Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment Modeling Approaches for Transboundary Energy Feedstocks

The rise of the twenty-first century has seen the further increase in the industrialization of Earth’s resources, as society aims to meet the needs of a growing population while still protecting our environmental and natural resources. The advent of the industrial bioeconomy – which encompasses the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into food, feed, and bio-based products – is seen as an important step in transition towards sustainable development and away from fossil fuels. One sector of the industrial bioeconomy which is rapidly being expanded is the use of biobased feedstocks in electricity production as an alternative to coal, especially in the European Union.

As bioeconomy policies and objectives increasingly appear on political agendas, there is a growing need to quantify the impacts of transitioning from fossil fuel-based feedstocks to renewable biological feedstocks. Specifically, there is a growing need to conduct a systems analysis and potential risks of increasing the industrial bioeconomy, given that the flows within it are inextricably linked. Furthermore, greater analysis is needed into the consequences of shifting from fossil fuels to renewable feedstocks, in part through the use of life cycle assessment modeling to analyze impacts along the entire value chain.

To assess the emerging nature of the industrial bioeconomy, three objectives are addressed: (1) quantify the global industrial bioeconomy, linking the use of primary resources with the ultimate end product; (2) quantify the impacts of the expaning wood pellet energy export market of the Southeastern United States; (3) conduct a comparative life cycle assessment, incorporating the use of dynamic life cycle assessment, of replacing coal-fired electricity generation in the United Kingdom with wood pellets that are produced in the Southeastern United States.

To quantify the emergent industrial bioeconomy, an empirical analysis was undertaken. Existing databases from multiple domestic and international agencies was aggregated and analyzed in Microsoft Excel to produce a harmonized dataset of the bioeconomy. First-person interviews, existing academic literature, and industry reports were then utilized to delineate the various intermediate and end use flows within the bioeconomy. The results indicate that within a decade, the industrial use of agriculture has risen ten percent, given increases in the production of bioenergy and bioproducts. The underlying resources supporting the emergent bioeconomy (i.e., land, water, and fertilizer use) were also quantified and included in the database.

Following the quantification of the existing bioeconomy, an in-depth analysis of the bioenergy sector was conducted. Specifically, the focus was on quantifying the impacts of the emergent wood pellet export sector that has rapidly developed in recent years in the Southeastern United States. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment was conducted in order to quantify supply chain impacts from two wood pellet production scenarios: roundwood and sawmill residues. For reach of the nine impact categories assessed, wood pellet production from sawmill residues resulted in higher values, ranging from 10-31% higher.

The analysis of the wood pellet sector was then expanded to include the full life cycle (i.e., cradle-to-grave). In doing to, the combustion of biogenic carbon and the subsequent timing of emissions were assessed by incorporating dynamic life cycle assessment modeling. Assuming immediate carbon neutrality of the biomass, the results indicated an 86% reduction in global warming potential when utilizing wood pellets as compared to coal for electricity production in the United Kingdom. When incorporating the timing of emissions, wood pellets equated to a 75% or 96% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, depending upon whether the forestry feedstock was considered to be harvested or planted in year one, respectively.

Finally, a policy analysis of renewable energy in the United States was conducted. Existing coal-fired power plants in the Southeastern United States were assessed in terms of incorporating the co-firing of wood pellets. Co-firing wood pellets with coal in existing Southeastern United States power stations would result in a nine percent reduction in global warming potential.

Applying life cycle assessment to analyze the environmental sustainability of public transit modes for the City of Toronto

One challenge related to transit planning is selecting the appropriate mode: bus, light rail transit (LRT), regional express rail (RER), or subway. This project uses data from life cycle assessment to develop a tool to measure energy requirements for different modes of transit, on a per passenger-kilometer basis. For each of the four transit modes listed, a range of energy requirements associated with different vehicle models and manufacturers was developed. The tool demonstrated that there are distinct ranges where specific transit modes are the best choice. Diesel buses are the clear best choice from 7-51 passengers, LRTs make the most sense from 201-427 passengers, and subways are the best choice above 918 passengers. There are a number of other passenger loading ranges where more than one transit mode makes sense; in particular, LRT and RER represent very energy-efficient options for ridership ranging from 200 to 900 passengers. The tool developed in the thesis was used to analyze the Bloor-Danforth subway line in Toronto using estimated ridership for weekday morning peak hours. It was found that ridership across the line is for the most part actually insufficient to justify subways over LRTs or RER. This suggests that extensions to the existing Bloor-Danforth line should consider LRT options, which could service the passenger loads at the ends of the line with far greater energy efficiency. It was also clear that additional destinations along the entire transit line are necessary to increase the per passenger-kilometer energy efficiency, as the current pattern of commuting to downtown leaves much of the system underutilized. It is hoped that the tool developed in this thesis can be used as an additional resource in the transit mode decision-making process for many developing transportation systems, including the transit systems across the GTHA.

