Full Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

Challenges in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of stabilised clay-based construction materials

The preference of clay-based materials for sustainable construction is well-established. The establishment of sustainability credentials of emergent construction materials is very subjective, and most available tools are not fully equipped to deal with individual material systems, such as composite cement- or lime-based cementitious systems, including clay-based blocks and bricks. The main problem emanates from the challenges of the audit of each aspect of the material processing, and especially the quantification of the most relevant inputs into the composite product. The variability in material ingredients, and lack of data for each aspect of the manufacturing processes involved creates major challenges. Incorporation of materials with long and complex recycling processes further exacerbate the challenge. These incorporations create problems in terms of accurate material trails and data for input in a robust Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of individual products. This paper reports on a simplified approach towards full LCA of seven clay-based brick products developed in UK (4) and Spain (3), based on known material data and estimated energy inputs in the manufacturing processes. The UK-based bricks comprise of Lower Oxford Clay (LOC), stabilised using combinations of hydrated lime, Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag (GGBS) and Portland cement (PC). In order to test the robustness of the proposed approach, results on UK-based bricks are compared with a parallel LCA on clay-based product developed in Spain. Finally, the clay-based products are compared with a typical Portland cement-based concrete block and fired clay brick. In the LCA, boundary conditions include fixed transport, thus attempting to factor only the material ingredients, their known atmospheric emissions, and estimated energy inputs during processing. Results suggest that the most challenging aspect in the undertaking of LCA is the availability of reliable input data. Results also show that there are numerous parameters that can reliably and corroboratively facilitate the comparison of performance, besides carbon dioxide emissions.

Life cycle assessment of seaweed biomethane, generated from seaweed sourced from integrated multi-trophic aquaculture in temperate oceanic climates

Biomethane produced from seaweed is a third generation renewable gaseous fuel. The advantage of seaweed for biofuel is that it does not compete directly or indirectly for land with food, feed or fibre production. Furthermore, the integration of seaweed and salmon farming can increase the yield of seaweed per hectare, while reducing the eutrophication from fish farming. So far, full comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of seaweed biofuel are scarce in the literature; current studies focus mainly on microalgal biofuels.The focus of this study is an assessment of the sustainability of seaweed biomethane, with seaweed sourced from an integrated seaweed and salmon farm in a north Atlantic island, namely Ireland. With this goal in mind, an attributional LCA principle was applied to analyse a seaweed biofuel system. The environmental impact categories assessed are: climate change, acidification, and marine, terrestrial and freshwater eutrophication.The seaweed Laminaria digitata is digested to produce biogas upgraded to natural gas standard, before being used as a transport biofuel. The baseline scenario shows high emissions in all impact categories. An optimal seaweed biomethane system can achieve 70% savings in GHG emissions as compared to gasoline with high yields per hectare, optimum seaweed composition and proper digestate management. Seaweed harvested in August proved to have higher methane yield. August seaweed biomethane delivers 22% lower impacts than biomethane from seaweed harvested in October. Seaweed characteristics are more significant for improvement of biomethane sustainability than an increase in seaweed yield per unit area.

Proposing of new building scheme and composite towards global warming mitigation for Malaysia

The building sector has been regarded as a potential sector where there is large capacity to reduce the climate change effect. This study has proposed solutions to mitigate environmental impacts and achieve low CO2 emission from residential sector. Therefore, full life cycle assessment (LCA) has been run to assess the CO2 emission and its effect on the atmosphere and climate change. Based on the result, timber scheme is the best choice due to releasing less CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. However, house builders in Malaysia have almost completely neglected timber as a building material, with timber use as building components reduced to 5%. In this study, LCA Software was used to assess CO2 emissions from different wall construction. The alternative building scheme has been made by reinforce steel stud, wooden beam and timber wall (S8) to improve the scheme deficiency while releasing less CO2 emissions compared to other schemes. Therefore, S8 has a decreased CO2 effect by 85% less than precast concrete frame and 90% less than brick over their lifetime. (S8) increased the load bearing compared to conventional timber beam. Thus, new scheme S8 could be replaced by current scheme and promote more adjustable scheme for Malaysian housing.

