Life Cycle Assessment Techniques Research Articles

OM Forum—In-Person or Virtual? What Will Operations Management/Research Conferences Look Like?

Problem definition: We examine the environmental implications of shifting from in-person to virtual conference formats and identify the effects of such a shift on the value conferences provide to our societies. We extend work from other fields to present a more comprehensive comparison of the environmental impact and perceived value of different conference formats for the operations management/research communities. Methodology/results: We leverage a series of COVID-19–induced natural experiments to precisely evaluate the environmental footprint and societal value difference between in-person and virtual formats via life cycle assessment and survey techniques, respectively. Specifically, we focus on Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Production and Operations Management Society, and European Operations Management Association conferences that were conducted in both formats between 2019 and 2021. The environmental assessment reveals a huge impact reduction: for climate change, on average, from 941.9 kg CO2eq per person for in-person formats to 1.0 for virtual. The value assessment emphasizes, instead, a detrimental utility loss with the overall perceived value derived from attendance moving—on a scale from 0 to 10—on average, from 7.9 to 4.0. When investigating the drivers of conference valuation, virtual formats show some merits, such as lower perceived costs and the added value of flexibility. The preference for in-person formats is unambiguous though, justified by the large performance gap related to socialization and networking, the two most important value drivers identified by our analysis. Managerial implications: These results highlight an inherent trade-off between virtual and in-person conferences. To overcome it, we discuss four strategies as to how our societies can reduce their environmental footprints and remain true to their essential purpose: (1) reduce in-person impact, (2) improve virtual design, (3) hybrid and decentralized formats, and (4) revise conferencing model and societies’ role. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0591 .

Environmental Feasibility Analysis for the Acrylonitrile Production from Glycerol

AbstractAcrylonitrile is a monomer traded as a commodity on the global market with applications in several industrial sectors, produced from the ammoxidation of propylene. New technological alternatives are being studied, reducing the use of petroleum derivatives through renewable raw materials. This article proposes the application of the life cycle assessment technique for acrylonitrile production from glycerol, with the objective of evaluating the environmental impacts generated in the process. The results demonstrated that the use of glycerol from the state of Mato Grosso can reduce consumption of fossil fuel and water by 45 % and 31 %, respectively. The results about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were little significant when replacing the raw material.

Environmental life cycle assessment and energy-economic analysis in different cultivation of microalgae-based optimization method

The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive exploration of microalgae cultivation methods, using energy-economic analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques, along with data envelopment analysis (DEA) to optimize energy and environmental impacts. The study provides insights into the energy requirements, productivity, net return, and environmental impacts of two common cultivation methods, open space and greenhouse. Results show that open space and greenhouse methods require an average input energy of 15920.40 and 17691.60 MJ kg−1, respectively, with energy ratios of 0.89 and 0.80 and productivity energy indexes of 0.06 and 0.02 kg MJ−1, respectively. The net return of open space and greenhouse methods is 204376.59 and 269276.06 ($ kg−1), productivity of 0.17 and 0.16 (kg $−1), respectively. The ReCiPe 2016 method is used to calculate environmental effects, with resource impact categories ranging from 201.11 to 205.68 USD2013. In terms of damage assessment categories, water and machinery and equipment have the highest share of damage assessment in both cultivation methods. DEA shows that total optimal energy consumption in the open space method is 14476.93 (MJ kg−1), resulting in a 7.55% decrease in energy consumption compared to the current cultivation. This is achieved by converting inefficient to efficient cultivation.

Effect of Virgin PP Substitution with Recycled Plastic Caps in the Manufacture of a Product for the Telephony Sector

This study investigated the effects of partial and total substitutions of fossil polypropylene (PP) for recycled plastic cap equivalents in the manufacture of signage labels used by the telephone industry. Four alternative scenarios to using virgin PP were evaluated considering recycled material in flake and pellet forms based on environmental performance, degree of circularity, and technical behavior. The environmental analysis was performed by the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique, and for all impact categories evaluated, using recycled material to replace the virgin reduced adverse effects on the environment. The most significant results in this dimension, with gains of 81% in the Global Environmental Indicator, occurred when recycled PP flakes entirely replaced the fossil polymer. Once again, the highest values of the Materials Circularity Indicator (MCI) were achieved by scenarios with full recycled resin in processing the tags; however, this product must also be reused. The mechanical behavior of the tags measured technical performance, and in this case, the product made with virgin PP outperformed the recycled options except for elongation. An analysis that integrated the three dimensions into a single performance index pointed to the complete substitution of virgin material for recycled as the most balanced option.

