Evaluation of electronic components in life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA), a quantitative method for evaluating the total environmental impact of a product, from the materials in its manufacture to its final disposal, is playing an increasingly important role in manufacturing. When the LCA method is applied to a product containing many kinds of electronic components, there is a need for life cycle inventory (LCI) data on the components. This paper provides an original calculation of the LCI data for each electronic components industry. These data show the amount of input energy and emissions into the atmosphere per yen of production yield. It is demonstrated that the magnitude of the LCI data for each industry is essentially equal to that of the other industries. Furthermore, we conclude that the LCI data for all electronic components are roughly equivalent, making it possible to calculate the LCI data of any electronic component by simply multiplying the LCI data for the industry by the price of the component. Furthermore, after comparing the materials production stages with the component manufacturing stage in the calculation, it became clear that for several component industries the materials production stage could not be omitted from the calculation. Received: April 10, 1998 / Accepted: February 8, 1999     

Life cycle assessment of spray dried soluble coffee and comparison with alternatives (drip filter and capsule espresso)

This paper aims to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with spray dried soluble coffee over its entire life cycle and compare it with drip filter coffee and capsule espresso coffee. It particularly aims to identify critical environmental issues and responsibilities along the whole life cycle chain of spray dried coffee. This life cycle assessment (LCA) specifically uses foreground data obtained directly from coffee manufacturers and suppliers. Aside from energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions, water footprint is also studied in detail, including regionalization of water impacts based on the ecological scarcity method 2006. Other impact categories are screened using the IMPACT 2002+ impact assessment method.The overall LCA results for a 1 dl cup of spray dried soluble coffee amounts approximately to 1 MJ of primary non-renewable energy consumption, to emissions of 0.07 kg of CO_2-eq, and between 3 and 10 l of non-turbined water use, depending on whether or not the coffee cultivation is irrigated and wet treated. When considering turbined water, use can be up to 400 l of water per cup. Pouch – and to a lesser extent metal can packaging alternatives – show lower environmental burdens than glass or sticks.On average, about one half of the environmental footprint occurs at a life cycle stage under the control of the coffee producer or its suppliers (i.e., during cultivation, treatment, processing, packaging up to distribution, along with advertising) and the other half at a stage controlled by the user (shopping, appliances manufacturing, use and waste disposal). Key environmental parameters of spray dried soluble coffee are the amount of extra water boiled and the efficiency of cup cleaning during use phase, whether the coffee is irrigated or not, as well as the type and amount of fertilizer used in the coffee field. The packaging contributes to 10% of the overall life cycle impacts.Compared to other coffee alternatives, spray dried soluble coffee uses less energy and has a lower environmental footprint than capsule espresso coffee or drip filter coffee, the latter having the highest environmental impacts on a per cup basis. This study shows that a broad LCA approach is needed to help industry to minimize the environmental burdens directly related to their products. Including all processes of the entire system is necessary i) to get a comprehensive environmental footprint of the product system with respect to sustainable production and consumption, ii) to share stakeholders responsibility along the entire product life cycle, and iii) to avoid problem shifting between different life cycle stages.     

生命周期评价在工农业生产中的应用研究

生命周期评价是指产品在整个生命周期中对环境的影响、对物质和能源的投入、产出进行汇集、测定的系统方法。从产品生命周期评价的发展过程和技术框架入手,对生命周期评价的意义以及工农业生产中的应用进行探讨,着重阐述了生命周期评价在农业生产、环保工艺、节能减排、清洁生产和环境管理中的应用。并认为生命周期评价应广泛用于环境治理领域,这是解决社会生产发展和环境污染之间矛盾的主要手段。     

Formulation of resource depletion index

A resource depletion index can serve as a quantitative tool to evaluate the level of depletion for natural resources. This study introduces two types of resource depletion indices, the global resource depletion index and the local resource depletion index. Global resource depletion index mainly concerns global reserves and the annual consumption rate of these resources. The local resource depletion index not only considers global reserves and their annual consumption rate, but also considers the local factors such as local reserves, local recycling rates, and local resource import characteristics. This study considers the local resource characteristics of Taiwan and develops calculations for local resource depletion indexes for the resources of cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, copper, aluminum, lead and zinc.     

On uncertainty and sensitivity of LCA-based priority setting

Life-cycle assessments are normally made without quantitative estimations of their uncertainty. More interest has been focused on sensitivity analysis. In ISO 14040, LCA standard and SETAC's ‘code of practice’ sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are recommended or even requested. In the EPS system, an analysis of significance and sensitivity has been carried out for several years. The article describes this procedure in ISO terms and generalises it for other types of life-cycle assessments.     

