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MIT Sloan School of Management

Sustainable Business Lab (S-LAB) 2010

Project : Millipore Corporation

Team: Andrew Lei MBA 2011

Juliana Wu MBA 2011

Shigetaka Akamatsu Sloan Fellow 2010

Siow Huang Gan Sloan Fellow 2010

Sherry Yu Sloan Fellow 2011

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction & Objective Page 3

II. Approach

a. Analysis of Millipore’s Current Cold-Chain Packaging Page 4

III. Evaluation of Environmental Impact Page 5

IV. Current Process Evaluation Page 8

V. Solutions

a. Process Improvement Options Page 11

b. Alternative Packaging Page 12

c. Packaging Return Program Page 15

VI. Summary Analysis Page 17

VII. Recommendations Page 19

VIII. Appendix Page 21

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I. Introduction

Millipore is a leading life science product and service provider with cutting-edge

technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Millipore’s products include bulk antibody vials, reagents and test kits that are

refrigerated or frozen and need to be kept at temperature through arrival to customers. Many

of the products are currently shipped in Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) boxes packed with dry ice

or cooler packs and are transported and delivered by FedEx.

The majority of Millipore’s customers are small laboratories, some of which have

complained about the inconvenience of the bulk, disposal and the environmental impact of EPS.

With increasingly more environmentally conscious customers, Millipore would like to find

packaging alternatives that continue to maintain temperatures but are possibly smaller, lighter

and more environmentally friendly.

Objective

Millipore approached MIT Sloan to help address the environmental challenges around

its current cold-chain packaging. Currently, Millipore uses EPS to ship its cold chain products to

customers. In this project, MIT Sloan’s S-lab team analyzes the environmental impact of

Millipore’s current EPS packaging practices, explores possible packaging alternatives and

processes and makes recommendations based on the analysis.

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II. Approach

a. Analysis of Millipore’s Current Cold-Chain Packaging

For simplicity the S-lab team used two environmental performance indicators to

estimate the environmental impact of Millipore’s current cold chain packaging. The first one is

the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), defined as “the entire demand, valued as primary energy,

which arises in connection with the production, use and disposal of an economic good (product

or service) or which may be attributed respectively to it in a causal relation”.1 The unit of

measurement for CED is mega joules (MJ).

The second environmental performance indicator is CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2e),

which is the aggregation of greenhouse gases, taking into account their global warming

potential.2 The S-Lab team calculated the global warming potential of packaging raw materials

(e.g. EPS) in terms of CO2e over a 100-year period, reflecting that certain greenhouse gases

decompose and become inactive over time. The unit of measurement for carbon emission is

kgCO2.

The diagram below shows the scope of the project’s environmental impact analysis. The

analysis focuses on the impact of materials used and transportation in Millipore’s cold chain

packaging. Due to limited access to primary source data, the analysis does not capture the

impact of manufacturing EPS. The S-Lab team used SimaPro LCA software, a commercial tool for

performing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to calculate carbon equivalent emissions and energy

demand. Within the SimaPro LCA software, the S-Lab team used the database of the Ecoinvent

1 Rolf Frischknecht and Niels Jungbluth, Overview and Methodology, Ecoinvent Centre, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle

Inventories, p. 61, http://www.ecoinvent.org/fileadmin/documents/en/01_OverviewAndMethodology.pdf 2 SimaPro 7 Database Manual, p. 12, http://www.pre.nl/download/manuals/DatabaseManualMethods.pdf

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Centre, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, as it contains most of the data types that are

relevant to the project.

III. Evaluation of Environmental Impact

Millipore uses four different sizes of EPS boxes for shipping its packages to customers,

both domestic and international. Depending on the specifications of the product that Millipore

is shipping, the package can be packed at 4 °C, -20 °C, or -80 °C. Millipore uses cooler gel packs

to maintain 4 °C and dry ice to maintain -20 °C and -80 °C through shipment. Each EPS box is

inside a corrugated cardboard box, which protects the outer surface of the EPS box.

FedEx delivers Millipore’s packages using trucks and aircraft. See photographs below.

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EPS box filled with dry ice (-20°C or -80 °C) Millipore product and two cooler gel packs in EPS cooler

The S-Lab team narrowed the scope of analysis to one particular size of cooler box (8.5”

x 8.5” x 8.5”) and one customer destination (Cambridge, MA). Millipore ships these packages

from its plant in Temecula, California via FedEx.

