SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Dr. Norazli Othman/Dr. Samira Kamaruddin/PM Dr. Shreeshivadasan

1

MDS 2203

Producing one ton of recycled steel saves the energy equivalent of 3.6 barrels of oil and 1.5 tons of iron ore, compared to the production of new steel?

• Producing paper using a chlorine-free process uses between 20 and 25 percent less water than conventional chlorine-based paper production processes?

Systems approach needed in order to: Recognize and avoid trade-offs No shifting of problems into the future! Life cycle thinking is a good starting point, but

not enough for decisions Quantitative methods are needed Global system boundaries

Beginning around 1970 in USA (Franklin) Promoted by SETAC (since 1990) Standardized by ISO (since 1993) Globalized by UNEP/SETAC (since 2002) Key feature: Analysis of environmental impacts

„from cradle to grave“

SETAC: Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

LCA is a tool to systematically measure the environmental impacts associated with

each stage of a product’s life-cycle

*Consoli et al. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), 1993

• Process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity. Identifies energy and material uses and releases to the environment.

• Includes entire life cycle of the product, process or activity, (i.e., extraction and process of materials; manufacturing, transportation and distribution; use, reuse, maintenance; recycling and final disposal).

• Addresses only environmental impacts.

What is LCA?

Global warming (greenhouse gases) Acidification Smog Ozone layer depletion Eutrophication Eco-toxicological and human toxicological

pollutants Habitat destruction Desertification & land use Depletion of minerals and fossil fuels.

Common categories of assessed impacts are:

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Materials Production Use End-of-life

Energy NOx Waste

Assessment of relative impacts across life-cycle – 3 issues are included

Main aims are to reduce a product’s resource use and emissions to the environment and to improve its socio-economic performance throughout its life cycle.

Alternative products with similar functions can be compared.

‘Hotspots’ in the life cycle are identified to point out immediate and significant options for substitution and re-engineering of processes

What is LCA?

Two attributes make LCA distinct and useful as an analytical tool:◦ whole system consideration of the total product

life-cycle◦ presentation of tradeoffs among multiple environmental

issues

LCA is quantitative

The identification of hot spots can lead to re-engineering of processes, eco-design of the product, and specific requirements to suppliers.

In marketing its product, the company can adopt LCA tools to achieve compliance with criteria of eco-labels in key markets. It can also issue product declarations and publish detailed environmental accounts.

At the level of regional or national industrial planning, life cycle assessments can be applied in the planning of industrial ecology clustering of industries integrating material and energy flows to form closed loops.

At the level of national policies, various regulation based upon LCA can be adopted:Soft regulation: Influencing the market◦ eco-labelling◦ environmental product declarations◦ green public purchase◦ green taxationSubsidies to industries◦ financial support to pioneers◦ examples, methods and dataHard regulation:◦ EC Directive on the Eco-design of Energy-using Products (EuP)◦ Extended Producer Responsibility◦ EC Integrated Product Policy (IPP), promoted especially in the

electronics and electrical industries

1. Determine scope and system boundaries◦ functional unit◦ life-cycle stages◦ define “unit processes”

2. Data collection – Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)3. Analysis of inputs and outputs4. Assessment of numerous environmental issues – Life

Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)5. Interpretation

◦ LCA principles and framework are standardized by the Organization for International Standardization’s 14040 series of standards (ISO14040)

Typical Product Life Cycle

Raw material acquisition

Material Manufacture

Product Manufacture

Use

Disposal

Transport

Transport

Transport

Transport

Energy

(Input)

Ancillary materials

(input)

Wastes and emissions

(Output)

Product reuse

Product remanufacture

Materials recycle

Paper

The LCI is developed according to the goal and scope definition. It involves an incomplete mass and energy balance for the system, which incomplete because only environmentally relevant flows are included, first of all use of scarce resources and emissions of harmful substances. The specific activities of the LCI are as follows:1.Development of a flow chart model displaying the activities and the flows between these activities, according the system boundaries of the system as defined in the goal and scope definition;

2.Collection of data on raw materials, including energy carriers, on products, and on solid waste and emissions to air and water;

3.Calculation of the amount of resource use and pollution emissions of the product system in relation to the functional unit.

