Life Cycle Assessment for the Design of Chemical Processes, Products, and Supply Chains

Design in the chemical industry increasingly aims not only at economic but also at environmental targets. Environmental targets are usually best quantified using the standardized, holistic method of life cycle assessment (LCA). The resulting life cycle perspective poses a major challenge to chemical engineering design because the design scope is expanded to include process, product, and supply chain. Here, we first provide a brief tutorial highlighting key elements of LCA. Methods to fill data gaps in LCA are discussed, as capturing the full life cycle is data intensive. On this basis, we review recent methods for integrating LCA into the design of chemical processes, products, and supply chains. Whereas adding LCA as a posteriori tool for decision support can be regarded as established, the integration of LCA into the design process is an active field of research. We present recent advances and derive future challenges for LCA-based design.

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Review of Life Cycle Assessment in Agro-Chemical Processes

Chemical Product and Process Modeling ◽

10.2202/1934-2659.1496 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sayed Tamizuddin Gillani ◽

Jean-Pierre Belaud ◽

Caroline Sablayrolles ◽

Mireille Vignoles ◽

Jean-Marc Le Lann

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Chemical Engineering ◽

Food Products ◽

Chemical Processes ◽

Design Tool ◽

Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽

Environmentally Conscious ◽

Analysis And Design ◽

Sustainable Products

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method used to evaluate the potential impacts on the environment of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle. Todays LCA users are a mixture of individuals with skills in different disciplines who want to evaluate their products, processes, or activities in a life cycle context. This study attempts to present some of the LCA studies on agro-chemical processes, recent advances in LCA and their application on food products and non-food products. Due to the recent development of LCA methodologies and dissemination programs by international and local bodies, use of LCA is rapidly increasing in agricultural and industrial products. The literatures suggest that LCA coupled with other environmental approaches provides much more reliable and comprehensive information to environmentally conscious policy makers, producers, and consumers in selecting sustainable products and production processes. For this purpose, a field study of LCA of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas has been taken as an example in the study. In the past, LCA has been applied primarily to products but recent literature suggests that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes and services. In general, all primary industries use energy and water resources and emit pollutants gases. LCA is a method to report on and analyze these resource issues across the life cycle of agro-chemical processes. This review has the importance as a first part of a research project to develop a life cycle assessment methodology for agro-chemical industries. It presents the findings of a literature review that focuses on LCA of agriculture and chemical engineering literature.

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Packaging environmental impact on seafood supply chains: A review of life cycle assessment studies

Journal of Industrial Ecology ◽

10.1111/jiec.13189 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cheila Almeida ◽

Philippe Loubet ◽

Tamíris Pacheco da Costa ◽

Paula Quinteiro ◽

Jara Laso ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Supply Chains

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Engineering Design Process of Face Masks Based on Circularity and Life Cycle Assessment in the Constraint of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13094948 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 4948

Author(s):

Núria Boix Rodríguez ◽

Giovanni Formentini ◽

Claudio Favi ◽

Marco Marconi

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Design Guidelines ◽

New Device ◽

Engineering Design Process ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

Different Types ◽

3D Printed ◽

Negative Impacts

Face masks are currently considered key equipment to protect people against the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for such devices is considerable, as is the amount of plastic waste generated after their use (approximately 1.6 million tons/day since the outbreak). Even if the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, environmental concerns require investigation to find possible mitigation solutions. The aim of this work is to develop an eco-design actions guide that supports the design of dedicated masks, in a manner to reduce the negative impacts of these devices on the environment during the pandemic period. Toward this aim, an environmental assessment based on life cycle assessment and circularity assessment (material circularity indicator) of different types of masks have been carried out on (i) a 3D-printed mask with changeable filters, (ii) a surgical mask, (iii) an FFP2 mask with valve, (iv) an FFP2 mask without valve, and (v) a washable mask. Results highlight how reusable masks (i.e., 3D-printed masks and washable masks) are the most sustainable from a life cycle perspective, drastically reducing the environmental impacts in all categories. The outcomes of the analysis provide a framework to derive a set of eco-design guidelines which have been used to design a new device that couples protection requirements against the virus and environmental sustainability.

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Status quo and development potential of full life cycle evaluation of construction waste

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202123701035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 237 ◽

pp. 01035

Author(s):

Jingming Jia ◽

Fumin Ren ◽

Jintong Zhu

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Status Quo ◽

Construction Waste ◽

Development Potential ◽

Full Life Cycle ◽

Full Life ◽

Periodic Evaluation ◽

The Evaluation System

It is critically important to synthesize the life-cycle assessment (LCA) and construction waste content, especially in term in recycling of construction waste resources[1] and optimizing critria in the lifecycle evaluation. That is, the development of construction waste resources is entitled to be boosted, as same as criteria and elements in periodic evaluation concentrating on the module of construction waste. This paper analyzes the disadvantages of construction waste and potential promotion in each stage, which is of great significance for improving the evaluation system and management of construction waste.

