scholarly journals Study of Life Cycle Assessment of Bricks and the Impacts to the Environment in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1200 (1) ◽  
pp. 012012
Author(s):  
H Adnan ◽  
A T Balasbaneh
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Clay Brick ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication ◽  
Goal And Scope

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted in order to evaluate the environmental impacts of products chosen from the manufacturing phase and the end-of life cycle of the material and in clay brick and concrete were chose as the observed products. Brick is one of the important construction materials that can be seen at the surrounding. Main objective for this study is to investigate the impact of production of different types of brick to the level of emissions of carbon dioxide to the environment. Four stages of life cycle assessment were conducted before the result for the study analysis can be obtained and that stages including goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and the interpretation part. The results obtained from the simulation of the Simapro shown that the concrete contributes more negative impact compared production of clay brick in terms of global warming, ozone depletion, formation of fine particulate matter and ozone formation. Manufacture of clay brick contributes more negative impact to the ionizing radiation, freshwater eutrophication and mineral resource scarcity.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Households in Santiago, Chile: Environmental Hotspots and Policy Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2525
Author(s):  
Camila López-Eccher ◽  
Elizabeth Garrido-Ramírez ◽  
Iván Franchi-Arzola ◽  
Edmundo Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

The aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of household life cycles in Santiago, Chile, by household income level. The assessment considered scenarios associated with environmental policies. The life cycle assessment was cradle-to-grave, and the functional unit considered all the materials and energy required to meet an inhabitant’s needs for one year (1 inh/year). Using SimaPro 9.1 software, the Recipe Midpoint (H) methodology was used. The impact categories selected were global warming, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, mineral resource scarcity, and fossil resource scarcity. The inventory was carried out through the application of 300 household surveys and secondary information. The main environmental sources of households were determined to be food consumption, transport, and electricity. Food consumption is the main source, responsible for 33% of the environmental impacts on global warming, 69% on terrestrial acidification, and 29% on freshwater eutrophication. The second most crucial environmental hotspot is private transport, whose contribution to environmental impact increases as household income rises, while public transport impact increases in the opposite direction. In this sense, both positive and negative environmental effects can be generated by policies. Therefore, life-cycle environmental impacts, the synergy between policies, and households’ socio-economic characteristics must be considered in public policy planning and consumer decisions.

scholarly journals Assessment of Environmental Impact of the Gayo Arabica Coffee Production by Wet Process using Life Cycle Assessment

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Ikhsan Diyarma ◽  
Tajuddin Bantacut ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Liquid Waste ◽  
Inventory Analysis ◽  
Coffee Production ◽  
Arabica Coffee ◽  
Global Warming Impact ◽  
Wet Process ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Goal And Scope

Abstract Increasement of demand for gayo arabica coffee has influenced the coffee industry, either in increasing the coffee production and also in increasing the usage of coffee machinery and equipment significantly. However, combustion of oil fuels result the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) which increase the effect of greenhouse gases from the coffee production process. This study aimed to analyze the direct impact of gayo coffee production towards environment using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, including several stages such as (1) the goal and scope definition, (2) the inventory analysis, (3) the impact assessment, and (4) the interpretation. Results of this study showed that the energy needed to process 1000 kg of coffee was 7.67 MJ, while the produced liquid waste was 5 953.2 kg. The value of the global warming impact on the coffee life cycle was 56 807 165.63 CO2eq.

scholarly journals Manufacturing and Recycling Impact on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Innovative Wind Power Plant Part 2/2

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Patrycja Bałdowska-Witos ◽  
Krzysztof Doerffer ◽  
Michał Pysz ◽  
Piotr Doerffer ◽  
Andrzej Tomporowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Power ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Polymer Materials ◽  
Wind Power Plant ◽  
The Impact

The process of conversion of wind kinetic energy into electricity in innovative wind power plant emits practically no harmful substances into the environment. However, the production stage of its components requires a lot of energy and materials. The biggest problem during production planning process of an innovative wind power plant is selection of materials and technologies and, consequently, the waste generated at this stage. Therefore, the aim of this publication was to conduct an environmental analysis of the life cycle of elements of a wind turbine by means of life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The object of the research was a wind power plant divided into five sets of components (tower, turbine structure, rotors, generators, and instrumentation), made mainly of steel and small amounts of polymer materials. Eco-indicator 99 was used as an analytical procedure. The impact of the subjects of analysis on human health, ecosystem quality and resources was assessed. Among the analyzed components, the highest level of negative impact on the environment was characterized by the life cycle of the wind turbine tower. The application of recycling processes is reducing the negative impact on the environment in the perspective of the entire life cycle of all studied elements of the wind power plant construction.

