Material Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

Comparative life cycle assessment of different vacuum insulation panel core materials using a cradle to gate approach

The global market trend for Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) is projecting a significant increase in their uptake in the construction sector. This is mainly due to the uniquely high-performance properties of the ultra-thin insulation materials. This uptake, however, can potentially be hindered by the VIPs’ higher cost and environmental impacts when compared with conventional insulation materials. This paper, for the first time, presents a detailed evaluation of the environmental impact of the most common type of VIPs currently used in different applications with a focus on alternating the core material as the main contributing component to their footprint. Pyrogenic silica, glass fibre, expanded polystyrene, aerogel and a silica/sawdust hybrid core were analysed from cradle to gate. The study, on a comparative basis, demonstrates the sensitivity of the various environmental impact categories to the internal vacuum pressure and the subsequent thermal conductivity values. The results show a lower environmental impact for glass fibre and low density expanded polystyrene compared to the other alternatives. Pyrogenic silica, the most common core material, had the highest environmental impact out of the core materials considered. The higher environmental impacts of pyrogenic silica suggest that measures such as the recycling of the core material alongside the deployment of eco-friendlier manufacturing techniques should be considered if the material is to compete environmentally with the other alternative materials.

A new degradation model for life cycle assessment of railway ballast materials

This study presents a correlation between two specific aspects of railway ballast experiments for better understanding and assessment of materials degradation. Firstly, standard tests for quality control of ballast aggregates and related degradation indices/methods have been investigated and accordingly, an Improved Ballast Quality Index (IBQI) has been developed. Secondly, a series of ballast box test has been performed to identify the aggregates long-term behavior such as settlement, fouling condition, and particles breakage. Box tests have been done at three stages of 100,000, 300,000, and 500,000 load cycles. At each stage, by performing durability tests and calculating the developed index, the quality of ballast materials has been determined in parallel. Analysis of the results shows that IBQI can predict the long-term behavior of ballast with high levels of compatibility (less than 10% average difference between the results in a conservative manner). Hence, it can be used as a simple and practical method for estimation of ballast degradation and its life cycle prediction. Finally, a life cycle degradation model has been proposed to demonstrate the capability and applicability of IBQI.

Design guidelines for circular building components based on LCA and MFA: The case of the Circular Kitchen

Introduction. The building sector consumes 40% of resources globally, produces 40% of global waste and 33% of all emissions. The transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) in the built environment is vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as responsible consumption and production. The built environment can gradually be made circular by replacing the current ‘linear’ building components with circular ones during maintenance and renovation. However, there are many possible design alternatives for circular building components; knowledge on which variants perform best – from an environmental perspective – is lacking. Methods. In this article, we develop environmental design guidelines for circular building components. First, we synthesize design variants for an exemplary circular building component: the Circular Kitchen (CIK). Second, we compare the environmental performance of these variants and a ‘business-as-usual’ variant by applying a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Finally, from the results, we derive design guidelines. Results. We synthesized four design variants: (1) a kitchen made from bio-based, biodegradable materials, (2) a kitchen made from re-used materials, (3) a kitchen which optimises lifespans and materials, and (4) a modular kitchen in which components (with varying lifespans) are re-used by the manufacturer. From the LCA and MFA, we derived 7 design guidelines, which include: consider building components as a composite of sub-components, parts and materials with different and multiple use-, and life-cycles; match the materialisation of each part with the expected life cycle (merely substituting for re-used or low-impact materials does not provide the most circular design); facilitate various loops (e.g., repair, re-use, recycling) simultaneously. Conclusions. The presented design guidelines can support industry in developing circular building components and, through implementation of these components, support the creation of a circular built environment. Grant Support. This research received funding from the EIT Climate-KIC and AMS-institute.

