Environmental Evaluation of Papercrete Based on Life Cycle Assessment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Wang ◽  
Derrick Tate ◽  
Chee Chin
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Waste Paper ◽  
Recycled Paper ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Concrete Production

Papercrete, which uses waste paper as an alternative ingredient in concrete, is regarded as one type of mix design for green concrete that provide a new opportunity for waste paper disposal. However, the specific environmental influence of introducing waste paper has not been not clarified. Therefore, to evaluate the environmental contribution and feasibility of papercrete, based on the papercrete unit, the comparison of concrete production coupled with waste paper disposal is conducted according to a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis. The system of papercrete production discussed here covers raw material extraction to finished product. Three different treatments for waste paper combined with concrete production are considered in this study. With respect to most environmental indicators, the results indicate that papercrete by introducing waste paper achieves some environmental benefits. The major reasons that environmental indicators of papercrete improve are due to the reduction of natural resource utilization and emissions to air. In detail the environmental impacts of papercrete production acquire a remarkable improvement compared with impact of normal concrete production and the adoption of incineration disposal of waste paper. Nevertheless, the environmental benefits of papercrete production are not significant increased compared with the associated system when waste paper is collected for the manufacture of recycled paper, where most environmental indicators of papercrete production are only slightly increased.

Research on Life Cycle Assessment of Plastic Pipeline System

2016 ◽  
Vol 847 ◽  
pp. 366-373
Author(s):  
Chun Zhi Zhao ◽  
Meng Chi Huang ◽  
Yi Liu ◽  
Li Ping Ma
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Renewable Resource ◽  
Resource Consumption ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Pipeline System

Plastic pipe is a kind of new pipeline material and its output has been increasing in recent years. It is still mainly used for water supply and drainage of buildings and municipal utility industry as well as for safe drinking in rural areas, about half of all plastic pipelines are used for buildings, and the proportion of these pipelines used in other fields is also increasing. Plastic pipeline system's influence on the environment within its life cycle is the focus of researches in recent years. Based on life cycle assessment (LCA), this paper assesses the common water supply and drainage pipelines (PPR, PE and PVC-U) for buildings for resource and energy consumption, non-renewable resource consumption (ADP) of pollution gas emission, greenhouse effect (GWP), acidification effect (AP) and eutrophication (EP) and inhalable inorganics (RI) generated in the process of life cycle from raw material exploitation to produce production and other environmental influence closely related to the national energy conservation and emission reduction policy. The result shows that the influence indexes of non-renewable resource consumption for functional unit of PPR pipe, PE pipe and PVC-U pipe are 2.22×10-5 Kg antimony eq./ kg, 1.51×10-5 Kg antimony eq./ kg, 6.82×10-6 Kg antimony eq./ kg; those of acidification effect are 1.92×10-2kg SO2 eq./ kg, 1.96×10-2g SO2 eq./ kg, 3.90×10-2kg SO2 eq./ kg; those of eutrophication are 2.39×10-3kg PO43-eq./ kg, 2.36×10-3kg PO43-eq./ kg, 3.40×10-3kg PO43-eq./ kg; those of inhalable inorganics are 6.46×10-3 kg PM2.5 eq./ kg, 6.30×10-3 kg PM2.5 eq./ kg, 1.91×10-2 kg PM2.5 eq./ kg; those of greenhouse effect are 3.72kg CO2 eq./ kg, 3.60kg CO2 eq./ kg, 7.93kg CO2 eq./ kg. This result shows that the environmental influence of PPR, PE and PVC-U pipes mainly depends on the raw materials required for producing pipes, so the key of plastic pipeline greening is to reduce the consumption of virgin resin. This investigation creates a database about plastic pipeline's influence on environment within its full life cycle for the purpose of laying a foundation for calculating intrinsic energy in a building, promoting selection of green building material, facilitating the realization of green building objective, and improving the knowledge of developer, constructor and user to potential influence of the pipeline system within its life cycle.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of SEWGS Technology Applied to Integrated Steel Plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letitia Petrescu ◽  
Dora-Andreea Chisalita ◽  
Calin-Cristian Cormos ◽  
Giampaolo Manzolini ◽  
Paul Cobden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Steel Mill ◽  
Iron And Steel ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Liquid Absorption

The environmental evaluation of the sorption-enhanced water–gas shift (SEWGS) process to be used for the decarbonization of an integrated steel mill through life cycle assessment (LCA) is the subject of the present paper. This work is carried out within the STEPWISE H2020 project (grant agreement No. 640769). LCA calculations were based on material and energy balances derived from experimental activities, modeling activities, and literature data. Wide system boundaries containing various upstream and downstream processes as well as the main integrated steel mill are drawn for the system under study. The environmental indicators of the SEWGS process are compared to another carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology applied to the iron and steel industry (e.g., gas–liquid absorption using MEA). The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for SEWGS technology is about 40%. For the other impact indicators, there is an increase in the SEWGS technology (in the range of 7.23% to 72.77%), which is mainly due to the sorbent production and transportation processes. Nevertheless, when compared with the post-combustion capture technology, based on gas–liquid absorption, from an environmental point of view, SEWGS performs significantly better, having impact factor values closer to the no-capture integrated steel mill.

