Application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to Assess Actual Environmental Burdens Driven by PEBs

2015 ◽  
pp. 99-129
Author(s):  
Kiyo Kurisu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Burdens

scholarly journals Impacts of Nanosilver-Based Textile Products Using a Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3436
Author(s):  
Hani A. Abu-Qdais ◽  
Muna A. Abu-Dalo ◽  
Yazan Y. Hajeer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Synthesis Methods ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Environmental Burdens ◽  
Manufacturing Stage ◽  
Textile Products

Due to their properties, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in consumer products. The widespread use of these products leads to the release of such nanoparticles into the environment, during manufacturing, use, and disposal stages. Currently there is a high margin of uncertainty about the impacts of nano products on the environment and human health. Therefore, different approaches including life cycle assessment (LCA) are being used to evaluate the environmental and health impacts of these products. In this paper, a comparison between four different AgNP synthesis methods was conducted. In addition, four textile products that contain AgNPs were subjected to comparison using LCA analysis to assess their environmental and public health impacts using SimaPro modeling platform. Study results indicate that using alternative methods (green) to AgNPs synthesis will not necessarily reduce the environmental impacts of the synthesizing process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that has compared and assessed the environmental burdens associated with different nanosilver-based textile products at different disposal scenarios. The synthesis of 1 kg of AgNPs using modified Tollens’ method resulted in 580 kg CO2 eq, while 531 kg CO2 eq resulted from the chemical approach. Furthermore, the manufacturing stage had the highest overall impacts as compared to other processes during the life cycle of the product, while the product utilization and disposal stages had the highest impacts on ecotoxicity. Sensitivity analysis revealed that under the two disposal scenarios of incineration and landfilling, the impacts were sensitive to the amount of AgNPs.

scholarly journals Emission of toxic components as a factor of the best practice options for waste management: Application of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)

2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hristina Stevanovic-Carapina ◽  
Jasna Stepanov ◽  
Dunja Savic ◽  
Andjelka Mihajlov
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Landfill Gas ◽  
Leachate Collection ◽  
Integrated Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Burdens

Health and safety have been the major concerns in waste management. Waste must be managed in a way that minimizes risk to human health. Environmental concerns over the management and disposal of waste can be divided into two major areas: conservation of resources and pollution of the environment. Integrated Waste Management (IWM) systems combine waste streams, waste collection, treatment and disposal methods, with the objective of achieving environmental benefits, economic optimization and societal acceptability. Integrated waste management using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) attempts to offer the most benign options for waste management. LCA is a compilation and evaluation of the inputs, the outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. It can be successfully applied to municipal solid waste management systems to identify the overall environmental burdens and to assess the potential environmental impacts. This paper deals with the LCA of the two waste management options for final disposal of municipal waste, landfilling (landfill without landfill gas collection or leachate collection) and sanitary landfilling (landfill with landfill gas collection and recovery and leachate collection and treatments) analyzed for town Sombor, Serbia. The research is conducted with the use of the Software Package IWM-2. The indicators which are used in the assessment are air and water emissions of toxic compounds. The results indicated that waste disposal practice has a significant effect on the emission of the toxic components and environmental burdens. Sanitary landfilling of municipal solid waste significantly reduces toxic emission and negative influence on the environment.

Environmental assessment of different dewatering and drying methods on the basis of life cycle assessment

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Stefaniak ◽  
A. Żelazna ◽  
A. Pawłowski
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Drying Process ◽  
Energy Consuming ◽  
Environmental Burdens ◽  
Sewage Systems

Sewage sludge is an inevitable product of wastewater treatment in municipal wastewater plants and its amount has increased dramatically due to the growing number of sewage systems users. This sludge needs to be adequately treated in order to decrease its hazardous properties and any negative influence on the environment. In this paper, gate to gate analysis, on the basis of life cycle assessment (LCA), was carried out in order to compare the environmental impact of alternative ways of sludge processing employing a dewatering press and three different kinds of dryers – belt dryer, container dryer and batch dryer. SimaPro 7.2 software and Ecoinvent 2.2 database were used to estimate the carbon footprint and energy balance of these processes. The main energy consumption in the scenarios analyzed is caused by the drying process. The solution based on application of the batch dryer allows a saving of 39.6% of energy compared with the most energy-consuming solution using a belt dryer. Sludge processing using belt and container dryers cause greater environmental burdens.

