Life-cycle assessment steps

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°). 

The second step and the focus of this chapter was to evaluate the emission load of individual foods from the list of most common foods. There was used the simplified Life Cycle Assessment method in which only the Climate change Impact category was assessed. Detailed description of the LCA methodology is shown in the literature review, the following text describes practical method implementation.Food emission load evaluation using the LCA method... 

We start with a definition of the problem and based on this, we identify the candidates (such as, molecules, mixtures and formulations) through expert knowledge, database search, model-based search, or a combination of all. The next step is to perform experiments and/or model-based simulations (of product behavior) to identify a feasible set of candidates. At this stage, issues related to process design are introduced and a process-product match is obtained. The final test is related to product quality and performance verification. Other features, such as life cycle assessment could also be introduced at this stage. 

Life cycle assessment is a method for calculating the environmental impact of a product or service over its whole lifecycle. Steps in a lifecycle include ... 

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 The traditional eight-step chemical synthesis has been replaced by one fermentation process.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 an additional assessment approach for making environmental decisions. LCA can be defined as an inventory of all the steps in the development, manufacture, use, and disposal of a product or a commodity with a determination of the environmental consequences (Todd and Curan 1999). The purpose of an LCA is to provide information to a decision maker so that choices can be made in the design of a manufacturing process to minimize environmental impacts or risks. 

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a three-step design evaluation methodology composed of inventory profile, environmental impact assessment, and improvement analysis (Keoleian and Menerey 1994). The purpose of the inventory step is to examine the resources consumed and wastes generated at all stages of the product life cycle, including raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair, reclamation, and waste disposal. 

A three-step methodology for activity-based environmental inventory allocation is useful in calculating data for the first step of life cycle assessment. First, the process flow and system boundary... 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) seems to be one of the best methods that makes such analysis possible. The term life cycle refers to the notion that for a fair, holistic assessment, the raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal (including all intervening transportation steps) need to be assessed. 

Mass index (MI) is defined as the total mass used in a process/process step divided by the mass of product and it is approximately the E-factor plus one. A software package, the Environmental Assessment Tool for Organic Syntheses (EATOS), has been designed to calculate some of these metrics. More elaborate assessments such as life cycle assessment (LCA), could be performed, but this is also beyond the scope of this chapter. Our objective is to provide a preliminary assessment for the community to determine if further development of any guanidine organocatalysis is appropriate for use in green chemistry. 

PE International Inc. Life Cycle Assessment of Polymers in an Automotive Assist Step. Boston PE International Inc 2012. 

Figure 15.6 Example output of the process mass intensity and life cycle assessment tool developed by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable. The data presented in the columns provide the metrics for steps 1,2, 3, and the total of the synthesis. Some of the instructions in the tool are included as an illustration.

The security life cycle The life cycle is focused on the security level of the system over time. A change in asset will trigger changes in security level or a change of vulnerability or an asset may trigger changes in a physical asset. There are a few basic steps for the security development life cycle assessment (SDLA), which are detailed in Clause 4.3.5. 

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