Use of life cycle assessment and modeling techniques for prediction of energy-environmental indicators in different wheat production systems

This study was conducted to analyze and model the energy consumption and environmental indicators for different wheat production systems in Qazvin province. Information needed for this study, related to 2021–2022, data was collected by monitoring machinery, and inputs during wheat production were interviewed by farmers and filled out questionnaires. The purpose of this study includes: (1) estimating the fuel consumption and energy of inputs in different wheat production systems, (2) estimating the environmental impact associated with input consumption using life cycle assessment (LCA), and (3) providing suggestions for optimization. The results showed wheat production in irrigated conservation tillage system has energy ratio (2.12) and energy productivity (0.18 kg MJ−1) suitable compared to conventional irrigated and rainfed tillage, and conservation rainfed tillage. Nitrogen fertilizer (55%–68%) and fuel consumption (15%–31%) of affect the energy consumption of four wheat cultivation systems. Three categories of damage to human health, ecosystem and resources in LCA were using the ReCiPe2016 method. Resource damage category for conventional tillage irrigation (76.05 USD2013) has significant pollution. The share of seed emissions, On-Farm emissions and nitrogen emissions affect the categories of damage to human health, ecosystems and resources, respectively. The results of the Cobb-Douglas model showed that T3 (fertilization and weed control) was significant at the level of 1% among other inputs. T1 (chisel packer roller), T2 (planting) and T4 (harvest and straw packaging) were significant at 5% level. The results of artificial neural network (ANN) of conventional rainfed cultivation showed that 6 input layers, 7 hidden layers with 10 hidden neurons and 1 output parameter were selected as the best structure. R2 and RMSE for fuel consumption were 0.95 and 43.65, respectively. As a result, the ANN results show higher accuracy than the Cobb-Douglas model.

Joint life cycle assessment and data envelopment analysis for the benchmarking of energy, exergy, environmental effects, and water footprint in the canned apple supply chain

The present investigation is designed to analyze the energy consumption rate, cumulative exergy demand (CExD), water footprint, and environmental impacts in canned apple production using life cycle assessment (LCA) technique. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was also used to identify effective measures in increasing apple orchard efficiency. The needed information was collected through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews in 2020 in the West Azerbaijan state of Iran. The result showed that energy consumption in apple production was 60,026.48 MJha−1. According to the DEA findings, the efficiency of apple orchards in the research area is low, and micronutrients and phosphate have the most potential to reduce. Furthermore, the number of efficient units based on technical performance, net performance and performance scale were 35, 93 and 35. There is a potential saving of 6073.15 MJha−1 of energy. Economic indices such as net return, benefit-to-cost ratio, and investment productivity were 3391.99 $ha−1, 1.75, and 6.003 kg$−1, respectively. The results of LCA+DEA illustrated that abiotic depletion has the greatest potential for reduction among environmental indicators, with a reduction rate of 35%. CExD outcomes determined that the rates of non-renewable fossil (812.16 MJt−1) for apple gardens mostly come from nitrogen and diesel fuel.

Determining the Most Appropriate Material Substitution by Upcycling and Recycling Methods for The Management of Waste Printed Circuit Boards

In this study, the material substitutions that would be achieved by upcycling and recycling methods that can be applied to waste printed circuit boards were compared through the sequential application of Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques. Substitutions by upcycling methods were determined as gold mine, bronze mine, lead mine, activated carbon, and copper mine. And, portland cement, aggregate, sawdust, fiberglass and styrene butadiene rubber were determined as the substituted materials that can be obtained by recycling methods. At the S-LCA stage, CML-IA baseline and ReCiPe 2016 methods were used for the characterization. For the MCDM study, environmental, technical, and economic criteria were determined. Remarkable characterization results of S-LCA were used as the environmental criteria of MCDM. The Entropy method was used for the weighting of the criteria. TOPSIS method was used to compare the alternatives on the basis of weighted criteria. LCA study shows that impact categories of Abiotic Depletion Potential (element basis), Total Ecotoxicity Potential, and Human Toxicity Potential are the major impact categories. MCDM study shows that gold (0.9845) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) (0.7361) are the most appropriate substitutions that can be obtained by upcycling and recycling methods, respectively.