Environmental impacts of freshwater use and suspended solids in life cycle assessment

Perturbation of natural ecosystems, namely by increasing freshwater use and its degradative use, as well as topsoil erosion by water of land-use production systems, have been emerging as topics of high environmental concern. Freshwater use has become a focus of attention in the last few years for all stakeholders involved in the production of goods, mainly agro-industrial and forest-based products, which are freshwater-intensive consumers, requiring large inputs of green and blue water. This thesis presents a global review on the available Water Footprint Assessment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based methods for measuring and assessing the environmental relevance of freshwater resources use, based on a life cycle perspective. Using some of the available midpoint LCA-based methods, the freshwater use-related impacts of a Portuguese wine (white ‘vinho verde’) were assessed. However, the relevance of environmental green water has been neglected because of the absence of a comprehensive impact assessment method associated with green water flows. To overcome this constraint, this thesis helps to improve and enhance the LCA-based methods by providing a midpoint and spatially explicit Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method for assessing impacts on terrestrial green water flow and addressing reductions in surface blue water production caused by reductions in surface runoff due to land-use production systems. The applicability of the proposed method is illustrated by a case study on Eucalyptus globulus conducted in Portugal, as the growth of short rotation forestry is largely dependent on local precipitation. Topsoil erosion by water has been characterised as one of the most upsetting problems for rivers. Because of this, this thesis also focuses on the ecosystem impacts caused by suspended solids (SS) from topsoil erosion that reach freshwater systems. A framework to conduct a spatially distributed SS delivery to freshwater streams and a fate and effect LCIA method to derive site-specific characterisation factors (CFs) for endpoint damage on aquatic ecosystem diversity, namely on algae, macrophyte, and macroinvertebrates organisms, were developed. The applicability of this framework, combined with the derived site-specific CFs, is shown by conducting a case study on E. globulus stands located in Portugal as an example of a land use based system. A spatially explicit LCA assessment was shown to be necessary, since the impacts associated with both green water flows and SS vary greatly as a function of spatial location.

Evaluation of the environmental benefits of recycling materials in the moving parts of a wind turbine using the life cycle assessment (LCA)

Wind energy is evaluated positively, from the environmental point of view, considering the wind a renewable resource to produce electricity, avoiding the use of fossil resources during operation, but not much has been studied about the impacts associated with the materials of the wind turbines. This study aims to contribute to an improved understanding of the environmental implications of the materials in the moving parts of a wind turbine and how the Eco strategies as recycling are increasingly adopted to ensure the minimization of environmental impacts. First, we investigate the moving parts of a wind turbine highlighting possible hot spots of impacts. Second, we assess the benefit of introducing recycling materials instead of the originals. © Research India Publications.

Environmental assessment of industrial chemical and primary sector processes from a life cycle perspective

During the PhD program in chemistry at the University of Bologna, the environmental sustainability of some industrial processes was studied through the application of the LCA methodology. The efforts were focused on the study of processes under development, in order to assess their environmental impacts to guide their transfer on an industrial scale. Processes that could meet the principles of Green Chemistry have been selected and their environmental benefits have been evaluated through a holistic approach. The use of renewable sources was assessed through the study of terephthalic acid production from biomass (which showed that only the use of waste can provide an environmental benefit) and a new process for biogas upgrading (whose potential is to act as a carbon capture technology). Furthermore, the basis for the development of a new methodology for the prediction of the environmental impact of ionic liquids has been laid. It has already shown good qualities in identifying impact trends, but further research on it is needed to obtain a more reliable and usable model. In the context of sustainable development that will not only be sector-specific, the environmental performance of some processes linked to the primary production sector has also been evaluated. The impacts of some organic farming practices in the wine production were analysed, the use of the Cereal Unit parameter was proposed as a functional unit for the comparison of different crop rotations, and the carbon footprint of school canteen meals was calculated. The results of the analyses confirm that sustainability in the industrial production sector should be assessed from a life cycle perspective, in order to consider all the flows involved during the different phases. In particular, it is necessary that environmental assessments adopt a cradle-to-gate approach, to avoid shifting the environmental burden from one phase to another.