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Usability - a Full Life Cycle Perspective

2019 IEEE AFRICON ◽

10.1109/africon46755.2019.9133978 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Johann E.W. Holm ◽

Este du Plessis

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Full Life Cycle ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

Full Life

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Are Short Food Supply Chains More Environmentally Sustainable than Long Chains? A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Eco-Efficiency of Food Chains in Selected EU Countries

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13184853 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (18) ◽

pp. 4853

Author(s):

Edward Majewski ◽

Anna Komerska ◽

Jerzy Kwiatkowski ◽

Agata Malak-Rawlikowska ◽

Adam Wąs ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Food Supply ◽

Food Distribution ◽

Large Variability ◽

Food Supply Chains ◽

Short Food Supply Chains ◽

Efficiency Indicators

Improving the eco-efficiency of food systems is one of the major global challenges faced by the modern world. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are commonly regarded to be less harmful to the environment, among various reasons, due to their organizational distribution and thus the shortened physical distance between primary producers and final consumers. In this paper, we empirically test this hypothesis, by assessing and comparing the environmental impacts of short and long food supply chains. Based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, we calculate eco-efficiency indicators for nine types of food distribution chains. The analysis is performed on a sample of 428 short and long food supply chains from six European countries. Our results indicate that, on average, long food supply chains may generate less negative environmental impacts than short chains (in terms of fossil fuel energy consumption, pollution, and GHG emissions) per kg of a given product. The values of eco-efficiency indicators display a large variability across analyzed chains, and especially across different types of SFSCs. The analysis shows that the environmental impacts of the food distribution process are not only determined by the geographical distance between producer and consumer, but depend on numerous factors, including the supply chain infrastructure.

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Full life cycle assessment of a wave energy converter

IET Conference on Renewable Power Generation (RPG 2011) ◽

10.1049/cp.2011.0124 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

R.C. Thomson ◽

G.P. Harrison ◽

J.P. Chick

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Wave Energy ◽

Wave Energy Converter ◽

Energy Converter ◽

Full Life Cycle ◽

Full Life

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Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12112166 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 2166 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Sara Rajabi Hamedani ◽

Tom Kuppens ◽

Robert Malina ◽

Enrico Bocci ◽

Andrea Colantoni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Production Systems ◽

Point Of View ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Pig Manure ◽

Future Research ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

The Impact

It is unclear whether the production of biochar is economically feasible. As a consequence, firms do not often invest in biochar production plants. However, biochar production and application might be desirable from a societal perspective as it might entail net environmental benefits. Hence, the aim of this work has been to assess and monetize the environmental impacts of biochar production systems so that the environmental aspects can be integrated with the economic and social ones later on to quantify the total return for society. Therefore, a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed for two potential biochar production systems in Belgium based on two different feedstocks: (i) willow and (ii) pig manure. First, the environmental impacts of the two biochar production systems are assessed from a life cycle perspective, assuming one ton of biochar as the functional unit. Therefore, LCA using SimaPro software has been performed both on the midpoint and endpoint level. Biochar production from willow achieves better results compared to biochar from pig manure for all environmental impact categories considered. In a second step, monetary valuation has been applied to the LCA results in order to weigh environmental benefits against environmental costs using the Ecotax, Ecovalue, and Stepwise approach. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in NPK savings and byproducts of the biochar production process on monetized life cycle assessment results. As a result, it is suggested that biochar production from willow is preferred to biochar production from pig manure from an environmental point of view. In future research, those monetized environmental impacts will be integrated within existing techno-economic models that calculate the financial viability from an investor’s point of view, so that the total return for society can be quantified and the preferred biochar production system from a societal point of view can be identified.

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Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment of an Innovative Bio-Based Material in Construction: A Case Study of a Phase Change Material Panel

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10020160 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 160 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Mohammad Heidari ◽

Damien Mathis ◽

Pierre Blanchet ◽

Ben Amor

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Product Life Cycle ◽

Management Tool ◽

Data Intensive ◽

The Difference ◽

Change Material

Research Highlights: This is the first study that analyzes the environmental performance of wood-based phase change material (PCM) panels. Background and Objectives: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful environmental management tool. However, a full LCA, especially during the early design phase of a product, is far too time and data intensive for industrial companies to conduct during their production and consumption processes. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for simpler methods to demonstrate a company’s resource efficiency potential without being data or time intensive. The goal of this study is to investigate the suitability of streamlined LCA (SLCA) tools and methods used in the building material industry, and to assess their robustness in the case study of a wood-based PCM panel. Materials and Methods: The Bilan Produit tool was selected as the SLCA tool and a matrix LCA was selected as the most commonly used SLCA method. A specific case study of a wood-based PCM panel was selected with a focus on its application in building construction in the province of Québec. Results: As a semi-quantitative LCA method, the matrix LCA provided a quick screening of the product life cycle and its hotspot stages, i.e., life cycle stages with high impact. However, the results of the full LCA and SLCA tools were quantitative and based on scientific databases. The use of the PCM panel and heating energy had the highest environmental impacts as compared to other inputs. The results of the full LCA and SLCA also identified energy consumption as a hotspot. Insufficient material or processes in the SLCA databases was one of the reasons for the difference between the results of the SLCA and full LCA. Conclusions: The examined SLCA methods provided proper explanations for the bio-based material in construction, but several limitations still exist, and the methods should be improved to make them more robust when implemented in such a specific sector.

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