Fig 1. FedEx carbon emissions data for the transportation of the 8.5” x 8.5” x 8.5” box

Carbon Emission per Millipore

package (1.25kg) @ 4 °C (kg

CO2)

Carbon Emission per Millipore

package (1.8kg) @ -20 °C (kg

CO2)

EPS box Supplier to Temecula – truck

freight 1.21 1.21

Temecula to Cambridge – air freight

(customer) 6.67 8.64

*Data source: SimaPro LCA software

The S-Lab team investigated the environmental implications of the following materials

in Millipore’s cold chain packages - EPS, corrugated cardboard, dry ice and the cooler gel pack.

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EPS (commonly known as Styrofoam) is a lightweight plastic that is made from the

polymerization of styrene monomer, a byproduct of crude oil extraction. The polymerization

process produces translucent spherical beads of polystyrene about the size of sugar granules.

Dry ice is solidified carbon dioxide. When dry ice melts, it turns into carbon dioxide gas.

To manufacture dry ice, carbon dioxide-rich gas is pressurized and refrigerated until it changes

into liquid form. When the pressure is reduced, some liquid carbon dioxide vaporizes, and this

causes a rapid decrease in temperature of the remaining liquid carbon dioxide. As a result, the

extreme cold causes the liquid to solidify into a snow-like consistency. Finally, the snow-like

solid carbon dioxide is compressed into small pellets or larger blocks of dry ice. As the SimaPro

LCA software database does not include information on dry ice, the S-Lab team used liquid

carbon dioxide as a proxy for estimating the CED and CO2e of dry ice.

Not knowing the exact ingredients of the cooler gel packs, the S-Lab team estimated

their environmental impact by using the following materials as proxies – sodium chloride

solution and, because the gel packs are biodegradable, cellulose fiber.

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Fig 2. CED and global warming potential (CO2e) for each type of material

Weight of

material per

Millipore

package* (kg)

Carbon Emission

per kg of

material (kg

CO2)#

Carbon

Emission per

Millipore

package* (kg

CO2)

CED per kg of

material (MJ)#

CED per

Millipore

package* (MJ)

EPS 0.48 3.37 1.62 89.50 42.96

Corrugated

cardboard

0.29 0.65 0.19 26.08 7.56

Liquid CO2 1.0 0.84 0.84 11.34 11.34

Sodium

chloride

solution3

0.225 (2

small packs)

0.13 0.03 2.49 0.56

Cellulose

fiber

0.225 (2

small packs)

0.28 0.06 9.72 2.19

* 8.5” x 8.5” x 8.5” EPS box # Data Source: SimaPro LCA software

IV. Current Process Evaluation and Improvement

Similar to other companies that perform cold chain shipping, Millipore’s consumption of

packaging materials is significant. Millipore is particularly concerned that it may be using too

much dry ice for each package and is looking for ways to reduce dry ice consumption.

Analysis

Due to the temperature gradient between the ambient and the interior of the EPS box,

heat transfer occurs through the walls of EPS box. The heat flux, q, through the EPS wall is

described by Fourier’s Law:

3 Each small cooler gel pack weighs 8 oz (0.227kg). The S-lab team assumed the cooler gel consists of equal

proportions of sodium chloride and cellulose fibre. Each package shipped at 4 °C contains two small cooler packs. The material of the bag containing the cooler gel is excluded. Based on available information, the bag is a biodegradable material.

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where k is the thermal conductivity of EPS, and T is temperature. The flux is the highest when

dry ice is just packed into the box and is gradually reduced due to several factors. First, as dry

ice sublimes into gaseous CO2, the top surface of the dry ice pack recedes, increasing the

headspace filled primarily with gaseous CO2 between the cover and the surface of solid CO2.

Gaseous CO2 is a much better insulator compared to EPS. It is even better than air as the

thermal conductivities of gaseous CO2, air, and EPS are 0.0146 W·m-1·K-1, 0.024 W·m-1·K-1, and

0.036 W·m-1·K-1, respectively. Consequently, the gradual expansion of this gaseous space

improves the insulation of the package and hence reduces the rate of heat transfer.

Second, a temperature gradient existing within the gas phase further reduces the rate of heat

transfer. While temperature at the surface of dry ice remains at close to -80oC at atmospheric

pressure, temperature close to the top cover increases gradually. As a result, the temperature

difference across the EPS sidewalls is reduced, which lowers the rate of heat transfer through

the sidewalls. In addition, as dry ice sublimes, a positive pressure may build up inside the box

depending on how well the box is sealed. The higher than atmospheric pressure will increase

dry ice sublimation temperature. That is, the temperature of the dry ice surface may increase

above -80oC.

