Chapter 10 - Assessing green processes through life cycle assessment and other LCA-related methods

Abstract

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) and LCA-related approaches represent a powerful method for designing and evaluating the sustainability of green processes. This is mainly due to the intrinsic nature of the LCA method in carrying out the assessment by considering a life cycle perspective, thus including all the involved processes from raw materials extraction to the end of life. The chapter here presents aims to provide a state of the art related to the application of the LCA and related methods for assessing green processes and products in green chemistry and sustainable energy. Methodological and applicative aspects are also highlighted. The literature review was performed by analyzing about 100 different studies. The main results underline that, despite the fact that the LCA method has been widely adopted for assessing the environmental performance of products or processes in green chemistry and sustainable energy, the adoption of integrated methods is still needed. Such integrated approaches allow supporting the LCA method to achieve a more comprehensive analysis in a sustainability context.