Environmental Impact Assessment of Low-Density Polyethylene and Polyethylene Terephthalate Containers Using a Life Cycle Assessment Technique

Environmental Impact Assessment of Low-Density Polyethylene and Polyethylene Terephthalate Containers Using a Life Cycle Assessment Technique

Beyond the Black Box of Life Cycle Assessment in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Which Help from Bioassays?

The assessment of the environmental footprint of an organization or product is based on methods published by the European Union Joint Research Centre, which take 16 impact areas into account. Among the listed categories are human and freshwater ecosystem toxicities. Standard protocols utilize just chemical parameters as input data, hindering the determination of the full impact of complex mixes, such as pollutants released into the environment. Biological assays enable us to overcome this gap: in the present work, assays were employed to determine both baseline and specific toxicity to aquatic species (green algae, luminescent bacteria, and crustacean cladocera) as well as specific toxicity (mutagenicity and carcinogenicity). Ecological footprint was estimated with regard to the impact categories “freshwater toxicity” and “human cancer toxicity” following the standard methodology. In parallel, the impact on the above categories was estimated using the results of biological assays as input. Standard and bioassay-based results are not always congruent, and conventional methods generally underestimate the effects. Likewise, the choice of reference substance (metals or organics) influences the quantification of impact. Appropriate batteries of biological assays could therefore be utilized to complement LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) techniques in order to make them more sensitive when considering toxicity in mid-term impact categories.

Environmental impacts of a standalone solar water splitting system for sustainable hydrogen production: A life cycle assessment

Hydrogen is broadly utilized in various industries. It can also be considered as a future clean energy carrier. Currently, hydrogen is mainly produced from typical fuels such as coal; however, there exist some other clean alternatives which use water decomposition techniques. Water splitting via the copper-chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical cycle is a superb option for producing clean carbon-free fuel. Here, the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique is used to investigate the environmental consequences of an integrated solar Cu–Cl fuel production facility for large-scale hydrogen production. The impact of varying important input parameters including irradiation level, plant lifetime, and solar-to-hydrogen efficiency on various environmental impacts are investigated next. For instance, an improve in the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency from 15% to 30%, results in a reduction in the GWP from 1.25 to 6.27E-01 kg CO2 eq. An uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to deal with the study uncertainties. The results of the LCA show that the potential of acidification and global warming potential (GWP) of the current system are 8.27E-03 kg SO2 eq. and 0.91 kg CO2 eq./kg H2, respectively. According to the sensitivity analysis, the plant lifetime has the highest effect on the total GWP of the plant with a range of 0.63–1.88 kg of CO2 eq./kg H2. Results comparison with past thermochemical-based studies shows that the GWP of the current integrated system is 7% smaller than that of a solar sulfur-iodine thermochemical cycle.

Carbon assessment and cost accounting of a shared building based on the life cycle assessment

Abstract The transformation toward carbon neutrality is crucial, especially within the building industry, which is a significant carbon source. Building carbon accounting is fundamental to enable designers to undertake decarbonisation efforts, yet it remains a less mature field. This paper aims to assess carbon emissions and conduct cost accounting for a shared building using life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Beyond this, this paper also focuses on cost accounting associated with decarbonising efforts. The primary objective is to uncover the sustainability characteristics of shared buildings and establish a foundation for future decarbonisation decision-making. To achieve these goals, this paper first analyses various LCA techniques. Second, the carbon cost accounting model and method are discussed in aspects of five stages across the building life cycle. Third, the carbon emissions and cost accounting of an actual project involving an intelligently designed shared building are examined. The results reveal important insights. The intelligent design stage exhibits the lowest carbon emission, constituting a mere 0.002% of the total, whereas the use and maintenance stage shows the highest carbon emission, representing approximately 65.45% in proportion. In addition, the demolition and disposal stage demonstrates negative emissions (~7.1% of the total), indicating its contribution to decarbonisation. On the decarbonisation costs, material production and transportation contribute the largest proportion, ~67.38%, with the greatest potential for decarbonisation optimization. Overall, this paper provides essential insights into building carbon emission assessment in different stages, offering valuable guidance for architects, designers and engineering to optimise decarbonisation strategies.

Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a Tool for Environmental Management

Life Cycle Assessment, included in company environmental management methods, has particular importance in marketing management. Analysis of dangers to the environment through tools such as the LCA method allows for comparisons of alternative company management strategies. LCA is characterised as a technique for environmental management that enables environmental impact assessment of the product, process, industry, and even the comprehensive economic sector. LCA also influences decisions regarding environmental policy modification, but most importantly, it influences a company's marketing activities. The LCA technique is applied the world over with great effectiveness in studying specific phases of a product's life cycles – from 'birth to death'; however, Poland's experience in this domain constitutes continuously developing research areas. The experience of foreign research centres confirms the possibility of applying LCA techniques in supporting environmental risk assessment of innovative technologies where LCA is used to study the environmental impact of a new generation product, i.e. flocculants from polymer wastes. This article presents the results of a study of the effectiveness of applying a new generation of polyelectrolyte (gained from polystyrene waste) in treating industrial wastewater and the LCA environmental impact assessment, which was carried out using SimaPro software. Based on the analysis of the results of the application of sodium salts of sulfone derivatives of polystyrene in the treatment of mine water, it was found that these products significantly reduced the pollution indicators of mine water from KWK1. Accordingly, they provided the basis for the development of technical-scale technology.

The carbon footprint of household clothing washing in Shanghai during winter and spring based on empirical data

The consumer use phase of textiles and fashion contributes one-third to the carbon and water footprint, which is the highest for the life cycle assessment technique. However, it is only estimated by questionnaire or estimated data. We carried out a 180-day direct data tracking for three volunteer families with different demographic characteristics. The results show that consumer behaviors significantly influence the carbon and water scarcity footprint. Moreover, the uncertainty between the test data and the energy label estimated data is revealed. For family 1, the energy label-based electricity consumption carbon footprint is 0.57 kgCO2e, while the empirical data result is 2.79 kgCO2e. We proposed an improved carbon footprint evaluation method with the correction parameters, which can be estimated using the sampling data from the customers. The results show that applying actual data collection and building a database is necessary to reduce the astonishing errors, making error analysis possible and meaningful.

Life Cycle Assessment of Selected Single-Use Plastic Products towards Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations in Sri Lanka

The global demand for plastic is expected to double in the next 20 years. The increasing demand for Single-Use Plastic Products (SUPPs) has become one of the main environmental problems in many developing countries, including Sri Lanka, through direct and indirect means, in the way of excessive consumption and the pollution of the environment through waste generation. In this way, there is a pressing need to accelerate the sustainability evaluation, comparison, impact mitigation and policy recommendation of SUPPs to address the environmental impacts and sustainable development. Therefore, this study aims to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of SUPPs for policy decision making in Sri Lanka using life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques. Accordingly, the most popular and widely used single-use plastic products, which are under consideration for regulation in Sri Lanka, and their possible alternatives, are considered for this LCA study. The results reveal that SUPPs produced using polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have a significant contribution in all life cycle stages, in terms of global warming potential (GWP) and endpoint impact categories. However, the outcomes of the study reveal that the net GWP impact of SUPPs that have recycling practice at the end of life shows better performance compared to incineration and landfill. In addition, the polylactic acid- (PLA)-based products also show a significant impact on mid- and end-point GWP impact categories. Remarkably, the midpoint analysis of PLA-based products and their alternatives emphasized that PLA production was the most impactful for most of the midpoint impact categories due to PLA resin production, which contributes significantly to all impact categories. In particular, for the pesticide bottles with the preferred end-of-life option of incineration, the HDPE indicates a 7.6% lower GWP compared to PET. For reusable steel cutlery, the largest GWP-associated life cycle stage is the user phase (97.5%), which includes cleaning the cutlery. However, the overall reduction in GWP in the use of steel, considering the best (PS with recycling) and worst (PS with incineration) case scenarios, with single-use items are 0.01 and 0.05 kg CO2 (eq), respectively. In the case of pesticide bottles, with the preferred end-of-life option being incineration, the HDPE indicates a 7.6% lower GWP compared to PET. the study reveals that conducting LCA will facilitate scientific decision making for policy interventions related to SUPPs and their processes. Notably, the study shows that, at present, the capability of conducting LCA studies to evaluate the sustainability performance of SUPPs in Sri Lanka is limited due to the lack of life cycle inventory (LCI) data availability on SUPPs and relevant waste management practices in Sri Lanka.