scholarly journals An Environmental Evaluation of the Cut-Flower Supply Chain (Dendranthema grandiflora) Through a Life Cycle Assessment

Revista EIA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (31) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Alicia Parrado Moreno ◽  
Ricardo Esteba Ricardo Hernández ◽  
Héctor Iván Velásquez Arredondo ◽  
Sergio Hernando Lopera Castro ◽  
Christian Hasenstab --
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Cut Flowers ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Transport Phase

Colombia is a major flower exporter of a wide variety of species, among which the chrysanthemum plays a major role due to its exporting volume and profitability on the international market. This study examines the major environmental impacts of the chrysanthemum supply chain through a life cycle assessment (LCA). One kg of stems export quality was used as the functional unit (FU). The study examines cut-flowers systems from raw material extraction to final product commercialization for two markets (London and Miami) and analyzes two agroecosystems: one certified system and one uncertified system. The transport phase to London resulted in more significant environmental impacts than the transport phase to Miami, and climate change (GWP100) category was significant in both cities, generating values of 9.10E+00 and 2.51E+00 kg CO2-eq*FU for London and Miami, respectively. Furthermore, when exclusively considering pre-export phases, the uncertified system was found to have a greater impact than the certified system with respect to fertilizer use (certified 1,448E-02 kg*FU, uncertified 2.23E-01 kg*FU) and pesticide use (certified 1.24 E-04 kg*FU, uncertified 2.24E-03 kg*FU). With respect to the crop management, eutrophication (EP) and acidification (AP) processes imposed the greatest level of environmental impact. Strategies that would significantly reduce the environmental impact of this supply chain are considered, including the use of shipping and a 50% reduction in fertilizer use.

Life Cycle Assessment of a New Feed Production Obtained by Wasted Flour Food Collected from the Distribution and Retail Phases

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 807-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mosna ◽  
Giuseppe Vignali ◽  
Eleonora Bottani ◽  
Roberto Montanari
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Animal Feed ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Feed Production ◽  
Sorting System

Abstract This study assesses the suitability of flour food products wasted during the distribution phase to be used as raw material for the production of animal feed. Landfill is nowadays the most adopted end of life option for flour food products. Nonetheless, by setting up a specific sorting system, it would be possible to separate the wasted food from its packaging and to recover both of them. In this latter case, food waste could be better valorised, by diverting it to alternative channels, such as anaerobic digestion or animal feeding. In this study, the environmental performance of two valorisation scenarios for floor food waste intended to be used to produce animal feed were analysed using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The new scenarios are compared with one another and with the traditional feed production. Results of the study show that the new scenarios lead to environmental benefits for all the considered impact categories.

Life-cycle assessment of ships: The effects of fuel consumption reduction and light displacement tonnage

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duc Tuan Dong ◽  
Wei Cai
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Fuel Consumption Reduction ◽  
Consumption Reduction ◽  
The Impact

Life-cycle assessment has been widely applied in many industry sectors for years and there are some applications of this method in the shipping sector. Fuel consumption and material consumption are considered as crucial factors in the life cycle of ship. This study uses the life-cycle assessment method to show the effects of fuel consumption reduction and light displacement tonnage on the environmental performance of ships. This is done by comparing the environmental impacts of 25 investigated scenarios with different fuel consumption and light displacement tonnage. CML2001 methodology is used to evaluate the impact assessment and the results are calculated using GaBi software. The results show that fuel consumption reduction could cut down the environmental impacts. However, some scenarios are not environmentally beneficial due to the increase in light displacement tonnage. The effects of fuel consumption and light displacement tonnage on 12 CML2001 environmental indicators are different. It is recommended that the life-cycle assessment method should be used to fully assess the environmental impacts of ships before applying any techniques in order to achieve the environmental benefits.

Use of the life-cycle assessment (LCA) toolbox for an environmental evaluation of production processes

2000 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 1247-1252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Herrchen ◽  
Werner Klein
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Central Production ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Chemical Products ◽  
By Products

Green chemistry not only emphasizes the central production process of the "green" chemical, but it ultimately requires a life-cycle conceptual approach for each chemical product. A life-cycle conceptual approach comprises the consideration of all stages along the life cycle of a chemical (i.e., raw material extraction, pre-production, production, use, recycling, and disposal) as well as the consideration of environmental impacts caused by by-products and auxiliaries (such as solvents and additives, but also technical facilities which have to be provided to produce the green chemical). A significant improvement in the evaluation of green chemical products can be approached by the complementary use of the methodologies of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and risk assessment. The use and combination of both methodologies can be performed by a separate use of the instruments (depending on the scope, definition, and application of LCA), an iterative use of LCA and risk assessment, or a complete integration of both instruments. Pros and cons of these approaches are discussed.

scholarly journals Environmental Benefit of Alternative Binders in Construction Industry: Life Cycle Assessment

