Representativeness of environmental impact assessment methods regarding Life Cycle Inventories

Esnouf, Antoine; Latrille, Éric; Steyer, Jean‐Philippe; Hélias, Arnaud

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.102

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Five routes including ten alternative pathways have been investigated. Life cycle assessment requires input-oriented units of all processes and each pathway consists of a series of processes [34,35]. Therefore, an appropriate system boundary is of great importance.…”

Section: System Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-carbon roadmap of chemical production: A case study of ethylene in China

Zhao

Chong

Jiang

et al. 2018

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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The increasing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are primarily driven by the rapid expansion of energyintensive sectors such as the chemical industry. This work selects ethylene, one of the most important chemicals, as a model study to represent the low-carbon roadmap of chemical production. Four strategies, improving the efficiency of fossil resource usage, developing the technology for carbon capture and storage (CCS), CO2 chemical conversion, and converting biomass resources into chemicals, are used to reduce CO2 emissions. A comprehensive analysis of the life cycle CO2 emissions of different ethylene production routes has been performed to compare their emission reduction potential. The results indicate that the CO2MTO (CO2 to olefins via methanol-to-olefins) pathway releases the least CO2 (-0.05 t CO2/t ethylene), while the CFTO (coal to olefins via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis) possesses the most CO2 emissions. Combining CCS Abbreviations: BETE, biomass to ethylene via ethanol to ethylene pathway; BMTO, biomass to olefins via methanol-to-olefins pathway; CCS, carbon capture and storage; CFTO, coal to olefins via Fischer-Tropsch to olefins pathway; CMTO, coal to olefins via methanol-to-olefins pathway; CO2, carbon dioxide; CPP, catalytic pyrolytic process; CO2MTO, CO2 to olefins via methanol-to-olefins pathway; ETE, ethanol to ethylene; FTO, Fischer-Tropsch to olefins; GHG, greenhouse gas; LCA, life cycle assessment; MEA, monoethanolamine; MTO, methanol-to-olefins; NG, natural gas; NGLs, natural gas liquids; NMTO, natural gas to olefins via methanol-to-olefins pathway; NSC, steam cracking of conventional natural gas; PSC, steam cracking of mixed petroleum; SC, steam cracking; SSC, steam cracking of shale gas; TEA, techno-economic analysis 2 with BMTO (biomass to olefins via methanol-to-olefins) results in CO2 emissions of -6.0 t per t ethylene.Furthermore, we analysed the annual production and CO2 emissions of ethylene in the last 17 years and integrated this real-time change with different pathways. The CO2 emissions have decreased by 29.4% per t ethylene from 2000 to 2016 in China. However, the total amount of CO2 emissions continuously increase in the ethylene production industry. Given that China has promised to hit peak CO2 emissions by 2030, a scenario analysis was performed. To achieve this goal, the ratios of BMTO, CO2MTO or BETE (ethanol to ethylene pathway originating from biomass) pathways should increase by 0.9%, 1.4% and 1.6% annually from 2020, respectively. Then more than 700 million metric tons of CO2 will be eliminated from 2020 to 2040. The results highlight the pivotal role that regulation and policy administration can play in controlling CO2 emissions by increasing average technological level and turning to low-carbon routes in the chemical industry in China.

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Section: System Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-carbon roadmap of chemical production: A case study of ethylene in China

Zhao

Chong

Jiang

et al. 2018

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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“…The representativeness index (RI) was recently proposed by Esnouf et al, 2018 to provide a relative measure of the discriminating power of LCIA methods. The RI is meant to explore the relative relevance of each impact category belonging to a LCIA method for a specific product.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It does not assess the relevance of the environmental model behind impact categories of the LCIA methods, but it is an aid to LCA practitioners, so they might focus on a reduced number of impact categories that best represent the elementary flows associated with a particular product. Moreover, by studying the links between the RI of an entire LCIA method and the RIs of its constituent impact categories, some issues have been raised on the correlation of the representativeness of impact categories (Esnouf et al (2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tool to guide the selection of impact categories for LCA studies by using the representativeness index

Esnouf

Heijungs

Coste

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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“…LCA relies on large Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) databases, such as EcoInvent, which helps to assign each material, process, or transport an environmental impact. The problem with these databases is that they only have a limited amount of datasets, therefore reducing the accuracy of the environmental impact results [ 9 , 24 ]. To properly assess the environmental impact, it is key to consider the exact material composition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Composition on the Environmental Impact of Soft Ferrites

et al. 2018

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The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of the composition on the environmental impact of the two main types of soft ferrites, allowing scientists and engineers to compare them based not only on cost and properties, but also on an environmental point of view. Iron oxides are the basis of soft ferrites, but these ferrites have a wide range of compositions, using materials such as manganese or nickel, which affect their magnetic properties, but also modify the environmental impact. A Life Cycle Assessment has been carried out for manganese‒zinc (MnZn) and nickel‒zinc (NiZn) soft ferrites, with a Monte Carlo approach to assess multiple compositions. The LCA model was developed with SimaPro 8.4, using the EcoInvent v3.4 life cycle inventory database. Environmental impact values were calculated under the ReCiPe and Carbon Footprint methodologies, obtaining a broad variety of results depending on the composition. The results were also significantly different from the standard EcoInvent ferrite. For the analyzed soft ferrites, the presence of manganese or nickel is a key factor from an environmental perspective, as these materials involve high environmental impacts, and their supply risk has increased during recent years, making them a concern for European manufacturers.

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Representativeness of environmental impact assessment methods regarding Life Cycle Inventories

Cited by 35 publications

References 15 publications

Low-carbon roadmap of chemical production: A case study of ethylene in China

Low-carbon roadmap of chemical production: A case study of ethylene in China

A tool to guide the selection of impact categories for LCA studies by using the representativeness index

Influence of the Composition on the Environmental Impact of Soft Ferrites

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