Sampling error in US field crop unit process data for life cycle assessment

Waternet, the water cycle company of Amsterdam and surrounding areas, uses the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to evaluate the environmental impact of investment decisions and to determine the potential reduction of direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of different alternatives. This approach enables Waternet to fulfil its corporate objective to improve sustainability and to become climate neutral by 2020. Three example studies that give a good overview of the use of LCAs at Waternet and problems encountered are discussed: phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater, pH correction of drinking water with carbon dioxide (CO2) and materials for drinking water distribution pipes. The environmental impact assessments were performed in SimaPro 7 using the ReCiPe method and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Global Warming Potential (IPCC GWP) 100a method. The Ecoinvent 2.0 and 2.2 databases were used for the material and process data. From the examples described, it can be concluded that only the phosphate removal case had a significant effect on the climate footprint. The article discusses applications and limitations of the LCA technique. The most important limitation is that the impact of water consumption and the possible impact of effluent compounds to surface water are not considered within the used methods.

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Life Cycle Assessment of water treatment: what is the contribution of infrastructure and operation at unit process level?

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.061 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 65 ◽

pp. 424-431 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Elorri Igos ◽

Alice Dalle ◽

Ligia Tiruta-Barna ◽

Enrico Benetto ◽

Isabelle Baudin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Water Treatment ◽

Unit Process ◽

Process Level

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Value Chain Analysis of Palm Oil Biodiesel through a Hybrid (ISO-Eco) Life Cycle Assessment Approach

KnE Engineering ◽

10.18502/keg.v1i1.514 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

Author(s):

Yosef Manik

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Value Chain ◽

Functional Unit ◽

Hybrid Approach ◽

Inventory Analysis ◽

Fresh Fruit Bunch ◽

Unit Process ◽

Palm Oil Biodiesel

This study assesses the life-cycle impacts of palm oil biodiesel value chain in order to provide insights toward holistic sustainability awareness on the current development of bio-based energy policy. The assessment methodology was performed under a hybrid approach combining ISO-14040 Life Cycle Assessment (ISO-LCA) technique and Ecologically-based Life Cycle Assessment (Eco-LCA) methodology. The scope of this study covers all stages in palm oil biodiesel value chain or is often referred to as “cradle-to-grave” analysis. The functional unit to which all inputs and outputs were calculated is the production of 1 ton of biodiesel. For the analysis, life cycle inventory data were collected from professional databases and from scholarly articles addressing global palm oil supply chains. The inventory analysis yields a linked flow associating the land used, fresh fruit bunch (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO), per functional unit of 1 kg of palm oil biodiesel (POB). The linked flow obtained in the inventory analysis were then normalized and characterized following the characterization model formulated inISO-LCA guidelines. The aggregation of ecological inputs was classified based on the mass and energy associated to each unit process in the value chain, which are cultivation, extraction, conversion, and utilization. It is noted that compared to other unit processes, cultivation is the most crucial unit process within the whole palm oil biodiesel value chain. This study serves as a big picture about the current state of palm oil biodiesel value chain, which will be beneficial for further improving oversight of the policy making and service toward sustainable development.

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Sustainable Manufacturing Analysis for Titanium Components

Volume 9: 23rd International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology; 16th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference ◽

10.1115/detc2011-48854 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dane D. Eastlick ◽

Misha V. Sahakian ◽

Karl R. Haapala

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Design For Manufacturing ◽

Process Models ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Strategic Decision ◽

Process Data ◽

Renewable Materials ◽

Unit Process ◽

Sustainable Products ◽

Titanium Component

Product designers are seeking effective ways to meet customer requirements, government policies, and internal business drivers for sustainability. Sustainable products encompass attributes including recyclable and renewable materials use, low energy consumption, cost competitiveness, and consideration of safety and health concerns. Beyond product attributes, however, sustainable products are cognizant of a broader life cycle perspective, which necessitates consideration of manufacturing and supply chain issues during design. Current life cycle assessment tools are often deficient in assisting design for manufacturing efforts due to coarseness of available process data or even a lack of representative process models. In addition, such tools consider only the environmental impacts and do not account for broader sustainability measures. Research with a titanium component manufacturer is addressing these deficiencies. A unit process modeling-based method is described to assist in strategic decision making to balance cradle-to-gate economic, environmental, and social attributes. A set of metrics is defined and used as a basis for comparison of design alternatives. The method is demonstrated for analysis of titanium component alternatives resulting from design for manufacturing activities. It is shown that this method can assist engineers in developing more sustainable products.

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Value Chain Analysis of Palm Oil Biodiesel through a Hybrid (ISO-Eco) Life Cycle Assessment Approach

KnE Engineering ◽

10.18502/keg.v0i0.514 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yosef Manik

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Palm Oil ◽

Value Chain ◽

Functional Unit ◽

Hybrid Approach ◽

Inventory Analysis ◽

Fresh Fruit Bunch ◽

Unit Process ◽

Palm Oil Biodiesel

This study assesses the life-cycle impacts of palm oil biodiesel value chain in order to provide insights toward holistic sustainability awareness on the current development of bio-based energy policy. The assessment methodology was performed under a hybrid approach combining ISO-14040 Life Cycle Assessment (ISO-LCA) technique and Ecologically-based Life Cycle Assessment (Eco-LCA) methodology. The scope of this study covers all stages in palm oil biodiesel value chain or is often referred to as “cradle-to-grave” analysis. The functional unit to which all inputs and outputs were calculated is the production of 1 ton of biodiesel. For the analysis, life cycle inventory data were collected from professional databases and from scholarly articles addressing global palm oil supply chains. The inventory analysis yields a linked flow associating the land used, fresh fruit bunch (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO), per functional unit of 1 kg of palm oil biodiesel (POB). The linked flow obtained in the inventory analysis were then normalized and characterized following the characterization model formulated inISO-LCA guidelines. The aggregation of ecological inputs was classified based on the mass and energy associated to each unit process in the value chain, which are cultivation, extraction, conversion, and utilization. It is noted that compared to other unit processes, cultivation is the most crucial unit process within the whole palm oil biodiesel value chain. This study serves as a big picture about the current state of palm oil biodiesel value chain, which will be beneficial for further improving oversight of the policy making and service toward sustainable development.

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Life Cycle Assessment of a milk protein fractionation process: Contribution of the production and the cleaning stages at unit process level

Separation and Purification Technology ◽

10.1016/j.seppur.2019.05.008 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 224 ◽

pp. 591-610 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

G. Gésan-Guiziou ◽

A.P. Sobańtka ◽

S. Omont ◽

D. Froelich ◽

M. Rabiller-Baudry ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Milk Protein ◽

Protein Fractionation ◽

Fractionation Process ◽

Unit Process ◽

Process Level

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Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of End-of-Life Silicon Solar Photovoltaic Modules

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app8081396 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (8) ◽

pp. 1396 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Marina Lunardi ◽

J. Alvarez-Gaitan ◽

J. Bilbao ◽

Richard Corkish

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

End Of Life ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Crystalline Silicon ◽

Toxic Substances ◽

Process Data ◽

Real Process ◽

Pv Modules ◽

Almost All

The cumulative global photovoltaic (PV) waste reached 250,000 metric tonnes by the end of 2016 and is expected to increase considerably in the future. Hence, adequate end-of-life (EoL) management for PV modules must be developed. Today, most of the EoL modules go to landfill, mainly because recycling processes for PV modules are not yet economically feasible and regulation in most countries is not yet well established. Nevertheless, several methods for recycling PV modules are under development. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology that quantifies the environmental impacts of a process or a product. An attributional LCA was undertaken to compare landfill, incineration, reuse and recycling (mechanical, thermal and chemical routes) of EoL crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar modules, based on a combination of real process data and assumptions. The results show that recovery of materials from solar modules results in lower environmental impacts compared to other EoL scenarios, considering our assumptions. The impacts could be even lower with the adoption of more complex processes that can reclaim more materials. Although recycling processes can achieve good recycling rates and recover almost all materials from solar modules, attention must be paid to the use of toxic substances during the chemical routes of recycling and to the distance to recycling centres due to the impacts of transportation.

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