Photochemical Oxidation Potential Research Articles

Computer aided environmental analysis of a large-scale production of chitosan micro-beads modified with thiourea and magnetite

In this work, environmental assessment of a large-scale production of chitosan micro-beads modified with thiourea and magnetite was performed using Waste Reduction Algorithm (WAR). This methodology evaluates eight impact categories, four toxicological and four atmospherics. Initially, the simulation of production process of micro-beads was realized. Then, WAR GUI software, which is based on WAR algorithm, was employed to quantify potential environmental impacts (PEI) generation and output rate for this process under 4 different cases. The synthesis of micro-beads was analysed using computer-aided process engineering, this is related to the fact that there is no bibliography reported for the industrial scale-up, simulation and environmental evaluation of this type of process Results shows that photochemical oxidation potential is the evaluated category which emits the biggest output rate of PEI, contributing in all cases with more than 49% of the total rate. In general terms, the process has a negative generated PEI which means that the process has a convenient environmental performance. This leads to the conclusion that the process is environmentally beneficial because it consumes environmental impacts.

Life cycle assessemnt (LCA) study of a milk powder product in aluminium foil packaging

Dairy processing industry is one of the industries that give positive contribution to the economic growth, however it also contributes in many impacts on the environment, as well as milk powder product manufactured by PT X. The main objective of this study was to determine the most significant environmental impact caused by production and transportation of milk powder in bag 250 gram (Product X) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The boundary of the LCA study is “cradle to gate”, including: materials production, materials transportation from supplier to the PT X factory, manufacture of milk powder in PT X, and distribution of the products from factory to distributor. Four impact categories will be calculated on this study: global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), acidification potential (AP), and photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP). The impact assessment was calculated by software SimaPro v.8.3.2 faculty license, and the calculation result validated manually by Microsoft Excel. The result of environmental impact calculation showed the GWP, EP, AP, and POCP of 1 kg milk powder is 1.3245 kg CO2 eq/kg, 0.0033 kg PO43- eq/kg, 0.0066 kg SO2 eq/kg and 0.0020 kg C2H4 eq/kg. The material production subsystem has the highest environmental impact on GWP, POCP, AP and EP categories. In particular, production activity in PT X also contributes to GWP. An environmental impact reduction strategy can focus on reducing GWP with electricity usage efficiency and developing a material supplier selection plan with environmental impacts of material production as one of criteria.

Life cycle assessment of paper and plastic packaging waste in landfill, incineration, and gasification-pyrolysis

Global commodity prices for materials including paper and crude oil have slumped, lowering the value of recyclate, presenting new challenges for the Australian waste and recycling industry. This study assesses the environmental performance of managing (mixed paper and mixed plastic) recyclate in landfill, incineration and gasification-pyrolysis using life cycle assessment (LCA) for impacts including acidification, climate change, photochemical oxidation, and eutrophication potentials. The study finds environmental outcomes can be optimized by separately treating recyclate. Mixed paper treated in incineration or gasification-pyrolysis produces less greenhouse gas emissions than in landfill, whereas mixed plastic is best managed in landfill. The directional outcomes for other pollutants assessed were sensitive to the inclusion of credits from electricity production. The study is significant because waste management in Australia is now considering thermal treatment options, due to diminishing landfill capacities and perceived environmental benefits. Policy changes to waste management systems will benefit from having the ability to predict environmental outcomes based on particular waste types and materials.

Environmental life cycle assessment of yoghurt supply to consumer in Turkey

The life cycle environmental impacts of yoghurt supply to the end user in Turkey were investigated. Turkey is the second biggest yoghurt producer in the world; therefore reducing the environmental footprint of yoghurt production is of utmost importance from cleaner production and sustainability points of view. The functional unit was chosen as 1 ton of yoghurt, CCaLC2™ was used as software, and CML2001 methodology was used. A cradle-to-grave approach was employed. The production processes were modelled based on real life data acquired from a major yoghurt production company in Turkey. Six impacts (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, ozone layer depletion potential, and human toxicity potential) were calculated. All of the impacts turned out to be higher than the values reported in the literature (differences ranging from 18% to 76%), which was attributed to the high amounts of milk loss and the high energy intensity of yoghurt production processes combined with the fact that the energy resources used for thermal energy and electricity supply in Turkey have high environmental footprints. Except for ozone layer depletion, all impacts were found to be mainly caused by raw material supply and production processes, with these two stages having a combined average contribution of 80%. Choosing different end-of-life treatment methods (landfilling versus incineration) affected the results by no more than 4%. None of the impacts except for ozone layer depletion potential were found to be sensitive to transportation distances,. It was concluded that, in order to reduce the environmental footprint of yoghurt production, the electrical energy input to the production process should be obtained from more environmentally friendly resources such as solar photovoltaics whereas heat energy should be supplied from cleaner resources such as natural gas instead of coal.

