The ecological impact of membrane-based extraction of phenolic compounds – a life cycle assessment study

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 915-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Bayer ◽  
M. Follmann ◽  
T. Melin ◽  
T. Wintgens ◽  
K. Larsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Phenolic Compounds ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Porous Membrane ◽  
Aqueous Fluid ◽  
Reactive Extraction ◽  
Molecular Weights ◽  
Process Economics ◽  
Process Implementation

Many phenolic compounds show high boiling points, low molecular weights, moderate polarities or high toxicities. Therefore, conventional wastewater treatment is limited or expensive. Recycling of the separated compounds is often not possible. But, if liquid-liquid reactive extraction is linked to a non-porous membrane, some or all of the above mentioned limitations may be overcome. The key element is a composite membrane with a dense, hydrophobic top layer which avoids the mixing of the two aqueous fluid streams. The dilute phenol stream is one of them, the other is caustic soda as stripping solvent. Since the basics of this technology have been discussed before, the scope of this study is to facilitate process implementation and integration. To this end, a life cycle assessment framework is used to identify the optimal equipment size for the treatment of wastewater that may, for example, originate from the production of polycarbonate. Limiting for this application is not the environmental performance though, but most likely process economics.

Proposed Local Ecological Impact Categories and Indicators for Life Cycle Assessment of Aquaculture

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer S. Ford ◽  
Nathan L. Pelletier ◽  
Friederike Ziegler ◽  
Astrid J. Scholz ◽  
Peter H. Tyedmers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Impact Categories

scholarly journals Environmental Profiling of Green Educational Building Using Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Talha Bin Farooq ◽  
Muhammad Bilal Sajid
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Environment Friendly ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Material Input

Over the last twenty years, architects and designers have been working towards minimizing the impact that buildings have on the environment. In spite of the fact that many architects claim their buildings are environment-friendly, the claims cannot be justified unless a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is conducted. The two major parts of the theoretical basis of the proposed scheme are the concept of sustainability of the environment and methods of assessing the building’s environmental impacts. The objective of this report is to evaluate the possible ecological impact of an educational building through its life cycle, from extracting raw materials to the end of life. In order to accomplish the goal of the study, a single-case method of a life cycle assessment was used to determine which stage of the life cycle (manufacturing, construction, consumption, maintenance, and dismantling) made the most contribution to the overall impact. The main installation system (foundation, frame, wall, floor, roof) of a building will have an impact on the environment during its life cycle. A typical new educational building was used as a case study in Islamabad, along with an optimized LCA method based on energy consumption inventories, the material input and output, and the assessment of the environmental impact.

Life Cycle Assessment Tool in the Early Stage of Development

2014 ◽  
Vol 655 ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Thilo Martens ◽  
Eric Unterberger ◽  
Christian Gebbe ◽  
Gunther Reinhart
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Empirical Formulas ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
The Impact

Life cycle assessment is becoming increasingly important for industry. Like the economic impact the ecological impact is mainly determined in the early stage of development. The challenge in this context is that the impact is difficult to predict, if the product hasn’t been fully designed yet and if the production processes aren’t known. For the economic impact many empirical formulas exist, whereas for the ecological impact such formulas are still missing. Therefore, a life cycle impact assessment tool has been developed which supports the developer during all stages of development.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Electric Rice Cooker: A Case Study

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenghui Sha ◽  
Gaurav Ameta
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Cycle System ◽  
Complete Life Cycle ◽  
Product Manufacturing ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

Nowadays, almost every family has one electric rice cooker, thus making electric rice cooker one of the most popular household appliance in our society. If the product is not designed ecologically and is used heavily, then the product may lead to large ecological impact to our environment. To assess a product’s environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is utilized. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for one such technology (electric rice cooker), no complete LCA studies have existed by far. Therefore, the question about the electric rice cooker’s environmental performance is still open. This paper presents an LCA study for the complete life cycle of an electric rice cooker with the power 500Watts as the functional unit. In order to conduct LCA study, the whole life cycle of electric rice cooker was divided into four primary phases: raw materials acquisition, product manufacturing, product utilization and final disposal. To facilitate the data collection and LCA implementation, the whole life cycle system was classified as two subsystems — background system and foreground system. Based on the proposed method, primary data and environmental impact calculation was aided by Simapro 7.2 software. In the light of the Ecoindicator-99 methodology, eleven impact categories (Carcinogens, Resp. organics, Resp. inorganics, Climate change, Radiation, Ozone layer, Ecotoxicity, Acidification, Land use, Minerals, Fossil fuels) were used for the classification and characterization of the life cycle impact assessment. In this paper, the LCA study was found as a very helpful tool to define ecodesign measures for this product. Several measures are suggested to the manufacturers to implement the ecodesign in the future: 1) Use recyclable plastics in the minor parts and hidden components, such as switcher, handle etc.; 2) Reduce the number of different materials in packaging; 3) Avoid incompatible plastics during recycling; 4) Minimize the volume of the heat plate on the premise of meeting the rated heating power.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of an Electric Chiller Integrated with a Large District Cooling Plant

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 389
Author(s):  
Chima Cyril Hampo ◽  
Ainul Bt Akmar ◽  
Mohd Amin Abd Majid
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Electrical Power ◽  
Environmental Load ◽  
Centrifugal Chillers ◽  
Conventional Cooling

District cooling (DC) systems have recently proven to be more economically and environmentally viable as compared to conventional cooling techniques. In most DC setups, electric centrifugal chillers (ECCs) are installed to provide chilled water (CW) to charge the thermal energy storage (TES) tank or for direct CW supply to the DC network. The operation of these ECC systems consumes most of the electrical power supplied to the entire DC plant; this therefore strengthens the need to conduct a comprehensive environmental assessment in order to quantify the indirect ecological impact resulting from the energy consumed in the ECC system operation. In order to achieve this, a case study was conducted of four ECC systems with a use-life of 25 years installed in a large DC plant in Malaysia. A gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was adopted to analyze the environmental performance of the system setup. The result of the study year reveals that April and June account for the highest and lowest environmental impact, respectively. The influence of climatic temperature conditions on the monthly cooling and environmental load distribution was also observed from the results. Finally, in substantiating the study’s investigation, environmental performance based on the composition of two different electricity fuel mixes is discussed and compared. The results revealed a drastic decrease in environmental load as the ratio of non-renewable energy sources decreased in the composition of the mix, thereby reducing the contribution of the overall environmental impact of the ECC systems’ use phase.

Using life cycle assessment for estimating environmental impacts and eco-costs from the metal waste in the construction industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khairulzan Yahya ◽  
Halim Boussabaine ◽  
Ali Nasser Alzaed
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Construction Waste ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Metal Waste

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to estimate the ecological costs form metal waste based on life cycle assessment (LCA) environmental impacts generated from the management of the construction waste. Design/methodology/approach – LCA methodology and eco-indicators 95 were used to calculate the impact from metal waste based on three waste management strategies. Findings – The results of this study establish that the ecological impact from metal waste management is mainly due to the burning of diesel from machinery during the dismantling processes and the use of vehicles for transportation. The results proposed equations and curves for estimating the ecological cost from metal waste based on waste management strategies. Research limitations/implications – The research could affect members of the engineering and construction industry, since it provides methods for costing the ecological impact from construction waste. The eco-costs will assist in implementing sustainable strategies that help to reduce the amount of waste generated by the construction industry. Originality/value – This paper presents an exploratory study to conceptualise eco-costing issues in relation to waste from construction activities in the UK construction industry.

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