Environments ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Girts Bumanis ◽  
Aleksandrs Korjakins ◽  
Diana Bajare
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Environmental Benefit

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with Portland cement (PC) production is ranked as the highest among the construction materials and it is estimated that 8% of the worlds CO2 discharges is due to PC production. As an average, the production of PC clinker including calcination process generates 0.81 kg of carbon dioxide per one kg of cement. Hence, new approaches which limit the negative environmental impacts of cement production and are aimed at the development of advanced methodologies are introduced. Implementation of lower energy consumption materials in production, which could moderately substitute PC in binders, can be addressed as one of the probable methods in mitigating environmental risks. Therefore, alternative binders fit into the most promising solutions. Present research investigates the environmental impact of the building sector, if an alternative to PC binder is used. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used in this research to assess the environmental impact of the alternative ternary gypsum-PC-pozzolan binder in the production of mortar, and the environmental benefits were calculated and compared to traditional cement-based building materials. Phosphogypsum was considered as a secondary raw material, as in the current approach it is collected in open stacks bringing environmental concerns. SimaPro LCA software with the Ecoinvent database was used for most of the calculation processes. Results indicate that with alternative binders up to 30% of energy can be saved and 57 wt.% of CO2 emissions can be reduced, bringing positive impact on the construction industries contribution to the environment.

scholarly journals Can Precise Irrigation Support the Sustainability of Protected Cultivation? A Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Kledja Canaj ◽  
Angelo Parente ◽  
Massimiliano D’Imperio ◽  
Francesca Boari ◽  
Vito Buono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Life Cycle Thinking ◽  
Irrigation Practices

To address sustainability challenges, agricultural advances in Mediterranean horticultural systems will necessitate a paradigmatic shift toward smart technologies, the impacts of which from a life cycle perspective have to be explored. Using life cycle thinking approaches, this study evaluated the synergistic environmental and economic performance of precise irrigation in greenhouse Zucchini production following a cradle-to-farm gate perspective. A cloud-based decision support system and a sensor-based irrigation management system (both referred to as “smart irrigation” approaches) were analyzed and compared to the farmer’s experience-based irrigation. The potential environmental indicators were quantified using life cycle assessment (LCA) with the ReCiPe 2016 method. For the economic analysis, life cycle costing (LCC) was applied, accounting not only for private product costs but also for so-called “hidden” or “external” environmental costs by monetizing LCA results. Smart irrigation practices exhibited similar performance, consuming on average 38.2% less irrigation water and energy, thus generating environmental benefits ranging from 0.17% to 62%. Single score results indicated that life cycle environmental benefits are up to 13% per ton of product. The cost-benefit analysis results showed that even though the implementation of smart irrigation imposes upfront investment costs, these costs are offset by the benefits to water and energy conservation associated with these practices. The reduction of investment costs and higher water costs in future, and lower internal rate of return can further enhance the profitability of smart irrigation strategies. The overall results of this study highlight that smart and innovative irrigation practices can enhance water-energy efficiency, gaining an economic advantage while also reducing the environmental burdens of greenhouse cultivation in a Mediterranean context.

scholarly journals Life-Cycle Assessment of Carbon Footprint of Bike-Share and Bus Systems in Campus Transit

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Sishen Wang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Pengyu Xie ◽  
Xiaodan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Bus System ◽  
Bike Share

Low-carbon transport system is desired for sustainable cities. The study aims to compare carbon footprint of two transportation modes in campus transit, bus and bike-share systems, using life-cycle assessment (LCA). A case study was conducted for the four-campus (College Ave, Cook/Douglass, Busch, Livingston) transit system at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). The life-cycle of two systems were disaggregated into four stages, namely, raw material acquisition and manufacture, transportation, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life. Three uncertain factors—fossil fuel type, number of bikes provided, and bus ridership—were set as variables for sensitivity analysis. Normalization method was used in two impact categories to analyze and compare environmental impacts. The results show that the majority of CO2 emission and energy consumption comes from the raw material stage (extraction and upstream production) of the bike-share system and the operation stage of the campus bus system. The CO2 emission and energy consumption of the current campus bus system are 46 and 13 times of that of the proposed bike-share system, respectively. Three uncertain factors can influence the results: (1) biodiesel can significantly reduce CO2 emission and energy consumption of the current campus bus system; (2) the increased number of bikes increases CO2 emission of the bike-share system; (3) the increase of bus ridership may result in similar impact between two systems. Finally, an alternative hybrid transit system is proposed that uses campus buses to connect four campuses and creates a bike-share system to satisfy travel demands within each campus. The hybrid system reaches the most environmentally friendly state when 70% passenger-miles provided by campus bus and 30% by bike-share system. Further research is needed to consider the uncertainty of biking behavior and travel choice in LCA. Applicable recommendations include increasing ridership of campus buses and building a bike-share in campus to support the current campus bus system. Other strategies such as increasing parking fees and improving biking environment can also be implemented to reduce automobile usage and encourage biking behavior.

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