Perspectives on Life Cycle Assessment Application and Research in Thailand

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been initiated in Thailand since the late 1990s with the first life cycle inventory (LCI) of the electricity grid mix and the offering of the first full graduate course. Since then it has come a long way through the development of the national LCI database and application in various research, industry as well as policy initiatives. LCA has been used extensively as an evaluation and decision tool in agri-food products, energy as well as many other sectors. Many graduate studies as well as research and industrial LCA projects have been performed. Related activities include the proliferation of carbon footprint labeling and application in green purchasing initiatives. Industry has been very actively participating in the carbon footprinting applications, some of them extending their interest to full LCAs for environmental performance evaluation and sustainability reporting. More recently, efforts have also been moving in the direction of looking at life cycle impact assessment methods from a Thailand perspective. Also, with interest in LCA from the policy making perspective, a capacity building effort has been initiated to train researchers in conducting LCA-related research on a sustained basis and ensure that Thailand keeps abreast of the international trends and discussions.

New Technology to Improve the Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells for Producing Energy

Due to increasing worldwide energy needs, several technologies have been elaborated to meet this demand. One of these developments concerns solar energy, which has already been in use for several decades. The main solar technologies were developed in the sixties and seventies with monocrystalline and multicrystalline technologies. Subsequently, a new, more efficient, technology with a ribbon system became available.These different technologies have similar processes and applications. Several Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies have been carried out to identify and to compare the environmental impacts of photovoltaic systems and nuclear systems, lignite systems etc. These studies have shown that the main problem with photovoltaic technologies is the decreasing efficiency during the using phase, and that is why some impacts appear higher when compared to other technologies.However, in order to justify the benefits of this new technology, it is necessary to assess environmental impacts and to compare them with the conventional technologies. The second challenge in this research work is to carry out the LCA. Our proposal shows the preliminary LCA results of this technology, but it also indicates the difficulties and the limitations of assessing the environmental impact of such products. Even if standards, tools and databases exist for completing the LCA, nano-products are quite new and a full LCA study is difficult to conduct due to the lack of information in the actual databases of the Life Cycle Inventory and the characterization factors in the calculation methods.

Analysis of the different techniques to include noise damage in life cycle assessment. A case study for car tires

Despite that different methods for the inclusion of transport noise in life cycle assessment (LCA) have been proposed, none of them has become consensual. Leveraging a case study on car tires, this paper aims at comparing two among these characterization approaches to identify strengths and weaknesses and to investigate the relative contribution of noise to human health (in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)) as compared to other environmental stressors. The case study analyzed two tires showing different acoustical properties. The two methods applied are the one developed by Muller-Wenk and further improved by other authors and the recent one proposed by Cucurachi. These two methods were adapted to the case study, and a full LCA study of the car tires was carried out. Both uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were performed. Both methods highlight the potential high contribution of noise damage to the DALYs generated by car tires, even considering parameters’ uncertainties. This study shows therefore the necessity to integrate noise impact in LCA in a broader way. Both methods present coherent results regarding the environmental performance differences between the two products. However, the absolute DALY scores differ by eight orders of magnitude, probably because Cucurachi’s methods overestimate the damages. The analysis of modeling choices and parameter uncertainties could not explain this difference. Noise impact on human health has to be included in LCA, and additional efforts should focus on the characterization modeling since there is not yet a consensual method for a systematic integration. The case study shows that the improvement of tire design can efficiently reduce noise impact on human health. Both methods have advantages and inconveniences. We think that it is possible to elaborate a method combining the strengths of both approaches. An incremental approach used on accurate localized and temporalized data processed with noise propagation software could provide characterization factors for a set of archetypes. This should be a good compromise for a method allowing systematic integration of noise impact in LCA.

Inferred equations for predicting cumulative exergy extraction throughout cradle-to-gate life cycles of Pangasius feeds and intensive Pangasius grow-out farms in Vietnam

Intensive Pangasius aquaculture in Vietnam has attracted concerns about the sustainability of its resource use. However, the assessment of the latter, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), is a time-consuming and complex task. To establish a simplified approach, especially relevant for certification incentives, as an alternative to a full LCA, we first highlight key parameters in resource use of the system to provide a better understanding of the variability in LCA results, and second present inferred equations that allow for an easy estimation of the resource footprint using some of these key parameters.A representative sample of 10 certified (i.e., ASC and GLOBALG.A.P.) and 10 non-certified intensive Pangasius farms in the Mekong Delta was investigated. Detailed LCA results, resulting in resource consumption in terms of the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from Natural Environment (CEENE), showed that pond water renewal and feed production, particularly agriculture-based feed ingredients, were the hotspots.Inferred equations, in fact linear regression models, were successfully set up and have proven to be useful to estimate the resource footprint of Pangasius feeds and aquaculture using parameters identified as the resource use hotspots. The CEENE over the cradle to feed mill gate per tonne feed could be predicted from the mass share of agriculture-based ingredients (R2≥0.90, n=12 feeds). The CEENE over the cradle to farm gate per tonne Pangasius fish in the certified farms and/or non-certified farms can be explained by the amount of water and feed inputs (R2≥0.98, n=20 farms), which highlights the relevance of managing these resources in intensive Pangasius farming, and subsequent equations were also set up.

