widely used in the packaging of consumer products, such as food. This
packaging is widespread on Pennsylvania State University Park campus by the plethora of
vending machines in each residence hall, student activity buildings, and academic buildings.
Aluminum packaging is also present in all of the dining halls on campus. Also, packaging for
snacks, such as potato chips, is made out of aluminum. The major problem with aluminum in
packaging is that it is laminated with plastic or other materials that aren’t made out of metal.
Because of this, one cannot recycle it properly. People end up recycling the packaging
incorrectly or they just throw it in the trash.
The first stage of the aluminum packaging life cycle is assembling the raw materials into
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the product. In this case, aluminum and plastic laminate are the materials. After assembling the
packaging, it is packaged with consumer products, such as food. After this step, the packages
with food are transported to campus via shipping trucks. Then, people consume the products and
attempt to recycle the packaging. The packaging is then either mixed with other trash or
recyclable materials. The aluminum laminated with plastic is impossible to recycle without
separating the materials. We are investigating a new, sustainable aluminum packaging product
that can be recycled.
- Areas where raw aluminum is located
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Works Cited
“What is aluminum used for? – Curiosity.” Curiosity. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
<http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-aluminum-used-for>.
“Aluminum Industry.” All about aluminum. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.aluminiumleader.com/en/serious/industry/>.
B. Detailed Description of Competing Alternative Conceptual Options
Initial Ideas
Rin Choi:
- Aluminum body for a CATA bus:
o Human factors: Does not have much of an effect due to human factors because
once the body is replaced, no one would notice the difference.
O Innovative: It is innovative because it makes the bus lighter, therefore using less
fuel.
O Quality of life: Because the bus is using less fuel, it provides better quality of life,
less pollution.
O Implementation: It is very hard to implement this on campus, because it would be
very costly to replace buses.
O Economic viability: Annual cost of maintaining the bus would be much more
inexpensive than regular buses with heavy frames.
Ryan Butler:
- Chip bag:
o Human factors: People may be lazy to go through the process of separating
aluminum from the plastic laminate.
O Innovative: It solves the problem with recycling chip bags incorrectly.
O Quality of life: Because we are recycling aluminum from chip bags, we can
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reduce a significant amount of landfill and waste.
O Implementation: The process of adding a plastic tab to separate the components
would be fairly simple.
O Economic viability: This process increases the amount of aluminum recycling,
therefore reducing the amount of aluminum to be produced. (Aluminum is very
expensive to produce.)
Cameron Gray:
- Foamed aluminum dorm insulation:
o Human factors: There is no individual effort required from the consumers,
because once it is installed, there is no further maintenance
o Innovative: It is innovative because it is sound proof, fire resistant, light weighted,
and relatively inexpensive.
O Quality of life: It would keep the buildings quieter and well insulated. O
Implementation: It would be very hard and time consuming to replace the walls
with foamed aluminum insulation, because it would require tearing down the
walls.
O Economic viability: It would not be expensive to produce the foamed aluminum,
but it would be very expensive to implement and install.
Puvanan Selvam:
- Aluminum takeout box:
o Human factors: The only effort needed from the consumers is to return the box,
which is not likely to happen. (Laziness is big factor.)
o Innovative: It is innovative because it keeps the food warm and the takeout box
does not melt due to the food’s temperature.
O Quality of life: Because the takeout box would not melt due to the food’s
temperature, the harmful emissions would not be consumed. Also, this reduces
landfill and waste, because the takeout boxes are not to be thrown away.
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O Implementation: It would be hard to implement because the corporation is already
set to supply the Styrofoam boxes, therefore it would require negotiations.
O Economic viability: It reduces landfill and waste.
C. Develop and Compare Initial Concepts
*Block Flow and Process Flow Diagrams on next page*
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Block Flow Diagram
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Process Flow Diagram
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D. Final Concept Selection and Description
Aluminum is one of the most widely used and available metals in society. However, not
many people know that among the consumer products containing aluminum, most of them can
be recycled.
Chip bags are made out of aluminum foil laminated with plastic. This causes confusion when
recycling because people do not realize that it contains aluminum foil. Therefore, most snack bags are
thrown into the trash which makes it impossible to recycle.
Our group has come up with an idea to easily recycle both the plastic and aluminum foil. This
proposal is made feasible by creating a method to separate the recyclable materials. Our idea is to
incorporate a plastic tab in a chip bag which makes it possible to pull away the plastic laminate.
Other considered ideas included foamed aluminum for dorm insulation, aluminum body for a
CATA bus, and an aluminum takeout box. During the selection process (which can be viewed below), our
best ideas were the aluminum takeout box and a recyclable chip bag. We concluded that the recyclable
chip bag was the best option based on five categories: human factors, innovation, quality of life,
implementation, and economic viability. It scored a 2 for human factors because it requires individual
effort. It scored a 4 for innovation because it has not been done before. It scored a 3 in quality of life
because it could significantly reduce land fill waste and increase the quality of the environment. It scored
a 4 on implementation because chip bags are available everywhere and it is a part of a fast consumer
cycle. It scored a 5 in economic viability because it requires a sole implementation of a plastic tab.
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Fig. 1. Solidworks Screen Shot of Chip Bag with Tab Concept
Plastic Pull-away
Aluminum
Pull-away
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Fig. 2. Solidworks Zoomed Screen Shot of Chip Bag with Tab Concept
Plastic Pull-away
Aluminum
Pull-away
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