Simplified Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

Decision support towards agile eco-design of microreaction processes by accompanying (simplified) life cycle assessment

Continuously running syntheses in microstructured reactors offers novel ways to intensify conventional chemical processes. An outstanding advantage of microreaction technology is the high surface-to-volume-ratio which enables intensive mixing phenomena as well as high mass and heat transfer rates. Thus, microstructured reactors may be a suitable means to improve multiphase reactions by increasing the interfacial area and the intensification of internal mixing. This improvement in reaction performances may lead to reduced environmental burdens of the process under consideration. The method of simplified life cycle assessment (SLCA) is a suitable tool to evaluate the environmental burdens caused by chemical processes. It has been applied already in research and development to identify the key parameters for a deliberate green process design of two biphasic reactions, the esterification of phenol and benzoyl chloride resulting in phenyl benzoate and the synthesis of one of the corresponding phase transfer catalysts, [BMIM]Cl. Further, SLCA is complemented by a simple cost estimation to investigate the main cost drivers relevant for possible industrial application of the syntheses investigated.

Simplified environmental impact drivers for product life cycle

The early design stage of product development often has limited information available to designers. The environmental impacts of a products life cycle are widely assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA). Nevertheless, as LCA is a costly and time-consuming method, the previous study shown the development of simplified LCA (SLCA) drivers of the entire product life cycle stages for the conceptual design stage. These SLCA drivers were developed based on a full LCA analysis of the Eco-indicator99 H/A method and the classification of the hierarchical clustering method as well as verified with case studies. So far, only the single score values of the driver were presented briefly. Therefore, this paper emphasises further on the results of the SLCA model by explicitly presenting the SLCA drivers into four different results, namely major emission substances, major impact categories, damage categories and single score for the process cases of all product life cycle stages.

제품 개발단계에서의 환경성 평가를 위한 에코디자인 기법 연구

This study aims at effectively integrate environmental attributes into the product design and development processes, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-design Checklist which are crucial to identify the significant environmental aspects related to a product system within a relatively short period of time. For this, a Simplified LCA method that can be applied to Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) was developed to efficiently identify their significant environmental aspects for eco-design, since a Detailed LCA study is usually very detailed, expensive and time-consuming. The Eco-design Checklist is a method, which was also analyzed. Then, the usefulness of each method in eco-design processes was evaluated and compared using the case studies of the refrigerator systems. In this study, it founded that the Simplified LCA and Eco-design Checklist would provide some information about environmental issues. The Simplified LCA generated more information on the environmental aspects of a product system so that it might be useful for whole product design procedure, when developing a completely new product. On the other hand, Eco-design Checklist would give some information on the potential aspects for improving a product so that it could be effectively used in product design process.

Life cycle assessment in buildings: State-of-the-art and simplified LCA methodology as a complement for building certification

The paper presents the state-of-the-art regarding the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the building sector, providing a list of existing tools, drivers and barriers, potential users and purposes of LCA studies in this sector. It also proposes a simplified LCA methodology and applies this to a case study focused on Spain. The thermal simulation tools considered in the Spanish building energy certification standards are analysed and complemented with a simplified LCA methodology for evaluating the impact of certain improvements to the building design. The simplified approach proposed allows global comparisons between the embodied energy and emissions of the building materials and the energy consumption and associated emissions at the use stage. The results reveal that embodied energy can represent more than 30% of the primary energy requirement during the life span of a single house of 222 m 2 with a garage for one car. The contribution of the building materials decreases if the house does not include a parking area, since this increases the heated surface percentage. Usually the top cause of energy consumption in residential building is heating, but the second is the building materials, which can represent more than 60% of the heating consumption.