Electric vehicle transformation in Beijing and the comparative eco-environmental impacts: A case study of electric and gasoline powered taxis

Tailpipe emissions of gasoline vehicles are one of a main cause of atmospheric environmental problems such as global warming and haze. The substitution of electric vehicles for conventional gasoline vehicles is a promising new way to reduce urban air pollution in many countries such as America, Japan, the EU countries and China. In 2011, Beijing launched a plan that was the substitution of electric vehicles (such as Midi taxis) for gasoline vehicles (such as Hyundai taxis) to low carbon transformations. Our study used local data and LCA based analysis to compare environmental impacts of the transition from Hyundai gasoline vehicles to Midi electric vehicles. We established a life cycle analysis (LCA) model with GaBi6 software and a life cycle assessment integrated model by CML2001 (Problem oriented) and EI99 (Damage oriented) models, which evaluated the comparative environmental impacts of the full life cycle, production stage, use stage and end of life. Finally, we analyzed the key haze-induced factors, key life cycle processes and the sensitivities of lifetime and electric power mix.Our results indicated that in light of the full life cycle assessment, electric vehicles could play significant role in decreasing the potential of Global Warming, Abiotic Depletion and Ozone Layer Depletion; whereas, electric vehicles also exhibited the impacts for increases in the potential of Acidification, Eutrophication, Human Toxicity and Eco-toxicity (marine aquatic and terrestrial). On the basis of inventory data analysis and 2010 Beijing electricity mix, the comparative results of haze-induced pollutants emissions showed that the full life cycle emission of VOCs from a Midi electric vehicle was lower than a Hyundai gasoline vehicle, but the emissions of PM2.5, NOx, SOx of a Midi electric vehicle were higher than a Hyundai gasoline vehicle. These differences are mainly the result of different emissions during the use stages. In addition, the results of sensitivity analysis indicated that the decreased rate of Green House Gas per kilometer (Midi relative to Hyundai) gradually improved with the increase of lifetime and use of cleaner energy; haze-induced pollutants and carbon emissions from EVs could be reduced significantly with the increased use of cleaner energy.

Methods to simplify diet and food life cycle inventories: Accuracy versus data-collection resources

The number of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on foods and diets steadily increases. However, due to lack of data on food products as well as time and resource constraints, many of these studies ignore part of the system (e.g. cooking and waste in the household), which may lead to underestimating impacts greatly. This LCA study compared diets using six methods with different system boundaries; three of these are simplified methods we developed. The aim was to identify which method best optimizes data collection for life cycle inventories from cradle to human mouth of food products and diets. The principle behind the three simplified methods was that, for many foods and impact categories, the farm (or fishery) is the life cycle stage that contributes most to impacts. One average, one healthy and one vegetarian diet, each composed of up to 105 foods, were assessed. Climate change, cumulative energy demand, eutrophication, acidification and land occupation impacts were estimated. Recommendations are given on which methods, depending on study goals, offer the best trade-off among available resources (time, money, and knowledge), while providing the required robustness of results. Compared to a full LCA, simplified LCA methods can yield more accurate results at a lower cost of data collection.

Full Chain Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gases and Energy Demand for Canola-Derived Jet Fuel in North Dakota, United States

The success of long-term sustainable biofuel production on agricultural lands is still questionable. To this end, we investigated the effects of crop prices on the changes of agricultural land use for biofuel canola production in three wheat crop management zones in North Dakota. The effects of canola hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) production on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy demand were investigated along with different allocation methods. The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) and Alternative Fuel Transportation Optimization Tool (AFTOT) models were used to simulate the life cycle assessment (LCA) inputs for two key stages of the HEFA pathway: cultivation and transportation. From the EPIC model results, the increase in canola price had a significant impact on predicted farmer decisions to displace food crops with energy crops and particularly on resulting changes in soil carbon (C). The LCA results suggested that to increase soil C sequestration, energy canola should...

