Ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

The environmental benefits and burdens of RFID systems in Li-ion battery supply chains – An ex-ante LCA approach

This article explores the current and future technological pathways of RFID components and quantifies their environmental impacts through life cycle assessment (LCA), and also covering the critical materials and energy use of tags, readers, and backend servers. We assess RFID-enabled lithium-ion battery supply chains with different cathode chemistries – lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) as case applications. The results indicate that miniaturization and novel antenna materials can reduce the current environmental impacts of tags and readers by 60 % and 4 %, respectively. Direct energy consumption and antennas are the main contributors for tags, while microcontrollers and transceivers are the main contributors for readers. Furthermore, the overall environmental improvements of RFID system outweigh their additional environmental impacts. The use of RFID systems in optimizing battery supply process gives higher reductions in climate change and abiotic resource depletion impacts than switching to low-carbon battery chemistries (i.e. using NCM instead of NCA).

Exploring the implementation feasibility of the sol-char sanitation system using machine learning and life cycle assessment

Globally, 1.5 billion people still lacked access to safe sanitation facilities in 2022, which exacerbated health risks and environmental degradation. To address this, we created the Sol-Char sanitation system, a potential solution for expanding secure sanitation alternatives. This study aimed to develop a machine learning model that could evaluate the viability of implementing the Sol-Char system in 76 countries with high rates of open defecation in 2022. Using the Random Forest model, we identified suitable locations considering factors such as solar energy availability and economic feasibility. The model successfully identified 42 countries (55 %), mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, as appropriate candidates for implementing the system. In addition, a framework was developed to guide solar technology suitability prediction using our machine learning model. Furthermore, we conducted an ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) study to evaluate the environmental impacts across different implementation scenarios. The baseline scenario (Scenario 1) produced the least emissions, with 299 kg CO2-eq. In contrast, the scenario (Scenario 2) involving international transportation had the highest emissions at 395 kg CO2-eq (32 % higher), while the localized scenario (Scenario 3) landed in between with 337 kg CO2-eq emissions. The LCA and contribution analysis highlighted that optimizing materials and design was essential to reduce emissions across these scenarios. Local manufacturing, particularly in high-transportation scenarios like Scenario 2, could reduce emissions from logistics but required careful consideration of local resources and energy structures, as demonstrated in Scenario 3.

Unlocking nature's sweet secret for citric acid production from wood sugars: Evaluation of microbial strains and environmental impacts

This study investigates a novel approach by utilizing wood-derived sugars as a substrate for microbial citric acid (CA) production. Additionally, it examines the environmental implications through an ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA). Various microbial strains including six yeast strains from the Yarrowia genus, three filamentous fungi strains from the Aspergillus genus, and eight bacterial strains were evaluated for their potential in CA production. The investigation primarily focused on optimizing citric acid production by considering various factors such as substrate concentrations, nitrogen levels, alcohols, surfactants, and the potential of non-commercial strains. The study yielded promising results, with the highest CA yields recorded as follows: 5.7 g/L from bacterial fermentation, 36.8 g/L from yeast fermentation, and 67.7 g/L from fungi fermentation. Furthermore, by applying an ex-ante LCA, the study assessed the environmental impact of citric acid production. Results indicated a significant reduction in environmental footprint when scaled up, with emissions decreasing from 235 to 585.8 kgCO2eq/kg at the laboratory scale to 4–6 kgCO2eq/kg at the larger scale.

Environmental life cycle assessment of UV-C LEDs vs. mercury lamps and oxidant selection for diclofenac degradation

