Life-cycle assessment application

Life cycle assessment is defined by ISO 14040 as compilation and evalu ation of inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. The ISO standards regulate the procedural aspects of LCA. They do not, however, provide all the information required for carrying out an LCA study. The main phases of LCA are goal and scope definition, inventory, impact assessment, and interpretation. The various applications of LCA are not regulated by the standard (Fig. 15.1). 

Azapagic, A. Clift, R. (1999) The Application of Life Cycle Assessment to Process Optimisation. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 23(10), 1509-1526. 

Burgess, A.A. Brennan, D.J. (2001) Application of Life Cycle Assessment to Chemical Processes. Chemical Engineering Science, 56(8), 2589-2604. 

Azapagic, A. (1999) Life Cycle Assessment and Its Application to Process Selection, Design and Optimisation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 73(1), 1-21. 

FIGURE 2.1 Life cycle assessment framework with applications. 

Gonzalez, A. Sala, J.M., Flores, I., and Lopez, L.M., 2003, Application of thermoeconomics to the allocation of environmental loads in the life cycle assessment of cogeneration plants, Energy 28 557—574. 

Rebitzer G, Ekvall T, Frischknecht R, Hunkeler D, Norris G, Rydberg T, Schmidt WP, Suh S, Weidema BP, Pennington DW. Life Cycle Assessment Part 1 Framework, Goal and Scope Definition, Inventory Analysis, and Applications. Environment International. 2004 30(5) 701-720. DOI 10.1016/j.envint.2003.11.005... 

On the other hand, in part II of this volume, a set of case studies are introduced. The application of the selected methodologies inside each one of the foresaid disciplines (e.g., risk assessment, life cycle assessment) to specific cases and countries is presented here. The results of such application are discussed as well as their reliability. Toxicological studies in Italy, risk assessment of electronic waste in China, or disposal of bearing lamps in India are some examples of selected scenarios. 

This study deals with life cycle assessment of emissions related to the use of additives in a plastic application. This means that environmental impacts are estimated for the total of emissions, not restricted to toxic effects and/or one substance (like DEHP). Furthermore emissions relate to the cradle-to-grave chain of the additive application in cushion vinyl floor covering. 

In the first part of this book, different models related to the assessment of the potential risk posed by the chemical additives are presented. These models come from different fields of expertise toxicology, risk assessment, chemicals fate and exposure, life cycle assessment, economics, etc. The potential benefits of the different models as well as their drawbacks are analyzed in order to select some of them for the application to particular case studies. 

Biotechnological processes, life-cycle assessments for, 24 183 Biotechnology, 3 816 advances in, 13 330 application to agriculture, 13 283 in chemical transformations,... 

To define the value of biodegradable polymers, the overall system costs and the environmental impact of individual products in their respective target applications have to be considered. To this end, comprehensive life-cycle assessments (EGAs) are an appropriate tool, especially when accompanied by costs evaluations that cover all phases from cradle to grave. 

Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment for Chlorinated Organic Chemicals. Alliston, Ontario, Canada, 25 to 29 Jul 1994. Published by SETAC, 1998. Application of Life-Cycle Assessment to Public Policy. Wintergreen, Virginia, 14 to 19 Aug 1994. Published by SETAC, 1997. 

Collectively, these developments have fostered a burgeoning corporate interest in the concepts of life-cycle design (LCD)—the application of life-cycle assessment (LCA) concepts to determine what a product contains, how it was produced, how it... 

Workshop on Public Policy Applications of Life Cycle Assessment (1994) Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL. 

Jimenez-Gonzalez, C. (2000) Life Cycle Assessment in Pharmaceutical Applications, Ph.D. Thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC. 

Brentrup, F., Kiisters, J., Lammel, J., Barraclough, P. and Kuhlmann, H. 2004. Environmental impact assessment of agricultural production systems using the life cycle assessment methodology. II. The application to N fertilizer use in winter wheat production systems. European Journal of Agronomy 20(3) 265-279. 

Consoli, EJ. Davis, G.A. Fava, J.A. Warren, J.L. Public Policy Applications of Life-Cycle Assessment, Allen, D.T. (ed.), Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Pensacola, FL, 1997. 

Udo de Haes, H. 1993. Application of life cycle assessment Expectations, drawbacks and perspectives. J. Cleaner Prod. 1 131-137. 

Jimenez-Gonzalez, C., A. Curzons, and V. Cunningham. 2004. Expanding GSK s solvent selection guide-application of life cycle assessment to enhance solvent selections. J. Clean. Tech. Environ. Policy 1 42-50. 

A very specific way of applying estimates of the ecotoxicity of mixtures at the community level is the application of the msPAF approach in life-cycle assessments (Huijbregts et al. 2002). In this application, the target is to assess ecological impacts of mixtures in a single value, and to compare this value to the predicted impacts of other stressors (e.g., ozone depletion and energy expenditure). 

In single-species assessments, the interpretations of mixture assessments tend to be mostly absolute. Hence, risk assessors often focus on particular species and particular compound groups (e.g., risks of PCB mixtures for birds), allowing them to interpret and explain their experimental data to the best of their abilities. On the other hand, many risk assessors apply mixture extrapolation methods to address risks for communities. The applications of SSD-based methods for this evolved fast and now cover a wide set of approaches, ranging from ecological multiple-stress analyses to overall approaches such as life-cycle assessment. Especially in the latter set of approaches, the risk assessor can often allow the method to only yield relative... 

Azapagic, A., Life cycle assessment and its application to process selection, design, and optimization, Chem. Eng. J., 73, 1 (April), 1-21, 1999. 

Lopes, E., Dias, A., Arroja, L., Capela, I., and Pereira, F., Application of life cycle assessment to the Portuguese pulp and paper industry, / Cleaner Prod., 11, 51-59, 2003. 

Bauman, H. and A-M. Tillman, The Hitch Hiker s Guide to LCA An Orientation in Life Cycle Assessment Methodology and Applications. Studentlitteratur AB, 2004. 

ISO ISO/TR 14049 Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Examples of Application of ISO 14041 to Goal and Scope Definition and Inventory Analysis ISO/TR 14049 International Organization for Standardization Geneva, March 15, 2000, 2000. 

ISO/TR 14049 2000 Life cycle assessment - Examples of application of ISO 14041 to goal and scope definition and inventory analysis... 

Rebitzer G, Ekvall T, Frischknecht R, etal. (2004) Life cycle assessment - Part 1 Framework, goal scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications. Environment International 30 701-720. 

C. Jimenez-Gonzalez, A. D. Curzons, D. J. C. Constable and V. L. Cunningham, Expanding GSK s Solvent Selection Guide - Application of Life Cycle Assessment to Enhance Solvent Selections, Clean Techn Environ Policy, 7(1), 42-50 (2004). 

---