scholarly journals Life-Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) Method Based on Ancient Philosophies

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-57
Author(s):  
Yoichi KATO ◽  
Tamaki URA
Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostert ◽  
Bringezu

The global economy is using growing amounts of natural resources such as raw materials, water, and land by making and using goods, services, and infrastructure. Aspirations on international, regional, and national levels e.g., the Sustainable Development Goals, the EU flagship initiative Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe or the German Program for Resource Efficiency are showing an urgent need to bring the global raw material use down to sustainable levels. An essential prerequisite to identify resource efficient options and to implement resource efficiency measures and solutions is the ability to compare different products or services regarding their raw material use. Until today, there is no internationally standardized approach defined and no software supported calculation method including the necessary data basis available to measure the raw material intensity of products. A new life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method Product Material Footprint PMF is described. Two indicators are used to quantify the PMF: the Raw Material Input RMI and the Total Material Requirement TMR. The calculation of global median values for the characterization factors CFRMI and CFTMR of abiotic materials was done based on different databases. This article presents the methodological approach of the PMF, the calculation results for CFRMI of 42 abiotic materials and CFTMR of 36 abiotic materials, and the implementation of the LCIA method into the software openLCA for use with the ecoinvent database.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Voicu-Teodor Muica ◽  
Alexandru Ozunu ◽  
Zoltàn Török

(1) Background: The importance of Zinc in today’s world can hardly be exaggerated—from anticorrosion properties, to its durability, aesthetic, and even medicinal uses—zinc is ever-present in our daily lives ever since its discovery in ancient times. The natural, essential, durable, and recyclable features of zinc make it a prized material with uses in many applications across a wide array of fields. The purpose of this study was to compare two life cycle impact assessments of zinc production by using two different main raw materials: (A) zinc concentrates (sulfide ore) and (B) Waelz oxides (obtained through recycling existing imperial smelting process furnace slags). The Waelz oxide scenario was based on a case study regarding the existing slag deposit located in Copsa Mica town, Sibiu county, Romania. (2) Methods: consequential life cycle impact assessment methods were applied to each built system, with real process data obtained from the case study enterprise. (3) Results: Overall, the use of slags in the Waelz kiln to produce zinc oxides for use in the production of zinc metal is beneficial to the environment in some areas (acidification, water, and terrestrial eutrophication), whereas in other areas it has a slightly larger impact (climate change, photochemical ozone formation, and ozone depletion). (4) Conclusions: The use of slags (considered a waste) is encouraged to produce zinc metal, where available. The results are not absolute, suggesting the further need for fine-tuning the input data and other process parameters.


2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 613-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Aguirre-Villegas ◽  
F. X. Milani ◽  
S. Kraatz ◽  
D. J. Reinemann

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1105-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Crespo-Mendes ◽  
Alexis Laurent ◽  
Michael Zwicky Hauschild

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