LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF ENVIRONMENTALY

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

I Made Gunamanthamd_gunamantha@yahoo.com

Chemical Analysis Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Science,

Ganesha University of Education

Outline

• Sustainable Development and Environmental Concern

• Life Cycle Assessment As An Analytical Tool• Structure of Life Cycle Assessment• Characteristics and Dimensions in Application

Life Cycle Assessment• Conclusion

Sustainable Development

http://www.ccema-portal.org/

is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Evidently this definition does not speak about the environment per se, but refers to the well-being of people as an environmental quality.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Concern

• Since the lives of our and future generations, depends on the long-term functioning of the complicated ecosystems to produce food, raw materials and energy , it means none of our activities would be sustainable if it led to environmental demise.

• Should be improved at each stage in production process with three broad objectives :

1) reducing the consumption of resources: this includes minimizing the use of energy, materials, water and land, enhancing recyclability and product durability and closing material loops;

2) reducing the impact on nature: this includes minimizing air emissions, water discharges, waste disposal and the dispersion of toxic substances, as well as fostering the sustainable use of renewable resources; and

3) increasing product or service value: this means providing more benefits to customers through product functionality, flexibility and modularity, providing additional services and focusing on selling the functional needs that customers actually want.

• Clean production principle and technological in life cycle product should be adopted by producer

• Every calculation has to refer to the whole life cycle and all its processes.

Therefore, it is necessary to take into account a tool with life cycle perspective analysis of system product, from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal processes. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is definitely the best-established methodology and better than others (Heijungs, 1993).

Life Cycle Assessment 1. A “cradle-to-grave” approach “for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product by;– compiling an inventory of

relevant inputs and outputs of a system

– evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with these inputs and outputs

– interpreting the results of the inventory and impact phases in relation to the objectives of the study.” (ISO 14040)

2. Enables estimation of cumulative environmental impacts results from all stages of the product life cycle

• The technique examines every stage of the life cycle, from the winning of the raw materials, through manufacture, distribution, use, possible re-use/recycling and then final disposal.

• For each stage, the inputs (in terms of raw materials and energy) and outputs (in terms of emissions to air, water, soil, and solid waste) are calculated, and these are aggregated over the Life Cycle.

• These inputs and outputs are then converted into their effects on the environment, i.e. their environmental impacts.

• The sum of these environmental impacts then represents the overall environmental effect of the Life Cycle of the product or service.

Life Cycle Assessment As An Analytical Tool

History of LCA

The concept of life-cycle assessment first emerged in the late 1960's but did not receive much attention until the mid-11980'sIn 1989, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) became the first international organization to begin oversight of the advancement of LCA.In 1994, the International Standards Organization (ISO) began developing standards for the LCA as part of its 14000 series standards on environmental management. The standards address both the technical details and conceptual organization of LCA .

1. ISO 14040-A standard on principles and framework2. ISO 14041-A standard on goal and scope definition and inventory analysis3. ISO 14042-A standard on life-cycle impact assessment4. ISO 14043-A standard on life-cycle interpretation

Structure of LCA

Goal and Scope Definition

Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Analysis-Flow chart process-Data collection-Boundary system determination-Emission quantification

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)-Classification-Characterization-Weighing-Normalization-Valuation

Interpretation

Direct Application

-Product development and improvement-Strategic planning-Public policy making-Marketing -Other

Definition of goal and scope

1. Define the purpose of the LCA study, ending with the definition of the functional unit, which is the quantitative reference for the study.

2. Define the scope of the study which embraces two main tasks: - Establish the spatial limits between the product system under study

and its neighborhood that will be generally called “environment”. - Detail the system through drawing up its unit processes flowchart,

taking into account a first estimation of inputs from and outputs to the environment (the elementary flows or burdens to the environment).

3. Define the data required, which includes a specification of the data necessary for the inventory analysis and for the subsequent impact assessment phase.

4. Define the function unit - is the measure of the performance delivered by the system under study.

5. Define the boundary system - the unit processes or activities that will be included in the system under study.

Boundary System

System boundaries of an urban water system including three sub-systems; drinking water (1), wastewater (2) and stormwater (3) and an extended system including production of electricity, chemicals and fertiliser. (Lundin, 2000).

Raw water Rain water

Production of chemicals

Energy , phosphate

Treated wastewater

Heat, food, chemicals

1

2

3

Drinkingwater treatment

Distribution

Use

Wastewater treatment

Collection Transport

Sludgetreatment

Stormwater collection

Treatment (optional)

TransportSpreading/ Disposal/

Incineration

Fertiliser production

Alternative energy source

Production of chemicals

Foreground and Background System

The foreground system represents those activities on which measures may be taken as a result of decision base on the study. The background system represents all other activities affected by a change of wastewater treatment system. For simplicity, electricity delivered to other parts of background system in indicated only generally. Tillman, 2000

Life Cycle Inventory Analysis• The inventory analysis is the phase when data is collected and

calculations are made in order to specify relevant inputs to and outputs from the product system. This work can be divided into four different substeps (ISO 14041, 1998) which in practise are performed simultaneously.