The impact of incineration phase-out on municipal solid waste landfilling and life cycle environmental performance: Case study of Madrid, Spain

Reducing the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) fed to incineration while enhancing source separation and biological treatments is being considered a mean to protect the environment and human health and promote recycling. However, such a strategy can compromises the landfill reduction targets while the associated environmental benefits remain so far unexplored and, in any case, any potential benefit should be evaluated for specific situations. In this study we applied material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantitatively evaluate the potential impact of phasing-out incineration in Madrid, Spain. The current MSW management system was assessed against future scenarios that describe the elimination of incineration as well as the increase of source separation, recycling, composting, and anaerobic digestion. The results revealed that incineration phase-out jeopardizes landfill reduction. However, phasing-out incineration can reduce the impact on acidification, terrestrial and marine eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation, human toxicity cancer effects, and ecotoxicity. The climate impact ranges from irrelevant to largely beneficial depending on how the biogenic carbon is considered. The transition towards a renewable electricity mix and the increase in source separation of biodegradable waste seriously compromise the climate benefits of incineration over landfilling. Overall, actions are required in order to align incineration phase-out with the landfill reduction objective, namely upgrading material recovery facilities to reduce rejects and seeking alternative pathways for the rejects that will always exist.

Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment of solid waste management in urban green areas, Thailand

This study presents solid waste management planning in an urban green area, Bangkok, Thailand based on the material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Global warming potential (GWP) of four scenarios for handling solid waste generated in Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park, 2018 was assessed concerning the different ratios of waste recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling. The results show that alternative systems proposed will result in lower GWP than the existing waste management strategy. The MFA results reveal that the final weights of solid waste ending up in a landfill are 98.8, 101.9, 68.2, and 44.8 t yr− 1 for scenarios 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Increased rates of landfill diversion by increased recycling, composting, and incineration decreased the quantity of solid waste disposed to the landfill and improved the environmental profile of the park waste management system. The LCA results found landfilling to be the dominant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) burdens, while waste recycling was found to result in the reduction of GHG. The results highlight that the use of MFA and LCA as a combined tool to evaluate the environmental performance of solid waste management systems provides valuable information for policy and decision-makers.

End-of-life passenger vehicles recycling decision system in China based on dynamic material flow analysis and life cycle assessment

China’s automobile industry is developing rapidly, but the recycling rate of end-of-life vehicles has been low. In 2018, the recovery rate of end-of-life passenger vehicles was less than 18% of the scrapped amount. Dynamic material flow analysis can predict the amount of end-of-life passenger cars in China in the future, and analyze the flow of materials in recycling system. Life cycle assessment can be used to quantify greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, this paper integrates these two methods into the model construction of recycling decision system. Meanwhile, sensitivity analysis of the important factors affecting the efficiency of the recovery system is carried out. Finally, the main recovery indexes of the system are predicted under three scenarios: low-speed, medium speed and high-speed development, which are set based on scrap volume, standard recovery rate, proportion of assembly into remanufacturing and carbon tax price. The research results show that in 2018, 656.9 kg/vehicle of iron, 150.2 kg/vehicle of aluminum and 7.9 kg/vehicle of copper are recovered from end-of-life passenger car in China, and the carbon emission during the recovery process is 651.1 kg of CO2eq/vehicle, with a total emission reduction of 3816.1 kgCO2eq/vehicle compared with the original production, and the economic benefit is about 5055.5 yuan/vehicle. The scenario prediction results show that by 2050, from the low-speed development scenario to the high-speed development scenario, the total amount of iron, aluminum and copper recovered rise from 3.96 million tons, 915 thousand tons and 46 thousand tons to 697 thousand tons, 1.61 million tons and 80 thousand tons respectively throughout the year. The carbon emission in the recovery process rise from 4.98 thousand tons to 9.32 million tons. Compared with the original production, the carbon emission reduction increases from 2.21 million tons to 38.3 million tons, the economic benefit increases from 58.9 billion yuan to 118.8 billion yuan, and the comprehensive benefit increases from 57 billion yuan to 111.6 billion yuan.

Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment of food waste bioconversion by black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens L.)

