Characterisation Factor

Andersson H, Westerdahl J, Rahmberg M, Rydberg T (2011) Ecotoxicological impacts of emissions of additives in the societal stock of plastic products assessed using QSAR based interim USEtox characterisation factors. Manuscript... 

Rahmberg M, Andersson H, Westerdahl J, Rydberg T, Andersson PL (2012) Towards QSAR based USEtox characterisation factors for as-sessing ecotoxicological impacts of emissions from plastic additives. Extended abstract, RISKCYCLE conference, Dresden, May 2012... 

Rosenbaum R, Bachmann TM, Gold LS, Huijbregts MAJ, Jolliet O, Juraske R, Koehler A, Larsen HF, MacLeod M, Margni M, McKone TE, Payet J, Schuhmacher M, van de Meent D, Hauschild MZ (2008) USEtox the UNEP-SETAC toxicity model recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13 532-546... 

Regarding the total number of emissions to water, around 120 are included. About 25% of the waterborne emissions are covered by characterisation factors for human toxicity, and for ecotoxicity, the corresponding figure is 37% of the total number. The waterborne emissions from the material and disposal stage also include unspecific types like COD, TOC, VOC and suspended matter, for which information of the actual content is not available. Only 3.1% of the total emitted quantity (by weight) is covered by characterisation factors for human toxicity, and... 

Known emissions from the production stage, which are not covered by characterisation factors and which may contribute significantly to the toxicity impact categories, include emissions of components occurring in small quantities in the raw materials (typically well below 5%) like siccatives (organic metal compounds), softeners (phthalates), antioxidants (aromatics) and wetteners (surfactants). Due to lack of readily available knowledge of their exact identity and/or lack of readily available data on their inherent environmental properties, it has not been possible to include them in the case study. 

Meijer A, Huijbregts M, Reijnders L (2005) Human health damages due to indoor sources of organic compounds and radioactivity in life cycle impact assessment of dwellings - part 1 characterisation factors (8 pp). Int J Life Cycle Assess 10(5) 309-316... 

LCIA databases should be expanded with standardised characterisation factors on additives. 

Calculation of impact category indicators using characterisation factors (characterisation). 

In practice, the amount of contaminants in a given soil is unknown and can cover a wide range of concentration. Nevertheless, the analyst has to match the method with the analyte concentration. Before processing reliable data, several steps are needed to collect information for soil characterisation factors affecting this information are explained below. 

GWP is the global warming potential (characterisation factor) for substance s (input or output) calculated in terms of CO2 equivalent ... 

The basic approach of calculating land occupation is the same across textiles. The calculation was based on quantifying how much land occupation a particular unit process needed to make 1 million T-shirts by multiplying the output per m of each unit process by the inverse yield of every subsequent unit process. Followed by this, each unit process is assigned with a characterisation factor based on its location and land use type. Further, the land occupation and characterisation factor were multiphed together to convert land occupation into an absolute measure of biodiversity loss. The final result derived was a biodiversity impact (measured in potentially lost nonendemic species per functional unit) of each unit process, which was finally summed up to quantify the impact of the entire product system from cradle to factory gate of the selected T-shirts. 

Van Zelm, R., Huijbregts, M.A.J., Van Jaarsveld, H.A., Reinds, G.J., De Zwart, D., Stniijs, J., Van de Meent, D., 2007b. Time horizon dependent characterisation factors for acidification in life-cycle impact assessment based on the disappeared fraction of plant species in European forests. Environmental Science and Technology 41, 922-927. 

Impact category data Characterisation factor Studies... 

The extension of the analytical characterising factors of plasticisers from soft-PVC the elegant simplification of separation of the plasticisers from the plastic material by thermal fractionation ... 

Emissions of other greenhouse gases (GHG), such as methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O) are multiplied hy their respective characterisation factor to convert their effect into an equal amount of CO2. 

In the case of separate accounting, a characterisation factor of -1 should be assigned to CO2 biogenic removal and +1 to CO2 biogenic emission, while biogenic CH4 emission has a +25 emission factor. 

The characterisation factors for global warming potentials used in most of the studies reviewed are outdated in the meantime (GWPjqo for methane and nitrous oxide) The GWP equivalence factors used in the various studies are 11 or 21 for CH4 and 270 or 310 for N2O, while - according to the current state of research - more accurate figures are 23 (CH4) and 296 (N2O) [44]. Since the contribution of CO2 dominates the overall GHG effect, this uncertainty is considered to be less important. 

Characterisation factors Have updated characterisation factors been used for aggregation within the impact categories Characterisation factors are sometimes also referred to as equivalence factors. 

Note The characterisation factors for climate change are referred to as GWP values. The most recent figures can be found in Houghton and co-workers [44]. 

Poettmann and Mayland, Equilibrium Constants for. . . Fractions of Varying (Characterisation Factor, Pei. Refiner July, 1949, p. 101. 

Example 16-1. Heat Balance a Fractionating Tower, A heat balance of the simple tower system shown in Fig. 16-2 will be computed to determine the amount reflux heat that must be removed to keep the tower in thermal balance. The capacity is 1,200 bbl x>er day (2,100 gal per hour) of a 12.1 to 12.2 Characterisation Factor crude oil. At 576 F the gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, and gas oil are vapors and Ihe reduced crude oil is a liquid. A sufficient quantity of heat must be removed from the vajx>rs... 

CML, 2001. CML s Impact Assessment Methods and Characterisation Factors. Leiden University. Institute of Environmental Science (CML). 

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