Products can be evaluated through each stage of their life-cycle:

Extraction or acquisition of raw materials Manufacturing and processing Distribution and transportation Use and reuse Recycling Disposal

For each stage, identify inputs of materials and energy received; outputs of useful product and waste emissions

Find optimal points for improvement – eco-efficiency

Ensures companies identify the multiple environmental and resource issues across the entire life-cycle of the product

Knowledge of these issues informs business activities: planning, procurement, design, marketing & sales

Rather than just looking at the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill or an incinerator, a life-cycle approach identifies energy use, material inputs and waste generated from the time raw materials are obtained to the final disposal of the product *

* Product Life-Cycle Analysis: Environmental activities for the classroom, Waste Management and Research Center,

Champaign, IL, 1999

With a life-cycle approach, companies employ the tools they need to:

Reduce impacts across the life-cycle Capitalize on opportunities for their business

Tools range from simple mapping of life-cycle stages to comprehensive quantitative assessments

Estimated amount of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides it takes to produce the cotton for a conventional pair of jeans.

Source: “The Organic Cotton Site: Ten good reasons”

LCA Applications

c. Product comparison: Package material A vs. Package material B

b. Product improvement

a. Product development

When used by manufacturers:

Ecolabeling Nordic countries (white swan), Japan (ecomark), US (green seal), Canada (environmental choice), etc.

When used by public policymakers:

Worldwatch Institute, Worldwatch Paper 166: Purchasing Power: Harnessing Institutional Procurement for People and the Planet, July 2003, www.worldwatch.org

Pesticides

Finishing chemicals

INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

LCA of Materials and Chemicals

•LCA is most frequently used for the comparative assessment and optimization of final products including services

•Materials and chemicals are difficult to analyse from cradle-to-grave, since they are used in many (often innumerable) product systems which would have to be analysed in detail to give a full LCA


• There is one dominant final product or a group of similar final products:

• In this case, full LCAs can be done for a material or substance (chemical) which are representative

• Comparison on the basis of a functional unit appropriate for the final product

Solution 1


• Chemical is part of many final products, no clearly dominant one:

• Cradle-to-(factory) gate LCI

• Leaving out the production of the final products, their use phases and the end-of-live (waste disposal and/or recycling)

• LCI data can be used for full LCAs of final products (e.g. surfactants-detergents)

Solution 2


• Different production routes for identical materials or substances (chemicals)

• Comparison possible on the basis of cradle-to-grave LCI/LCA

• downstream phases may be treated as „black box“ (in general allowed practice)

• not allowed if the use pattern depends on production route (e.g.

ethanol).

Solution 3


Example: Two Functionally Equivalent Surfactants (Solution 1)

• Linear Alkyl benzene Sulphonate (LAS)

• Fossile resource

• Fairly biodegradable

• Surfactant efficiency excellent

• Used as main anionic surfactant in detergent

• Functional unit: 1 kg

• Fatty Alcohol Sulphate (FAS)

• Renewable resource

• Excellently degradable

• Surfactant efficiency equal to LAS (per mass unit)

• used as LAS (equal use phase)

Vs

• Criterium Assessment• Energy demand (CED) +• Emissions/solid waste +/-• Biodegradability +• Ecotoxicity (aquatic) +• Consumption of resources + (*)

• CO2-Balance/Greenhouse effect +

• Local environment (Plantages) critical if further growth

• * without clearing of virgin rain forests

Qualitative Results (+ pro FAS)

4. LC Impact Assessment (LCIA)

Compound-specific waste

and emission inventory data

+Information on

environmental fateand potency of

specific compounds=

ImpactAssessment

SETAC

Other methods:• ICI Environmental burden approach• Dutch impact scores• Minnesota toxicity index

Many schemes for assessing the impacts:

LC Impact Assessment (LCIA)

LCIA Critical Aspects

• Functional unit (especially critical when comparing products). Not always straightforward.

• Allocation of inputs and outputs (especially in processes that generate more than one product)

Functional unit of soft drink delivery systems

Container sizes

12-oz aluminum cans

16-oz glass bottles 2 litter PET bottle

Serving (12-oz) 1 1.25 5.33

Container 1 1 1

1. Choices and scenario related

• For products produced from many materials, LCI becomes very complex:

+LCI of material 1

LCI of material 2

LCI of material 3

+ … + = LCI of product

• “Negligible” energy consumption and emissions. State rationale. System boundaries.


• Use regional or global data?. • Quality?• Availability?• Age?

2. Data (or parameter) related


• Non-linear processes• Spatial or temporal effects on emissions• Synergy of pollutants• Steady state assumption

3. Model related


Historical Perspective (ca.1970-90)

• The Proto-LCAs consisted of inventories and an aggregation to sum parameters, as

• Cumulative Energy Demand (CED)

• Sum of solid waste

• Resource depletion

• Rudimentary ecological impact assessment (critical volume, air and water)

Impact Assessment as a Component of its own

• Impact analysis (SETAC 1990)

• Method of environmental themes or categories (CML 1991, 1992)

• Impact assessment (Code of Practice, SETAC 1993)

• Impact assessment (ISO 1997, 2000)

Life cycle assessment framework

Goal and

scope

definition

Inventory

analysis

Impact

Assessment

Interpretation

Direct applications:

ISO 14042 (2000)

• Gives a framework how to perform the component impact assessment (mandatory and optional elements)

• determines how to define an impact category, an indicator etc.