A full theoretical calculation of the above heat transfer process requires a three-dimensional

finite element analysis software, which is out of reach for the project. In this study, a simplified

one-dimensional heat transfer analysis was used to estimate the amount of dry ice needed for

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the shipping duration required by Millipore. The amount of dry ice required, M, for shipping

duration, t, is calculated using the following equation:

where k is the thermal conductivity of EPS (assumed to be 0.036 W·m-1·K-1), A is the total inner

surface area of EPS sidewalls, is the temperature difference across the EPS sidewall (the

ambient temperature is assumed to be 25oC and the temperature inside the box is assumed to

be -80oC), h is the sidewall thickness, and H is enthalpy of sublimation for dry ice (571 kJ/kg).

The results are shown in the following table. The shipping duration used is 36 hours.

The calculated amount of dry ice needed for 36 hours is almost twice as high as what Millipore

is actually using. The discrepancy is most likely due to the fact that the heat flux is

overestimated using the simplified one-dimensional equation without taking into account the

effects of gaseous CO2 , temperature gradient in the headspace, and the possible increase of

surface temperature of dry ice.

The S-Lab team conducted a shipping trial to evaluate dry ice usage with two EPS boxes,

one 8.5” x 8.5” x 8.5” and one 12” x 8” x 8”. After 36 hours there was enough dry ice remaining

to cover small vials of products in both boxes, suggesting that Millipore does not pack too much

dry ice. Additional test runs are necessary to assess the variability of the process and verify the

Box Size 8.5"x8.5"x8.5" 12"x8"x8"

Wall Thickness (inch) 1.5 1.25

Dry Ice Calculated (kg) 1.8 5.1

Dry Ice Used (kg) 1 3

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results. In addition, Millipore should conduct experiments to measure the temperatures inside

the EPS box and the temperature of the dry ice as a function of time for the shipping duration.

V. Solutions

a. Process Improvement Options

One of the ways to reduce the amount of dry ice is to increase the thickness of the EPS

wall. With thicker walls the rate of heat transfer is reduced. However, based on a LCA analysis,

increasing the EPS weight results in a net increase in CED and CO2e as its environmental impact

outweighs the benefits of using less dry ice. Another possible solution is to use a higher density

EPS. As the density of EPS increases, its thermal conductivity decreases4. As the density is

increased from 10 to 30 kg/m3, the thermal conductivity of EPS is reduced from 0.039 W·m-1·K-1

to 0.03 W·m-1·K-1, which can potentially reduce dry ice consumption by up to 23%. Extruded

polystyrene (XPS) offers lower thermal conductivity than EPS. However, manufacturing XPS has

a larger environmental footprint than manufacturing EPS.

b. Alternative Packaging

The S-Lab team identified alternative packaging options currently available in the

market that would satisfy Millipore’s shipping temperature and time requirements and would

be more environmentally sustainable. The S-Lab team developed the following framework to

determine whether a package was a viable alternative and to compare to Millipore’s current

packaging, cost, environmental footprint and effectiveness at maintaining temperatures

4 Thermal Insulation Properties of Expanded Polystyrene as Construction and Insulating Materials, K. T. Yucel, C.

Basyigit, and C. Ozel, 2003.

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1. Can the package maintain temperatures of -80 °C, -20 °C and 4 °C for 72 hours?

2. Is the packaging

a. Reusable?

b. Recyclable?

c. Compostable?

3. Is there a package that is comparable in size to what Millipore currently uses?

4. Does the package ship collapsed or preassembled?

5. How much does the package weigh?

6. Where is the origin of shipment from the supplier?

7. Does the packaging have a seal such that dry ice does not evaporate or leak out?

8. What is the price per unit?

Results

Insulated Products Corp. (IPC) and Landaal Packaging Systems offer potential

packaging solutions for Millipore.

1. Insulated Products Corp: IPC manufactures temperature control materials for the

shipping industry. IPC’s GreenLiner is a recyclable and reusable thermo-insulator

within a corrugated box.

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Advantages:

- Ships from Los Angeles, CA, significantly reducing the product’s transportation

carbon and energy footprint

- Arrives collapsed and uses 1/10 the storage space of an equivalent size EPS

package, thus increasing number of units per shipment

- Lightweight – IPC’s equivalent to Millipore’s 0.8 kg, 8.5” × 8.5” × 8.5” EPS box is

about 0.7 kg

- Millipore’s customers can send polyurethane to local recycling facilities5

- Can be custom designed to fit Millipore’s specs

Disadvantages:

- Not compostable

5 National database for polyurethane buyers and sellers

http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_api/sec_markets.asp?CID=970&DID=3870

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2. Landaal: Landaal offers a six-panel biodegradable/compostable packaging that uses

Green Cell Foam technology, a starch-based foam made from corn.