Integration of Life Cycle Assessment Into Agent‐Based Modeling

SummaryA method is presented that allows for a life cycle assessment (LCA) to provide environmental information on an energy infrastructure system while it evolves. Energy conversion facilities are represented in an agent‐based model (ABM) as distinct instances of technologies with owners capable of making decisions based on economic and environmental information. This simulation setup allows us to explore the dynamics of assembly, disassembly, and use of these systems, which typically span decades, and to analyze the effect of using LCA information in decision making.We were able to integrate a simplified LCA into an ABM by aligning and connecting the data structures that represent the energy infrastructure and the supply chains from source to sink. By using an appropriate database containing life cycle inventory (LCI) information and by solving the scaling factors for the technology matrix, we computed the contribution to global warming in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents in the form of a single impact indicator for each instance of technology at each discrete simulation step. These LCAs may then serve to show each agent the impact of its activities at a global level, as indicated by its contribution to climate change. Similar to economic indicators, the LCA indicators may be fed back to the simulated decision making in the ABM to emulate the use of environmental information while the system evolves. A proof of concept was developed that is illustrated for a simplified LCA and ABM used to generate and simulate the evolution of a bioelectricity infrastructure system.

Simplified Environmental Study on Innovative Bridge Structure

The aim of this paper is to present a simplified life cycle assessment on an innovative bridge structure, made of wood and ultra high performance concrete, which combines mechanical performance with minimum environmental impact. The environmental analysis was conducted from cradle to grave using the Life Cycle Assessment method. It was restricted to energy release and greenhouse gas emissions. Assumptions are detailed for each step of the analysis. For the wood end-of-life, three scenarios were proposed: dumping, burning, and recycling. Results show that the most energy needed is in the production phase, which represents 73.4% of the total amount. Analysis shows that the renewable energy is about 70% of the production energy. Wood, through its biomass CO2, contributes positively to the environmental impact. It was concluded that no scenario can be the winner on both impacts. Indeed, the end-of-life wood recycling gives the best impact on CO2 release, whereas burning wood, despite its remarkable energy impact is the worst. According to the emphasis given to each impact, designers will be able to choose one or the other.

Supporting development of modular products utilising simplified LCA and fuzzy logic

The application of life cycle assessment (LCA) is usually aimed at products where most parameters relating to architecture, processes and materials are defined and known. However, application of conventional LCA for products or services that are incomplete in their specification is quite difficult or even impossible, if too many significant parameters are unknown. In our previous work targeting the development of eco-design tools, an approach integrating LCA methodology with the concept of product modularity has been introduced. In this paper, further improvements of this novel approach, being based on fuzzy logic and its application, are presented. In this context, fuzzy logic is being used to increase user friendliness of the interface while avoiding any circumstances of compromising the precision of quantitative results computed. A set of fuzzy attributes, membership functions and an inference algorithm are used to evaluate the modification of design parameters of modular products regarding their influence on environmental impact indicators.

Modelling building stock geometry for energy, emission and mass calculations

The effect of energy efficiency measures is generally evaluated for one or only a few houses. While the energy and environmental optimization of a particular building design is crucial, this cannot easily draw generic conclusions for future building designs. A method is presented for considering the effect of building geometry in simplified energy and life cycle assessment studies. Based on architectural and functional considerations, realistic ranges were determined for the parameters describing the geometry of ‘technically feasible’ buildings and their relationships. These parameters include floor area, the number of storeys, the perimeter-to-floor area ratio, the ratio of the building envelope adjoining neighbouring heated buildings, the window ratio and frame factor, the density of partition walls, and the roof slope. An algorithm is developed for the random generation of a large building sample based on the realistic ranges of these geometric parameters. By analysing the results, it is possible to calculate the expected value, standard deviation and confidence interval of the sample. The application of the method is shown in an example. The cumulative non-renewable energy demand is calculated for the whole life cycle and for different building types. On évalue généralement l'effet des mesures de l'efficacité énergétique sur une ou seulement quelques habitations. Alors que l'optimisation énergétique et environnementale d'un modèle de bâtiment particulier est essentielle, elle ne permet pas de tirer facilement des conclusions génériques pour les futurs concepts de bâtiments. Cet article présente une méthode qui permet de prendre en considération l'effet de la géométrie d'un bâtiment dans des études d'évaluation simplifiées de l'énergie et du cycle de vie. En s'appuyant sur des considérations architecturales et fonctionnelles, on a défini des plages réalistes pour les paramètres décrivant la géométrie de bâtiments « réalisables sur le plan technique » et leurs relations. Ces paramètres incluent la surface au sol, le nombre de niveaux, le ratio entre le périmètre et la surface au sol, le ratio de l'enveloppe de bâtiments chauffés se trouvant à proximité, le ratio des fenêtres et le facteur de châssis, la densité des cloisons et la pente du toit. Un algorithme a été calculé pour la génération d'un grand échantillon aléatoire de bâtiments basé sur des plages réalistes de ces paramètres géométriques. En analysant les résultats, on peut calculer les valeurs escomptées, les écarts standard et l'intervalle de confiance de l'échantillon. L'application de cette méthode est décrite au moyen d'un exemple. La demande cumulée en énergie non renouvelable est calculée pour l'ensemble du cycle de vie et pour différents types de bâtiments. Mots clés: géométrie des bâtiments, morphologie des bâtiments, parc bâti, efficacité énergétique, évaluation du cycle de vie, bâtiments résidentiels, Hongrie