Multiple system modelling of waste management

Due to increased environmental awareness, planning and performance of waste management has become more and more complex. Therefore waste management has early been subject to different types of modelling. Another field with long experience of modelling and systems perspective is energy systems. The two modelling traditions have developed side by side, but so far there are very few attempts to combine them. Waste management systems can be linked together with energy systems through incineration plants. The models for waste management can be modelled on a quite detailed level whereas surrounding systems are modelled in a more simplistic way. This is a problem, as previous studies have shown that assumptions on the surrounding system often tend to be important for the conclusions. In this paper it is shown how two models, one for the district heating system (MARTES) and another one for the waste management system (ORWARE), can be linked together. The strengths and weaknesses with model linking are discussed when compared to simplistic assumptions on effects in the energy and waste management systems. It is concluded that the linking of models will provide a more complete, correct and credible picture of the consequences of different simultaneous changes in the systems. The linking procedure is easy to perform and also leads to activation of project partners. However, the simulation procedure is a bit more complicated and calls for the ability to run both models.     

The joint use of LCA and emergy evaluation for the analysis of two Italian wine farms

The aim of this paper is to evaluate two agroindustrial productive processes in their entirety (one organic and one semi-industrial), focusing on the comparison of impacts derived from the inputs and outputs of the system (life cycle assessment, LCA), integrated with a physical evaluation of the resources and natural services, on a common basis (emergy). Methods based on the joint use of LCA and emergy evaluation are useful, as they measure the contribution of environmental services and products to the productive process thus focusing primarily on the environmental impact of emissions and non-renewable energy inputs. The complementarity of the methods used in this paper contributes important elements and information useful for the comprehension of the organization of agriculture within Siena's territory. The results show important elements and useful information: (1) for the comprehension of the two agroecosystems' organization; (2) for the use of the energy flows that determine their development. Moreover, the combined use of emergy and LCA gives a comparative thermodynamic performance evaluation between organic and semi-industrial farming.     

Multi-objective optimization of waste and resource management in industrial networks – Part II: Model application to the treatment of sewage sludge

In the present article, the thermal treatment of digested sewage sludge generated in the Swiss region of Zürich is modeled and optimized from an environmental perspective. The optimization problem is solved using a multi-objective mixed-integer linear program that combines material flow analysis, process models, life cycle assessment (LCA), and mathematical optimization techniques. The treatment options include co-incineration in municipal solid waste incineration, co-processing in cement production, and mono-incineration with the prospect of phosphorus recovery. The model is optimized according to six environmental objectives. Five of the six single-objective optimal solutions involve splits over the treatment options. The results reflect the available treatment capacities and other constraints, aspects rarely considered in conventional LCA studies. Co-processing in cement production is used to the maximum extent possible when minimizing impacts on climate change, human toxicity, fossil resource depletion, and fully aggregated impacts (ReCiPe H/A), whereas mono-incineration with phosphorus recovery receives the bulk of the sludge when optimizing for ecotoxicity and mineral resource depletion. Four of the single-objective optimal solutions (minimization of fossil energy resource depletion and contribution to climate change, human toxicity, and fully aggregated impacts) outperform the reference case over the six impact categories considered, showing that the current situation can be improved in some environmental categories without compromising others. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that assumptions regarding the product systems displaced by recovered by-products are critical for the outcome of the optimization. Our approach identifies in all of the cases solutions in which significant environmental improvements can be attained.     

Assessing the “design paradox” with life cycle assessment: A case study of a municipal solid waste incineration plant

One of the most important processes in an integrated waste management system is incineration, which, among the different waste management disposal options still remains a critical waste treatment system. New dynamics and approaches have to be developed to embrace such a wide and complex topic, and better knowledge and assessment of incineration are strategically significant to define future environmental scenarios.Life cycle assessment (LCA), as a tool to optimise process-operating conditions and to support decision-making process, is often applied to investigate processes under design in various sectors, since choices made in the development phases can affect the future environmental profile. However, even if the greatest opportunity to improve a process from an environmental perspective is during the design phase, at the same time the knowledge is limited, in accordance with the so-called “design paradox”.Thus, in this context, this study used LCA methodology to quantitatively assess the extent to which the environmental impact of an incineration line reflects the environmental burdens perceived during the design phase. A comparative LCA was conducted at the design phase and under operating conditions at an Italian municipal solid waste incineration plant.The outcomes of the study indicated that for almost all of the categories analysed, the impacts associated with the process under design overestimated the impacts associated with the operating process, with the exception of climate change and water depletion. The results suggested that after the conduction of an LCA at the design phase of a process, an LCA of the operative conditions should be carried out to verify how much the over- or under-estimations affected the results.     

可再生能源发电对PM10和PM2.5减排的贡献核算

发展可再生能源发电是《大气污染防治行动计划》的一项重要措施,有助于推进PM₁₀和PM_2.5减排,改善空气质量。从生命周期来看,各类可再生能源发电的PM₁₀和PM_2.5排放系数均低于燃煤火电,各类可再生能源发电单位发电量的PM₁₀和PM_2.5减排因子由高到低依次为水电>并网风电>太阳能发电>生物质发电。通过生命周期评价计算可知,以可再生能源发电替代燃煤发电,PM₁₀和PM_2.5在2012年已经实现了较好的减排效果,减排量分别为37.87×10⁴和18.94×10⁴ t/a;未来仍将具有较大的减排潜力,2015年PM₁₀和PM_2.5可分别减排44.21×10⁴和22.10×10⁴ t/a,2020年PM₁₀和PM_2.5可分别减排65.41×10⁴和32.71×10⁴ t/a。