Environmental profile of an innovative household biowaste dryer system based on Life Cycle Assessment.

An alternative approach to biowaste management involves the application of an innovative household dryer for the dehydration of biowaste at source, in order to significantly reduce its mass and volume, and subsequently the collection frequency. The main objective of this work is to assess the potential impacts of the system under examination, which involves the household dryer use and kerbside collection of the dehydrated residues (biomass), by conducting a Life Cycle Assessment study. The stages considered in the present study include the following: (a) the construction of the household biowaste dryer; (b) the use of the dryer and the collection of dehydrated residues; (c) the end-of-life treatment of the dryer. The results revealed that emissions coming from kerbside collection account for the vast majority of the total emissions from each category examined, apart from Terrestrial Ecotoxicity, where lignite, heavy fuel oil and diesel combustion during electricity production affect mainly this category. The potential impact in Global Warming over 100 years was estimated to be 8.87 kg CO2 eq / t biowaste. The Human Toxicity Potential was 1.86 kg 1,4-DB eq / t biowaste, Terrestrial Ecotoxicity Potential was 0.027 kg 1,4-DB eq / t biowaste, Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity Potential was 0.0126 kg 1,4-DB eq / t biowaste and Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity Potential was 521.85 kg 1,4-DB eq / t biowaste. Acidification Potential was estimated at 0.035 kg SO2 eq / t biowaste, while Eutrophication Potential was 0.0065 kg PO4- eq / t biowaste. Finally, Photochemical Oxidation Potential was 0.0014 kg C2H4 eq / t biowaste.

LCA/LCC analysis of starting-lighting-ignition lead-acid battery in China.

BackgroundChina has the largest lead–acid battery (LAB) industry and market around the world, and this situation causes unavoidable emissions of Pb and other pollutants.MethodsOn the basis of a field survey on a starting–lighting–ignition (SLI) LAB plant in Zhejiang Province, this study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods to assess the environmental impacts and environment-related costs derived from the LAB industry during the life phases, including material preparation, battery assembly, transportation, and regeneration of the plant.ResultsMaterial preparation and regeneration phases contribute 3.4 and 42.2 g to Pb emission, respectively, and result in 3.29 × 108 CHY of environmental cost for each function unit (1 KVA h LAB capacity). The material preparation phase is the largest mass contributor to global warming potential (GWP, 97%), photo-chemical oxidation potential (POCP, 88.9%), and eutrophication potential (EP, 82.5%) and produces 2.68 × 108 CHY of environmental cost.DiscussionDecision makers in the Chinese LAB industry should replace the pyrogenic process in smelting with the use of clean energy, increase the lead recovery rate while producing the same capacity of LABs, and develop new technologies to reduce heavy metal emission, especially in the regeneration phase.

Comparative techno-economic assessment and environmental impacts of rice husk-to-fuel conversion technologies

This study compared techno-economic performances and environmental impacts of different technologies for rice husk-to-fuel biorefinery – hydrothermal carbonization with pelletization (HTC), pyrolysis (PYR) and anaerobic co-digestion (AD) process – and benchmarked against a conventional direct combustion (DC) for combined heat and power. Economic analysis through techno-economic (TE) model showed HTC with the greatest potentials compared to other processes due to its high-solid operating capacity and could be cost-competitive against the DC technology. Analysis results also highlighted a need for improvement of PYR and AD process in term of the increase of solid loading operation and the exploration of process wastes for better economic benefits and cost competitiveness. Based on life-cycle analysis (LCA) model, HTC yielded the lowest carbon and water footprints from amongst the analyzed options. Nevertheless, all three options had lower GHG emissions and water utilizations than DC process, indicating better environmentally advantageous of these processes. The LCA of three conversion technologies showed better environmental performances mainly lower global warming potential, lower photochemical oxidation potential and lower acidification potential than the DC reference system. The results obtained from this work could be exploited by decision makers for selecting appropriated biomass-to-fuel process based on environmental and economic performances.