Relevance of simplifications in LCA of building components

This paper provides a detailed analysis of life cycle assessment (LCA) results of different building components (e.g. wooden wall, concrete roof) on different levels of simplification (from a comprehensive LCA including all materials and processes to the fully reduced component including only the main materials remaining in the component). The main objective is the determination of the relevance of materials and processes often neglected in simplified LCA of building components which aim at providing results of similar quality as comprehensive assessments with less effort. The studied simplifications are categorised in transportations of the building materials from the factory gate to the building site, some ancillary materials which are not obvious in the component, the building process itself and the associated cutting waste. The results show that transports and ancillary materials are of relevance while the building process and the cutting waste can be neglected. The heavier the used materials and the longer the transport distances the bigger is the influence of transports on the LCA results. The influence of the ancillary materials is highest for wooden constructions as a lot of screws nails and other connectors are essential.

Evaluating the greenness of alternative reaction media

The solvent performances and ecological (dis)advantages of different solvent systems for the Diels–Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene and methyl acrylate were investigated. Promising solvent alternatives, especially [C6MIM][BF4](1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate), citric acid/N,N′-dimethyl urea as well as a solvent-free alternative were compared to the conventional solvent systems methanol, cyclohexane, acetone and methanol/water. By means of the ECO (Ecological and Economic Optimisation) method these solvent alternatives were evaluated already during an R&D (Research and Development) stage in a holistic approach. This method is a screening tool that employs a Simplified Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) approach in combination with an optimisation procedure. All life cycle stages from the production of reactants, solvents etc., synthesis and workup, recycling and disposal are considered within this methodology. With the help of the ECO method, some significant environmental issues depending on the solvent selection are compared in order to make a contribution to the assessment of the greenness of chemical processes and products during R&D.

Use of LCA to evaluate the environmental benefits of substituting chromic acid anodizing (CAA)

Chromic acid anodizing processes are currently being replaced in many industrial sectors because of the recognized adverse effect on the environment and health of used hexavalent chromium compounds. The environmental impacts of the existing processes must, however, be quantified in order to constitute a baseline against which the environmental performance of potential alternative options could be compared. The whole life cycle of the process should also be taken into account to ensure that the possible chosen solution for eliminating or lowering chromium (VI) emissions would not drastically damage the overall process performance in other environmental areas. In our study, we used a simplified life cycle assessment methodology that only took into account the key environmental issues of the considered industrial sector. Both the scope and the data needs were reduced by focusing only on significant flows and by using a generic database for steps other than the anodizing one. A precise literature review was carried out to evaluate bath atmospheric emissions. The results of the performed assessment confirmed that the only way to efficiently deal with hexavalent chromium compounds is to substitute the electrolyte used in the bath as the most Cr(VI) emissions are caused by other stages than the main one. Other specific issues, such as water and energy consumptions have, nevertheless, to be studied throughout the whole life cycle of the chemical substitute to monitor performance against CAA.