This study provided a systematic analysis on material flow and environmental impacts of a food waste (FW) bioconversion plant using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), with a daily capacity of 15 tons of FW (wet weight). Food waste feed (FWF) used for BSFL bioconversion consisted of 80% FW (collected from households, restaurants, and canteens) and 20% rice hull powder. Material flow analysis conducted on a dry weight basis showed that 6% of FWF was transformed into BSF pre-pupae, 51% was stored in matured compost, and 43% was emitted to the air. Emissions of high environmental concern such as methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia (NH3) were sampled and quantified by laboratory analysis. The life cycle assessment revealed that the overall impact was 17.36 kg CO2-eq/t FW for global warming potential, 5.54 kg SO2-eq/t FW for acidification, 24.05 mol N-eq/t FW for terrestrial eutrophication, 0.54 kg N-eq NH3/t FW for marine eutrophication, and 0.18 kg PM2.5-eq/t FW of particulate matter up to 2.5 μm diameter. Moreover, emissions from post-composting, energy consumptions of drying and chemical fertilizer substitution ratio were detected by contribution analysis as the main contributors to those impacts. Finally, sensitivity analysis indicated that the substitution ratio of mineral fertilizer and protein feed as well as energy consumption were the most influential parameters, therefore control of the post-composting process of residual material should be closely monitored because it was responsible for significant environmental load caused by N-related emissions.

Sustainability of additive manufacturing: the circular economy of materials and environmental perspectives

This research is a comprehensive review of the sustainability of additive manufacturing, from the circular economy and recycling of materials to other environmental challenges involving the safety of materials and manufacturing. There has been important progress in this area, with an increasing number of papers that cover diverse environmental aspects, including the circular economy, recycling and the life cycle assessment of materials. This increase is due to the importance that scientists, industry, government and society are now giving to these topics. This review seeks to develop a greater awareness in relation to the possibilities and implications in the use of the AM, as well as to encourage sustainable development by raising awareness in relation to the taking of necessary actions to achieve compliance of the Sustainable Development Goals. Similarly, current trends are examined in relation to the practices that are currently being adopted in order to ensure that AM is consolidated as a sustainable and convenient practice in the economic, social and environmental spheres. In general, polymers, ceramics, metals and composite materials are now undergoing intensive research to improve their use. Although this research shows that significant progress has been made on several relevant issues, using materials optimization to minimize energy and waste is still far from a global solution.

Material efficiency to measure the environmental performance of waste management systems: A case study on PET bottle recycling in Austria, Germany and Serbia

Material efficiency measures, such as recycling rates, are often used to set circular economy targets to achieve higher resource efficiency and lower environmental impact. The aim of this study was to identify material efficiency indicators suitable to reflect the environmental performance of waste and recycling systems using PET bottle waste management in three European countries with diverse waste management structures and recycling performance levels. Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment were performed to assess the material efficiency and environmental impacts of each system as a basis to analyze the relation between these two dimensions. PET bottle waste generation was 5.4 kg/person and year (pa) in Austria in 2013, 6.0 kg/pa in Germany in 2017 and 6.9 kg/pa in Serbia in 2015. Out of this waste flow 41%, 91%, and 11% were directed into PET recyclate in Austria, Germany and Serbia, respectively. For all systems, higher material efficiency translated into lower environmental impact and vice versa. However, linear regression analysis between different material efficiency indicators and environmental impacts showed that indicators targeted at actual recycling, specifically at closed loop, were better suited to reflect environmental performance than input-based indicators. Therefore, whenever data are available, output-based quality-related indicators should be used to measure the material efficiency of waste and resource systems because they correlate best with the goals of increasing resource efficiency and decreasing environmental impacts.