Life cycle assessment (lca) of six separation methods of polyethylene and aluminum in tetra pak

In food and beverage industry, packaging plays a crucial role in protecting food and beverages and maintaining their organoleptic properties. Their disposal, unfortunately, is still difficult, mainly because there is a lack of economically viable systems for separating composite and multilayer materials. It is therefore necessary not only to increase research in this area, but also to set up pilot plants and implement these technologies on an industrial scale. LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) can fulfil these purposes. It allows an assessment of the potential environmental impacts associated with a product, service or process. The objective of this thesis work is to analyze the environmental performance of six separation methods, designed for separating the polymeric from the aluminum fraction in multilayered packaging. The first four methods utilize the chemical dissolution technique using Biodiesel, Cyclohexane, 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) and Cyclopentyl-methyl-ether (CPME) as solvents. The last two applied the mechanical delamination technique with surfactant-activated water, using Ammonium laurate and Triethanolamine laurate as surfactants, respectively. For all six methods, the LCA methodology was applied and the corresponding models were built with the GaBi software version 10.6.2.9, specifically for LCA analyses. Unfortunately, due to a lack of data, it was not possible to obtain the results of the dissolution methods with the solvents 2-MeTHF and CPME; for the other methods, however, the individual environmental performances were calculated. Results revealed that the methods with the best environmental performance are method 2, for dissolution methods, and method 5, for delamination methods. This result is confirmed both by the analysis of normalized and weighted results and by the analysis of 'original' results. An hotspots analysis was also conducted.

Life cycle analysis of biodiesel production

Biodieselhas attracted considerable attention as a renewable, biodegradable, and nontoxic fuel and can contribute to solving the energy problems, significantly reducing the emission of gases which cause global warming. The first stage of this work was to simulate different alternative processes for producing biodiesel. The method used for the production of biodiesel is the transesterification of vegetable oilswith an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The raw materials used were palm oils and waste cooking oil. The second stage was a life cycle analysis for all alternatives under study, followed by an economic analysis for the alternatives that present minor impacts and which are more promising from an economic point of view. Finally,we proceeded to compare the different alternatives fromboth the point of view of life cycle and economic analysis. The feasibility of all processes was proven and the biodiesel obtained had good specifications. From the standpoint of life cycle analysis, the best alternative was the process of alkaline catalysiswith acid pretreatment for waste cooking oil. The economic analysis was done to the previous mentioned process and to the process that uses raw virgin oils, methanol, and sodium hydroxide. This process has lower investment costs but the process of alkaline catalysis with acid pre-treatment, whose main raw material is waste oil, is much more profitable and has less environmental impacts.

Simulation and life cycle assessment of process design alternatives for biodiesel production from waste vegetable oils

This study uses the process simulator ASPEN Plus and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare three process design alternatives for biodiesel production from waste vegetable oils that are: the conventional alkali-catalyzed process including a free fatty acids (FFAs) pre-treatment, the acid-catalyzed process, and the supercritical methanol process using propane as co-solvent. Results show that the supercritical methanol process using propane as co-solvent is the most environmentally favorable alternative. Its smaller steam consumption in comparison with the other process design alternatives leads to a lower contribution to the potential environmental impacts (PEI’s). The acid-catalyzed process generally shows the highest PEI’s, in particular due to the high energy requirements associated with methanol recovery operations.

Life Cycle Assessment of the Hybrid Vehicle – Toyota Prius

Die Luftverschmutzung, die globale Erwärmung sowie die Verknappung der endlichen Ressourcen sind die größten Bedenken der vergangenen Jahrzehnte. Die Nachfrage nach jeglicher Mobilität steigt rapide. Dementsprechend bemüht ist die Automobilindustrie Lösungen für Mobilität unter dem Aspekt der Nachhaltigkeit und dem Umweltschutz anzubieten. Die Elektrifizierung hat sich hierbei als der beste Weg herausgestellt, um die Umweltprobleme sowie die Abhängigkeit von fossilen Brennstoffen zu lösen. Diese Arbeit soll einen Einblick über die Umweltauswirkungen des Hybridfahrzeuges Toyota Prius geben. Hierbei findet eine Gliederung in vier verschiedene Lebensphasen statt. Im Anschluss bietet die Sachbilanz die Möglichkeit die Umweltauswirkungen mit verschiedenen Antriebsmöglichkeiten und Brennstoffen zu vergleichen. Das Modell hat gezeigt, dass der Toyota Prius während der Nutzung einen hohen Einfluss auf das Treibhauspotenzial aufweist. Durch die Nutzung anderer Brennstoffe, wie beispielsweise Ethanol oder Methanol lassen sich die Auswirkungen am Treibhauspotenzial sowie der Verbrauch an abiotischen Ressourcen reduzieren. Vergleicht man die Elektromobilität mit der konventionellen, so ist festzustellen, dass diese Art der Mobilität die derzeit beste Möglichkeit zur Reduzierung der Umweltbelastungen bietet. Die Auswirkungen der Elektromobilität sind im hohen Maße abhängig von der Art des verwendeten Strommixes.