An Integrated Methodology to Estimate the External Environmental Costs of Products

Environmental costs of products are closely related to their environmental impacts. This paper presents a methodology to estimate the environmental costs of products during the concept design phase by integrating a Simplified Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodology with Economic Valuation (EV) methods such as EPS2000d, EXMOD and Ecosense. The new methodology estimates the environmental performance indicators for each stage of the product life cycle by using the SLCA, and obtains the cost values from the most suitable EV method. A number of passive and active products were used to prove the concept and demonstrate the efficiency of the methodology.

Implementing objectives of sustainability into ionic liquids research and development

This paper proposes the ECO (ecological and economic optimisation) method to accompany and optimise early stage development work in chemical research and development (R&D) regarding the principles of ecological and economic sustainability. The ECO method is a screening tool that uses a simplified life cycle assessment (SLCA) approach, in combination with an optimisation procedure. All life cycle stages from the production of reactants, solvents etc., synthesis and work-up, recycling and disposal are considered within this methodology. They are evaluated regarding three main objectives: the factors for energy demand (EF), risks concerning human health and environment (EHF) and costs (CF). During each process step, a variation of process parameters (e.g.T, t, c, n : n, solvent, reactant alternatives) will be compared using an outranking algorithm, in order to find the most efficient combinations. At this stage, all objectives will be assessed with respect to an input-benefit ratio. Using this approach, the search for sustainable chemical compounds, synthesis pathways, or processes can already be applied during the R&D stage. This will be demonstrated on the example of ionic liquids, which may have a remarkable potential to improve a wide range of chemical syntheses. Thus, their application may lead to environmental and cost improvements, when compared to commonly used volatile organic solvents. However, the preparation and work-up of ionic liquids are presently not environmentally benign. The application of the ECO method to ionic liquids R&D can help to overcome this problem.

Integrated green and quality function deployment

Using the 'Matrix Approach' of simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) together with Enhanced Quality Function Deployment (EQFD), a new product development and improvement methodology termed 'Integrated Green and Quality Function Deployment' (IGQFD) is proposed. The focus on quality and eco-efficiency needs results in greater and more interactive integration of these areas, thus reducing the arbitrary assumptions in a coherent product strategy. The most innovative aspects are essentially the introduction of two new design tools in the product development process. In particular, the lack of effective integration in Green Quality Function Deployment-II (GQFD-II) Zhang et al., (1999) is overcome in IGQFD by means of the 'Green and Quality House' (GQH); this tool allows not only the joint optimisation of requirements in product development but also the continual integration of objectives. The second innovative tool is the 'Concept Selection Matrix' (CSM), which identifies the design alternative that best combines the needs of the stakeholders, the direction in which the company wishes to move. The methodology has been applied in a case study of the design of an engine oil filter.

Environmental life cycle assessment of a pre‐fragmented high explosive grenade

AbstractOrganisations today face increasing environmental constraints, e.g. in the form of legal and customer requirements; the defence sector is no exception. There is a need to evaluate and limit environmental effects of defence activities and materiel. In this study we used quantitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a method for simplified LCA (the Material, Energy, Chemicals and Others (MECO) method) to assess the environmental impacts of a grenade. The aims of the study are to identify aspects in the grenade's life‐cycle that have the largest environmental impact, suggest improvement possibilities, make a comparison between different approaches for waste management of munitions, and to perform a demonstrative case for the application of LCA to munitions. Significant environmental aspects of the grenade's life‐cycle include use of metals, use of fossil fuels, and detonation outdoors. The study shows that an LCA can be used to analyse environmental impacts from munitions. The simplified LCA gave information that is complementary to the quantitative LCA. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry

Simplified LCA and matrix methods in identifying the environmental aspects of a product system

In order to effectively integrate environmental attributes into the product design and development processes, it is crucial to identify the significant environmental aspects related to a product system within a relatively short period of time. In this study, the usefulness of life cycle assessment (LCA) and a matrix method as tools for identifying the key environmental issues of a product system were examined. For this, a simplified LCA (SLCA) method that can be applied to Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) was developed to efficiently identify their significant environmental aspects for eco-design, since a full scale LCA study is usually very detailed, expensive and time-consuming. The environmentally responsible product assessment (ERPA) method, which is one of the matrix methods, was also analyzed. Then, the usefulness of each method in eco-design processes was evaluated and compared using the case studies of the cellular phone and vacuum cleaner systems. It was found that the SLCA and the ERPA methods provided different information but they complemented each other to some extent. The SLCA method generated more information on the inherent environmental characteristics of a product system so that it might be useful for new design/eco-innovation when developing a completely new product or method where environmental considerations play a major role from the beginning. On the other hand, the ERPA method gave more information on the potential for improving a product so that it could be effectively used in eco-redesign which intends to alleviate environmental impacts of an existing product or process.

