Life cycle assessment phases

FIGURE 18.2 Life cycle assessment phases and the use of results. (Reworked according to ISO 14040.3)... 

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). 

Life cycle assessment studies, 14 826-827 phases of, 14 806-824 Life cycle cost (LCC), reliability and,... 

By way of alternative to UBS plastisols, an underbody hard shell not only reduces the release of plasticisers during the usage phase. Due to reduced weight and reduced air resistance (CW value) fuel consumption of vehicles is also reduced, which has a positive effect as part of a life-cycle assessment. After dismantling the plastic part can be recycled separately. 

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. 

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) consists of determining the impact on the environment of each phase of a life cycle, as material and energy intensity, emissions and toxic releases, greenhouse gases, etc. 

Product-Specific Requirements (PSR) is the phase of life-cycle assessment involving the compilation and quantification of inputs and outputs, for a given product system throughout its life-cycle. Additionally, specific technical data information will be a part of PSR or EPD (Enviromnental Prodnct Declaration). 

Life-Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is the phase of life-cycle assessment aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential enviromnental impacts of a product system. 

Life-Cycle Interpretation is the phase of life-cycle assessment in which the findings of either the inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, are combined in consistence with the defined goal and scope in order to reach conclusions and recommendations. 

Reuse becomes an interesting alternative for products where the stages before and after use have a dominating effect on the environment. The waste intensity per service for such a product is directly proportional to the number of cycles. On the other hand, in cases where the service phase is found to have the major impact according to a life cycle assessment, reuse will have little or no effect on the overall impact. 

FIGURE 61.1 Phases of an LCA study. (From ISO 14040, Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Principles and Framework. International Organization for Standardization, ISO, Geneva, Switzerland, 1998.)... 

It is worth mentioning the link between our environment-related index and commonly used approaches such as life cycle assessment. According to our scope of research (see explanatory caveat in section 1.4) we limit our contribution to the design and operational space in the process life span. Thus, our focus is exclusively on the sustainability aspects that are under the control of the design and operational phases. In this regard, we aim at an operational efficiency, which means basically an effective utilization of resources in the process operation. Similar to life cycle assessment, we quantify the... 

The ISO standard on Environmental Management fystems eoneems the Life Cycle Assessment of products and processes. ISO 14040 is the general framework for the specific standards ISO 14041, ° ISO 14042 and ISO 14043. These ISO standards are integrated, sinee 2006, by the general standard ISO 14044." This standard indicates the next phases to perform a LCA analysis ... 

The system boundaries of an LCA may extend from cradle to gate, cradle to grave, or cradle to cradle. As depicted in Figure 26.1, cradle to gate implies that the life cycle assessment covers activities prior to the use phase, while cradle to grave includes the product s use and end of life. Cradle to cradle indicates a product that can be disposed of and returned back to the natural environment the life cycle of PLA can be considered as such because when PLA degrades, its carbon is recycled back into the environment for uptake by biomass. 

The fluoropolymer industry has already mastered successfully many of the important challenges in respect to the environmental impact of fluoropolymer manufacturing (e.g., ban of chlorine-containing fluorocarbons, explosion risks, PFOA-phase out). Life cycle assessments, including ecobalances (e.g., according to ISO 14040/14025) have been initiated also to demonstrate the value of specific fluoropolymers (recently such a study about ETFE was published [100]). While a comprehensive view of the impact of fluoropolymer manufacturing can be tedious to assemble, as the worldwide existing data from the various databases (e.g., ProBas [101], Ecoinvent [102]) are not... 

The yield enhancement was attributed to an increase of the phase interface but not to real sonochemical effects. Tubings with smaller diameters delivered less yield enhancement whereas in tubings with larger diameters the temperature of the reaction mixture was not controllable. By means of concomitant evaluation by simplified life cycle assessment, the authors showed that the environmental impacts of the continuous ester hydrolysis were significantly reduced by ultrasound application despite the higher energy demand. 

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