Cost-effective and environmentally responsible ways of carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRP) recycling are increasingly important, owing to the rapidly increasing use of these materials in many industries such as the aerospace, automotive and energy sectors. Product designers need to consider the costs associated with manufacturing and the end-of-life stage of such materials to make informed decisions. They also need to understand the current methods of composite recycling and disposal and their impact on the end-of-life costs. A comprehensive literature review indicated that there is no such tool to estimate CFRP recycling costs without any prior knowledge and expertise. Therefore, this research paper proposed a novel knowledge-based system for the cost modelling of recycling CFRP that does not require in-depth knowledge from a user. A prototype of a cost estimation system has been developed based on existing CFRP recycling techniques such as mechanical recycling, pyrolysis, fluidized bed, and supercritical water. The proposed system has the ability to select the appropriate recycling techniques based on a user’s needs with the help of an optimization module based on the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Estimating recycling costs has taken into consideration various factors such as different material types in different industries, transportation, and dismantling costs. The developed system can be employed to support early-stage designers and decision-making stakeholders in terms of understanding and predicting recycling costs easily and quickly.

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs) are commonly used materials in manufacturing components and products in the automotive, aerospace, and wind energy industries generating thousands of tons of waste, thus creating a threat to the environment if not recycled. Therefore, it is important for both academia and industry to investigate various ways of recycling this material. However, there is an urgent need for a reliable cost predication system to assist in making informed decisions, planning sustainable treatment, and developing pricing strategies for different waste treatment scenarios. This research paper presents the development of a fuzzy logic-based system to perform cost estimation of recycling processes of the CFRP. The developed system has taken into consideration uncertainties such as the characteristics of End of Life (EoL) material including its size and weight, its origin and diversity of existing recycling methods, and quantity of recycling waste. Cost drivers were divided into categories such as dismantling, transportation, operation, and capital cost. The system was developed by creating 243 fuzzy rules and three levels of fuzzy sets. Moreover, an interactive user-friendly interface was developed to enable the user to use the system easily and efficiently. Finally, case study results were examined to compare the whole life recycling cost of four different recycling technologies in various scenarios of waste treatment. The developed fuzzy logic-based system has the capability in evaluating the cost structure of CFRP recycling techniques and take into consideration uncertainty factors. Hence, a major contribution of the developed system is its provision of the heuristic rules that aid the decision-making process for selecting a cost-effective recycling method. The visualisation facility of the developed system is also a useful tool in enabling potential users to forecast the cost of the CFRP recycling techniques upfront.