• does not prescribe a specific set of categories, nor the indicators to be used


• A Use of Resources

• B (Effects due to) Chemical Emissions

• C (Effects due to) Physical Emissions

• D (Effects due to) Biological Emissions

• E Further Proposed Categories

Proposed Structure of Impact Categories


• A1: Extraction of abiotic resources*

• A2: Extraction of biotic resources

• A3: Land use (with sub-categories)

• * special case: (fresh) Water as a renewable, abiotic resource with high regional differences

Impact Categories A-Use of Resources


• B1: Climate change

• B2: Stratospheric ozone depletion

• B3: Photo-oxidant formation

• B4: Acidification

• B5: Nutrification (Eutrophication)

• B6: Human toxicity

• B7: Eco-toxicity

• B8: Odour

Impact categories B-Effects due to chemical emissions


• C1: Noise

• C2: (ionizing) Radiation

• C3: Waste heat

Impact categories C-Effects due to physical emissions


• D1: Effects on eco-systems, change of biodiversity by organisms, e.g. „invasive species“ or „genetically modified organisms“ (GMO)

• D2: Effects on humans (e.g. by pathogenic organisms)

Impact categories D-Effects due to biological emissions


• E1: Casualties (mostly technosphere)

• E2: Health effects at the working place (technosphere; candidate for social pillar)

• E3: Dessication, erosion, salination of soils (see also A3)

• E4: Destruction of landscapes (see A3)

• E5: Impairment of eco-systems and biodiversity (see also A3, B7 and D1)

Impact categories E-Further proposed categories


• Only the categories A and B are relevant, well developed (comparative studies needed)

• More work needed for the „physical emissions“ (C)

• How to deal with „biological emissions“? Separate categories (D) or subcategories?

• How to include the precautionary principle (not fully understood effects and risks)?

Issues

LCA Strengths

• Outcome of LCA studies give an overview of complete systems, identifying critical production paths useful not only for environmental reasons.

• LCAs conducted for product improvement can reveal processes, components, ingredients, and systems to target for environmental improvement.

• LCA considers the whole life of the product. Avoids “problem shifting”.

LCA Weaknesses

• May generate skepticism (i.e.: when plastics manufacturers sponsor a study comparing paper and plastic products)

• Uncertainties and assumptions inherent of LCI’s leave room for skeptics to criticize results.

• It requires a great deal of work, time and money.

• Provides an assessment only at a specific point in time.

Looking at the entire life-cycle helps ensure reducing waste at one point does not simply create more waste at another point in the life-cycle

Issues may be shifted – intentionally or inadvertently – among:◦ Processes or manufacturing sites◦ Geographic locale◦ Different budgets and planning cycles (first cost)◦ Environmental media – air, water, soil (MTBE)◦ Sustainability dimension: economic, social, environmental

burdens Depends on “boundaries” Be conscious of what is shifted and to where! For example, MTBE…

US Geological Survey, http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/world/content/water1.html

Purchase Price

Refrigerator A appears cheaper

Price + Life-Cycle Costs

Refrigerator B costs less overall

Refrigerator A Refrigerator BRefrigerator A Refrigerator B

$ $ Disposal & Post-Disposal

Use

AcquisitionAcquisition

Systems perspective Integrates environment into core business issues Efficiency Innovation Better return on investment – identify point of “biggest

bang for the buck” * Engage stakeholders – investors, customers, employees Environment is not a cost center for the company, but a

business opportunity

* www.ciwmb.ca.gov/EPP/LifeCycle/default.htm

Why take a Life-Cycle Approach?

Systems perspective Integrates environment into core business issues Efficiency Innovation Better return on investment Engage stakeholders Environment is not a cost center for the company, but a

business opportunity Look beyond the company’s gate Expose trade-offs and and opportunities Expand analysis of products, projects, policies and

programs – what is the function, what are the boundaries, what are the impacts, where are the opportunities?

In a group, show how “sub-cycles” spin off of the main hamburger life cycle, i.e. the life cycle for the lettuce; life cycle for the truck that brings the lettuce; life cycle for the metals to produce the truck… to illustrate how large the system can be and WHY you’ll always need to draw boundaries.


CML‘s Impact on LCIA

• CML brought the environmental sciences into LC(I)A (Gabathuler 1997)

• Shift of focus away from energy and resource saving, waste reduction etc. (see sum parameters) towards:

• Chemicals (produced intentionally and unintentionally) and their potential impacts

Documents

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING