Carbon footprint and primary energy demand of organic tea in China using a life cycle assessment approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 233 ◽  
pp. 782-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Xu ◽  
Kelin Hu ◽  
Xiaolong Wang ◽  
Donghui Wang ◽  
Marie Trydeman Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Primary Energy Demand ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
Organic Tea

scholarly journals Environmental Performance of Soapberry (Sapindus Mukorossi Gaertn.) Cultivation in Southeast China based on a Life Cycle Assessment: A Potential Feedstock for Forest-based Biodiesel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiqi Liu ◽  
Jiming Liu ◽  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Benye Xi ◽  
Zhong Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Potassium Fertilizer ◽  
Southeast China ◽  
Primary Energy Demand ◽  
Net Carbon Sink

Abstract Sapindus mukorossi G. has been considered as a potential feedstock for forest-based biodiesel in China. To optimize the cultivation of soapberry and ensure its sustainable supply, an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted using a chronological approach combined with extrapolation. Soapberry plantations with two degrees of cultivation intensities were comparatively analyzed. For the studied environmental categories, nitrogen fertilization accounted for half or more of the global warming potential, primary energy demand, acidification and eutrophication potential. The main contributors to ozone depletion were pesticides and potassium fertilizer. The plantations with a relatively low cultivation intensity presented better environmental performance, mainly due to the lower input of fertilizers, but they are not a priority choice for soapberry cultivation because of low yield. Stakeholders should focus on how to reduce the environmental impacts of the plantations with a relatively high cultivation intensity in this area. Overall, classified management, increasing the yield, reducing the inputs of chemicals and decreasing the unproductive years are the key ways to improve the environmental performance of soapberry cultivation in Southeast China. Woody biomass carbon should be included in LCAs, and 3.71-5.11 t CO2 can be fixed by soapberry plantations per ha year, indicating that soapberry cultivation provides a net carbon sink.

Life Cycle Assessment of Typical Rubber-Plastic Sponge Production in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 913 ◽  
pp. 991-997
Author(s):  
Chun Zhi Zhao ◽  
Yi Liu ◽  
Shi Wei Ren ◽  
Yan Jiao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Fire Retardant ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Primary Energy Demand ◽  
The Impact

As a kind of high-grade flexible insulation and energy-saving material, rubber-plastic sponge insulation material is produced by taking butadiene-acrylonitrile rubber and polyvinyl chloride as main materials, together with auxiliary materials such as fire retardant, plasticizer, foaming agent and filler, through production processes as weighing stock, pre-smelting, mixing, extrusion, foaming and cutting and packaging. By taking 1m3 rubber-plastic sponge as the functional unit, this paper quantitatively obtains that the impact of the product on primary energy demand, greenhouse effect, acidification potential, photochemical ozone formation potential and respirable inorganics is 2,100MJ/m3, 74.9kg CO2 equivalent/m3, 0.356kg SO2 equivalent/m3, 0.244kg NMVOC/m3 and 0.0642kg PM2.5 equivalent/m3 respectively. This paper provides reference for enterprise's cleaner production and consumer's green material selection by making life cycle assessment for rubber-plastic insulation material, quantifying the environmental load of the product, identifying the environment hot spots in product life cycle and illustrating the environment compatibility of product.

scholarly journals Analysis and comparison of passive and climate-unadapted design in terms of resources, energy demands and thermal comfort by means of building simulation and life cycle assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012032
Author(s):  
A J Mayer ◽  
T Jürgens
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Indoor Climate ◽  
Additional Measure ◽  
Primary Energy Demand ◽  
Passive Design

Abstract The aim of passive design is to respond to the external climate using primarily structural means to achieve a comfortable indoor climate. The use of building technology is an additional measure. This paper compares the demand for resources, primary energy, and thermal and air-hygienic comfort of passive and climate-unadapted designs to determine the most energy-efficient and sustainable design. It also analyses whether user comfort suffers from reduced use of technical building equipment. For this purpose, a representative passive building model is compared with a climate-unadapted one. Comfort, primary and embodied energy are determined and compared by way of a simulation and life cycle assessment. The passive design presents a lower primary energy demand than the climate-unadapted one, even when embodied energy is taken into account. While the requirements of air-hygienic comfort are fulfilled equally in both types of buildings, the passive design displays better thermal comfort. This indicates that energy can be saved by employing a passive design.