Recent Developments on Life Cycle Assessment of Building Materials

In recent years, the building materials industry in China has made great progress in the R&D of energy conservation, emission reduction and cleaner production technologies, in order to implement sustainable development policy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the mainstream method to analyze the environmental impact of product during its life cycle, which plays an important role on ecological design of building materials and development of green manufacture technology in recent year. This paper reviewed the LCA studies of building materials. Firstly, the development of China's building materials industry and technical framework of LCA standardized by ISO14040/14044 were introduced. Moreover, the typical LCA case studies of cement, glass, ceramics, wall materials, insulation materials and other building materials were reviewed. At last, some prospects for future research and development in this field were put forward.

Impact of the Secondary Steel Circular Economy Model on Resource Use and the Environmental Impact of Steel Production in Chile

The circular economy is a closed loop minimizing materials, energy and environmental deterioration without restricting economic growth or social and technical progress. Steel is considered an emblematic case of the circular economy given its high capacity for recycling and reutilization, in addition to its reparability, extending its useful life. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of secondary steel production on resource extraction and the environmental impact on steel production in Chile, as a circular economy model. The assessment was carried out through Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies. The MFA considered national steel supply for 2015 from the EW-MFA framework, while the LCA was done using primary data from the secondary steel industry in Chile for the same period. Primary steel flows in Chile enter the system through imports (62%), followed by domestic production of steel rods and profiles (27%). Residual steel flow for 2015 was established at 1 Mt, which would allow secondary steel production to grow up to 78%. This would allow for domestic extraction used (DEU) to be reduced and for efficiency in the production of steel rods and profiles to be improved. In parallel, issues such as abiotic depletion, eutrophication, acidification and climate change demonstrate decreases of 59%, 50%, 46% y 45% respectively. Based on these results, it can be concluded that increased secondary steel production in Chile generates environmental benefits, raises efficiency and reduces domestic resource demand, significantly improving environmental performance in the industry.

Exploring future copper demand, recycling and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-28

Copper is widely used in modern technology, but declining ore grades and depletion of natural deposits have raised concerns regarding sustainable demand-supply balance in the long term. The vulnerability to primary copper supply restrictions amplifies for countries dependant on imports, notably many EU Member States. Recycling of post-consumer scrap can provide a valuable source of essential material to the European industry. However, a considerable fraction of collected and processed copper old scrap is exported, while the remaining fraction is either not recovered or lost due to nonfunctional recycling undermining the implementation of a circular economy. In this work, material flow analysis, regression analysis, and life cycle assessment are combined to explore the possible evolution of four scenarios of copper demand in Europe to year 2050 and the potentials for greenhouse gas emissions reduction under material circularity conditions.The results show that for three of the four scenarios, secondary production would not comply with the carbon dioxide emissions reduction target of 50% below 2000 levels neither in case of combined aggressive recycling, moderate decarbonization of electricity, and energy efficiency improvements. In particular, for the scenario that describes a “business as usual” approach, the modelled future domestic demand can only be met by increasing primary inputs and, despite strong efforts to improve recycling at end-of-life, the fraction of old scrap in total metal demand seems likely to achieve 65% at best. Should that scenario ensue, the GHG emissions embodied in EU copper demand might result in an emissions gap of more than 15 TgCO2eq or about +260% the carbon dioxide reduction target. In contrast, the lowest environmental impacts are associated with a scenario emphasizing green technology and more equitable lifestyles. In that scenario, the secondary copper flows will gradually approach the expected demand, laying the foundation for achieving a circular economy with considerable potential for preserving natural capital and mitigating climate change. This possible future, however, requires dramatic changes in the current pattern of material production and consumption, as we discuss.

Multilevel environmental assessment of the anaerobic treatment of dairy processing effluents in the context of circular economy

The capability of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) in minimising waste and retaining the value of materials and energy within the biological and technical cycles in the Dairy Industry (DI) makes AD a critical instrument of transition to circular economy. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach for measuring the environmental performance of the anaerobic treatment of dairy processing effluents based on the circular economy principles. The potential of AD to close the water, energy and nutrient circular loops is investigated together with the relevant environmental costs and benefits at different levels of the dairy supply chain. The developed methodology was based on Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied at three different system levels: the AD plant, the dairy processing facility, the entire dairy supply chain. The approach is demonstrated in a dairy facility coupled with a full-scale AD unit. The results show that the excess electricity (426 MWh/annum) and heat (1236 MWh/annum) produced from the AD plant cause significant reduction of the overall environmental impact of the processing facility. The recovered energy from AD provides 20% of the energy requirements of the factory reducing the total carbon footprint emissions by 13% compared to the baseline scenario.

