Life cycle assessment of reduce, recycling and final treatment of plastic primary food packaging in Norway using a system expansion with multiple functions scope

Comparison of the environmental impact of incineration and landfilling in São Paulo City as determined by LCA

Environmental assessment of asphalt mixtures modified with polymer coated rubber from scrap tires

Objectives:The construction sector is a very important sector in achieving carbon neutrality. In modern society, construction has grown rapidly, and basic materials such as cement and concrete have contributed greatly to the development of construction. These materials emit a large amount of global warming substances during the raw material extraction and production process, causing serious environmental pollution. In order to establish a carbon reduction strategy to slow down global warming, we compared the environmental impacts of each building material and showed the current situation.Methods:The LCI DB for the construction materials used in the two-story wooden house (Building area 128.67m2, total floor area 235.73m2) located in the National Institute of Forest Science was extracted. Then, the data for LCA was processed and performed through the life cycle assessment methodology for the resources consumed from raw material collection, material production, and transportation stages. Then, based on the environmental performance labeling impact assessment method, a study was conducted on the environmental impact categories of the actual construction materials used and comparisons with other construction materials.Results and Discussion:When analyzing the environmental impact of concrete [25-21-120] and construction wood used in wooden house, the environmental impact was found to be 98.79% higher on average in the pre-manufacturing stage than in the manufacturing stage, and construction wood was confirmed to have a reduction effect of 62.21 kg CO2-eq per 1 m3 compared to concrete. Through the scenario, there was a carbon reduction effect of up to 36% when the entire area was replaced with wood. In addition, the environmental impact by major construction material was quantitatively quantified.Conclusion:When building a wooden house, reducing the amount of concrete equivalent to the amount of wood is expected to have a greenhouse gas reduction effect, so it is time to activate construction wood from the production process to the post-production stage to replace concrete. In addition, follow-up research on the development of construction technology with low environmental impact during construction should be continued. This study is expected to be used as a useful indicator for R&D and policies in the construction field in the future, as it quantitatively quantified the amount of CO2 reduction per m3 when replacing concrete with construction wood and numerically compared and analyzed six major environmental impact categories by major construction materials.

IntroductionIntensive plum production usually involves high yields but also high environmental costs due to excessive fertilizer inputs. Quantitative analysis of the environmental effects of plum production is thereby required in the development of optimum strategies to promote sustainable fruit production.MethodsWe collected survey questionnaires from 254 plum production farms in Zhao’an county, Fujian province, southeast China to assess the environmental impacts by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The farms were categorized into four groups based on yield and environmental impacts, i.e., LL (low yield and low environmental impact), LH (low yield but high environmental impact), HL (high yield but low environmental impact), and HH (high yield and high environmental impact).ResultsThe environmental impacts, i.e., average energy depletion, global warming, acidification, and eutrophication potential in plum production were 18.17 GJ ha-1, 3.63 t CO2 eq ha-1, 42.18 kg SO2 eq ha-1, and 25.06 kg PO4 eq ha-1, respectively. Only 19.7% of farmers were in the HL group, with 13.3% in the HH group, 39.0% in LL, and 28.0% LH. Plum yields of the HL group were 109-114% higher than the mean value of all 254 farms. Additionally, the HL group had a lower environmental impact per unit area compared to the overall mean value, with a reduction ranging from 31.9% to 36.7%. Furthermore, on a per tonne of plum production basis, the energy depletion, global warming potential, acidification potential, and eutrophication potential of HL farms were lower by 75.4%, 75.0%, 75.6%, and 75.8%, respectively. Overall, the total environmental impact index of LL, LH, HL, and HH groups were 0.26, 0.42, 0.06, and 0.21, respectively.DiscussionExcessive fertilizer N application was the main source of the environmental impacts, the potential to reduce fertilizer N rate can be achieved without compromising plum yield by studying the HH group. The results provide an important foundation for enhancing the management of plum production, in order to promote ‘green’ agricultural development by reducing environmental impacts.