Risk-based decision support system for life cycle management of industrials plants

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Methodical Bases of the Integrated Electrotechnical Complexes Life Cycle Logistic Support

Complex aspects of management by life cycle ofelectrotechnical complexes of the oil-extracting enterprises by amethod of the integrated logistic support are considered.

Life-Cycle Effects on Household Expenditures: A Latent-Variable Approach

Using data from the Spanish household budget survey, we investigate life- cycle effects on several product expenditures. A latent-variable model approach is adopted to evaluate the impact of income on expenditures, controlling for the number of members in the family. Two latent factors underlying repeated measures of monetary and non-monetary income are used as explanatory variables in the expenditure regression equations, thus avoiding possible bias associated to the measurement error in income. The proposed methodology also takes care of the case in which product expenditures exhibit a pattern of infrequent purchases. Multiple-group analysis is used to assess the variation of key parameters of the model across various household life-cycle typologies. The analysis discloses significant life-cycle effects on the mean levels of expenditures; it also detects significant life-cycle effects on the way expenditures are affected by income and family size. Asymptotic robust methods are used to account for possible non-normality of the data.

Applying the principles of life cycle assessment and costing in process modeling to examine profit-making capability

Static process simulation has traditionally been used to model complex processes for various purposes. However, the use of static processsimulators for the preparation of holistic examinations aiming at improving profit-making capability requires a lot of work because the production of results requires the assessment of the applicability of detailed data which may be irrelevant to the objective. The relevant data for the total assessment gets buried byirrelevant data. Furthermore, the models do not include an examination of the maintenance or risk management, and economic examination is often an extra property added to them which can be performed with a spreadsheet program. A process model applicable to holistic economic examinations has been developed in this work. The model is based on the life cycle profit philosophy developed by Hagberg and Henriksson in 1996. The construction of the model has utilized life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methodologies with a view to developing, above all, a model which would be applicable to the economic examinations of complete wholes and which would require the need for information focusing on aspects essential to the objectives. Life cycle assessment and costing differ from each other in terms of the modeling principles, but the features of bothmethodologies can be used in the development of economic process modeling. Methods applicable to the modeling of complex processes can be examined from the viewpoint of life cycle methodologies, because they involve the collection and management of large corpuses of information and the production of information for the needs of decision-makers as well. The results of the study shows that on the basis of the principles of life cycle modeling, a process model can be created which may be used to produce holistic efficiency examinations on the profit-making capability of the production line, with fewer resources thanwith traditional methods. The calculations of the model are based to the maximum extent on the information system of the factory, which means that the accuracyof the results can be improved by developing information systems so that they can provide the best information for this kind of examinations.

Integration of Economics into Life Cycle Assessment in the Finnish Pulp and Paper Industry

Taloudellisen laskennan yhdistäminen elinkaariarviointiin (LCA) on alkanut kiinnostaa eri teollisuuden aloja maailmanlaajuisesti viime aikoina. Useat LCA-tietokoneohjelmat sisältävät kustannuslaskentaominaisuuksia ja yksittäiset projektit ovat yhdistäneet ympäristö- ja talouslaskentamenetelmiä. Tässä projektissa tutkitaan näiden yhdistelmien soveltuvuutta suomalaiselle sellu- ja paperiteollisuudelle, sekä kustannuslaskentaominaisuuden lisäämistä KCL:n LCA-ohjelmaan, KCL-ECO 3.0:aan. Kaikki tutkimuksen aikana löytyneet menetelmät, jotka yhdistävät LCA:n ja taloudellista laskentaa, on esitelty tässä työssä. Monet näistä käyttävät elinkaarikustannusarviointia (LCCA). Periaatteessa elinkaari määritellään eri tavalla LCCA:ssa ja LCA:ssa, mikä luo haasteita näiden menetelmien yhdistämiselle. Sopiva elinkaari tulee määritellä laskennan tavoitteiden mukaisesti. Työssä esitellään suositusmenetelmä, joka lähtee suomalaisen sellu- ja paperiteollisuuden erikoispiirteistä. Perusvaatimuksena on yhteensopivuus tavanomaisesti paperin LCA:ssa käytetyn elinkaaren kanssa. Menetelmän yhdistäminen KCL-ECO 3.0:aan on käsitelty yksityiskohtaisesti.