Eco-Energetical Life Cycle Assessment of Materials and Components of Photovoltaic Power Plant

During the conversion of solar radiation into electricity, photovoltaic installations do not emit harmful compounds into the environment. However, the stage of production and post-use management of their elements requires large amounts of energy and materials. Therefore, this publication was intended to conduct an eco-energy life cycle analysis of photovoltaic power plant materials and components based on the LCA method. The subject of the study was a 1 MW photovoltaic power plant, located in Poland. Eco-indicator 99, CED and IPCC were used as calculation procedures. Among the analyzed elements of the power plant, the highest level of negative impact on the environment was characterized by the life cycle of photovoltaic panels stored at the landfill after exploitation (the highest demand for energy, materials and CO2 emissions). Among the materials of the power plant distinguished by the highest harmful effect on health and the quality of the environment stands out: silver, nickel, copper, PA6, lead and cadmium. The use of recycling processes would reduce the negative impact on the environment in the context of the entire life cycle, for most materials and elements. Based on the results obtained, guidelines were proposed for the pro-environmental post-use management of materials and elements of photovoltaic power plants.

Accounting for the dissipation of abiotic resources in LCA: Status, key challenges and potential way forward

The concept of resources or materials dissipation after their use in the technosphere has been increasingly considered in life-cycle based studies, applying Substance and Material Flow Analysis (SFA and MFA), Input-Output Analysis, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, there is currently no common understanding of what a dissipative flow is. This article first reviews 45 publications to describe the status of resource dissipation in life-cycle based studies, discussing how resource dissipation is usually defined, which temporal perspective is considered, which compartments of dissipation are distinguished, and which approaches (including the implementation of parameters) are considered to assess resource dissipation in a system. Moreover, this article proposes a comprehensive definition of resource dissipation, building from the literature review and focusing on abiotic resources. It then discusses this definition with respect to its potential implementation in LCA considering today’s existing Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) datasets and best practices. Overall it shows that the LCA framework may be well suited to assess abiotic resource dissipation. In particular i) the compartments of dissipation usually considered in the literature are covered in LCA, and ii) LCI databases could be a source of information to be further used to quantify a set of flows defined as “dissipative”, as commonly considered in SFA/MFA studies. However, major challenges are still faced before any potential routine implementation in LCA. The article accordingly discusses the potential way forward in the short-term (development and test of possible approaches), mid-term (towards satisfactory robustness, and consensus) and long-term (large-scale changes of LCI databases).

그래핀 2wt%를 첨가한 Li1.6Ni0.35Mn0.65O2 Half-Cell의 물질 전 과정 평가

그래핀 2wt%를 첨가한 Li1.6Ni0.35Mn0.65O2 Half-Cell의 물질 전 과정 평가

Energy and Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Pavement Materials and Technologies for Urban Roads

Recycled and low-temperature materials are promising solutions to reduce the environmental burden deriving from hot mix asphalts. Despite this, there is lack of studies focusing on the assessment of the life-cycle impacts of these promising technologies. Consequently, this study deals with the life cycle assessment (LCA) of different classes of pavement technologies, based on the use of bituminous mixes (hot mix asphalt and warm mix asphalt) with recycled materials (reclaimed asphalt pavements, crumb rubber, and waste plastics), in the pursuit of assessing energy and environmental impacts. Analysis is developed based on the ISO 14040 series. Different scenarios of pavement production, construction, and maintenance are assessed and compared to a reference case involving the use of common paving materials. For all the considered scenarios, the influence of each life-cycle phase on the overall impacts is assessed to the purpose of identifying the phases and processes which produce the greatest impacts. Results show that material production involves the highest contribution (about 60–70%) in all the examined impact categories. Further, the combined use of warm mix asphalts and recycled materials in bituminous mixtures entails lower energy consumption and environmental impacts due to a reduction of virgin bitumen and aggregate consumption, which involves a decrease in the consumption of primary energy and raw materials, and reduced impacts for disposal. LCA results demonstrate that this methodology is able to help set up strategies for eco-design in the pavement sector.