A Framework for the Integration of System Engineering and Functional Analysis Techniques to the Goal and Scope of Life Cycle Assessment

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Esterman ◽  
Maria E. Fumagalli ◽  
Brian Thorn ◽  
Callie Babbitt
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
System Engineering ◽  
Identification System ◽  
Boundary Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Goal And Scope

With the increased concern over the impact that product and processes have on the environment several tools for environmental impact assessment have been developed. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is perhaps the most broadly known and used. The use of LCA is common in industry and there is a growing interest to improve the approach since several unresolved problems have been identified with its use. One important issue to resolve is the proper definition of the functional unit. The stated primary goal of the functional unit in LCA is to ensure comparability of LCA results; however, when reviewing the literature, LCA practitioners remark that comparing LCA studies is a very difficult task. The attributed reasons for this problem are the lack of standardized assumptions and practices, including the definition of the functional unit. Even though several unresolved problems present in LCA have had solutions proposed, a clear and actionable solution to the specific problem of functional unit definition is still not available. This paper will introduce system engineering and functional analysis concepts to the goal and scope definition phase of LCA in order to provide a framework for system definition, system boundary definition, and reference flows identification. System engineering principles and functional analysis have been extensively used to aid the design process, yet these approaches have not been effectively applied to the LCA domain. The benefits associated with the proposed framework include improved comparability of LCAs, dynamic updating of LCAs, and the integration of LCA into early stage product development.

scholarly journals Environmental life cycle assessment of yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) production for human consumption in Austria – a comparison of mealworm and broiler as protein source

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Dreyer ◽  
Stefan Hörtenhuber ◽  
Werner Zollitsch ◽  
Henry Jäger ◽  
Lisa-Marie Schaden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Production System ◽  
Tenebrio Molitor ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

Abstract Purpose Global food production needs to increase to provide enough food for over 9 billion people living by 2050. Traditional animal production is among the leading causes for climate change and occupation of land. Edible insects might be a sustainable protein supply to humans, but environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on them are scarce. This study performs an LCA of a small-scale production system of yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) in Central Europe that are supplied with organic feedstuff. Methods A combined ReCiPe midpoint (H) and CED method is used to estimate the potential environmental impacts from cradle-to-gate. Impact categories include global warming potential (GWP), non-renewable energy use (NREU), agricultural land occupation (ALOP), terrestrial acidification potential (TAP) and freshwater eutrophication potential (FEP). The robustness of the results is tested via sensitivity analyses and Monte Carlo simulations. Results and discussion Impacts related to the production of 1 kg of edible mealworm protein amount to 20.4 kg CO2-eq (GWP), 213.66 MJ-eq (NREU), 22.38 m2 (ALOP), 159.52 g SO2-eq (TAP) and 12.41 g P-eq (FEP). Upstream feed production and on-farm energy demand related to the heating of the facilities are identified as environmental hot-spots: Depending on the impact category, feed supply contributes up to 90% and on-farm heating accounts for up to 65% of overall impacts. The organic mealworm production system is contrasted with a selected Austrian organic broiler production system, to which it compares favourably (18–72% lower impacts per category), with the exception of freshwater eutrophication (6% higher impacts). Conclusions This case study shows that the Austrian mealworm production system compares favourably to traditional livestock systems. Compared to LCAs from large-scale T. molitor rearing facilities in France and in the Netherlands, however, the Austrian production system cannot compete for the reasons of production scale, feed conversion efficiency and type of production system. Nevertheless, the investigated mealworms represent a sustainable protein alternative that should be added to the Western diet.

scholarly journals The impact of the consumer’s decision on the life cycle assessment of organic pasta

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Elisabeth Gnielka ◽  
Christof Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Freshwater Ecotoxicity ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

AbstractEvery consumer’s decision has an impact on the environment, and even basic food products such as pasta have an impact due to their high consumption rates. Factors that can be influenced by the consumer include the preparation (cooking), last mile and packaging phases. The last mile has not been considered in most studies but contributes considerably to the environmental impact of pasta. The three phases and their environmental impact on the life cycle of pasta are analyzed in this cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The focus of the study lies on the impact categories climate change, agricultural land occupation, fossil depletion, water depletion, freshwater eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity. Inventory data were taken from other studies, were collected in cooperation with a zero-packaging organic grocery store in Germany or were gained in test series. Our results show that the preparation of pasta has the greatest environmental impact (over 40% in the impact categories climate change and fossil depletion and over 50% in the impact category freshwater eutrophication), followed by the last mile (over 20% in the impact categories climate change and fossil depletion) and lastly the packaging (nearly 9% in the impact categories freshwater eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity). Based on our study´s results, we provide some recommendations for minimizing the environmental impacts of pasta.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of biobased packaging solutions for Extended Shelf-Life (ESL) milk

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Cappiello ◽  
Clizia Aversa ◽  
Annalisa Genovesi ◽  
Massimiliano Barletta
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Shelf Life ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Packaging System ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Total Impact ◽  
Glass Packaging ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