Life-cycle assessment as an environmental management tool in the production of potable water

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 29-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Membrane Filtration ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Environmental Burdens ◽  
By Products

The environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used in this study to calculate and compare the environmental burdens resulting from two different methods employed in the production of potable water in South Africa. One method employs conventional processes for the treatment of water and the other one is based on membrane filtration. All inputs (raw materials and energy) and outputs (products, by-products and emissions to air, water and soil) from the two methods were listed and quantified. These inputs and outputs cause different environmental impacts (global warming, ozone depletion, smog formation, acidification, nutrient enrichment, ecotoxicity and human toxicity) and the contribution of each method to each of these impact categories has been quantified, resulting in a score. The ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) methodological framework for life cycle assessments guided this study. By using these methodologies and by tracing all the processes involved in the production of potable water to the interface with the environment, it was found that the main contributor to the overall environmental burden is the generation of electricity. This conclusion is valid for both methods investigated and in order to increase the environmental performance in the production of potable water the energy efficiency of waterworks should be increased.

scholarly journals Environmental impact of bamboo laminated flooring and bamboo scrimber flooring investigated via life cycle assessment

BioResources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 9132-9145
Author(s):  
Xiang Yu ◽  
Lizhen Zeng ◽  
Guofang Zhang ◽  
Hankun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Loads ◽  
Input And Output ◽  
Bamboo Scrimber ◽  
Whole Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Burdens ◽  
Strip Production

Bamboo floorings are the most important industrial products in the bamboo sector. With the aim of providing a useful guide for the development of bamboo floorings, this study quantitatively assessed the environmental impacts of the two primary types of bamboo floorings, laminated flooring and scrimber flooring, using life cycle assessment (LCA) software SimaPro. The purpose of this study was to find out which type of bamboo flooring is more environmentally friendly through quantitatively analyzing the input and output of materials and energy during the whole life cycle of the two types of flooring products. The present study demonstrated that the majority of the environmental burdens were associated with the process of bamboo strip production for bamboo laminated flooring (59.3%), and the process of panel processing for bamboo scrimber floorings (56.9%). In terms of environmental loads, bamboo laminated flooring was considered more sustainable than bamboo scrimber flooring, as the total environmental loads of bamboo scrimber flooring was approximately 1.6 times that of bamboo laminated flooring.

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment of aquaculture bivalve shellfish production — a critical review of methodological trends

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Andrés Vélez-Henao ◽  
Franz Weinland ◽  
Norbert Reintjes
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Waste Shell ◽  
Local Impacts ◽  
Bivalve Shellfish ◽  
Environmental Burdens ◽  
Full Text Screening ◽  
Made In ◽  
Organic Remains

Abstract Purpose The increase of shellfish production has raised environmental concerns, i.e., enrichment and redistribution of nutrients and energy consumption. Efforts assessing the environmental burdens arising from the expansion of shellfish production have been made using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Although LCA has been extensively applied and reviewed in aquaculture systems, shellfish production remains scarcely studied. The objective of this review is to identify methodological trends, highlight gaps and limitations, and provide guidelines for future studies. Methods A systematic literature review was applied to scientific studies published up to 2021. A total of 13 documents were shorted by abstract and full text-screening. Literature meeting the inclusion criteria were further analyzed in six different aspects of a LCA (functional unit, system boundaries, data and data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, interpretation methods). Discussion and guidelines are provided for each reviewed aspect. Results and discussions Shellfish LCAs differ considerably from other aquaculture studies mainly because shellfish avoids the allocation of impacts derived from the production of fishmeal. Co-products are present when the shellfish is processed, e.g., in canned products. Furthermore, shellfish studies do not take into account the positive credits from the removal of nutrients from the ecosystems and from the valorization of the shellfish waste (shell and organic remains). Limited information was found for countries outside Europe and species different from mussels. Despite the variability on goals and scopes of the studies, methodological trends were found. The local impacts of the shellfish with the farming area and the impacts on biodiversity have not been included into the studies. Conclusions and recommendations Effort should be made in providing the data associated with the fore-background system within the studies in order to improve transparency and to allow the reproduction of the results. Information regarding the natural condition of the cultivation area should be provided as the shellfish production depends mainly on non-anthropogenic conditions. Application of biodiversity assessment methodologies should be encouraged, despite their limitations.

Using LCA to Find Improvements for Hydrogen Production From Wind Electrolysis

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela L. Spath ◽  
Margaret K. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Energy Requirements ◽  
National Renewable Energy Laboratory ◽  
Consumption Energy ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Renewable Hydrogen ◽  
Environmental Burdens

Although hydrogen is generally considered to be a clean fuel, it is important to recognize that its production may have negative impacts on the environment. Examining the resource consumption, energy requirements, and emissions from a life cycle point of view gives a complete picture of the environmental burdens associated with hydrogen production. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) on a renewable hydrogen production process that employs wind/electrolysis. The results of the LCA showed areas where improvements would have the greatest reduction in stressors (i.e., resources, energy, and pollutants).

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