Analysis life cycle

There are three components in a life cycle analysis11  

The life cycle is first defined and the complete resource 

Once the life cycle inventory has been quantified, the effects of the environmental emissions are characterized and assessed in a life cycle impact analysis. While the life cycle inventory can, in principle at least, be readily assessed, the resulting impact is far from straightforward to assess. Environmental impacts are usually not directly comparable. For example, how can the production of a kilogram of heavy metal sludge waste be compared with the production of a ton of contaminated aqueous waste A comparison of two life cycles is required to pick the preferred life cycle. 

Having attempted to quantify the life cycle inventory and impact, a life cycle improvement analysis suggests environmental improvements. 

Life cycle analysis, in principle, allows an objective and complete view of the impact of processes and products on the environment10. For a manufacturer, life cycle analysis requires an acceptance of responsibility for the impact of manufacturing in total. This means not just the manufacturers operations, and the disposal of waste created by those operations, but those of raw materials suppliers and those of product users. 

The life cycle is first defined and the complete resource requirements (materials and energy) quantified. This allows the total environmental emissions associated with the life cycle to be quantified by putting together the individual parts. This defines the life-cycle inventory. 

Perhaps, the most important caution in using LCA is to recognize that its findings are particularly sensitive to the scope and objectives adopted in the assessments. The results depend heavily on the scope, specific system boundaries adopted, simplifying assumptions made, and the quality of data used (Hottle et al., 2013). Metrics for an identical product (e.g., a plastic bag) manufactured by different fabricators or even by a single manufacturer but studied by different analysts can yield very different LCA outcomes. 

Cradle-to-cradle end of life cycle is taken as the end of recovery process. 

Cradle-to-grave end of lifecycle is disposal of postconsumer plastic waste. 

Cradle-to-gate end of lifecycle is taken to be delivery of product at factory gate. 

For example, LCA studies on identical poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) soda bottles produced at two plants can have very different embodied energies because their process electricity is derived from different sources (coal vs. hydropower) or because modes of transportation or the distances in the distribution networks are different or even because they use different disposal methods. Mechanical recycling, where available, can make a very significant differences to both the energy and carbon footprint of the product. A technically recyclable product should not be credited with saved energy in the LCA unless the infrastructure is actually present to recycle it. 

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To the process designer, life-cycle analysis is useful because focusing exclusively on waste minimization at some point in the life cycle sometimes creates problems elsewhere in the cycle. The designer can often obtain useful insights by changing the boundaries of the system under consideration so that they are wider than those of the process being designed. 

W. E. Bishop, C. C. Kuta, aud C. A. Pittiager, "Life Cycle Analysis aud Its Relevaace to the Detergent Industry," paper presented Nen> Honan s 92 CSMA.IAOCS Detergent Industry Conference, Bolton Lauding, New York, Sept. 14, 1992. 

The TCP approach is relatively simple and can be easily applied to studies involving comparisons of different equipments, different processes, or even parts of processes. CCP has now emerged as the most realistic approach that can be employed in economic project analyses. It is the recommended procedure for pollution-prevention studies. The LCC approach is usually applied to the life-cycle analysis (LCA) of a product or seiwice. It has found occasional application in projec t analysis. 

Life-Cycle Analysis The aforementioned multimedia approach to evaluating a product s waste stream(s) aims to ensure that the treatment of one waste stream does not result in the generation or increase in an additional waste output. Clearly, impac ts resulting during the... 

Ereduc tion of a product or service must be evaluated over its entire istoiy or life cycle. This life-cycle analysis or total systems approach (Ref. 3) is crucial to identifying opportunities for improvement. As described earher, this type of evaluation identifies energy use, material inputs, and wastes generated during a products hfe from extraction and processing of raw materials to manufacture and transport of a product to the marketplace and finally to use and dispose of the produc t (Ref. 5). 

Capital, operating, and environmental controls, and some life-cycle analysis (Total Systems Approach)... 

If a life cycle analysis were conducted the new costs of a plant are about 7-10% of the life cycle costs. Maintenance costs are approximately 15-20% of the life cycle costs. Operating costs, which essentially consist of energy costs, make up the remainder, between 70-80% of the life cycle costs, of any major power plant. Thus, performance evaluation of the turbine is one of the most important parameter in the operation of a plant. 

Global environmental questions have increased in significance during the last few years. A life-cycle analysis (LCA) analyzes the environmental effect with reference to ecological effects, health effects, and consumption of resources. 

Life-cycle analysis of a filter shows that operation often corresponds to 70% to 80% of the filter s total environmental load and is absolutely decisive as regards environmental effect. Raw material, refining, manufacturing, and transports correspond to about 20% to 30%, while the used filter contributes at most 1%. Filters of plastic or other inflammable material can render 10 kWh to 30 kWh energy when burned, which correspondingly reduces the total environmental load from 0.5% to 1%. On the other hand, if the pressure loss in the filter is reduced by 10 Pa, the environmental load is reduced by 125 kW h per year, or approximately 5% decrease in total environmental load. Filters in industrial applications can have quite different figures. 

Life-cycle analysis (LCA) does not account for economic aspects, and such analysis should therefore be considered together with a life-cycle cost analysis (LCC), which takes into account the costs of investment, energy, maintenance, and dumping the final waste product throughout the lifetime of a plant. 

The final pressure drop is dimensioned and selected with regard to permitted variations in flow, the filter s life-cycle costs, and life-cycle analysis. 

Capital investment decisions are best made within the context of a life-cycle cost analysis. Life-cycle cost analysis focuses on the costs incurred over the life of the investment, assuming only candidate investments are considered that meet minimally acceptable performance standards in terms of the non-inonetary impacts of the investment. Using life-cycle analysis, the capital investment decision takes into account not just the initial acquisition or purchase cost, but maintenance, energy use, the expected life of the investment, and the opportunity cost of capital. When revenue considerations are prominent, an alternative method of analysis such as net benefit or net present value may be preferred. 

LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF RECYCLING AND RECOVERY OF HOUSEHOLDS PLASTICS WASTE PACKAGING MATERIALS. SUMMARY REPORT APME... 

The ISO 14000 series of environmental standards and their implications for the plastics industry are discussed. Aspects of ecolabelling and life cycle analysis and different options for recycling and waste disposal are examined. 

ICI Acrylics believes that greater cooperation between companies and a revised approach to life cycle analysis are the keys to the industry s future environmental sustainability. The company has invested over 2m pounds sterling in an on-going monomer recovery project, which encompasses a joint research programme with Mitsubishi Rayon. The project focuses on increasing the efficiency of acrylic depolymerisation and overcoming technical issues such as its use in recycling flame retardant acrylics. ICI ACRYLICS... 

R 95 - Recovery, Recycling, Re-Integration. Volume 1 Concepts, Life Cycle Analysis, Legal and Economic Instruments. Conference proceedings. 

A life cycle assessment (LCA), also known as life cycle analysis, of a product or process begins with an inventory of the energy and environmental flows associated with a product from "cradle to grave" and provides information on the raw materials used from the environment, energy resources consumed, and air, water, and solid waste emissions generated. GHGs and other wastes, sinks, and emissions may then be assessed (Sheehan et ah, 1998). The net GHG emissions calculated from an LCA are usually reported per imit of product or as the carbon footprint. 

In the past decades, polymer materials have been continuously replacing more traditional materials such as paper, metal, glass, stone, wood, natural fibres and natural rubber in the fields of clothing industry, E E components, automotive materials, aeronautics, leisure, food packaging, sports goods, etc. Without the existence of suitable polymer materials progress in many of these areas would have been limited. Polymer materials are appreciated for their chemical, physical and economical qualities including low production cost, safety aspects and low environmental impact (cf. life-cycle analysis). 

Life Cycle Analysis of projects to develop Design and Construction processes that address Energy Efficiency and the Reduction of GHG Production. 

Development of Integrated Systematic Engineering Approaches to Sustainable Resource Exploitation (e.g., life-cycle analysis, soft-systems analysis) in fields such as Mining, Forestry, and Agriculture,... 

Retention of the Economic Benefit of Lowered Energy Consumption by an accurate Life Cycle Analysis. 

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