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Purpose The increasing concern for adverse effects of climate change has spurred the search for alternatives for conventional energy sources. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has increasingly been used to assess the potential of these alternatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The popularity of LCA in the policy context puts its methodological issues into another perspective. This paper discusses how bio-electricity directives deal with the issue of allocation and shows its repercussions in the policy field. Methods Multifunctionality has been a well-known problem since the early development of LCA and several methods have been suggested to deal with multifunctional processes. This paper starts with a discussion of the most common allocation methods. This discussion is followed by a description of bio-energy policy directives. The description shows the increasing importance of LCA in the policy context as well as the lack of consensus in the application of allocation methods. Methodological differences between bio-energy directives possibly lead to different assessments of bio-energy chains. To assess the differences due to methodological choices in bio-energy directives, this paper applies three different allocation methods to the same bioelectricity generation system. The differences in outcomes indicate the importance of solving the allocation issue for policy decision making. Results and discussion The case study focuses on bioelectricity from rapeseed oil. To assess the influence of the choice of allocation in a policy directive, three allocation methods are applied: economic partitioning (on the basis of proceeds), physical partitioning (on the basis of energy content), and substitution (under two scenarios). The outcomes show that the climate change score is assessed quite differently; ranging from 0.293 kg to 0.604 kg CO 2 eq/kWh. It is argued that this uncertainty hampers the optimal use of LCA in the policy context. The aim of policy LCAs is different from the aim of LCAs for analysis. Therefore, it is argued that LCAs in the policy context will benefit from a new guideline based on robustness. Conclusions The case study confirms that the choice of allocation method in policy directives has large influence on the outcomes of an LCA. With the growing popularity of LCA in policy directives, this paper recommends a new guideline for policy LCAs. The high priority of robustness in the policy context makes it an ideal starting point of this guideline. An accompanying dialog between practitioners and commissioners should further strengthen the use of LCA in policy directives.

Many contemporary science systems are witnessing the rise of public-private research programs that aim to build capacity for research and innovation in strategic areas. These programs create a significant policy challenge: how to select-based on ex ante evaluations-a consortium that will carry out public-private research activities that will contribute to the overall policy goal of capacitybuilding in the science and innovation system? And how to make sure that knowledge users are involved in the research program in a meaningful way? The aim of this article is to explore the possibilities for ex ante evaluation of public-private research programs in a systematic comparison of 37 Dutch programs funded by the 'Investment Grants for Knowledge Infrastructure' (Besluit Subsidies Investeringen Kennisinfrastructuur) in 2004. Our research question is as follows: to what extent can involvement and commitment of knowledge users in the stage of drawing up the program proposal serve as a predictor of their later involvement and financial contribution? Using available archival data on the programs, we show that on average there is a close association between user involvement in the proposals of public-private research consortia and their eventual involvement during the implementation, but that there are substantial differences between plans and implementation in individual cases. Our analysis suggests that selecting consortia for funding based on their program proposals is possible and legitimate, but that strict rules are necessary to safeguard the financial contributions of knowledge users.

BACKGROUND Olive mill wastewaters (OMWs) represent a major environmental concern due to their high organic load and phytotoxic activity. The selective recovery of phenolic compounds (PCs) from OMW is promising, thanks to the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of PCs. The goal of this work was to perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost–benefit analysis (CBA) of a full‐scale process of PC adsorption/desorption on resin Amberlite XAD16N. The industrial process was designed on the basis of laboratory tests aimed at performing a preliminary process optimization. RESULTS Adsorption tests were conducted at different velocities in a 1.8‐m column packed with XAD16N. The optimal superficial velocity and retention time (2.78 m h–1 and 0.56 h) allowed the attainment of satisfactory performances in terms of resin operating capacity (0.46), PC adsorption yield (0.92), PC mass fraction in the sorbed product (0.50 gPC/gVS) and specific antioxidant activity (3–6 gascorbic acid/gPC). Six consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles, operated with the same resin load, resulted in stable process performances. The LCA indicated that the environmental impact of the process could be decreased markedly through the addition of an anaerobic digestion step for the production of irrigation‐quality water and fertilizers from the dephenolized OMW. The PC market price required for the generation of a positive business case resulted relatively low (€1.7–13.5 kgPC–1). CONCLUSION The results indicate that the proposed PC adsorption/desorption technology, if integrated with an anaerobic digestion step, represents a promising solution for the treatment and valorization of OMW, a major agro‐industrial waste in Mediterranean countries. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry