LCIA data

Keywords Additives, Life Cycle Assessment, LCI data, LCIA data, Plastics, Paper... 

Missing LCIA data have been supplemented by impact factors calculated with USEtox . 

Additives are badly represented in LCA case studies. This is not because they do not contribute to impacts, but because they are not included in the assessment. The most likely reason for that is that specific LCI data for additives are missing to a large extent, and additive data are not included in the compound materials. Moreover, this fact is not obvious. Possibly, LCA practicioners are not aware of this gap. Additive data for the use phase and waste treatment phase are lacking as well. LCIA data for additives are also lacking. Approaches exist, however, to estimate interim characterization factors based on substance characteristics. 

The documentation and publication of LCI and LCIA data sets is supported by the related ILCD data set documentation and exchange format. A related data set editor allows the documentation, editing, and compliance-verification of ILCD data sets. 

The peripheral equipment such as control elements, thermostats, distillation equipment and so forth was included into the balance as well, but with the help of rough estimations based on their components or similar apparatuses. This has been done in order to provide a holistic view on its influence, but to reduce the effort of data acquisition. If a relevant influence would occur within the LCIA, the peripheral equipment would be investigated in more detail. 

Those possible explanations are investigated in this chapter. We will shortly describe the LCA methodology in Sect. 2. We will review case studies on plastics and printed matter/paper in Sect. 3. In Sect. 4 we will address the data situation for LCI databases and LCIA characterization factors. In Sect. 5 we will come to some conclusions and recommendations. 

The data situation for additives in LCIA seems to be somewhat better than for the LCI [4]. Characterization factors exist for a number of additives and for a number of impact categories. Nevertheless, the fist is nowhere near complete. Especially for the impact categories of human toxicity and ecotoxicity, impact factors are missing. Approaches exist to calculate such factors based on substance characteristics. In this volume, LCIA factors are derived for a large number of additives based on such approaches [5]. The lack of such factors, therefore, seems to be less of a problem for including additives in LCA case studies than the lack of LCI data. 

A fourth recommendation is to expand LCIA databases with characterization factors on additives. Ideally this should be done on the basis of measured physical/ chemical and effect data but even interim characterization factors based on sound QSAR estimations are better than none. 

The case study described here shows that emissions of chemicals, including substances that might be considered as additives in the printed matter life cycle, may contribute significantly to the LCA impact profile. In order to increase the reliability of this result, confirmation, by use of newer and improved LCIA methodology and updated LCI data for the background processes, are desirable. Newer LCIA methodology has actually been used in other LCA studies on printed... 

In case no data exists to be included in the LCI or LCIA, it is recommended to use estimation approaches in combination with sensitivity analysis instead of leaving this issue unmentioned. 

LCIA provides indicators for the interpretation of the inventory data in terms of contributions to different impact categories. The indicator results of an LCIA facilitate the evaluation of a product, and each stage in its life cycle, in terms of climate change, toxicological stress, noise, land use, water consumption, etc. The scope of the evaluation is, with some exceptions, limited to impacts at a regional and global scale. 

EC- IRC (2010) Framework and requirements for LCIA models and Indicators. ILCD handbook -International reference life cycle data system, European Union EUR24586EN. Available at http /Act.jrc. ec.europa.eu... 

Impact Analysis. Characterizes and assesses the environmental effects using the data obtained from the inventory. It is often called the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) stage. 

The environmental impacts were not calculated using an LCIA approach however, the inventory data needed to calculate these impacts are given in the... 

The comparative environmental impacts of PLA and PE, PS, PP, and PET for other environmental impact categories can be estimated by applying an LCIA tool to the PLA data contained within the ecoinvent database. TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts), developed by the U.S. EPA, was used to calculate the environmental impacts related to eutrophication, ecotoxicity, acidification, ozone depletion, smog formation, and human health (Figure 26.6) [53]. The impacts for PLA from the ecoinvent database (PLArSP) and the modified agricultural stage (PLA SP + L) are calculated in the same manner as previously discussed. 

In the third phase of an LCA, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), the inventory data are allocated to possible environmental impacts. Thereby, different... 

The life cycle inventory analysis (ii) involves data collection and calculation procedures to quantify the total system s inputs and outputs that are relevant from an environmental point of view, that is, mainly resource use, atmospheric emissions, aqueous emissions, solid waste, and land use. The LCIA (iii) aims at evaluating the significance of potential environmental impacts using the results of the life cycle inventory analysis. The life cycle interpretation (iv) is the final step of the LCA where conclusions are drawn from both the life cycle inventory analysis and the LCIA or, in the case of life cycle inventory studies, from the inventory analysis only. The important LCA requirements are given in Figure 15.5 [150]. 

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