Life cycle assessment importance

Why is Life Cycle Assessment important 13) How can analytical techniques be used to follow the course of a reaction 14) What is the Toxics Release Inventory 15) What are green metrics Are mass and energy good enough indicators of environmental impact 16)... 

Adhesives and resins are one of the most important raw materials in wood-based panels. Thus, each question concerning the life cycle assessment and the recycling of bonded wood panels does bring into question the adhesive resins used. This includes, for example, the impact of the resin on various environmental aspects such as waste water and effluents, emission of noxious volatile chemicals during production and from the finished boards, or the reuse for energy generation of wood panels. The type of resin has also a crucial influence on feasibility and efficiency for several material recycling processes. 

The whole topic of Life Cycle Assessment is dealt with in detail in Chapter 7. However, there are some important points about LCA as it relates to green product design. It is important to be able to compare different solutions, it is also important to be aware of the limitations of LCA. These include ... 

Advisory Group are considering different facets of LCA. In 1993, they developed the Code of Practice ,the first worldwide accepted technical framework for LCA. This was an important step towards the harmonisation of the method and has initiated and supported the standardisation process by ISO. Between 1997 and 2000, ISO produced the international series of standard defining the different stages of the LCA methodology (ISO 14040 1997, ISO 14041 1998, ISO 14042 2000 ° as well as ISO 14043 2000° ). As mentioned above, these standards were replaced by two improved editions of life cycle assessment standards in 2006 (ISO 14040 2006 and ISO 14044 2006°). 

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool to assess impacts of cradle-to-grave chains of products/services. In the Riskcycle framework, the focus is on additives. Additives are usually minor constituents of products, but depending on their specific properties they can be important in the total scope of impacts of such products. In the LCA literature, additives are hardly visible. Most case studies of products containing additives do not mention them. The reasons for this are unclear, but are at least partly due to the fact that information on additives is not included in standard LCA databases. This is true for both life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) databases. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude whether or not additives indeed are important contributors to environmental impacts over the life cycle. 

Larsen FIF, Hansen MS, Hauschild M (2009) Life-cycle assessment of offset printed matter with EDIP97 - how important are emissions of chemicals J Cleaner Prod 17 115-128... 

An important issue, not discussed in the present chapter, is the need to assess by life cycle analysis the sustainability of processes employing biomass instead of fossil fuels. Moreover, socio-economic life cycle assessment rather than simple... 

Biotech may be gaining importance in the food and nutrition sector, but many nutritional ingredients are still produced by chemical synthesis or via extraction for example, carotenoids are currently most competitively produced by chemical means. For vitamin B2, however, the situation has changed completely in the last five years. The traditional eight-step chemical synthesis has been replaced by one fermentation process. This biotech process, which is also practiced by BASF on a large scale, reduces overall cost by up to 40 percent and the overall environmental impact by 40 percent, as has been shown by detailed life cycle assessments. Similar trends have been described for other bio-based processes, indicating that economic and environmental benefits go hand in hand in today s white biotech practice (EuropaBio and McKinsey Company, 2003, DSM position document, 2004). 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a relatively new tool for environmental management, which is becoming more and more important owing to the globalization of the world economy, where there is a need to develop standards in protecting the environment. 

Life-cycle assessment is an important green engineering tool for analyzing processes and products. This tool is currently being used by... 

With the growing awareness for the protection of the environment, there is a greater need for producers to improve the environmental profile of their products. Consumers and regulatory bodies expect more information on the effects of products on the environment during their manufacture, use, and disposal. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used as a holistic approach to assess the impact of a product throughout its life cycle. An important aspect of LCA is recycling and waste management. 

Environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) provides a mechanism for systematically evaluating the environmental impacts linked to a product or process and in guiding process or product improvement efforts. LCA-based information also provides insights into the environmental impacts of raw material and product choices, and maintenance and end-of-product-life strategies. Because of the systematic nature of LCA and its power as an evaluative tool, the use of LCA is increasing as environmental performance becomes more and more important in society. It is likely that LCA will soon become widely used within U.S. industry and by those involved in crafting national and regional environmental policy. 

Examples of commercial applications are scarce up to now (cf Section 5.3 use of ILs has been considered for a series of specific questions). The scaling-up of IL syntliesis procedures is normally without problems however, the commercialization and/or transport of the ionic liquids raise the question of their registration (EINECS for Europe or equivalents see Section 5.4). Disposal and recycle of ILs are important concerns and have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. And Ionic liquids are not always green - as has been stated by Rogers et al. [42], From the standpoint of life cycle assessment and hazard analysis ILs are clearly not recommendable for industrial use, especially if those with PFg or BF4 as anions are concerned. And it is obviously no wonder that recent new developments such as BMIM octylsulfate have been emphasized as even greener ionic liquids [43],... 

Consumers may learn about environmental impacts from eco-labels, self-declaration, and life cycle assessment studies. Industrial engineers may learn about clean manufacturing as universities integrate industrial ecology concepts into business and engineering programs (Santi 1997 Stuart 2000). Important clean manufacturing concepts are defined in the next section. 

---