Comparative energy, economic and environmental analyses of forage production systems for dairy farming

Abstract Corn silage and alfalfa hay are the main feedstuffs for dairy farming, and due to the drop in corn price, there is a tendency toward replacing alfalfa hay with corn silage in dairy cow diets. This study focuses on the comprehensive assessment of alfalfa hay and corn silage production systems from energy, economic and environmental perspectives. The life cycle assessment (LCA) from raw material extraction up to delivery of forage to the dairy farms was conducted to quantify the ecoprofile of forage production. The results of comparative analyses revealed that corn production was more dependent on chemical fertilizers specially nitrogen, but alfalfa production was more dependent on electricity, water and diesel fuel for farm operations. Energy use per ton of alfalfa hay dry matter was higher than that of corn silage (2.6 vs. 2.4 GJ t−1). On the other hand, output energy of alfalfa hay was considerably higher than that of corn silage (15.8 vs. 8.0 GJ t−1). Consequently, energy use efficiency of alfalfa hay was almost two times of that of corn silage (6.1 vs. 3.3). Nevertheless, corn silage had higher benefit-to-cost ratio than alfalfa hay (2.55 vs. 2.27), and higher environmental impacts in the forms of abiotic depletion, global warming potential, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification and eutrophication potential. Finally, the effects of varying input parameters of machinery and diesel fuel, electricity, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and transportation on LCA results were assessed via sensitivity analysis.

Life cycle assessment and eco-efficiency Indicator for ulos weaving using loom machine in Toba Samosir Regency of North Sumatra

Toba Samosir Regency is one of the centers of ulos weaving in North Sumatera. Most of the weaving processes are carried out traditionally by small-size enterprises. However, it is identified that there are 8 ulos weaving industries that utilize loom machine. To date, no holistic environmental impact assessment has yet been conducted on weaving industry in Toba Samosir. This study aims to assess potential environmental impact caused by weaving industry in Toba Samosir. The scope of this study covers gate-to-gate stages in ulos production, consisting mangiran, washing, dipping, drying, dying, boiling, sun-drying, weaving, and manirat. The functional unit of this study is 182 kg of ulos, representing one batch of production. The assessments are conducted by two approaches; these are Life Cycle Assessment and Eco-efficiency Index measurement. The LCA modeling and computation of environmental impacts are aided by openLCA software. From LCA, it is revealed that the potential environmental impacts associated with ulos weaving are Eutrophication Potential (5.28E+01 kg PO4 eq - 8.41E+01 kg PO4 eq), Climate Change Potential (7.17E+02 kg CO2 eq - 5.74E+02 kg CO2 eq), and Photochemical Oxidation Potential (3.40E+00 kg CFC-11 eq - 4.68E+01 kg CFC-11 eq). The major stressors causing these impacts are using firewood. The calculation result of Eco-Efficiency Index (EEI) for weaving industry in Toba Samosir Regency falls between 0,1 and 0,4, which indicates the product is affordable but not sustainable..

Life Cycle Assessment of Food Processing Systems in Toba Samosir Regency

This study assesses the gate-to-gate environmental impacts of food processing systems operating in Toba Samosir Regency using Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The systems in question are processing of tapioca, coffee, and tofu, with the functional units of 50 kg of tapioca starch, 1 kg of coffee powder, and 25 kg of tofu, respectively. The inventory data were collected directly from the producers in the form of both production records and interviews. The linked flows that describe the production process for each of the system are obtained as follow. In producing 50 kg of tapioca starch, 200 kg cassava root and 800 kg of water are required. This system generates 40 kg of cassava peel, 60 kg of pulp and discharges 850 kg of waste water. For starch drying 209 MJ of thermal energy is required in the form of heating fuel. In order to produce 1 kg of fine coffee, 4 kg of coffee cherry and 30 kg of water are required. This system generates 3 kg of cherry peel and pulp mixture as solid co-product and discharges 30 kg of waste water. For roasting and milling the coffee bean, 90 MJ of thermal energy is consumed from firewood and gasoline. In producing 25 kg of tofu, 11 kg of soybean, 0.2 kg of flour and 140 kg of water are required. This system generates 16 kg of wet pulp and discharges 89 kg of waste water. For milling, 250 MJ of thermal energy is consumed from gasoline and rice husk. Water is the most vulnerable environmental compartment since most of the waste water is being discharged into the stream with limited treatment. The environmental hotspots associated with these systems are eutrophication potential, global warming potential (climate change), acidification, and photochemical oxidation potential.

