scholarly journals Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Sugarcane Industry Using Life Cycle Assessment

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-66
Author(s):  
Galuh Zuhria Kautzar ◽  
◽  
Ishardita Pambudi Tama ◽  
Yeni Sumantri ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Damage Categories ◽  
Research Show ◽  
Sugarcane Industry

The sugarcane industry is one of the industries that generated negatives impact on the environment. Therefore, it can be concluded that the sugarcane industry is not environmentally sustainable. The results of this research show that the use of electricity from bagasse cogeneration becomes the main contributor to all of damage categories. Meanwhile, the highest contribution to damage categories is human health with a total score of 59%. The results of this research are expected to reduce the environmental impact produced by PT. X so that PT. X will be more environmentally sustainable.

scholarly journals Attributional & Consequential Life Cycle Assessment: Definitions, Conceptual Characteristics and Modelling Restrictions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7386
Author(s):  
Thomas Schaubroeck ◽  
Simon Schaubroeck ◽  
Reinout Heijungs ◽  
Alessandra Zamagni ◽  
Miguel Brandão ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Consequential Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Potential Environmental Impact ◽  
Reference Environment ◽  
The Impact

To assess the potential environmental impact of human/industrial systems, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a very common method. There are two prominent types of LCA, namely attributional (ALCA) and consequential (CLCA). A lot of literature covers these approaches, but a general consensus on what they represent and an overview of all their differences seems lacking, nor has every prominent feature been fully explored. The two main objectives of this article are: (1) to argue for and select definitions for each concept and (2) specify all conceptual characteristics (including translation into modelling restrictions), re-evaluating and going beyond findings in the state of the art. For the first objective, mainly because the validity of interpretation of a term is also a matter of consensus, we argue the selection of definitions present in the 2011 UNEP-SETAC report. ALCA attributes a share of the potential environmental impact of the world to a product life cycle, while CLCA assesses the environmental consequences of a decision (e.g., increase of product demand). Regarding the second objective, the product system in ALCA constitutes all processes that are linked by physical, energy flows or services. Because of the requirement of additivity for ALCA, a double-counting check needs to be executed, modelling is restricted (e.g., guaranteed through linearity) and partitioning of multifunctional processes is systematically needed (for evaluation per single product). The latter matters also hold in a similar manner for the impact assessment, which is commonly overlooked. CLCA, is completely consequential and there is no limitation regarding what a modelling framework should entail, with the coverage of co-products through substitution being just one approach and not the only one (e.g., additional consumption is possible). Both ALCA and CLCA can be considered over any time span (past, present & future) and either using a reference environment or different scenarios. Furthermore, both ALCA and CLCA could be specific for average or marginal (small) products or decisions, and further datasets. These findings also hold for life cycle sustainability assessment.

scholarly journals Environmental sustainability assessment of HMF and FDCA production from lignocellulosic biomass through life cycle assessment (LCA)

Holzforschung ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Bello ◽  
Iana Salim ◽  
Pedro Méndez-Trelles ◽  
Eva Rodil ◽  
Gumersindo Feijoo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Inventory Data ◽  
Platform Chemicals ◽  
Lignocellulosic Feedstock ◽  
High Production ◽  
Furandicarboxylic Acid

Abstract 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are top biomass-based platform chemicals with promising potential and an essential part of the future of green chemistry. HMF can be obtained mainly from fructose or glucose. Lignocellulosic glucose has a high production potential from not edible biomass. In the present paper life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed aiming at a better understanding of the environmental performance of the production of FDCA and HMF from lignocellulosic feedstock. Two case studies from the literature were modeled to obtain the life cycle inventory data. The production routes to FDCA comprise seven different process sections: hydrolysis, HMF synthesis, HMF recovery, FDCA synthesis, FDCA flash separation, FDCA purification and HMF boiler. By means of the LCA methodology, solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dichloromethane (DCM), together with the energy demand, were found to be clear critical points in the process. Two scenarios were in focus: Scenario 1 considered the purification of FDCA through crystallization, whereas in Scenario 2 purification was performed through distillation.

scholarly journals Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Typical Cathode Materials of Lithium-Ion Battery Based on Three LCA Approaches

Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Haohui Wu ◽  
Yuchen Hu ◽  
Yajuan Yu ◽  
Kai Huang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Cathode Materials ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Renewable Resource ◽  
Resource Consumption ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
The World

With the rapid increase in production of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and environmental issues arising around the world, cathode materials, as the key component of all LIBs, especially need to be environmentally sustainable. However, a variety of life cycle assessment (LCA) methods increase the difficulty of environmental sustainability assessment. Three authoritative LCAs, IMPACT 2002+, Eco-indicator 99(EI-99), and ReCiPe, are used to assess three traditional marketization cathode materials, compared with a new cathode model, FeF3(H2O)3/C. They all show that four cathode models are ranked by a descending sequence of environmental sustainable potential: FeF3(H2O)3/C, LiFe0.98Mn0.02PO4/C, LiFePO4/C, and LiCoO2/C in total values. Human health is a common issue regarding these four cathode materials. Lithium is the main contributor to the environmental impact of the latter three cathode materials. At the midpoint level in different LCAs, the toxicity and land issues for LiCoO2/C, the non-renewable resource consumption for LiFePO4/C, the metal resource consumption for LiFe0.98Mn0.02PO4/C, and the mineral refinement for FeF3(H2O)3/C show relatively low environmental sustainability. Three LCAs have little influence on total endpoint and element contribution values. However, at the midpoint level, the indicator with the lowest environmental sustainability for the same cathode materials is different in different methodologies.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental Impact of Steelmaking Process

