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.

scholarly journals A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Different Production Processes for Waterborne Polyurethane Dispersions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Klug ◽  
Josef-Peter Schöggl ◽  
Doris Dallinger ◽  
Clemens Stueckler ◽  
Andreas Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Waterborne Polyurethane ◽  
Flow Process ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Polyurethane Dispersions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment

This study provides a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of four different polyurethane dispersion production processes from cradle-to-gate. The environmental performances of the NMP process, the acetone process, the melt process, and a conceptualized continuous flow process were evaluated and compared following the CML 2001 methodology. The LCA revealed that the conceptualized flow process exhibits the lowest environmental impact in all investigated impact categories. Depending on the impact category, the melt process or the acetone process rank second. The NMP process was observed to have the highest impact in all categories. Consequently, the flow process has the lowest carbon footprint (1.13 kg CO2-eq), according to the global warming potential (100 years), followed by the melt (1.45 kg CO2-eq), the acetone (1.95 kg CO2-eq) and the NMP process (3.11 kg CO2-eq).

scholarly journals How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Thonemann ◽  
Anna Schulte ◽  
Daniel Maga
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Stage Of Development

Emerging technologies are expected to contribute to environmental sustainable development. However, throughout the development of novel technologies, it is unknown whether emerging technologies can lead to reduced environmental impacts compared to a potentially displaced mature technology. Additionally, process steps suspected to be environmental hotspots can be improved by process engineers early in the development of the emerging technology. In order to determine the environmental impacts of emerging technologies at an early stage of development, prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) should be performed. However, consistency in prospective LCA methodology is lacking. Therefore, this article develops a framework for a prospective LCA in order to overcome the methodological inconsistencies regarding prospective LCAs. The methodological framework was developed using literature on prospective LCAs of emerging technologies, and therefore, a literature review on prospective LCAs was conducted. We found 44 case studies, four review papers, and 17 papers on methodological guidance. Three main challenges for conducting prospective LCAs are identified: Comparability, data, and uncertainty challenges. The issues in defining the aim, functionality, and system boundaries of the prospective LCAs, as well as problems with specifying LCIA methodologies, comprise the comparability challenge. Data availability, quality, and scaling are issues within the data challenge. Finally, uncertainty exists as an overarching challenge when applying a prospective LCA. These three challenges are especially crucial for the prospective assessment of emerging technologies. However, this review also shows that within the methodological papers and case studies, several approaches exist to tackle these challenges. These approaches were systematically summarized within a framework to give guidance on how to overcome the issues when conducting prospective LCAs of emerging technologies. Accordingly, this framework is useful for LCA practitioners who are analyzing early-stage technologies. Nevertheless, further research is needed to develop appropriate scale-up schemes and to include uncertainty analyses for a more in-depth interpretation of results.

scholarly journals Life-Cycle Assessment of Dairy Products—Case Study of Regional Cheese Produced in Portugal

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1182
Author(s):  
Óscar Soares Nunes ◽  
Pedro Dinis Gaspar ◽  
José Nunes ◽  
Paula Quinteiro ◽  
Ana Cláudia Dias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Animal Feed ◽  
Enteric Fermentation ◽  
Land Preparation ◽  
Sheep Milk ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Regional Product ◽  
The Impact

Nowadays, there is a growing promotion to label products ecologically in European markets. Knowing that daily products have relevant environmental impact associated with their production, it is of utmost importance to analyse all the related production processes for a better understanding of each process impact. The present study analysed the potential environmental impacts of a Portuguese regional product, the Beira Baixa cheese, coming from the largest national sheep milk region. So, a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used from -cradle-to -gate, including the supplying of the animal feedstock. Impact calculations are performed using the ReCiPe midpoint 2008 method, allowing an analysis of the environmental impacts contributing to climate change, terrestrial acidification, freshwater and marine eutrophication of all productive processes. The results have shown that the greatest impacts occur within the milk production process for all four selected impact categories. This happens mainly due to the fodder cultivation process, also necessary to produce animal feed, which contain processes of fertilization and land preparation. The enteric fermentation and manure management processes have also shown relevant contributions. The impact assessment also showed that the cheesemaking industry has practically insignificant impacts. Nonetheless, the cheesemaking industry can promote their business with these results, by advertising and marketing their product as environmentally friendly, with production processes causing reduced impacts, and therefore also their products.

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.

scholarly journals A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Different Production Processes for Waterborne Polyurethane Dispersions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Klug ◽  
Josef-Peter Schöggl ◽  
Doris Dallinger ◽  
Clemens Stueckler ◽  
Andreas Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Waterborne Polyurethane ◽  
Flow Process ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Polyurethane Dispersions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment

This study provides a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of four different polyurethane dispersion production processes from cradle-to-gate. The environmental performances of the NMP process, the acetone process, the melt process, and a conceptualized continuous flow process were evaluated and compared following the CML 2001 methodology. The LCA revealed that the conceptualized flow process exhibits the lowest environmental impact in all investigated impact categories. Depending on the impact category, the melt process or the acetone process rank second. The NMP process was observed to have the highest impact in all categories. Consequently, the flow process has the lowest carbon footprint (1.13 kg CO2-eq), according to the global warming potential (100 years), followed by the melt (1.45 kg CO2-eq), the acetone (1.95 kg CO2-eq) and the NMP process (3.11 kg CO2-eq).

scholarly journals The Paradigms of Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy as Enabling Drivers for the Competitiveness of Businesses and Territories: The Case of an Italian Ceramic Tiles Manufacturing Company

