Vinyl floor coverings

LCA Case Study Cushion Vinyl Floor Covering and DEHP... 

Keywords Additive, Cushion Vinyl Floor Covering, DEHP, Life Cycle Analysis, LCA, Plastic, Waste Treatment... 

Results, Environmental Impact Scores for the Use of Cushion Vinyl Floor Covering. . 229... 

To illustrate the LCA method [1] and its relevance for risk-based management of additives, an example is elaborated for a phthalate plasticizer, di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), as used in the application in cushion vinyl floor covering. 

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 this study the environmental impacts are calculated for the use of 1 m2 cushion vinyl floor covering, with a lifetime of 15 years (in LCA terms called the functional unit). Figure 1 shows the process flowchart for the production, use and waste disposal of a cushion vinyl floor covering. Cushioned flooring is produced by spread coating. The glass fibre is used as a substrate. Several layers, each with its... 

Fig. 1 Flow chart of the production, use and waste disposal of cushion vinyl floor covering...

Table 1 Composition of 1 m2 cushion vinyl floor covering [3]...

The lifetime of the cushion vinyl floor covering is assumed to be 15 years. Indoor emissions of DEHP during these 15 years are taken into account. The maintenance of the floor is not taken into account. 

Landfill of the cushion vinyl floor covering, assuming additional DEHP... 

Mechanical recycling is the preferred route for homogeneous and relatively clean plastics waste streams. It is assumed that the cushion vinyl floor covering will be mechanically recycled [11].1... 

The energy use and emissions are similar as in the process production of cushion vinyl floor covering , but discarded cushion vinyl floor covering (waste) is the economic inflow and the different materials (goods), like PVC, limestone, glass fibre, etc., are the economic outflows. 

The recycling of cushion vinyl floor covering is a multi-functional process with the functions treatment of waste and production of (several) materials . The treatment of waste is considered to be part of the primary system cushion vinyl floor covering . The production of the materials is considered to be part of the... 

The aim of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is to facilitate the interpretation of the results of the inventory analysis. The result of the inventory analysis is an emission profile for each alternative system. In this study the emission profile is the total of all emissions to air, water and soil from the grave-to-cradle chain for the use of cushion vinyl floor covering, including the up chain processes, like electricity production and the down chain processes, like the incineration and landfill of the waste. Such an emission profile may consist of hundreds of emissions and extractions. In LCA impact assessment the total of interventions (emissions, extractions) of a process chain is evaluated in terms of environmental problems (impact categories). 

ISO 14042 defines normalization as calculation of the magnitude of indicator results relative to reference information . The main aim of normalizing the category indicator results is to better understand the relative importance and magnitude of these results for each product system under study. For the purpose of normalization in LCA, Wegener Sleeswijk et al. [13] have made a comprehensive inventory of extractions and emissions of substances for the world level in the year 2000. The normalization in this project is based on these reference emissions and extractions. As a result the normalized score of an impact category for the cushion vinyl floor covering case is expressed as a fraction of the world problem. 

Use of cushion vinyl floor covering with incineration... 

Figure 2 shows the weighted impact scores of the use of 1 m2 cushion vinyl floor covering, broken down into environmental impact categories and Life Cycle stages. 

According to these results, the production of the additive DEHP contributes to a large extent to the total environmental impact score of the use of cushion vinyl floor covering. Note that these impacts may be caused by substances other than DEHP ... 

Figure 3 shows that compared to global warming the cushion vinyl floor covering has a relative low score for human toxicity and aquatic ecotoxicity . 

Cushion vinyl floor covering, to landfill Phthalate, dioctyl-[water] Freshwater ecotoxicity 9 ... 

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