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Liu ◽  
Qiqiang Li ◽  
Guanguan Li ◽  
Ran Ding
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Molten Iron ◽  
Utilization Efficiency ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
High Resource ◽  
The Impact

The steel industry is facing problems such as serious environmental pollution and high resource consumption. At the same time, it lacks effective methods to quantify potential environmental impacts. The purpose of this work is to conduct a specific environmental analysis of steelmaking production in steel plants. The ultimate goal is to discover the main pollution of steelmaking and identify potential options for improving the environment. This paper uses life cycle assessment method to carry out inventory and quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of steelmaking system. Through analysis, the hazards are divided into four major categories, which are human health, climate change, ecosystem quality, and resources. The results show that molten iron has the greatest impact on human health, followed by the greatest impact on resources. The impact of scrap steel on human health ranks third. Molten iron is a key process that affects human health, climate change, ecosystems quality, and resources. In addition, processes such as fuels, working fluids, and auxiliary materials also cause certain environmental damage, accounting for a relatively small proportion. Optimizing the utilization of scrap steel and molten iron resources and improving the utilization efficiency of resources and energy are helpful to reduce the environmental hazards of steelmaking system.

scholarly journals Assessing the Environmental Impact of the Self-propelled Bulk Carriage through LCA

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-266
Author(s):  
Miro Hegedić ◽  
Nedeljko Štefanić ◽  
Mladen Nikšić
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Maintenance Phase ◽  
The Self ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Study ◽  
Diesel Locomotive ◽  
Railway Maintenance

Environmental sustainability of the transport sector is a highly important issue today. The European Commission has made a goal of delivering a minimum 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050. Part of this reduction will come from the railway sector by making the maintenance processes more environmentally friendly. This paper presents the results of the environmental assessment of the self-propelled bulk carriage (SPBC), an innovative new product aiming to decrease the environmental impact of the railway maintenance processes. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used in the study, and environmental impact is given in five impact categories based on the CML 2001 method through three main modules of the self-propelled bulk carriage life cycle: upstream, core, and downstream. The novelty of the research includes the fact that this is the first life cycle assessment study done for the bulk carriage, as well in that the authors have proposed the use of a new functional unit in the category of freight railway vehicles. The biggest environmental impact of the self-propelled bulk carriage across all five categories is in the use and maintenance phase of its life cycle and mainly due to diesel fuel use. The SPBC uses significantly less fuel than a conventional diesel locomotive.

Analyzing the environmental sustainability of primary schools’ facades within the scope of life cycle assessment in Turkey and recommendations for improvement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cagla Keles ◽  
Fatih Yazicioglu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Public Buildings ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the sustainability conditions of primary schools in Turkey within the scope of the life cycle assessment (LCA). It is aimed to develop optimum alternatives to reduce the environmental impact of primary schools and reach environmental sustainability targets of the sustainable development goals in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachFrom the construction project of 103 buildings located in Istanbul, 10 case buildings with various typical plans were chosen for analysis. The results regarding their life cycle energy and carbon emission for material production, operation and maintenance stages were calculated for a lifespan of 50 years. Results were evaluated and compared within the scope of environmental sustainability. Optimum alternatives for improving the environmental sustainability and performances of selected case buildings’ facades were developed, and the life cycle energy and carbon emission for proposed conditions were calculated. The obtained results were evaluated for current and proposed conditions.FindingsResults showed that reinforced concrete material contributes the most to the life cycle-embodied energy and CO2 emission of buildings. Cooling load increases the life cycle operational energy (LCOE) and CO2 emission of buildings. Using high-performance glazing significantly reduces LCOE and CO2 emission. Recycled and fiber-based materials have significant potential for reducing life cycle-embodied energy and CO2 emission.Originality/valueThis study has been developed in response to achieving sustainable development targets on public buildings in Turkey. In this regard, external walls of primary schools were analyzed within the scope of LCA and recommendations were made to contribute to the policies and regulations requested by the Government of Turkey. This study proves that alternative and novel materials have great potential for achieving sustainable public buildings. The study answers to questions about reducing the environmental impact of primary school buildings by using LCA approach with a holistic point of view.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Classic and Innovative Batteries for Solar Home Systems in Europe

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 3454
Author(s):  
Federico Rossi ◽  
Maria Laura Parisi ◽  
Sarah Greven ◽  
Riccardo Basosi ◽  
Adalgisa Sinicropi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Lithium Ion Batteries ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Nickel Cobalt ◽  
Solar Radiation Intensity ◽  
Construction Operation ◽  
Home Systems

This paper presents an environmental sustainability assessment of residential user-scale energy systems, named solar home systems, encompassing their construction, operation, and end of life. The methodology adopted is composed of three steps, namely a design phase, a simulation of the solar home systems’ performance and a life cycle assessment. The analysis aims to point out the main advantages, features, and challenges of lithium-ion batteries, considered as a benchmark, compared with other innovative devices. As the environmental sustainability of these systems is affected by the solar radiation intensity during the year, a sensitivity analysis is performed varying the latitude of the installation site in Europe. For each site, both isolated and grid-connected solar home systems have been compared considering also the national electricity mix. A general overview of the results shows that, regardless of the installation site, solid state nickel cobalt manganese and nickel cobalt aluminium lithium-ion batteries are the most suitable choices in terms of sustainability. Remarkably, other novel devices, like sodium-ion batteries, are already competitive with them and have great potential. With these batteries, the solar home systems’ eco-profile is generally advantageous compared to the energy mix, especially in on-grid configurations, with some exceptions.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Autonomous Electric Field Tractors in Swedish Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11285
Author(s):  
Oscar Lagnelöv ◽  
Gunnar Larsson ◽  
Anders Larsolle ◽  
Per-Anders Hansson
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Global Warming Potential ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Agricultural Work ◽  
Single Score ◽  
Damage Categories

There is an increased interest for battery electric vehicles in multiple sectors, including agriculture. The potential for lowered environmental impact is one of the key factors, but there exists a knowledge gap between the environmental impact of on-road vehicles and agricultural work machinery. In this study, a life cycle assessment was performed on two smaller, self-driving battery electric tractors, and the results were compared to those of a conventional tractor for eleven midpoint characterisation factors, three damage categories and one weighted single score. The results showed that compared to the conventional tractor, the battery electric tractor had a higher impact in all categories during the production phase, with battery production being a majority contributor. However, over the entire life cycle, it had a lower impact in the weighted single score (−72%) and all three damage categories; human health (−74%), ecosystem impact (−47%) and resource scarcity (−67%). The global warming potential over the life cycle of the battery electric tractor was 102 kg CO2eq ha−1 y−1 compared to 293 kg CO2eq ha−1 y−1 for the conventional system. For the global warming potential category, the use phase was the most influential and the fuel used was the single most important factor.

scholarly journals Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment of Economically Optimized Thermal Insulation Materials for Different Climatic Region in Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.37) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Murad Saeed Sedeeq ◽  
Shadan Kareem Ameen ◽  
Ali Bolatturk
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Damage Categories

Environmental pollution is one of the biggest problems facing the world, even it is the most dangerous. Therefore, it becomes necessary to combine all efforts to reduce or eliminate it. Iraq is at the forefront of countries that suffer from major environmental problems. The present study aims to perform a comparative environmental assessment for three commonly available thermal insulation materials in Iraq namely expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), and rock wool (RW) to select least environmental impact material. A cradle to gate life cycle assessment is performed to assess the environmental impact of each insulation material taking into account manufacturing, transportation, and installation and disposal stages. A life cycle assessment program SimaPro is used to model thermal insulation materials during its life cycle. A life cycle impact analysis method CML 2001 has been selected to assess the environmental aspects associated with two global damage categories as ozone layer depletion and global warming and two regional damage categories as acidification and eutrophication. Economically optimized amount of each insulation material is selected to represent the functional unit of life cycle assessment. The results illustrate that the EPS has the lower contribution in all environmental impact categories for all climatic regions. So, the EPS can be select as a proper thermal insulation material for the building sector from an economic and environmental perspective. The results of LCA are used to determine the amount of CO2 can be reduced per meter square of the exterior wall by using the economical amount of EPS during the lifetime of insulation material. The environmental impact results show that using EPS will contribute in CO2 emission reduction at about 81.5 % in all climatic regions in Iraq. 

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment: Assessing the environmental impact in the railway maintenance

2018 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Miro Hegedić ◽  
Nedeljko Štefanić ◽  
Mladen Nikšić
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
Transport Network ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Railway Maintenance

The railway sector plays an important role in the European transport sector and its environmental sustainability is a highly important issue today recognized by all the main stakeholders, including the European Commission. EU-28 railway transport network consisted of 220,000 km of railway lines in 2013. Such a big railway transport network requires maintenance. Maintenance of a railway infrastructure is a resource- and cost-demanding activity that has as well a considerable impact on the environment. This paper presents the results of the environmental assessment of an innovative new product which aims to decrease the environmental impact of the railway maintenance processes. Life cycle assessment methodology was used and results show that the biggest environmental impact, in all impact categories, is achieved in the use and maintenance phase. In the end, the normalized data of the environmental impact were presented using the standard functional unit for the freight trains: tonne for kilometre (tkm). Additionally, authors have compared two different functional units that could be used in Life cycle assessment of the self-propelled freight railway vehicles, proposing the use of the new functional unit: tonne for working hour (twh). Use of such customized functional unit is more appropriate because of the specific nature of work that selfpropelled bulk carriages have.

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