This study is the first environmental comparison between a UV-C LED lamp (emitting at 265 nm) and mercury lamps employed in a lab-scale photoreactor for water treatment purification purposes, using the removal of diclofenac as a case study. Ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used as a robust method to identify hotspots and recommendations at the early stage of the UV-C LEDs technology. The functional unit was defined as “the treatment of 1 L of polluted water with 20 mg L−1 of diclofenac to achieve a 90% removal of the contaminant”, while the system boundaries include the production and the operation of the photoreactors, following a cradle-to-gate approach. Several scenarios were explored, and overall, the UV-C LED lamp shows a promising environmental performance, with less or similar potential impacts than the mercury lamps in the 16 categories selected from the Environmental Footprint (EF) method. In particular, it reveals less impact in “human toxicity non-cancer” and “resource use minerals and metals” and presents electricity as the main source of impact. Given the higher efficacy of the UV-driven advanced oxidation processes compared to the UV irradiation alone, and since no studies have previously been conducted on the sustainability of free chlorine (FC) as an oxidant in water treatment, a comparison between UV-C, UV-C/H2O2, and UV-C/FC while employing the 265 nm UV-C LED lamp was also assessed. UV-C/H2O2 was more sustainable than UV-C/FC for the same treatment time, but both led to an overall impact reduction of 35% and 30%, respectively. To increase sustainability, employing cleaner energy sources such as photovoltaic or wind energy also resulted in an 80% and 93% reduction in the “climate change” category. Overall, this study demonstrates that using UV-C LEDs and the selected oxidants for water purification is beneficial and encourages the scale-up of the system.

Integrated life cycle assessment in off-grid energy system design—Uncovering low hanging fruit for climate mitigation

We perform an ex-ante life cycle assessment, integrating cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions into an off-grid energy system model. By applying a multi-objective optimization, minimizing both costs and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, we find the Pareto boundary between these two goals. As a case study, we chose the power supply to an astronomical observatory in Chile, using mostly solar power and energy storage in batteries and hydrogen. We compare the ex-ante study to a prior ex-post life cycle assessment, and furthermore dive into sensitivities of our model regarding component lifetimes and costs. We find (i) low-hanging fruit in lowering emissions with small cost increases, (ii) ex-ante life cycle assessments’ possibility to find less CO2e intensive power systems compared to ex-post conducted studies, (iii) a pronounced sensitivity of the optimization model on assumed lifetimes of energy storage components. This study shows the importance of including life cycle CO2e emissions into the optimization objective of energy system models. This method uncovers the environmental and economic trade-offs associated with high shares of renewable energies in off-grid energy systems.

Ex-ante LCA of magnet recycling: Progressing towards sustainable industrial-scale technology

To alleviate the pressure on the rare earth supply chain, new technologies are under development for recovering, recycling and remanufacturing NdFeB magnets. In this study, the anticipated environmental performance of large-scale recycling is investigated and compared to the production of primary magnets. To do so, this ex-ante life cycle assessment combines input from measurements of pilot processes, expert technology forecasts, thermodynamic modeling, and equipment data from manufacturers. We examined the effect of four technology developments: process changes, size scaling, internal recycling, and optimization.The results show that at pilot scale, recovered NdFeB powders have lower impacts than primary powders for almost all impact categories. This demonstrates that the recovery of NdFeB alloys is environmentally beneficial. Magnets from anticipated large-scale recycling have over 80% lower impacts than primary magnets in most of the impact categories analyzed. All four investigated types of technology development contributed to this improved performance. The final configuration was validated by comparison with an industrial reference and theoretical optimum configuration. Four magnet manufacturing routes (sintering, extrusion, metal injection molding, bonding) have distinct environmental profiles, but all can progress to similarly low levels of impact. The choice among routes should be primarily based on the functional requirements.

Ex-ante life cycle assessment of directed energy deposition based additive manufacturing: A comparative gearbox production case study

As new technologies emerge is necessary to assess if they can actually contribute to sustainable improvement of industrial processes. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a valuable tool to determine environmental impacts and compare systems. However, this comparison raises challenges when they have different maturity. This paper performs ex-ante LCA of an additive manufacturing (AM) technology, based on a step-wise approach built with parametrized modelling, allowing fair comparison with its conventional counterpart, for the study case of a gearbox component. Results show that AM technology generates higher impacts than conventional manufacturing (CM) casting process, using baseline values. These impacts can be reduced by 94% with best operating performances from literature, with emissions from 4520 to 264 kg CO2 eq./kg piece, and non-significant difference with CM (demonstrated by Monte Carlo sampling). A 58% weight reduction is necessary for the AM process to improves its environmental sustainability. This research provides eco-design recommendations supporting decision making for further development of new technology.

Terminology for future-oriented life cycle assessment: review and recommendations

PurposeSome future-oriented life cycle assessment (LCA) terms, particularly prospective and ex-ante, show notable increase in use in publications over the last decade. However, scholars have pointed out that it is currently unclear exactly what these terms mean and how they are related. This paper aims to explain defining differences between future-oriented LCA terms and provide terminology recommendations.MethodsExisting definitions of future-oriented LCA terms were reviewed and analyzed. Workshops were held where defining differences of future-oriented LCA terms were discussed.ResultsTemporal positionality and technology maturity appear to be two critical aspects of future-oriented LCA. Prospective and ex-ante LCA are similar, with the possible difference that ex-ante LCA always involves an increase in technology maturity in the future. Considering the notable similarities, it seems reasonable to converge terms to mitigate field fragmentation and avoid terminology confusion.ConclusionsTo denote LCA studies with a future temporal positionality, we recommend using the term prospective LCA, defined as “LCA that models the product system at a future point in time relative to the time at which the study is conducted”. Furthermore, since technology maturity is clearly a critical aspect for prospective LCA, we recommend prospective LCA studies to clearly define the maturity of the technologies modeled in the production system.

Integrating ex-ante and prospective life-cycle assessment for advancing the environmental impact analysis of emerging bio-based technologies

Unlike the fossil-based alternatives, many emerging bio-based technologies are still at the early lab or pilot scale and are not representative of optimized industrial conditions. This makes a robust comparison of their environmental performances via life-cycle assessment (LCA) challenging. We propose a framework to combine scaling-up projections of early-stage technologies (ex-ante LCA) with the influence of future socio-economic scenarios (prospective LCA), using a range of new bio-based polymers produced from forest residues as case study. The combined framework takes a step-by-step approach in modifying process inventories and projecting them to a future industrial scale for the environmental impact assessment. In our case study, the climate change impact from lab-scale processes decreases from 105–471 kg CO2-eq./kg of polymer to 9–14 kg CO2-eq./kg after the application of ex-ante LCA, with the highest reduction (83 %) coming from identified process synergies (e.g., solvent recovering). Combining the ex-ante and prospective LCA additionally reduces the impact up to 56 % by 2050, relative to ex-ante LCA results only. Other environmental impacts decrease as well, particularly freshwater eutrophication (up to 99 % reduction), photochemical oxidant formation (99 %), and marine eutrophication (98 %). The framework secures a more robust comparison of emerging bio-based products with conventional fossil-based alternatives, and as such it helps the identification of the improvements in both the bio-based technological processes and background supply chains that are needed to make bio-based systems outperform their fossil counterparts. A consistent integration of ex-ante and prospective LCA is instrumental to prioritize research and investments for upscaling the early-stage technologies that are most promising from a sustainability perspective, and ultimately guide a sustainable transition towards a circular bioeconomy.

A multi-criteria framework for the ecodesign of bio-based materials at early development stages

Ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) allows for a holistic environmental evaluation of novel products at research and development (R&D) stages when the potential for environmental improvement is higher. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) incorporates techno-economic attributes and considers decision-makers’ (DMs) perspectives. Thus, integrating ex-ante LCA and MCDA is key for R&D ecodesign. This article proposes a framework combining ex-ante LCA with multi-attribute value theory and stochastic multi-acceptability analysis (SMAA) for novel bio-based materials in four steps: i) Problem structuring, ii) LCA scope, inventory, and scale-up, iii) Performance table, elicitation, and MCDA calculations, and iv) Interpretation and recommendations. The LCA-MCDA framework provides a structured way to model upscaled environmental impacts and encompass technical and economic performances in a global value while considering novel materials' potential application and functionality. The framework is applied to lab-scale starch films for food packaging, comparing them with commercial polymers for cost, environmental, and technical criteria according to three DMs' perspectives (biopolymer/sustainability researchers). Materials, formulations, and scenarios are assessed on a 1-kg basis with properties as technical criteria. The commercial films outperform the novel films, primarily due to technical performance. Scale-up and plasticizer scenarios show potential for reducing environmental impacts but do not alter the ranking of alternatives. SMAA shows that the ranking highly depends on the criterion weights; conversely, individual DM's perspectives lead to similar results. Materials are also compared for equivalent properties (stiffness, strength, and moisture barrier) by applying material substitution factors. The most favorable results for the starch films are achieved for equivalent stiffness, thus suggesting further investigation for rigid applications. Furthermore, suggestions for applying the framework to other cases are provided. The LCA-MCDA framework facilitates the communication of LCA results with cost and technical performance, supporting R&D in dealing with trade-offs and identifying pathways toward more sustainable and competitive production of bio-based materials.

Data-driven approaches for sustainable agri-food: coping with sustainability and interpretability

Motivated by the increasing interest in machine learning algorithms for data-driven applications in agri-food addressing sustainability issues and by the ongoing discussion on the interpretability and sustainability of such algorithms, we compare congruently the performance of some state-of-the-art techniques and a new version (here proposed for the first time) of Co-Active Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System, equipped with fractional regularization (CANFIS-T for short). To this end, we consider two case studies retrieved from the literature and dealing with two approaches for sustainability development, i.e. ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment and Supply Chain Operations Reference in the agri-food context. Such approaches are set in a data-driven framework and completed by the above-mentioned machine learning techniques. The state-of-the-art techniques from the relevant literature are the ensemble ANFIS, Radial Basis Function Network and Decision Tree. The techniques are compared from the computational, interpretability and energy standpoints. From a formal perspective, we prove what negatively affects the accuracy of ensemble ANFIS. On the basis of the performed experiments, we notice that except for the ensemble ANFIS, all the approaches can be regarded as sustainable, with energy savings over 99%, while only CANFIS-T keeps both good accuracy and interpretability (with up to 4 rules) when the number of input and output variables gets large.

Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030

PurposeCultivated meat (CM) is attracting increased attention as an environmentally sustainable and animal-friendly alternative to conventional meat. As the technology matures, more data are becoming available and uncertainties decline. The goal of this ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) was to provide an outlook of the environmental performance of commercial-scale CM production in 2030 and to compare this to conventional animal production in 2030, using recent and often primary data, combined with scenario analysis.MethodsThis comparative attributional ex-ante LCA used the ReCiPe Midpoint impact assessment method. System boundaries were cradle-to-gate, and the functional unit was 1 kg of meat. Data were collected from over 15 companies active in CM production and its supply chain. Source data include lab-scale primary data from five CM producers, full-scale primary data from processes in comparable manufacturing fields, data from computational models, and data from published literature. Important data have been cross-checked with additional experts. Scenarios were used to represent the variation in data and to assess the influence of important choices such as energy mix. Ambitious benchmarks were made for conventional beef, pork, and chicken production systems, which include efficient intensive European animal agriculture and incorporate potential improvements for 2030.Results and discussionCM is almost three times more efficient in turning crops into meat than chicken, the most efficient animal, and therefore agricultural land use is low. Nitrogen-related and air pollution emissions of CM are also lower because of this efficiency and because CM is produced in a contained system without manure. CM production is energy-intensive, and therefore the energy mix used for production and in its supply chain is important. Using renewable energy, the carbon footprint is lower than beef and pork and comparable to the ambitious benchmark of chicken. Greenhouse gas profiles are different, being mostly CO2 for CM and more CH4 and N2O for conventional meats. Climate hotspots are energy used for maintaining temperature in reactors and for biotechnological production of culture medium ingredients.ConclusionsCM has the potential to have a lower environmental impact than ambitious conventional meat benchmarks, for most environmental indicators, most clearly agricultural land use, air pollution, and nitrogen-related emissions. The carbon footprint is substantially lower than that of beef. How it compares to chicken and pork depends on energy mixes. While CM production and its upstream supply chain are energy-intensive, using renewable energy can ensure that it is a sustainable alternative to all conventional meats.RecommendationsCM producers should optimize energy efficiency and source additional renewable energy, leverage supply chain collaborations to ensure sustainable feedstocks, and search for the environmental optimum of culture medium through combining low-impact ingredients and high-performance medium formulation. Governments should consider this emerging industry’s increased renewable energy demand and the sustainability potential of freed-up agricultural land. Consumers should consider CM not as an extra option on the menu, but as a substitute to higher-impact products.

Ex-ante life cycle assessment of polyols using carbon captured from industrial process gas

This study presents an ex-ante life cycle assessment of a carbon capture and utilization technology that converts carbon emissions from the blast furnace gas of a steel mill to valuable intermediates for the production of polyols.

Stochastic Ex-Ante LCA under Multidimensional Uncertainty: Anticipating the Production of Undiscovered Microalgal Compounds in Europe.

Due to their biodiversity, microalgae represent a promising source of high-value compounds that bioprospecting is aiming to reveal. Performing an ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to anticipate and potentially minimize the environmental burden associated with the European production of a bioprospected microalgal compound is subject to substantial and multi-factorial uncertainty as the compound remains undiscovered. Given that any microalgal strain could potentially host the compound of interest, the ex-ante LCA should consider this bioprospecting uncertainty together with the uncertainty on the technology and the production mix. Using a parameterized cultivation simulation and consequential LCA model and an extensive stochastic pseudo Monte Carlo approach, we define and propagate techno-operational, bioprospecting, and production mix uncertainties for a microalgal compound being currently bioprospected in Europe. We perform global sensitivity analysis using different sampling strategies to identify the main contributors to the total output variance. Overall, the uncertainty propagation allowed us to define and analyze the probabilistic scope for the potential environmental impacts in the emerging production of high-value microalgal compounds in Europe based on current knowledge. These findings can support policy-making as well as actors in the microalgal sector toward technological paths with lower environmental impact.

Cradle-to-Gate life cycle assessment of recycling processes for carbon fibers: A case study of ex-ante life cycle assessment for commercially feasible pyrolysis and solvolysis approaches

Waste that derives from manufacturing processes and end-of-life products of the transportation industry is a cause of increasing concern globally. Therefore, systems must be developed to manage such waste and to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) recycle process was analyzed to assess its environmental friendliness. The recycling processes at the Carbon Fiber Recycling Co., i.e., pyrolysis, and Hitachi Chemical, i.e., solvolysis, both of which are currently in production scale, were analyzed. The scaling effect was employed to assess the environmental impacts of the production scale. The results showed that either recycling method offers promising results for reducing environmental impacts, as compared with producing virgin carbon fibers (vCFs). GHG emissions from the Carbon Fiber Recycling Co. pyrolysis were 1.52 kg-CO2 eq/kg while that of Hitachi Chemical solvolysis was 1.92 kg-CO2 eq/kg. GHG emissions resulting from both methods were below the GHG emissions produced by vCFs (24.00 kg-CO2eq/kg). By factoring the GHG credits created from the by-products of these processes, the GHG emissions from the Carbon Fiber Recycling Co. pyrolysis were 0.57 kg-CO2 eq/kg and that from Hitachi Chemical solvolysis was −0.54 kg-CO2 eq/kg. Additionally, the results of this study were consistent with other GHG studies, suggesting credibility.

Ex-ante life cycle assessment framework and application to a nano-reinforced biopolymer film based on mango kernel

This article proposes a framework for ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) of biopolymers at low TRL, including: (i) scale-up; (ii) scenarios for processes and modelling choices; (iii) comparison with a fossil-based polymer, considering material substitution factors. The framework was applied to analyse a mango kernel starch (MKS) film and compare it with low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Mango seeds (feedstock) were modelled as burden-free since they do not have economic value (baseline). An industrial-scale model was built for the production of starch nanocrystals (SNC) and MKS film using process calculations based on experimental data. Most impacts occur at starch and SNC extraction due to steam and acid consumption. Compared to LDPE, MKS performs better in non-renewable energy use but worse in climate change, freshwater eutrophication, and terrestrial acidification. Scenario analysis showed that yield enhancement and acid shifting could considerably reduce impacts. The proposed framework shows potential to support sustainable innovation of biopolymers.

Ex-ante life cycle assessment and scale up: A protein production case study

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-known tool that has been able to provide insights into the environmental impact and hotspots of systems and technologies that are established in the market. Nevertheless, both for emerging processes that are only available at laboratory or pilot scale and when more future oriented in its perspective, the application of LCA becomes more complex and difficult. There is as of yet no consensus in the literature on how to conduct ex-ante LCA and many challenges discussed in the literature have yet to be cleared. This paper aims to highlight the implementation of ex-ante LCA with a specific focus on upscaling processes from laboratory to industrial scale. A new production process of proteins obtained from rapeseed cake serves as a case study to illustrate both the challenges encountered as well as the value and necessity of future oriented LCA, LCC and scaleup. The challenges found in this work include data availability, unknown final uses and functions, complexity of upscaling, and uncertainty. The results show a strong difference between laboratory scale and industrial scale costs and impacts, which are when upscaled lower compared to the impact of other protein sources, thus uncovering the environmental benefits of protein obtained from rapeseed cake.

