Mid Sweden University

The main objective of this Bachelor’s thesis is to investigate and deliver the results of environmental impacts of two different designs of crane truck frames. The aim is to investigate if additional new design of crane truck frames, with less energy and transportation during manufacturing of the crane truck, can improve energy efficiency of crane trucks throughout their lifecycle. Case study object for this report is Vemservice in Vemdalen, Sweden. As basis for the report the The Life Cycle Analysis ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 are used in this report in order to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts related to the lifecycle of new and old designs of 92 tonmeter crane truck frames from cradle to grave. The data was mainly collected and calculated by using the SimaPro software 8.0.5 which is based on the Ecoinvent 3 database. This study mainly analyzes environmental impacts such as GWP (Global Warming Potential), CED (Cumulative Energy Demand) and ReCiPe environmental impacts. The results showed that although new design frame has less transportation and energy demand during the manufacturing phase of the crane truck, the overall life cycle of the new design crane truck frame has higher environmental impacts than the existing old design of the crane truck frame. This is due to that the new design frame is 213kg heavier than the old design frame, which the crane truck is carrying during its using period. This study also investigated whether the new design frame, with stronger steel (Ecoupgraded steel) and a reduction of 15% of the total weight of frame, has a lower environmental impact in the life cycle of the EcoUpgraded steel frame compared to the current new design and old design frames life cycle.