Parameters related to building components’ life-cycle analysis in methods for buildings’ environmental performance assessment

In this study, the integration of factors related to life cycle analysis and assessment of building materials and components in the context of widely used methods applied for the evaluation of buildings’ environmental performance is examined. The reviewed assessment systems are BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, DGNB, HQE and SBTool, with the analysis being focused on their versions referring to new office buildings. Issues related to the content and type of indicators and criteria used for the evaluation of factors referring to life cycle assessment, as well as to the way these rating elements are introduced into the structure and the evaluation process of the aforementioned methods, are examined. In this context, the relative standards and the appropriate –if any– databases and tools mentioned within each method are also demonstrated. The results of this work are systematically presented. The analysis is complemented by the examination of the inclusion of life cycle assessment-related factors in Level(s), a common European framework currently under trial. The present study aims at contributing to the identification of similarities and differences and at highlighting the current trends among widely used buildings’ environmental performance rating systems with regard to the approach they adopt considering building components’ life cycle assessment.

Analysing the contribution of automotive remanufacturing to the circularity of materials

Abstract Remanufacturing can boost resource efficiency, circularity of raw materials and reduce environmental impacts. Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment tools are integrated to assess the contribution of remanufacturing in reducing both consumption and impacts of primary resources for passenger cars. Results show that remanufacturing allows keeping within EU about 150,000 tonnes of materials, which is particularly relevant for Critical Raw Materials, such as rare-earth elements. Also, remanufacturing contributes in decreasing environmental impacts of vehicle's key components, as combustion engines (up to 79% of Global Warming Potential reduction). Further work will address data gaps and it will include current/innovative mobility.

Human urine fertiliser in the Brazilian semi-arid: Environmental assessment and water-energy-nutrient nexus

This manuscript aimed to identify the energy demand, and environmental aspects and impacts of crop fertilisation with human urine when compared to using mineral fertilisers. The Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment methods were adopted covering the options from "cradle to grave". The fertilisation with human urine included the collection, storage, transportation, application and field emissions, while the fertilisation with mineral fertilisers included primary production of fertilisers, transportation, application and field emissions. The reference flows were based on the fertilisation of 1 ha of maize with 225 kg of nitrogen, 29 kg of phosphorus and 48 kg of potassium oxide. We analysed the environmental aspects such as nitrogen and phosphorus mass balance, energy demand and water depletion, as well as environmental impacts such as global warming, human toxicity, photochemical ozone formation, acidification, eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, water scarcity and resource depletion. The agricultural fertilisation with full volume of human urine closer to the source presented smaller energy demand and environmental impact indicator values when compared to solid mineral fertiliser, despite the uncertainties. The fertilisation with human urine was more advantageous with transportation distances up to 134 km (energy demand) and 84 km (environmental categories) by truck compared to 1841 km of mineral fertiliser. Ammonia volatilisation control was key to reduce acidification and eutrophication indicator values. When considering additional gains such as the reduction of water demand and wastewater generation from a waterless collection of human urine, the indicator values of environmental aspects and impacts of fertilisation with human urine were smaller than those with mineral fertiliser and reached a break-even point of 193 km (energy demand) and 185 km (environmental categories). The nutrient cycling through resource-based sanitation offers an opportunity to expand sanitation access with smaller environmental impacts and more efficient water-energy-nutrient nexus.