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM ANALYSIS FOR HORTICULTURAL CROP PRODUCTION

Life cycle and economic assessment of corn production practices in the western US Corn Belt

Petroleum-based polymers offer beneficial packaging properties, but their environmental impact necessitates a shift to bio-based alternatives. The study analyzes the “cradle-to-gate” life cycle as-sessment (LCA) of polymer matrices of ZnO nanoparticles/low-density polyethylene (LDPE), ZnO nanoparticles/ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), and ZnO nanoparticles/polylactic acid (PLA). Results indicate that PLA produced from renewable biomass requires more water con-sumption than LDPE and EVA produced from petroleum feedstocks. PLA production's depend-ence on water-intensive agricultural processes contributes to its water footprint. In addition, a comparative analysis of energy demand showed that the production of LDPE and EVA is signifi-cantly dependent on non-renewable fossil energy sources, while the production of PLA is more dependent on renewable biomass and alternative energy sources. Findings from environmental im-pact categories such as eutrophication, global warming potential, and ecotoxicity highlight the var-ious environmental concerns associated with PLA and the need for sustainable production meth-ods. The study highlights the importance of LCA when selecting materials for future manufactur-ing, advocating the use of polymers with a lower environmental impact. Keywords: Life cycle assessment, Antimicrobial packaging, Environmental impact, Polymer, Pol-yethylene, Ethylene vinyl acetate, Polylactic acid.

Purpose Coke production is essential for the iron and steel industry, but this process can release several pollutants into the air, soil, and water, which cannot be ignored. Moreover, coke oven gas purification requires additional energy and auxiliary materials, resulting in significant indirect emissions. The purpose of this study to assess the environmental impact of coke production based on the data of a real coking plant and compare four different operation scenarios using model optimised data. Method The “cradle to gate” life cycle assessment of the investigated coking plant were conducted by subdivision method. The functional unit was determined as the production of 1 ton of coke. Four scenarios were compared in this research work. The first one assumed normal operating conditions (scenario 1), the second one assumed environmentally optimised conditions as defined by the steady-state model of the gas purification technology (scenario 2), the third one assumed energetically optimised conditions as also defined by the model (scenario 3), and the fourth one assumed no gas purification technology at all (scenario 4). The study was performed using Sphera’s Life cycle assessment software (formerly known as GaBi) based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards, and nine environmental impact categories were considered. Results and discussion Besides coke production, transportation and gas purification had the most highest relative impact in most categories, with an average of 32%, 20%, and 12%, respectively. Among the input auxiliary materials, electricity contributed the most to the investigated categories (avg. 62%), followed by steam (avg. 26%) and process water (avg. 11%). The comparative analysis revealed that, compared to the base scenario, the energetically optimised scenario had the lowest environmental impact in the most considered categories (e.g. GWP decreased from 546.54 to 544.15 kg CO2 eq). The optimisation reduces the energy demand of the plant, while the pollutant emissions do not exceed the standards; therefore, the direct emissions do not lead to a significant increase in environmental impact. The sensitivity analysis shows that a 10% reduction in electricity consumption significantly decreases the environmental impact of all the sub-processes. Conclusions This is the first study to perform a coke production life cycle assessment using optimised data calculated by a process simulator alongside real plant data. Through this, the intention was to provide valuable insights into the environmental significance of coke oven gas cleaning technology.