Advantages:

- Biodegradable and compostable within 90 days

- Arrives at Millipore either collapsed or preassembled

- Green Cell Foam requires 70% less energy and 80% less greenhouse gases than

EPS does to produce

- Custom designed to fit Millipore’s specs

Disadvantages:

- Not reusable

- Ships from Burton, MI

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Fig. 3. Comparative Analysis of EPS, IPC and Landaal

c. Packaging Return Program

Another alternative that the S-Lab team explored was a program in which Millipore’s

customers return empty packages to Millipore for reuse. The team analyzed the carbon emitted

during transportation of the two re-usable coolers: EPS and IPC. Every returned cooler that

Millipore reuses physically displaces a new cooler. To confirm that the CO2e generated from

return shipping does not exceed the embodied carbon of a new cooler, the S-Lab team

considered the following transportation steps in the supply chain for analysis:

1. EPS

a. Initial supply shipment from Millipore’s current box supplier to Temecula, CA

b. Return shipping from Cambridge, MA to Temecula, CA

2. IPC

a. IPC’s facilities in Los Angeles, CA to Temecula, CA

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b. Return shipping from Cambridge, MA to Temecula, CA

The S-Lab team used a conservative estimate that the packaging can be reused five

times before reaching the end-of-life.

Results

Implementing a packaging-return program will reduce the emissions footprint due to

reduced demand for the coolers. Depending on the cooler type and the required cold-chain

temperature, the reduction in tonnes of CO2 ranges from 7% to 26%.

Fig 4. CO2 Emissions per Year from Transportation

Cooler Cold-chain

Temperature (°C)

No Packaging Return With Packaging Return

%Δ† (Tonnes)

(Passenger Vehicles*)

(Tonnes) (Passenger Vehicles*)

EPS 4 1 235 238 1 136 218 8

-20 1 491 287 1 391 268 7

IPC 4 1 084 209 919 177 26

-20 1 340 258 1 176 226 21

*Passenger vehicle according to EPA’s definition, where 1 passenger vehicle = 5200 kg CO2/year †Percent change in tonnes of CO2 emitted from EPS cooler for respective cold-chain temperature w/o packaging return

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VI. Summary Analysis

Fig 5. Carbon Emission (equivalent number of passenger cars) per package (8.5” × 8.5” × 8.5”)6

Of the three insulation materials, Landaal performs best in terms of lowest CO2e.

However, the data on the insulation materials does not include the additional CO2e from the

manufacturing of the cooler boxes (e.g. other raw materials, molding of insulation materials).

Conceivably, total CO2e emissions per cooler box could be higher than the amount of CO2e

emitted from transportation of the box.

In transportation CO2e emissions, IPC performs best for three reasons – proximity of IPC

supplier to Millipore (Temecula), package weight and package collapsibility.

6 See Appendix 1 for analysis of insulation materials. Source of data on materials: Sima Pro LCA software.

Source of data on transportation: FedEx.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Insulation Material

Transport (4 °C) Transport (-20 °C)

EPS

IPC

Landaal

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Fig 6. Carbon Emission (equivalent number of passenger cars) for 4°C package

4 °C Package No Take-Back With Take-Back

EPS 238 cars 218 cars

IPC 209 cars 177 cars

Landaal 205 cars NA

Fig 6a. Carbon Emission (equivalent number of passenger cars) for 4°C package

Least carbon emission – IPC box with take-back program7

Most carbon emission – EPS box with no take-back program

Figure 7. Carbon Emission (equivalent number of passenger cars) for -20°C package

-20 °C Package No Take-Back With Take-Back

EPS 287 cars 268 cars

IPC 258 cars 226 cars

Landaal 254 cars NA

Figure 7a. Carbon Emission (equivalent number of passenger cars) for -20°C package

Least carbon emission – IPC box with take-back program

7 Data source on emissions arising from transportation: FedEx.

0 50 100 150 200 250

EPS

IPC

Landaal

With Take-back

No Take-back

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

EPS

IPC

Landaal

With Take-back

No Take-back

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Most carbon emission – EPS box with no take-back program

VII. Recommendations

The S-Lab team analyzed several options currently available in the market that could

improve the environmental sustainability of Millipore’s cold chain packaging. Based on the

analysis of the options, one key conclusion is that switching to a more sustainable cold chain

solution will increase Millipore’s operating costs due to either higher unit cost of the alternative

materials and/or additional costs of shipping for the packaging return option. Notably, the cost

per tonne of CO2e emission avoided through these options is significantly higher than the

market price of carbon. This suggests that the options are not cost-effective ways for improving

environmental sustainability.