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Garcia-Muiña ◽  
Rocío González-Sánchez ◽  
Anna Ferrari ◽  
Davide Settembre-Blundo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Ceramic Tiles ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
The Impact

Sustainable development and the circular economy are two important issues for the future and the competitiveness of businesses. The programs for the integration of sustainability into industrial activities include the reconfiguration of production processes with a view to reducing their impact on the natural system, the development of new eco-sustainable products and the redesign of the business model. This paradigm shift requires the participation and commitment of different stakeholder groups and industry can completely redesign supply chains, aiming at resource efficiency and circularity. Developments in key ICT technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), help this systemic transition. This paper explores the phases of the transition from a linear to a circular economy and proposes a procedure for introducing the principles of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) in a manufacturing environment, through the design of a new Circular Business Model (CBM). The new procedure has been tested and validated in an Italian company producing ceramic tiles, using the digitalization of the production processes of the Industry 4.0 environment, to implement the impact assessment tools (LCA—Life Cycle Assessment, LCC—Life Cycle Costing and S-LCA—Social Life Cycle Assessment) and the business intelligence systems to provide appropriate sustainability performance indicators essential for the definition of the new CBM.

scholarly journals Environmental Performance of Chocolate Produced in Ghana Using Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6155
Author(s):  
Kofi Armah Boakye-Yiadom ◽  
Daniele Duca ◽  
Ester Foppa Foppa Pedretti ◽  
Alessio Ilari
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Sugar Production ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The Impact

Ghana is an important cocoa producer and exporter and this production is of high economic importance. Increasing interest in the sustainable productions of cocoa/chocolate necessitated the need to assess the environmental impacts associated with the production of different chocolate variants (extra dark (EDC), dark (DC), milk (MC) and flavoured milk (FMC) in Ghana, including the identification of environmental hotspots for improvement. The life cycle assessment tool was used following the CML_IA and CED impact assessment methods. EDC had the lowest scores for most of the impact categories while FMC was most impactful. For Global Warming Potential (GWP), EDC and FMC were estimated to be 1.61 kg CO2 eq. and 4.21 kg CO2 eq., respectively. CED ranged from 1.44 × 102 to 1.50 × 102 MJ-eq. Chocolate manufacturing phase was generally more impactful than cocoa cultivation due to high emissions from milk and sugar production. The impact scores for 100 g packaged chocolate bar were the lowest in comparison to 300 g chocolate pouches and 12.5 g packaged chocolate strips. GWP for 100 g and 12.5 g were 0.20 kg CO2 eq. and 0.39 kg CO2 eq., respectively. Comparing different destination points for the manufactured chocolate, impact scores for the international destination were similar to those recorded for local destinations. Improvement options are suggested for all phases to ensure more sustainable chocolate production and distribution.

scholarly journals 2-Piece Cork Stoppers as Alternative for Valorization of Thin Cork Planks: Analysis by LCA Methodology

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 873
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Flor-Montalvo ◽  
Agustín Sánchez-Toledo Ledesma ◽  
Eduardo Martínez Cámara ◽  
Emilio Jiménez-Macías ◽  
Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Lca Methodology ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Thickness ◽  
Cork Stoppers ◽  
Wine Bottle

Natural stoppers are a magnificent closure for the production of aging wines and unique wines, whose application is limited by the availability of raw materials and more specifically of cork sheets of different thickness and quality. The growing demand for quality wine bottle closures leads to the search for alternative stopper production. The two-piece stopper is an alternative since it uses non-usable plates in a conventional way for the production of quality caps. The present study has analyzed the impact of the manufacture of these two-piece stoppers using different methodologies and for different dimensions by developing an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), concluding that the process phases of the plate, its boiling, and its stabilization, are the phases with the greatest impact. Likewise, it is detected that the impacts in all phases are relatively similar (for one kg of net cork produced), although the volumetric difference between these stoppers represents a significant difference in impacts for each unit produced.

scholarly journals Case study of a water bioengineering construction site in Austria. Ecological aspects and application of an environmental life cycle assessment model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. von der Thannen ◽  
S. Hoerbinger ◽  
C. Muellebner ◽  
H. Biber ◽  
H. P. Rauch
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Soil And Water

AbstractRecently, applications of soil and water bioengineering constructions using living plants and supplementary materials have become increasingly popular. Besides technical effects, soil and water bioengineering has the advantage of additionally taking into consideration ecological values and the values of landscape aesthetics. When implementing soil and water bioengineering structures, suitable plants must be selected, and the structures must be given a dimension taking into account potential impact loads. A consideration of energy flows and the potential negative impact of construction in terms of energy and greenhouse gas balance has been neglected until now. The current study closes this gap of knowledge by introducing a method for detecting the possible negative effects of installing soil and water bioengineering measures. For this purpose, an environmental life cycle assessment model has been applied. The impact categories global warming potential and cumulative energy demand are used in this paper to describe the type of impacts which a bioengineering construction site causes. Additionally, the water bioengineering measure is contrasted with a conventional civil engineering structure. The results determine that the bioengineering alternative performs slightly better, in terms of energy demand and global warming potential, than the conventional measure. The most relevant factor is shown to be the impact of the running machines at the water bioengineering construction site. Finally, an integral ecological assessment model for applications of soil and water bioengineering structures should point out the potential negative effects caused during installation and, furthermore, integrate the assessment of potential positive effects due to the development of living plants in the use stage of the structures.

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