Mapping the impacts of farmed Scottish salmon from a life cycle perspective

PurposeThe European Union relies on seafood imports to supply growing demand that European production has failed to meet. Politically motivated media reports have denigrated competing imports in favour of local production. While life cycle assessment (LCA) measures global impact of value chains, it often fails to contextualise them. Using LCA, this article takes farmed Scottish Atlantic salmon as a case study of “local” production to identify and map the contributions to global environmental impact.MethodsData on the Scottish salmon value chain were collected by structured survey from a large international feed mill, six farms and a major processor. Secondary data were collected from available literature on feed ingredients and background data from EcoInvent2.2. A mid-point CML2001 approach was adopted focussing on global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, photo-chemical oxidation potential, consumptive water use and land use. Results were displayed as contribution analyses of materials and processes and mapped geographically using area plots.Results and discussionFar from being a “locally” produced commodity, nearly 50% of the feed ingredients were sourced from South America and less than 25% originated in the UK. It was found that over 90% of the impact to farm-gate was embodied in feed, apart from eutrophication potential which was high at the farm from direct nitrogenous emissions into the marine environment. The majority of impacts do not occur in Scotland, particularly for land and water use, which occur at a more geographically significant level than GWP or AP, which are more global or regional impacts, respectively. High GWP emissions from vegetable-based ingredients were related to soil management and energy intensive processes such as wet milling to produce gluten from wheat and maize, sunflower and rapeseed oil processing.ConclusionsThe results show that in an age of globalised commodity trading, concerns around “local” production are often misleading. As consumers try to make more responsible purchase choices, they may be misled over the global impacts their choices are having. There are clearly trade-offs between different feed ingredients, especially regarding substitution of marine ingredients with those of vegetable origin. While marine ingredients perform comparatively well, they are highly limited, and biodiversity impacts of different ingredients are less clear and difficult to compare.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Chinese Radial Passenger Vehicle Tire

The life cycle environmental impacts of the new model radial passenger vehicle tire product was evaluated and compared. the silicon dioxide was added to replace part of the carbon black as filler, with its previous model tire product. The study covers all relevant life cycle stages: from the acquisition of raw materials to the production, use, and end-of-life. The data collected onsite in 2014 by one of the largest Chinese tire companies were used in the assessment. The evaluation is presented in terms of individual impact category according to the CML model. Five impact categories (i.e., global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP), and human toxicity potential (HTP)) were considered. The research was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040/14044 standards. The results showed that In all the five impact categories, new model tire product is lower than the previous model in the whole life cycle. It is mostly due to the reduction of the fuel consumption during the use stage, which resulted in replacing part of the carbon black with silicon dioxide. Fuel (gasoline) consumption represents an important contribution to most impact categories, including the GWP, AP, POCP, and EP, during the use stage. Vehicle fuel consumption and its proportion consumed by the tires during the use stage are key factors that contribute to environmental impact during tire life time. The largest contributor to the HTP category is raw material acquisition, mainly because of the impact of the production of organic chemicals. During the raw material acquisition stage, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and organic chemicals represent the largest contribution to the environmental impact categories, which could be mitigated by reducing the use of raw materials, replacing the aromatic oil with environmental oil in the new model tire product.

Estimation and comparison of environmental emissions and impacts at foundation and structure construction stages of a building – A case study

Previous studies have seldom investigated the effects of direct emissions at different stages of a building construction. This study aims to estimate and compare direct and indirect emissions and environmental impacts at foundation and structure construction stages of a building using a case study. The case study is multi-storey commercial building construction with concrete framing. A process based methodology is developed to estimate emissions from seven sources that contribute to both greenhouse gas (GHG) and non-GHG emissions. An impact assessment is also carried out to compare the environmental impacts for different stages of construction from global, regional and local perspectives. The results highlight an overpowering indirect GHG contribution of 89% from material embodied emissions at the structure construction stage. Direct GHG emissions at the foundation construction are prominent with a contribution of 12.7% and 13.4% for emissions from equipment usage and transportation respectively. Nitrous Oxides (NOx) and Carbon Monoxides (CO) are recorded as the most prominent non-GHG emissions. The results were further analysed based on four scenarios corresponding to direct and indirect emissions. The results signified a GHG emission reduction of 12% can be achieved by adopting sustainable materials such as fly ash and blast furnace concrete. The impact assessment results illustrate a large contribution to global warming potential (GWP) with a value of over 98% for the construction stage from the global perspective. This large contribution from GWP is reduced to 60% and 57% with relative high contributions from Photochemical Oxidation Potential (POFP) with 26% and 34% at regional and local levels. The scenario analyses on direct emissions highlight the importance of resource utilisation in reducing impacts at local level. The results indicate that identification of the significant emission sources and impact categories at different construction stages, prior to implementing emission reduction opportunities such as usage of sustainable materials and operational optimisation of construction equipment and transportation vehicles is key to minimising impacts at building construction.

