Life Cycle Assessment of the proposed Waste2Go approach Brussels, 14 th September 2015 Dipl.-Ing. Florian Gehring
Agenda Life cycle assessment – Introduction Waste2Go approach – Environmental impact Summary and outlook
Methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) – What is LCA Definition of Life Cycle Assessment (DIN ISO 14040): “Life Cycle Assessment is the compiling and evaluation of the inputs and outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system during its lifetime“ LCA ?
Life Cycle Assessment LCA Avoid......solving a problem...
Life Cycle Assessment LCA Avoid......solving a problem by creating a problem.
Resource depletion, consumption of raw materials, primary energy demand, land-use and land-use change, water consumption and water demand Scheme of a product’s life cycle along the supply chain of production, the product’s use and disposal, as well as the related impact topics. Production of intermediates Production of parts … Production of electricity Emissions Life Cycle Impact Assessment Resource Depletion Resources Life Cycle phasesProduction phaseUse phaseEnd-of-Life phase Metal ore mining … Crude oil extraction Coal mining Mineral mining Energy recovery Waste disposal … Reuse and recycling Production of final products Utilisation / Service provision Life Cycle Inventory Greenhouse effect, Acidification, Summer smog, Human toxicity, Ecotoxicity, Eutrophication, Ozone layer depletion, Radioactive impacts…
Internal benefits from LCA Detection of strategic risks and environmental issues Identification of relevant steps in the complete life cycle of products or parts of it Development of sustainable products based on environmental information Support in fulfilling laws and restrictions Communication with politics and authorities Improvement of motivation of employees Support in environmental management systems (i.e. EMAS II)
External benefits from LCA Enhancement of communication to politics and authorities Improvement of image due to ecological considerations Supporting environmental innovations and decrease of environmental impacts Competitive advantage by inclusion of environmental aspects International standardized approach (ISO ff International and public acceptance
Overall Flow Chart – Waste2Go Enzyme production Thermo-mechanical process Biodegradation process Purification and separation Dry mixed recycling (DMR) or paper/cardboard Dry mixed recycling (DMR) or paper/cardboard Chemicals
Impact categories Impact category Reference substance Reference unit Effect Global warming potential (GWP) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )kg CO 2 -equivalents Increasing of the tropospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Acidification potential (AP) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 )kg SO 2 -equivalents Reducing the pH of rainwater through the leaching of acidifying gases. Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) Ethene (C 2 H 4 )kg C 2 H 4 -equivalents Formation of ground-level ozone under the influence of sunlight by photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Non-renewable primary energy demand (PED non-renewable ) Mega joule (MJ)MJNon-renewable primary energy demand.
Impact categories Impact category Reference substance Reference unit Effect Global warming potential (GWP) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )kg CO 2 -equivalents Increasing of the tropospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Acidification potential (AP) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 )kg SO 2 -equivalents Reducing the pH of rainwater through the leaching of acidifying gases. Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) Ethene (C 2 H 4 )kg C 2 H 4 -equivalents Formation of ground-level ozone under the influence of sunlight by photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Non-renewable primary energy demand (PED non-renewable ) Mega joule (MJ)MJNon-renewable primary energy demand.
Impact categories Impact category Reference substance Reference unit Effect Global warming potential (GWP) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )kg CO 2 -equivalents Increasing of the tropospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Acidification potential (AP) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 )kg SO 2 -equivalents Reducing the pH of rainwater through the leaching of acidifying gases. Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) Ethene (C 2 H 4 )kg C 2 H 4 -equivalents Formation of ground-level ozone under the influence of sunlight by photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Non-renewable primary energy demand (PED non-renewable ) Mega joule (MJ)MJNon-renewable primary energy demand.
Impact categories Impact category Reference substance Reference unit Effect Global warming potential (GWP) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )kg CO 2 -equivalents Increasing of the tropospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Acidification potential (AP) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 )kg SO 2 -equivalents Reducing the pH of rainwater through the leaching of acidifying gases. Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) Ethene (C 2 H 4 )kg C 2 H 4 -equivalents Formation of ground-level ozone under the influence of sunlight by photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Non-renewable primary energy demand (PED non-renewable ) Mega joule (MJ)MJNon-renewable primary energy demand.
Impact categories Impact category Reference substance Reference unit Effect Global warming potential (GWP) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )kg CO 2 -equivalents Increasing of the tropospheric warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Acidification potential (AP) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 )kg SO 2 -equivalents Reducing the pH of rainwater through the leaching of acidifying gases. Photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) Ethene (C 2 H 4 )kg C 2 H 4 -equivalents Formation of ground-level ozone under the influence of sunlight by photochemical reaction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Non-renewable primary energy demand (PED non-renewable ) Mega joule (MJ)MJNon-renewable primary energy demand.
Ecological results – Waste2Go approach
Regional sensitivity analyses Variation of grid and thermal energy mix (1)EU-27 (2)Great Britain (3)Germany (4)France (5)Hungary (6)Netherlands (7)Norway (8)Spain (9)Italy
Ecological results – Regional sensitivity analysis – Global warming potential (GWP)
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Upscaling and enzyme recovery – boundary conditions Included: Enzyme production, biodegradation process and purification and separation Excluded: Thermo-mechanical process
Ecological results – Upscaling and enzyme recovery
Summary and outlook Regional sensitivity analyses Influence on the environmental impacts Individual consideration of each country Upscaling and enzyme recovery Enormous environmental saving potential Enzyme recovery Electricity and thermal energy
It is important to include sustainable aspects during the development phase to create a better, more environmental future.
Contact Dipl.-Ing. Florian Gehring Tel: +49(0) Department Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi) Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) Wankelstrasse Stuttgart Germany Fax: +49(0)