Criteria for the evaluation of life cycle assessment software packages and life cycle inventory data with application to concrete

Life cycle assessment (LCA) software packages have proliferated and evolved as LCA has developed and grown. There are now a multitude of LCA software packages that must be critically evaluated by users. Prior to conducting a comparative LCA study on different concrete materials, it is necessary to examine a variety of software packages for this specific purpose. The paper evaluates five LCA tools in the context of the LCA of seven concrete mix designs (conventional concrete, concrete with fly ash, slag, silica fume or limestone as cement replacement, recycled aggregate concrete, and photocatalytic concrete). Three key evaluation criteria required to assess the quality of analysis are adequate flexibility, sophistication and complexity of analysis, and usefulness of outputs. The quality of life cycle inventory (LCI) data included in each software package is also assessed for its reliability, completeness, and correlation to the scope of LCA of concrete products in Canada. A questionnaire is developed for evaluating LCA software packages and is applied to five LCA tools. The result is the selection of a software package for the specific context of LCA of concrete materials in Canada, which will be used to complete a full LCA study. The software package with the highest score is software package C (SP-C), with 44 out of a possible 48 points. Its main advantage is that it allows for the user to have a high level of control over the system being modeled and the calculation methods used. This comparative study highlights the importance of selecting a software package that is appropriate for a specific research project. The ability to accurately model the chosen functional unit and system boundary is an important selection criterion. This study demonstrates a method to enable a critical and rigorous comparison without excessive and redundant duplication of efforts.

An integrated factor analysis model for product eco-design based on full life cycle assessment

Purpose: Among the methods of comprehensive analysis for a product or an enterprise, there exist defects and deficiencies in traditional standard cost analyses and life cycle assessment methods. For example, some methods only emphasize one dimension (such as economic or environmental factors) while neglecting other relevant dimensions. This paper builds a factor analysis model of resource value flow, based on full life cycle assessment and eco-design theory, in order to expose the relevant internal logic between these two factors. Design/methodology/approach: The model considers the efficient multiplication of resources, economic efficiency, and environmental efficiency as its core objectives. The model studies the status of resource value flow during the entire life cycle of a product, and gives an in-depth analysis on the mutual logical relationship of product performance, value, resource consumption, and environmental load to reveal the symptoms and potentials in different dimensions. Originality/value: This provides comprehensive, accurate and timely decision-making information for enterprise managers regarding product eco-design, as well as production and management activities. To conclude, it verifies the availability of this evaluation and analysis model using a Chinese SUV manufacturer as an example.

A hybrid approach for environmental impact evaluation of design options

The strengthened environmental regulatory requirements and general awareness of the need for environmental conservation worldwide, design for environment has become a key design criterion in new product development processes. Due to their resources-consuming attribute and the prerequisite expert knowledge in environmental sciences for the impacts interpretations, the existing forms of product-oriented environmental impact assessment methods are impractical to be adopted by product designers in small-and-medium enterprises. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a generally accepted quantitative approach to assess a product’s environmental impact. However, a full LCA study often requires a considerable amount of data and therefore, it is regarded as not a handy tool for product design evaluations particularly at the initial design stage. This leads to our intention to develop an immediately applicable approach for decision-makers to evaluate the design options. The proposed approach integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Theory, with Evidential Reasoning (ER) to support the environmental impact evaluations of design options. A case study is carried out to demonstrate its applicability to prioritize the environmental impact of various design options. A symmetrical triangular distribution is introduced for calculating the expected utility and for testing the sensitivity of results.

Environmental impact of mushroom compost production

This research analyses the environmental impact of the creation of Agaricus bisporus compost packages. The composting process is the intermediate stage of the mushroom production process, subsequent to the mycelium cultivation stage and prior to the fruiting bodies cultivation stage. A full life cycle assessment model of the Agaricus bisporus composting process has been developed through the identification and analysis of the inputs-outputs and energy consumption of the activities involved in the production process. The study has been developed based on data collected from a plant during a 1 year campaign, thereby obtaining accurate information used to analyse the environmental impact of the process. A global analysis of the main stages of the process shows that the process that has the greatest impact in most categories is the compost batch preparation process. This is due to an increased consumption of energy resources by the machinery that mixes the raw materials to create the batch. At the composting process inside the tunnel stage, the activity that has the greatest impact in almost all categories studied is the initial stage of composting. This is due to higher energy consumption during the process compared to the other stages. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

The application of life cycle assessment to public policy development

Despite the potential value it offers, integration of life cycle assessment (LCA) into the development of environmental public policy has been limited. This paper researches potential barriers that may be limiting the use of LCA in public policy development, and considers process opportunities to increase this application. Research presented in this paper is primarily derived from reviews of existing literature and case studies, as well as interviews with key public policy officials with LCA experience. Direct experience of the author in LCA projects with public policy elements has also contributed to approaches and conclusions. LCAs have historically been applied within a rational framework, with experts conducting the analysis and presenting results to decision-makers for application to public policy development. This segmented approach has resulted in limited incorporation of LCA results or even a broader approach of life cycle thinking within the public policy development process. Barriers that limit the application of LCA within the public policy development process range from lack of technical knowledge and LCA understanding on the part of policy makers, to a lack of trust in LCA process and results. Many of the identified barriers suggest that the failure of LCAs to contribute positively to public policy development is due to the process within which the LCA is being incorporated, rather than technical problems in the LCA itself. Overcoming the barriers to effective use of LCAs in public policy development will require a more normative approach to the LCA process that incorporates a broad group of stakeholders at all stages of the assessment. Specifically, a set of recommendations have been developed to produce a more inclusive and effective process. In an effort to effectively incorporate LCA within the overall public policy decision-making process, the decision-making process should incorporate a multi-disciplinary approach that includes a range of stakeholders and public policy decision-makers in a collaborative process. One of the most important aspects of incorporating LCA into public policy decisions is to encourage life cycle thinking among policy makers. Considering the life cycle implications will result in more informed and thoughtful decisions, even if a full LCA is not undertaken.

基于在线供应链调查的产品生命周期评价

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于在线供应链调查的产品生命周期评价 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201508161710 作者: 作者单位: 四川大学,四川大学,四川大学,成都亿科环境科技有限公司,四川长虹电器股份有限公司,四川长虹电器股份有限公司,四川长虹电器股份有限公司,四川长虹电器股份有限公司,长虹格润再生资源有限责任公司 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 中国清洁发展机制基金资助项目 Product life cycle assessment based on online survey along supply chain Author: Affiliation: SCU,SCU,SCU,IKE,Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd.,Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd.,Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd.,Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd., Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:产品生命周期评价（LCA）中的供应链数据收集非常困难而且效率低下，因而在产品LCA研究中常常近似处理、甚至忽略供应链实际生产过程，严重影响了LCA的数据质量与可信度。开发专门的供应链数据收集工具是解决这一问题的有效途径。介绍了可进行在线供应链调查、建模与计算分析的LCA系统eFootprint，基于该系统提出了在线的LCA工作方法，通过长虹美菱冰箱的应用案例验证了系统与方法的可行性，为提高产品LCA的效率和质量提供了新的解决方案。 Abstract:In product life cycle assessment (LCA), investigation of supply chain is so difficult and time-consuming that it is often overlooked, which significantly compromises LCA quality and credibility. Specialized tools for supply chain investigation are expected to solve this problem. An online LCA system, namely eFootprint, was introduced in this paper; this system was developed to conduct full LCA study online, including supply chain investigation, life cycle modeling, and analysis. Based on eFootprint's features, the guidelines for conducting LCA online were proposed. A pilot study of a refrigerator showed that eFootprint is a promising solution for more efficient and higher quality LCA work. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

ONE TWO WE—life cycle management in canteens together with suppliers, customers and guests

Private food consumption accounts for 30 % of total environmental impacts caused by the final consumption of Swiss households. The private expenses for gastronomy and hotels account for another 6 %. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate and better understand the environmental impacts of food consumption and the possibilities for a reduction of these impacts. This was the starting point for the collaboration between the canteen operator SV Group, the life cycle assessment (LCA) consultancy ESU-services, the energy supplier ewz and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Switzerland focusing on food consumption in canteens. In a first step, an LCA study was used to analyse the environmental impacts of about 20 million meals served in 240 canteens in 2011. LCA data for 160 food items were linked to the food amounts of about 10,000 articles purchased in this year. This was supplemented by data on canteen operation and resulted in a full organisational LCA. The impacts of food purchases are about four times higher than the direct impacts due to the operation of the canteens. The most important product groups are meat and dairy products. Improvement potentials have been identified within 14 different themes by the project group. They include measures in the canteen operation (e.g. reduction of food waste or energy-efficient appliances); measures in the supply chain, e.g. a reduction of vegetables grown in heated greenhouses; or the abandonment of air-transported products. But also dietary choices such as a reduction of the average amount of meat per meal are considered as an option. The results and recommendations of the detailed LCA as well as information by other partners have been used by the SV Group to develop the programme ONE TWO WE. It assists the customers (companies who commission the operation of canteens in their premises) to reach improved levels of environmental performance. The programme aims for a 20 % cut on GHG emissions after full implementation in the participating canteens. The programme started successfully with many customers positively convinced by the proposed changes in the provision of canteen meals. An initial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to the baseline was achieved. This LCA study is a good example for the value of calculating a full organisational environmental footprint for a company in the gastronomy sector and for using the results of such a study to bring down the overall environmental impacts.

A predictive modelling-based material selection method for sustainable product design

Material selection significantly affects environmental impacts and other objectives of a product design. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are not efficient enough for use at the early design stages to prune a design space. Material properties consist of discrete data sets, which are further complicated when LCA data are included, thus posing a significant challenge in the construction of surrogate models for prediction of all relevant behaviours and numerical optimisation. In this work, we address the unique challenges of material selection in sustainable product design in some important ways. Salient features of the robust surrogate modelling approach include achieving manageable dimensionality of LCA with a minimal loss of the important information by the consolidation of significant factors into categorised groups, as well as subsequent efficiency enhancement by a streamlined process that avoids the construction of full LCA. This approach combines efficiency of use with a mathematically rigorous representation of any pertinent objectives across a design space. To this end, we adapt a two-stage sampling approach in surrogate model construction for sustainability considerations based on a feasible approximation of a Latin Hypercube design at the first stage. The development and implementation of the method are illustrated with the aid of an automotive disc brake design, and the results are discussed in the context of robust optimal material selection in early sustainable product design.

LCA application in the assessment of new technologies of industrial effluents treatment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique often used to assess the impact of technological processes on the environment and on human health. It can be also used as a tool to assess environmental micropollutants. The possibility to conduct full LCA of particular stages of technology by means of appropriate LCA software can allow for reliable identification of the sources of chemical hazards in the environment, with particular focus on the source and the amount of macro and micropollutants. Full LCA includes obtaining raw materials, production, transport, distribution, the use, maintenance, reusing, recycling and disposal. The possibility to apply LCA technique to assess i.e. chemical hazards in potential wastewater treatment with the use of new flocculants and therefore to shape the environment is presented in the study. An example of applying LCA to identify the sources and environmental impact assessment of the stage of potential production of new generation flocculants synthesised from post production polystyrene waste as well as of the stage of wastewater treatment using synthesised products is described in the study. The analysis of the impact of metallurgical waste and wastewater treatment technologies on the environment from the hard coal mine (HCM2) using sulphone derivative of polystere by different methods: Eco-indicator 99. ReCiPe and Impact 2002+ including the process of flocculent production indicated that the applied methods do not allow for comprehensive evaluation. In spite of this, it can be concluded that the factor negatively influencing the quality of the environment is mainly sulphuric acid used to obtain the flocculant. This impact is caused by the use of sulphur for its production, as well as electricity and sulphur oxides emitted into the air.

Carbon footprint of grain crop production in China – based on farm survey data

Quantifying the carbon footprint of crop production can help identify key options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Using farm survey data from eastern China, the carbon footprints of three major grain crops (rice, wheat and maize) were assessed by quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions from individual inputs and farming operations with a full life cycle assessment methodology. The farm carbon footprint in terms of farm area was estimated to be 6.0 ± 0.1, 3.0 ± 0.2, and 2.3 ± 0.1 t CO2-eq ha−1, and the product carbon footprint in terms of grain produced was 0.80 ± 0.02, 0.66 ± 0.03, and 0.33 ± 0.02 t CO2-eq t−1 grain for rice, wheat and maize, respectively. Use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers contributed 44–79% and mechanical operations 8–15%, of the total carbon footprints. Irrigation and direct methane emission made a significant contribution by 19% and by 25%, on average respectively for rice production. However, irrigation was only responsible for 2–3% of the total carbon footprints in wheat and maize. The carbon footprints of wheat and maize production varied among climate regions, and this was explained largely by the differences in inputs of nitrogen fertilizers and mechanical operations to support crop management. Moreover, a significant decrease (22–28%) in the product carbon footprint both of wheat and maize was found in large sized farms, compared to smaller ones. This study demonstrated that carbon footprint of crop production could be affected by farm size and climate condition as well as crop management practices. Improving crop management practices by reducing nitrogen fertilizer use and developing large scaled farms with intensive farming could be strategic options to mitigate climate change in Chinese agriculture.