Life cycle sustainability assessment of non-beverage bottles made of recycled High Density Polyethylene

The current plastic industry is associated with climate change, fossil fuel depletion and littering of plastic waste. To reduce these environmental impacts, companies and governmental bodies are increasingly adopting strategies based on the concept Circular Economy. However, circular decision-making is usually based on analyses that do not provide enough insights in every sustainability dimension, risking burden-shifting. In this study, environmental, economic and social life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques have been integrated into an overarching sustainability life cycle assessment (LCSA) to assess the impact of recycling High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) non-beverage bottles. The study assesses the impact in 11 environmental categories, the life cycle costs, and the social risks associated with the related economic sectors. An ad-hoc system expansion approach was developed to overcome the multifunctionality issue so commonly challenging in circular systems. The results indicate that using recycled HDPE leads to significant reductions in all the considered environmental categories. The economic analysis indicated that the material cost of recycled HDPE is slightly lower than for virgin HDPE, but the manufacturing costs are higher and highly dependent on the specific value chain. The social risks of recycling were found to be higher than for virgin plastic production, and mainly occurring outside the country where the recycling takes place (The Netherlands). Nevertheless, this analysis presents high uncertainty due to the heterogeneity in the recycling sector of the database. This study shows how the LCSA approach can be used to assess and compare the impacts and benefits of circular strategies and calls for further efforts to develop higher disaggregated social risk databases.

69 Animal Sourced Foods Role in Sustainable Nutrition

Abstract Amid growing concern regarding the food system are calls to reduce or eliminate animal sourced foods (ASF) from human diets. Despite the green revolution and consequent increase in crop yields, nutrient deficiencies are still problematic, particularly in developing regions. In the US, ASF provide 24% of energy, 48% of protein, approximately 50% of the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids as well as the micronutrients (White and Hall, 2017). This presentation introduces a framework for evaluation and discusses remaining knowledge gaps regarding the role of ASF in sustainable food systems that provide nutritious diets. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) was used to provide an accounting of environmental and sustainability characteristics of food production systems. LCA has an explicit goal the identification of tradeoffs between stages in the supply chain and tradeoffs across environmental dimensions. In a published study (Kim et al., 2020) using a hybrid lifecycle assessment technique, it was shown that while vegetarian diets resulted in lower environmental impacts across several environmental categories, that the US non-vegetarian recommended dietary guidelines led to increases for many categories. This is driven by the increased consumption of less calorically dense foods and changes in the patterns of food loss and waste. Ongoing studies of US beef production systems are providing insight into factors behind the variability in sustainability driven by practice and location. One management practice receiving attention is Adaptively Managed Paddocks (AMP). Sequestration estimates were combined with process model simulations of cow calf finishing operations. One system used conventional grain finishing and the other used grass finishing. The potential mitigation of GHG emissions from the potential sequestration is significant. Complete assessment of the role of ASF in healthy diets from sustainable food systems requires a full understanding of the benefits and costs of alternatives and informed decisions based on understanding of tradeoffs.