Can bioleaching of NIB magnets be an answer to the criticality of rare earths? An ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Cost Accounting

The instability of rare earth elements (REEs) supply chains due to, among others, geopolitical factors brought alternative sources of REEs under the spotlight. Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is considered one of such sources. WEEE recycling is seen as a way not only to mitigate the aforementioned REEs supply risk but also to benefit the environment and society caught currently in a precarious position. Within this context, bioleaching for REEs recovery is gaining attraction, considering that, so far, this process has mainly been used to recover other elements (e.g., Cu, Ni, Zn, Al, Au, Ag). Hitherto, a few lab-scale studies on Nd, Dy, and Pr bioleaching from NIB magnets were identified in the open literature, whereas only one study attempted to perform a simplified LCA analysis of the process. Ergo, this study aims at filling this knowledge gap. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) were performed to assess the process' environmental and economic feasibility after scaling it up from a lab to a pilot scale. Moreover, a break-even analysis was performed to assess the competitiveness of the technology. As the bioleaching of NIB magnets is an emerging concept, this study aimed to identify future process optimisation and development directions. The process was divided into six stages (i.e., demagnetising, shredding, bacteria cultivation, bioleaching, REEs extraction, and oxidation), analysed individually and collectively. Electricity and oxalic acid consumption, together with investment costs, were identified as the main hotspots for future improvement. • Permanent NIB magnets can be recycled to recover rare earth elements. • Nd, Dy and Pr bioleaching from these magnets is a promising emerging technology. • Environmental and economic hotpots of this technology were identified. • Electric energy and oxalic acid consumption resulted environmentally impactful. • High investment costs might compromise the profitability of the process.

Management of Agricultural Produces and Lifecycle

Abstract: The agricultural revolution was the key development in the rise of human civilization. It’s a varied field that produces a wide array of products which are important to us. As our global populations are growing faster the competition for natural resources will increase resulting in pressure on agricultural production of food, fiber, energy, various high-value by-products, etc. With upgraded concerns related to environmental impacts associated with the needs of a growing population, a life cycle assessment (LCA) framework will help to determine areas of greatest impact. The LCA methodology was mainly developed for industrial operations but we are using them in a wider range of fields which includes agriculture. Many factors increase the complexity of determining impacts associated with agricultural production The lack of consistent methodology of some impacts that are of major concern to agriculture (e.g., land and water usage) increases the difficulty or complications of this analysis. This paper attempts to review some of these issues and give perspective to the LCA expert in the field of agriculture. Keywords: Life cycle assessment, Ex-ante LCA, Technology assessment, New technology, Emerging technology

Life cycle assessment of tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes) farming: A case study in Dalian, China

In China, energy consumption and carbon emission by the aquaculture industry have become major problems. The tiger puffer (Takifugu rubripes) is an emerging aquaculture species in China, but its environmental impact during the farming process has not yet been evaluated systematically. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first life cycle assessment (LCA) of tiger puffer land-sea relay strategy in Dalian, China. To analyze the environmental impact of the tiger puffer farming process, the following four stages were considered: seed rearing, deep-sea cage farming-1, industrial recirculating aquaculture, and deep-sea cage farming-2. The LCA software GaBi 10.5 academy version and CML-IA-Jan. 2016-world method were used to calculate the environmental impacts. According to the LCA results, marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential was the largest contributor to the environmental impact, and industrial recirculating aquaculture was the largest farming stage in the whole tiger puffer farming process. Energy in the form of electricity, coal, and gasoline was consumed to maintain the power supply in the tiger puffer farming process, and it was a key factor that influenced the environmental performance. Based on the sensitivity and energy analyses, energy consumption for equipment operation at the industrial recirculating aquaculture stage, feed consumption, and gasoline consumption for transportation at the deep-sea cage farming-2 stage need to be carefully considered. The following improvement measures were suggested to improve the environmental performance of tiger puffer farming and the aquaculture industry: establish electricity, wind power, and solar energy integrated management systems; ex-ante LCA for parameter optimization in future technology research and development; and new production strategies such as aquaponics and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture. Moreover, life cycle inventory (LCI) of tiger puffer land-sea relay farming was established to obtain essential information, enrich aquaculture LCI databases, and support aquaculture LCA research.