As the main carbon dioxide emission source of manufacturing industry, sand casting technology plays an important role in energy conservation and emission reduction. Using a novel constrained rapid induction melting single spray casting process instead of the traditional sand casting process can save 21% of materials and reduce 57% of environmental impact compared with the traditional sand casting process. Optimizing the production line can also be an effective way to effectively reduce the impact of sand casting process on the environment. However, once the production line of the foundry is determined, it is difficult to adjust again. However, through the environmental design management of the foundry, it can be environment-friendly and reduce the cost. Another study shows that the carbon emission of machinery manufacturing can be significantly reduced through process selection and process arrangement.
As mentioned above, the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission of sand casting process are very large. Due to the increasing demand for energy efficiency and environmental protection of sand casting process, energy-saving modeling and energy-saving of sand casting process have attracted more and more attention. In order to reduce carbon emissions in the casting process, energy efficiency, as an important management tool to improve energy efficiency, has been introduced into the sand casting industry. In addition, many researches focus on the development of new environmental protection materials in sand casting process. Recycling waste heat from sand casting process is also an effective way to save energy and reduce emissions.
As the sand casting industry is one of the important sources of energy consumption and pollution emission, especially carbon dioxide, it is very necessary to take carbon emission as the implementation index of energy conservation and emission reduction. The estimation of carbon emission from sand casting has been concerned by researchers. For example, some scholars have established a model to calculate the carbon source emission of each process, and reasonable decision-making methods are also helpful for foundry to further realize cleaner production. The carbon sources in sand casting process can be divided into three categories: energy carbon source, process carbon source and material carbon source. The carbon emission generated by energy in its own manufacturing process also needs to be included in the carbon emission of energy carbon source. The energy utilization rate of smelting furnace is low. Therefore, the use of more advanced smelting technology can further develop the huge energy-saving and emission reduction potential of sand casting industry.
The above carbon emission calculation method is difficult to estimate and reduce carbon emission in the process design stage of sand casting. However, the optimal design of riser, sand mold and residue can effectively save energy, resources and reduce pollution. In order to obtain the low-carbon process of sand casting in the process design stage of sand casting, the carbon emission of sand casting must be calculated in the design stage.
In the research of sand casting process design parameters, at present, most of the research still focuses on improving the performance of castings through the optimization of sand casting process design parameters. In the optimization of casting process parameters applied by the optimization algorithm of teaching and learning, various objectives of casting parameter optimization can be achieved. Zheng Jun and others used process design parameters to calculate and optimize carbon emissions, and realized the calculation of carbon emissions and low-carbon optimization in the process design stage of sand casting. Therefore, low-carbon optimization based on casting process parameters is an effective method for energy conservation and emission reduction in sand mold foundry.