A review of disassembly systems for circular product design

Circular Economy (CE) is described as a means for maintaining products and materials in circulation while regenerating nature. This shift requires considering aspects at the product design phase that were not previously prioritized. One such aspect, disassembly, is a key enabler for CE. Design for Disassembly methodologies have been deployed for several years to enhance disassembly performance. However, when CE is of interest, it is essential to consider how disassembly affects the entire product life cycle system. In this regard, this paper proposes a literature review of relevant DfD methods from a system engineering perspective to evaluate their effects on Circular Economy. In this regard, we provide a framework called Disassembly Systems Engineering (DSE) to encapsulate and describe the complexity of product disassembly activities. The review is analysed with the support of System Engineering theory, where the DSE is used to classify disassembly into five system levels, highlighting how critical disassembly information and parameters affect each level. As a final result, we identified five main parameters that affect product disassembly performance within the overall DSE. The article offers a novel understanding of the complexity of disassembly systems in the context of enhanced product circularity performance.