Comparative life cycle assessment of kerbside collection methods for waste glass cullet for asphalt production

Rapid urbanization along with population growth have led to a problem of excessive waste production worldwide. Australia is not an exception, where waste management and recycling are urgently required. The use of waste glass as a replacement for virgin aggregates can be one of the solutions. Many studies have focused on experiments and developing new materials with waste glass. However, those studies mostly ignored the embodied energies of the waste glass collection and sorting processes, which can significantly influence the environmental impact and thus demand further investigation. This research applies the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique to evaluate the environmental impacts of recovering glass material from two kerbside open-loop recycling models (early-stage separation) for asphalt production. The two kerbside recycling models belong, one with separating glass via a traditional mixed kerbside recycling bin model (MKRB model) and the other with collecting glass only through a separate kerbside glass recycling bin model (SKGRB model). It shows that the SKGRB is the most environmentally friendly model, which can lower environmental impacts by around 40–60% per ton of asphalt production compared to the MKRB model.

Investigation of environmental potentials on supply chain of textile and yarn industry using smart and sustainable life cycle assessment

PurposeEnvironmental impact and changes are becoming essential in textile and yarn industries, where reliable measurement of parameters related to processing harmful substances needs to be examined. Such findings can be cumulated using smart assessment like life cycle analysis. The ecological impact category, supply chain, and climate-changing factors were considered for the necessary assessment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies the Life Cycle Assessment technique in the textile and yarn industry to estimate critical environmental potentials. The critical input for the fabric and yarn industry was put in the GaBi software model to estimate various environmental potentials.FindingsGlobal warming potential, electricity, and raw cotton consumption in the fabric and yarn industry were critical concerns where attention should be focused on minimizing environmental potentials from cradle to gate assessment.Research limitations/implicationsThis qualitative study is made via the industry case-wise inputs and outputs, which can vary with demographic conditions. Some machine and human constraints have not been implemented in modelling life cycle model for smart simulation. Smart simulation helps in linking different parameters and simulates their combined effects on the product life cycle.Practical implicationsThis modelling approach will help access pollution constituents in different supply chain production processes and optimize them simultaneously.Originality/valueThe raw data used in this analysis are collected from an Indian small scale textile industry. In the textile fabrication industry, earlier assessments were carried out in cotton generation, impact of PET, cradle to grave assessment of textile products and garment processing only. In this research the smart model is drawn to consider each input parameter of yarn and textile fabric to determine the criticality of each input in this assessment. This article mainly talks about life cycle and circular supply assessment applied to first time for both cotton to yarn processing and yarn to fabric industry for necessary estimation of environment potentials.

Environmental model using life cycle assessment and artificial intelligence techniques to predict impacts on industrial water treatment.

With the advancement of globalization, the growing demand for environmental resources in industrial processes and the increasing availability of data and information, the need to align data modeling concepts with Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and existing environmental tools has emerged. From a sustainability perspective, life cycle assessment (LCA) is an extremely important tool in ensuring adequate practices in environmental thinking. It is through the life cycle assessment (LCA) that it is possible to measure the environmental impacts from products and processes, as well as to make projections that minimize these impacts. This research employed an artificial intelligence (AI) methods, namely adaptive neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model, to predict life cycle environmental impacts in industrial water treatment using aluminum sulfate and Tannin-Base biocoagulant. The results show that different AI algorithms are used to build LCA models. The AI algorithms in the studies work from problem identification to the solution stage, so the integration between AI and LCA makes it possible to build predictive machine learning models to enable assertiveness in decision making.

Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuels Production Processes in Viticulture in the Context of Circular Economy

Globally, as the population and the living standards expanded, so did the use of energy and materials. Renewable energy resources are being used to help address the energy issue and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Because lignocellulosic biomass resources are widely available and renewable, various processes are used to convert these resources into bioenergy. In the current study, two production processes were evaluated, namely the transformation of vine shoot waste into value-added biofuels, i.e., pellets/briquettes and bioethanol. The life cycle assessment (LCA) technique was used for simulating and documenting the environmental performance of two biomass waste to biofuels pathways, possible candidates for closing loops in the viticulture production, according to the circular economy models. The SimaPro software was used to perform the LCA. The results show that the pellets/briquettes production process has a lower negative influence on the studied environmental impact categories compared to the production of bioethanol.