콘크리트의 전과정 평가를 위한 기준콘크리트 선정방법 제안 연구

The purpose of this study is to suggest baseline concrete selection method for environmental impact assessment of concrete as part of study on the development of concrete life cycle assessment system. For this purpose, environmental impact was assessed for 6 environmental impact categories including Global Warming Potential(GWP), Abiotic Depletion Potential(ADP), Ozone Depletion Potential(ODP), Acidification Potential(AP), Eutrophication Potential(EP) and Photochemical Oxidant Creation Potential(POCP) using mix design DB used in concrete field. Furthermore, Correlation of baseline concrete has been analyzed by the results with Average, High rank 20% and Mode of environmental impact assessment of concrete. As a result, Baseline concrete Selection method using Mode is judged to be the most proper method at present. Through the analysis of environmental impact of baseline concrete, it is possible to use the indicator as baseline data when environmental friendly concrete assessment system is developed.

Combined application of Artificial Neural Networks and life cycle assessment in lentil farming in Iran

In this study, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was applied to model yield and environmental emissions from lentil cultivation in Esfahan province of Iran. Data was gathered from lentil farmers using face to face questionnaire method during 2014–2015 cropping season. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to investigate the environmental impact categories associated with lentil production. Based on the results, total energy input, energy output to input ratio and energy productivity were determined to be 32,970.10MJha−1, 0.902 and 0.06kgMJ−1, respectively. The greatest amount of energy consumption was attributed to chemical fertilizer (42.76%). Environmental analysis indicated that the acidification potential was higher than other environmental impact categories in lentil production system. Also results showed that the production of agricultural machinery was the main hotspot in abiotic depletion, eutrophication, global warming, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity impact categories, while direct emissions associated with lentil cultivation was the main hotspot in acidification potential and photochemical oxidation potential. In addition, diesel fuel was the main hotspot only in ozone layer depletion. The ANN model with 9-10-6-11 structure was identified as the most appropriate network for predicting yield and related environmental impact categories of lentil cultivation. Overall, the results of sensitivity analysis revealed that farmyard manure had the greatest effect on the most of the environmental impacts, while machinery was the most affecting parameter on the yield of the crop.

Environmental impact assessment of chicken meat production using life cycle assessment

The present study was conducted in Varamin city of Tehran province, Iran. The environmental impact of broiler production at farm gate and chicken meat production at slaughterhouse gate per mass-based functional unit in summer and winter seasons were evaluated using life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Environmental impact categories including abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, human toxicity potential, freshwater and marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential, terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, and photochemical oxidation potential were assessed via CML 2 baseline 2000 v2.04/world, 1990 method. According to the results, the global warming potential, acidification and eutrophication for production of 1ton packed meat were estimated to be 2931.91kgCO2-eq, 41.75kgSO2-eq and 14.69kgPO4-eq, in summer and 5357.61kgCO2-eq, 61.9kgSO2-eq and 19.34kgPO4-eq in winter, respectively. The evaluations revealed that the broiler production stage was the main source of environmental impacts principally due to production and transportation of feed and on-farm emissions in the life cycle of chicken meat production. Broiler production farms, slaughterhouse and transportation account for 56%, 31% and 13% of total energy consumption, respectively.

Assessment of environment impacts of egg production chain using life cycle assessment

In this study we have to deal with the assessment of environment impacts of laying hen in the Alborz province, Iran. This assessment was carried out for one kg of egg during a period of 420 days for 1000 chickens. Then due to significant consumption of diet during period of question, three main products including corn, soybean and wheat which are consist of 80 percent of the combination of laying chicken diet, also collected the information about their production and it has been evaluated the indicators of their environment individually and eventually, the results has been considered as a title for inputs of poultry. Data for production of inputs were taken from EcoInvent 2.0 database, and SimaPro software was used for analysis. Ten classification impacts including Abiotic Depletion potential, Acidification potential, Eutrophication potential, Global Warming potential for time horizon 100 years, Ozone Depletion potential, Human Toxicity potential, Freshwater and Marine Aquatic Eco-toxicity potential, Terrestrial Eco-toxicity potential, and Photochemical Oxidation potential were selected based on the CML 2 baseline 2000 V2/world, 1990/characterization method. Due to the results, for each kilograms of egg, 30/09 MJ and also the value of greenhouse gas emissions is 4/07 Kg CO2 eq was calculated. According to the obtained results, the production of diet has made the most negative charge of environment among the inputs.

Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Cost Analysis of Magnesia Spinel Brick Production

Sustainable use of natural resources in the production of construction materials has become a necessity both in Europe and Turkey. Construction products in Europe should have European Conformity (CE) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), an independently verified and registered document in line with the European standard EN 15804. An EPD certificate can be created by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. In this particular work, an LCA study was carried out for a refractory brick production for environmental assessment. In addition to the LCA, the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis was also applied for economic assessment. Firstly, a cradle-to-gate LCA was performed for one ton of magnesia spinel refractory brick. The CML IA method included in the licensed SimaPro 8.0.1 software was chosen to calculate impact categories (namely, abiotic depletion, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, ozone depletion potential, and photochemical oxidation potential). The LCC analysis was performed by developing a cost model for internal and external cost categories within the software. The results were supported by a sensitivity analysis. According to the results, the production of raw materials and the firing process in the magnesia spinel brick production were found to have several negative effects on the environment and were costly.

Bioenergy and bioproducts from municipal organic waste as alternative to landfilling: a comparative life cycle assessment with prospective application to Mexico.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a four-stage biorefinery concept, coined H-M-Z-S, that converts 1t of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) into bioenergy and bioproducts was performed in order to determine whether it could be an alternative to common disposal of OFMSW in landfills in the Mexican reality. The OFMSW is first fermented for hydrogen production, then the fermentates are distributed 40% to the methane production, 40% to enzyme production, and 20% to the saccharification stage. From hydrogen and methane, up to 267MJ and 204kWh of gross heat and electricity were produced. The biorefinery proved to be self-sustainable in terms of power (95kWh net power), but it presented a deficit of energy for heating services (-155MJ), which was partially alleviated by digesting the wastes from the bioproducts stages (-84MJ). Compared to landfill, biorefinery showed lower environmental impacts in global warming (down to -128kg CO2-eq), ozone layer depletion (2.96 × 10-6kg CFC11-eq), and photochemical oxidation potentials (0.011kg C2H4-eq). The landfarming of the digestates increased significantly the eutrophication impacts, up to 20% below the eutrophication from landfilling (1.425kg PO4-eq). These results suggest that H-M-Z-S biorefinery could be an attractive alternative compared to conventional landfilling for the management of municipal solid wastes, although new alternatives and uses of co-products and wastes should be explored and tested. Moreover, the biorefinery system would benefit from the integration into the market chain of the bioproducts, i.e., enzymes and hydrolysates among others.

Life cycle assessment of Chinese radial passenger vehicle tire

We evaluated and quantified the environmental impact of a radial tire product for passenger vehicles throughout the product’s life cycle to identify key stages that contribute to the overall environmental burden and to find ways to reduce these burdens effectively. The study covers all relevant life cycle stages, from the acquisition of raw materials to the production, use, and end of life. Data collected onsite in 2014 by one of the largest Chinese tire companies were used in the assessment. The evaluation is presented in terms of individual impact category according to the CML model. Five impact categories (i.e., global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP), and human toxicity potential (HTP)) were considered. The research was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040/14044 standards. Fuel (gasoline) consumption represents an important contribution to most impact categories, including the GWP, AP, POCP, and EP, during the use stage. The largest contributor to the HTP category is raw material acquisition, mainly because of the impact of the production of organic chemicals. In the end-of-life stage, assuming that 100 % of used tires are collected and recycled to produce reclaimed rubber, the GWP, EP, and HTP contributions are negative, whereas those to the AP and POCP are positive. During the raw material acquisition stage, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and organic chemicals represent the largest contribution to the environmental impact categories. During the production stage, the compound blending process is the largest contributor to the AP and POCP, whereas vulcanizing and testing contribute most to the GWP, EP, and HTP. Vehicle fuel consumption and its proportion consumed by the tires during the use stage are key factors that contribute to environmental impact during tire life. Further investigations should be conducted to decrease the impact of these factors and improve the environmental performance of tire products.