This study was performed jointly by ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment), Bologna and Florence Universities and the firm FINI COMPRESSORI. The functional unit is an axial air compressor manufactured by FINI COMPRESSORI, lubricated, having a 25-litres air tank, provided by 1.8 kW electrical motor. The system boundaries include raw material extraction and the end of life of the compressor. All metallic materials have the recycling as waste scenario. The LCA is obtained by using the SimaPro 3.1 code and the two methods Eco-indicator 95 and Ecopoints. The results show that air tank and stator of electrical motor are the components with greater environmental damage, even if the damage is mainly due to the electrical energy consumed during use. The most important categories of damage produced by the air tank are carcinogenic substances, heavy metals and acidification due to the material and processes used for its manufacturing and the ones produced by aluminium part of stator are acidification and winter smog due to material manufacturing. To reduce the damage of air compressor we have proposed some design solutions to lower air temperature in cylinder and at collector outlet.

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