Cleaner chlorine production using oxygen depolarized cathodes? A life cycle assessment

The objective of this paper was to assess the environmental performance of the system of RuBisCo protein extraction and isolation from sugar beet leaves. Life cycle assessment (LCA) calculations have been completed to identify and quantify the environmental impacts from a cradle-to-cradle perspective covering seven subsystems: milling and extraction, heat treatment, centrifugation, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, chromatography and spray drying. In this paper, six environmental impact categories were analyzed: global warming potential, ozone layer depletion, energy demand, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, and land use. When RuBisCo protein extraction and isolation from different raw materials are compared, the only crop that has a lower environmental impact than sugar beet leaves is alfalfa, while the higher environmental impact has yellow mustard, ryegrass (mixture), Italian ryegrass, Brussels sprouts, English ryegrass, carrot leaves, leaf radish, and chicory. The comparison of environmental impact categories of different protein concentrates indicated that protein powder containing RuBisCo affected the environment less than egg protein concentrate. Direct comparison to other highly functional plant proteins was not possible as these are not in the market or have no LCA data available. RuBisCo was more environmentally impacting than regular soy protein. Our results for RuBisCo were in accordance with the low end of the range of results for microalgae, which is representing Chlorella HTF (heterotrophic fermenter), for most of the analyzed impact categories. This study found that the largest contributor to the environmental profile of the entire system of RuBisCo protein extraction and isolation from sugar beet leaves is the usage of electricity, while mitigation options for optimization of environmental impacts rely on the energy pinch approach for spray drying.

Life cycle assessments of municipal solid waste management systems: A comparative analysis of selected peer-reviewed literature

Life cycle assessment focusing on the waste management of conventional and bio-based garbage bags

Life cycle assessment and fertilization scheme optimization of paddy field crops in South China

Environmental life cycle assessment of early-stage development of ergosterol extraction from mushroom bio-residues

This study aims to reduce the environmental impact of impurity adsorption systems on hydrogen production. Biomass is a carbon-neutral hydrogen fuel with a low environmental impact. However, during the production of biomass-derived hydrogen (biohydrogen), the hydrogen sulfide contained in the gasified biomass reduces the performance of fuel cells when hydrogen is used. Generally, hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) is removed via impurity adsorption. However, common adsorbents such as metal oxides have a significant environmental impact. Therefore, adsorbents with lower environmental impacts are required. Thus, to improve metal depletion from the circular economy perspective, this study proposes using neutralized sediment, a waste product from the mining wastewater treatment, as an H 2 S adsorbent. In this study, we discuss the environmental impact of H 2 S adsorption systems that use neutralized sediments as adsorbents. Although the use of waste materials has a small environmental impact, it is necessary to consider the environmental impact of the inputs and outputs related to waste material generation based on life cycle assessment (LCA). Because fossil fuel-generated electricity and chemical neutralizers are input in mine wastewater treatment, the use of neutralized sediment may have a large environmental impact than the use of metal oxides from the viewpoint of LCA. Therefore, we quantitatively evaluated the environmental impact of neutralized sediment using LCA and investigated whether the environmental impact of using neutralized sediment is less than that of using metal oxides. In addition, it is not appropriate to include the production stage in the system boundary to meet the LCA standards because mineral water treatment, which is the production stage of neutralized sediment, is conducted whether neutralized sediment is utilized or not as an H 2 S adsorbent. Therefore, an LCA that does not include the production stage was also conducted to indicate the environmental benefit of waste utilization according to the actual situation. The amount of neutralized sediment used, which is calculated by the sulfur capture capacity, is necessary for the LCA calculation. However, the sulfur capture capacity of neutralized sediment has never been investigated. Hence, dynamic adsorption tests were conducted during gasification at low (40–120 °C) and high (200–300 °C) temperatures to investigate the sulfur capture capacity of the neutralized sediment in each temperature range. The results showed that the sulfur capture capacity of the neutralized precipitates was 2.28 (at 40 °C) and 5.73 (at 300 °C) g S/100 g sorbent. The results of the LCA, with and without including the neutralized sediment production process, based on the sulfur capture capacity, demonstrated that the use of neutralized sediment as an adsorbent improved the global warming potential (GWP) by 75.1% and 98.9%, respectively, compared with the use of metal oxides. In other words, this study quantitatively indicated that the use of neutralized sediment as H 2 S adsorbents has a smaller environmental impact than existing adsorbents and shows the importance of considering the actual situation in LCA for waste utilization.