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment of processing for chrome tanned cowhide upper leather

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
Heng YANG ◽  
Dexin AN ◽  
Carmen GAIDAU ◽  
Jinwei ZHANG ◽  
Jin ZHOU
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Environmental Effect ◽  
Current Method ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Leather Industry ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Primary Energy Demand

Pollution has become a serious problem in leather industry, however, current method to evaluate its environmental effect usually used data from literature review, those data generated while leather manufacturing were rarely collected and analyzed. Thereby, the aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental effect of manufacturing process of chrome tanned cowhide upper leather by applying the Life Cycle Assessment protocols. Following the guidance of ISO 14010, we first combined data obtained from field study and empirical review; and then these data were input into eFootprint for calculation. Results, including four environmental indicators (global warming potential [GWP], primary energy demand [PED], water utility [WU] and acidification [AP]), show that producing 1 kg of cowhide upper leather releases 7.040 kg of CO2 eq, consumes 106.793 MJ of energy and 89.144 kg of water and emits 0.058 kg of SO2 eq. Sensitivity analysis of inventory data demonstrated that chrome tanning and retanning processes accounted for more than 40% of PED, AP and GWP, whereas the beamhouse was more than 78% of WU. Therefore, we could optimise the tanning process by using alternative materials or technologies in the critical sections to achieve cleaner production and sustainable leather manufacturing.

scholarly journals Solar Photo-Assisted Degradation of Bipyridinium Herbicides at Circumneutral pH: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1117
Author(s):  
Alejandra Teutli-Sequeira ◽  
Ruben Vasquez-Medrano ◽  
Dorian Prato-Garcia ◽  
Jorge G. Ibanez
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Fenton Process ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
Energy Share ◽  
Circumneutral Ph

This study investigated the degradation of the herbicides diquat (DQ) and paraquat (PQ) by a solar photo-Fenton process that is mediated by Fe(III)-oxalate complexes at circumneutral pH = 6.5 in compound parabolic collectors (CPC)-type reactors. The photo-Fenton process operates efficiently at acidic pH; however, circumneutral operation was key to overcome drawbacks, such as acidification and neutralization steps, reagent costs, and the environmental footprint of chemical auxiliaries. This work revealed a remarkable reduction of total organic carbon for PQ (87%) and DQ (80%) after 300 min (at ca. 875 kJ L−1). Phytotoxicity assays confirmed that the treatment led to a considerable increase in the germination index for DQ (i.e., from 4.7% to 55.8%) and PQ (i.e., from 16.5% to 59.7%) using Cucumis sativus seeds. Importantly, treatment costs (DQ = USD$8.05 and PQ = USD$7.72) and the carbon footprint of the process (DQ = 7.37 and PQ = 6.29 kg CO2-Eqv/m3) were within the ranges that were reported for the treatment of recalcitrant substances at acidic conditions in CPC-type reactors. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evidenced that H2O2 and electricity consumption are the variables with the highest environmental impact because they contribute with ca. 70% of the carbon footprint of the process. Under the studied conditions, a further reduction in H2O2 use is counterproductive, because it could impact process performance and effluent quality. On the other hand, the main drawback of the process (i.e., energy consumption) can be reduced by using renewable energies. The sensitivity study evidenced that carbon footprint is dependent on the energy share of the local electricity mix; therefore, the use of more renewable electrical energy sources, such as wind-power and photovoltaic, can reduce greenhouse gases emissions of the process an average of 26.4% (DQ = 5.57 and PQ = 4.51 kg CO2-Eqv/m3) and 78.4% (DQ = 3.72 and PQ = 2.65 kg CO2-Eqv/m3), respectively. Finally, from the economic and environmental points of view, the experimental results evidenced that photo-assisted treatment at circumneutral pH is an efficient alternative to deal with quaternary bipyridinium compounds.

scholarly journals Carbon footprint and land use of oat and faba bean protein concentrates using a life cycle assessment approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 242 ◽  
pp. 118376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannele Heusala ◽  
Taija Sinkko ◽  
Nesli Sözer ◽  
Eemeli Hytönen ◽  
Lisbeth Mogensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Faba Bean ◽  
Protein Concentrates ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
Bean Protein

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of New High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) Modules and Multi-Junction Cells

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2916
Author(s):  
Jérôme Payet ◽  
Titouan Greffe
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Active Material ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Concentration

Worldwide electricity consumption increases by 2.6% each year. Greenhouse gas emissions due to electricity production raise by 2.1% per year on average. The development of efficient low-carbon-footprint renewable energy systems is urgently needed. CPVMatch investigates the feasibility of mirror or lens-based High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) systems. Thanks to innovative four junction solar cells, new glass coatings, Position Sensitive Detectors (PSD), and DC/DC converters, it is possible to reach concentration levels higher than 800× and a module efficiency between 36.7% and 41.6%. From a circular economy’s standpoint, the use of concentration technologies lowers the need in active material, increases recyclability, and reduces the risk of material contamination. By using the Life Cycle Assessment method, it is demonstrated that HCPV presents a carbon footprint ranking between 16.4 and 18.4 g CO2-eq/kWh. A comparison with other energy means for 16 impact categories including primary energy demand and particle emissions points out that the environmental footprint of HCPV is typically 50 to 100 times lower than fossil fuels footprint. HCPV’s footprint is also three times lower than that of crystalline photovoltaic solutions and is close to the environmental performance of wind power and hydropower.

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