Abstract
The standard ISO 14044:2006 defines the hierarchical steps to follow when solving multifunctionality issues in life cycle assessment (LCA). However, the practical implementation of such a hierarchy has been debated for twenty-five years leading to different implementation practices from LCA practitioners. The first part of this study discussed the main steps where the ISO hierarchy has been implemented differently and explored current multifunctionality practices in peer-reviewed studies. A text-mining process was applied to quantitatively assess such practices in the 532 multifunctional case studies found in the literature. In the second part of the study, citation network analysis (CNA) was used to identify the major publications that influenced the development of the multifunctionality-debate in LCA, i.e., the key-route main path. The identified publications were then reviewed to detect the origins of the different practices and their underlying theories. Based on these insights, this study provided some “food for thought” on current practices to move towards consistent methodology. We believe that such an advancement is urgently needed for better positioning LCA as a tool for sustainability decision-making. In particular, consistent allocation practices could be especially beneficial in bioeconomy sectors, where production processes are usually multifunctional, and where current allocation practices are not harmonized yet.
Highlights
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is supposed to be a standardized methodology to measure the life cycle impacts of products or services
We provided Appendix A reporting the definitions used in this review to distinguish the different types of products, multifunctional processes, modeling approaches and system expansion approaches
We found an life cycle assessment (LCA) on a bio-based plastic product derived from a blood meal [100]
Summary
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is supposed to be a standardized methodology to measure the life cycle impacts of products or services. LCA is currently ruled by ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006 [1,2]; these standards have been the basis of the LCA methodology for the last two decades. Multifunctionality issues need to be dealt with when different product systems share a process, e.g., manufacturing processes delivering more than the studied product, or end-of-life activities providing both waste management service and a recovered or recycled product. In these cases, apportioning environmental burdens among the co-products, or rather co-functions, becomes necessary
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