Figure 8. Cost Analysis of Alternative Packaging with Packaging Return Program

Cost per Tonne of

CO2 Averted Cost per Equivalent Passenger Vehicle Removed from Road

EPS with packaging-return program $5 757 $29 936

IPC $4 654 $24 201

IPC with packaging-return program $2 225 $11 568

Landaal $3 816 $19 843

The S-Lab team recommends Millipore consider projects beyond cold chain packaging

that offer opportunities for carbon reduction, and invest in the projects that are more cost

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effective, i.e. lower cost per tonne of carbon emission avoided. See framework suggested by

McKinsey.8

If Millipore needs to make changes to its current cold chain packaging to address the

environmental concerns of its customers as well as to respond to “greener” cold chain

packaging practices of competitors, it could consider the option of replacing EPS with IPC boxes

with a packaging return program. Of all the alternatives the S-lab team explored, this option

offers the lowest cost per tonne of carbon avoided. To minimize the additional costs, Millipore

could approach other shipping/transportation companies (instead of FedEx) that charge lower

rates for non time-sensitive deliveries.

While evaluating the cost-benefit analysis of the various options, Millipore may also

want to encourage its customers to send their used EPS boxes to recycling stations in the

vicinity of the customers’ laboratories. In Boston/Cambridge, for instance, there are known

centers that collect used EPS boxes for further recycling.9 Millipore could provide its customers

with information on the location of the EPS collection centers, and maybe even pay for the

delivery of these boxes to the centers.

8 Per-Anders Enkvist, Tomas Naucler, and Jerker Rosander, “A Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas Reduction”, p. 38,

The McKinsey Quarterly, 2007, Number 1, http://www.epa.gov/oar/caaac/coaltech/2007_05_mckinsey.pdf. 9 Earth911.com website:

http://search.earth911.com/?what=%236+Plastic+%28Polystyrene%29&where=02142&latitude=&longitude=&country=&province=&city=

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VIII. Appendix

a. Analysis of Materials

Carbon Emission (kg CO2)

Cumulative Energy Demand (MJ)

Weight

EPS box 1.62 42.96 0.48kg

Landaal box 0.98 33.23 0.45kg

IPC box 1.94

40.65 0.39kg (14 lb)

Corrugated box -Millipore

0.19 7.56 0.29kg (assume same as IPC)

Corrugated box -Landaal

0.29 11.74 0.45kg (1 lb)

Corrugated box -IPC

0.19 7.56 0.29kg (10.4 oz)

Dry Ice 0.84 11.34 1kg

Cooling packs x 2 0.09 2.75 0.45kg (2 x small)

Data Source: SimaPro LCA software

Proxy materials:

Landaal materials – modified starch (100%) + foam expanding

IPC materials – polyurethane (90%) + polyester resin (10%)

Dry ice – liquefied CO2

Cooling gel pack – sodium chloride solution (50%) + cellulose fiber (50%)

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b. Transportation Emissions (kg CO2)10

Shipping Method Next Day

(PO) GROUND

Box Type

Dim. Temp (°C)

Mass (kg)

Temecula 92592 to

Cambridge 02139

Current Supplier to Temecula

92592

Cambridge 02139 to Temecula

92592

Cambridge 02139 to Auburn 01501

LA 90040 to

Temecula 92592

Cambridge 02139 to Vernon 90058

Burton 48529 to Temecula

92592

Cambridge 02139 to

Framingham 01702

Cambridge 02139 to Haverhill

01830

EPS

21.6 cm cube

-20 1.8 8.64 n.a.

n.a.

n.a. 4 1.3 6.67

ambient

0.8

n.a.

1.21 1.50 1.24 1.21 1.47 1.37 1.21

one 8 kg

box n.a.

4.18 1.44 1.21 1.92 1.40 1.21

ten 0.8 kg

boxes 15.04 12.41 12.10 14.65 13.72 n.a.

IPC

25.4 cm cube

-20 1.7 8.25

n.a.

n.a. 4 1.2 6.28

ambient

0.7

n.a.

1.47

n.a.

1.21

n.a.

1.22

n.a.

one 7 kg box

3.81 1.21 1.22

Landaal

24.1 cm cube

-20 1.9 9.03

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

4 1.4 7.07

ambient

0.9

n.a.

1.54 1.37

one 9 kg

box 4.55 1.40

10 Data Source: FedEx Solutions Group