Abstract The dairy market is one of the most important sectors worldwide and milk packaging contributes to over one third of the global dairy packaging demand. The end-of-life of the disposable packages is a critical stage of their life cycle, as demonstrated by the fact that disposable bottles are one of the litter items that are most found on beach shores. The aim of this paper is to analyse the performance of Bio-plastic bottles compared to other alternatives currently in use in the milk packaging sector, using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Bio-compostable plastic can be a powerful means to create a circular economy for disposable items. A PLA-based bottle is compared to a PET bottle, a HDPE bottle, a Multilayer carton and a Glass bottle. In the analysis, also secondary and tertiary packaging is included. The functional unit chosen is “the packaging needed to contain 1 litre of ESL milk and to guarantee a shelf life of 30 days”. Two sensitivity analysis are also performed in order to assess the influence of the end-of-life stage on the total impact. The results show that Bioplastic system has a better performance than fossil-based systems and Multilayer carton in the categories of Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, Human toxicity and Freshwater Eutrophication. The recycling scenario strongly changes the impact of the Glass packaging system in the considered categories.

scholarly journals A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane Production from Waste Feedstock Through Different Upgrading Technologies

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciro Florio ◽  
Gabriella Fiorentino ◽  
Fabiana Corcelli ◽  
Sergio Ulgiati ◽  
Stefano Dumontet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Membrane Separation ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Biomethane Production ◽  
Pressure Swing ◽  
The Impact

Upgrading consists of a range of purification processes aimed at increasing the methane content of biogas to reach specifications similar to natural gas. In this perspective, an environmental assessment, based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, of different upgrading technologies is helpful to identify the environmental characteristics of biomethane and the critical steps for improvement. The aim of this work is to conduct an LCA of biomethane production from waste feedstock, using the SimaPro software. The study focuses on the comparison of several upgrading technologies (namely, membrane separation, cryogenic separation, pressure swing adsorption, chemical scrubbing, high pressure water scrubbing) and the on-site cogeneration of electricity and heat, including the environmental benefits deriving from the substitution of fossil-based products. The results show a better environmental performance of the cogeneration option in most of the impact categories. The Fossil resource scarcity is the impact category which is mainly benefited by the avoided production of natural gas, with savings of about 0.5 kg oil eq/m3 of biogas for all the investigated technologies, with an average improvement of about 76% compared to conventional cogeneration. The results show that the membrane upgrading technology is slightly more environmentally convenient than the other upgrading technologies.

scholarly journals A Life Cycle Assessment of Two Residential Buildings Using Two Different LCA Database-Software Combinations: Recognizing Uniformities and Inconsistencies

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nargessadat Emami ◽  
Jukka Heinonen ◽  
Björn Marteinsson ◽  
Antti Säynäjoki ◽  
Juha-Matti Junnonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Concrete Element ◽  
The Impact

Traditionally, the emissions embodied in construction materials have not been considered important; however, they are becoming crucial due to the short time-frame in which the emissions should be reduced. Moreover, evaluating the environmental burden of construction materials has proven problematic and the reliability of the reported impact estimates is questionable. More reliable information from the construction sector is thus urgently needed to back and guide decision-making. Currently, the building sector environmental impact assessments predominantly employ commercial software with environmental impact databases and report results without knowledge about the impact of the software/database choice on the results. In this study, estimates for the embodied environmental impacts of residential construction from the two most widely used life cycle assessment (LCA) database-software combinations, ecoinvent with SimaPro software and GaBi, are compared to recognize the uniformities and inconsistencies. The impacts caused by two residential buildings of different types, a concrete-element multi-story residential building and a detached wooden house, both located in Finland, were assessed, including all building systems with a high level of detail. Based on the ReCiPe Midpoint method, fifteen impact categories were estimated and compared. The results confirm that the tool choice significantly affects the outcome. For the whole building, the difference is significant, around 15%, even in the most widely assessed category of Climate Change, and yields results that lean in different directions for the two cases. In the others, the estimates are entirely different, 40% or more in the majority of the categories and up to several thousand percentages of difference. The main conclusion is that extensive work is still urgently needed to improve the reliability of LCA tools in the building sector in order to provide reliable and trustworthy information for policy-making.

scholarly journals 2-Piece Cork Stoppers as Alternative for Valorization of Thin Cork Planks: Analysis by LCA Methodology

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 873
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Flor-Montalvo ◽  
Agustín Sánchez-Toledo Ledesma ◽  
Eduardo Martínez Cámara ◽  
Emilio Jiménez-Macías ◽  
Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Lca Methodology ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Thickness ◽  
Cork Stoppers ◽  
Wine Bottle

Natural stoppers are a magnificent closure for the production of aging wines and unique wines, whose application is limited by the availability of raw materials and more specifically of cork sheets of different thickness and quality. The growing demand for quality wine bottle closures leads to the search for alternative stopper production. The two-piece stopper is an alternative since it uses non-usable plates in a conventional way for the production of quality caps. The present study has analyzed the impact of the manufacture of these two-piece stoppers using different methodologies and for different dimensions by developing an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), concluding that the process phases of the plate, its boiling, and its stabilization, are the phases with the greatest impact. Likewise, it is detected that the impacts in all phases are relatively similar (for one kg of net cork produced), although the volumetric difference between these stoppers represents a significant difference in impacts for each unit produced.

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