Environmental rating of vehicles with different alternative fuels and drive trains: a comparison of two approaches

Two rating systems assessing the environmental damage caused by vehicles are compared: a Brussels one, ECOSCORE and a European one, CLEANER DRIVE. Both vehicle rating systems were developed for the assessment of vehicles with alternative types of fuels as well as different types of drive train, such as electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. A simplified life cycle assessment following a well-to-wheel approach is used to compare the methodologies. Total emissions involve oil extraction, transport and refinery, fuel distribution and electricity generation and distribution as well as tailpipe emissions from the use phase. Different types of pollution such as acid rain, photochemical air pollution, noise pollution and global warming are examined and their impact on numerous receptors such as ecosystems, buildings and human beings (cancer, respiratory diseases, etc.) are investigated. Examples illustrate both methodologies and sensitivity analysis is used to examine the robustness of the systems.

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM ANALYSIS FOR HORTICULTURAL CROP PRODUCTION

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM ANALYSIS FOR HORTICULTURAL CROP PRODUCTION

A simplified life cycle assessment of re‐usable and single‐use bulk transit packaging

AbstractA streamlined (simplified) life cycle assessment of a conventional wooden pallet and an all‐weather, washable, re‐usable and fully recyclable plastic bulk transit packaging system used to transport empty yoghurt pottles, has been conducted using surrogate/proxy data from the Environmental Priorities Strategy (EPS) 2000 Default Method. This paper accounts for the life cycle inventory for each material used in the two transit packaging systems and their associated fabrication processes. The life cycle assessment was simplified by ignoring common factors such as the common nylon strap of both packaging systems, the common in‐house transportation, and the manufacture and maintenance of capital equipment. The system boundaries and assumptions made are also discussed. The functional unit adopted was the Environmental Load Units (ELU) of the EPS 2000 Default Method. The grand overall ELU for the wooden pallet and plastic packaging system are computed by considering the weight of the material, the volume of inventory and the distance travelled. The ELU of the wooden pallet was 18.455, while that for the plastic packaging was 4.574 at a 96.5% level of certainty. In the case of the wooden pallet, truck transport, the corrugated cardboard boxes and the LDPE liner and shrinkwrap impacted the environment most, while for the plastic packaging system truck transport and the LDPE liner were significant. The plastic packaging has a lower environmental impact than the wooden pallet for various reasons. It is lighter in weight, has more re‐usable parts and can transport more yoghurt pottles per trip. It has a long service life and is virtually fully recyclable. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An approach to selection of sustainable product improvement alternatives with data uncertainty

This paper presents a theoretical framework on the integration of simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodologies for the purpose of strategic selection of product improvement alternatives with consideration to data uncertainty. The research focus is on how manufacturing companies can be assisted in design of products so that quality, environmental and cost (QEC) requirements of stakeholders in the life cycle stages of the product system are addressed at an early stage where data imprecision is common. The consideration of these three design requirements leads to a multi-attribute decision situation with regard to the selection of an optimal product system improvement concept. The main objective is to develop a decision-oriented life cycle approach that integrates QEC parameters at an early stage of product development. A conceptual approach was developed which includes: (1) identification and documentation of QEC requirements' information using streamlined LCA, LCC and QFD; (2) generation of alternative concepts for product improvements and construction of sustainable concept comparison matrix where fuzzy terms were adopted to describe relationships and importance; (3) fuzzy linguistic decision support system was developed and applied to evaluate and select the optimal sustainable product improvement alternative under data uncertainty; (4) sensitivity and statistical analyses. Ranking of alternative sustainable options with respect to environment, cost and quality was reported.