• First, all processes involved in the life cycle of the product system have to be identified. Ultimately, all processes start with the extraction of raw materials and energy from the environment.

• Following the data collection, calculation procedures are needed to generate the results of the inventory of the defined system for each unit process and for the defined functional unit of the product system that is to be modelled.

• The calculation should result in all system input and output data being referenced to the functional unit.

• Aggregation of all data, through addition, then results in an inventory table.

Life Cycle Inventory Table

Alt0 -the existing wastewater treatment system - a conventional centralized system with denytrification and biogas production. , Alt-1-Utilizing the existing collection system and plumbing, solids are collected at the residences and transported to local digestion and drying facilities, while the liquids are treated on site in sand filters and then piped to a constructed wetland. The solids are used as fertilizer. Alt 2 – Graywater, urine, and feces are separated using urine-diverting ("no-mix") toilets and additional plumbing. The graywater is treated on site in sand filters. Feces, flushwater, and graywater solids are collected at the residences and digested and dried locally. The urine and solids are used as fertilizer.

http://www.iees.ch/EcoEng051/EcoEng051_Kirk.html

Life Cycle Impact Assessment• Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is a process to identify and characterize the

potential effects produced in the environment by the system under study. The starting point for LCIA is the information obtained in the inventory stage.

LCIA is considered to consist of four steps:• Classification, in which the data originated in the inventory analysis are grouped in

different categories, according to the environmental impacts they are expected to contribute. Indicators of impact categories include: Climate change, Acidification, Eutrophication, Photochemical smog, Fossil fuel depletion, Ecotoxicity, Ozone depletion Human toxicity.

• Characterization, consists of weighting the different substances contributing to the same environmental impact. Thus, for every impact category included in LCIA, an aggregated result is obtained, in a given unit of measure.

• Normalization, which involves relating the characterized data to a broader data set or situation, for example, relating SOx emissions to a country's total SOx emissions.

• Weighting, where the results for the different impact categories are converted into scores, by using numerical factors based on values. The advantage of this stage is that different criteria (impact categories) are converted to a numerical score of environmental impact, thus

Some of the steps involved in the life cycle impact assessment

Interpretation

In the interpretation phase of LCA the findings from the inventory analysis and the impact assessment are combined together in order to reach conclusions and recommendations, consistent with the goal and scope of the study (ISO 1997). This phase may also involve the reviewing and revising of the goal and scope, as well as the nature and quality of the data collected.

Goal and scope definition

Inventory analysis

Impact assessment

Identification of significant

issue

Evaluation by:- Completeness check

-Sensitive check-Consistence check

-Others checks

Conclutions, recommendations and

reporting

Interpretation phase

Characteristics and Dimension in Application LCA

• Base on the structure of LCA, Udo de Haes (1993) divided LCA in two characteristics. 1. First of all it is the life cycle concept itself, as an integrative, holistic point of

view.2. LCA is its scientific background. It includes knowledge from a number of

disciplines, and integrates this knowledge within one encompassing model.• LCA as a concept, qualitative LCA and quantitative LCA (Udo de Haes, 1993) .

1. As a concept means the use of this tool as a guiding principle; the responsibility to look and communicate upstream and downstream in the chain, without the use of specific criteria or calculation procedures.

2. In qualitative LCA one makes use of a number of separate criteria, such as types of resources, types of emissions, reusability or recyclability, degradability, product life span, product weight, etc., in total covering in a qualitative way the flow chart of the system's life cycle.

3. In quantitative LCA the building of an encompassing model, describing the inputs and outputs of the system during all stages of the life cycle, is the core characteristic.

Finnveden et al. (2005)

SEA = Strategic Environmental

Assessment , EIA = Environmental Impact

Assessment ; CBA = Cost-benefit analysis ; LCA = Life Cycle Assessment ;

SEEA = System of Economic and Environmental

Accounting; Total Material Requirement; IOA = Input output analysis ; RA = Risk

assessment; En = energy analysis; EF = Ecological footprint; EMS

= environmental management System; SFA= substance flow analysis; DMI+direct

material input; DMC = Direct material

consumption; MIPS = Material intensity per unit

service

The uses of LCA can be classified as general and particular:

General:• Compare alternative choices.• Identify points for environmental enhancement.• Count on a more global perspective of environmental issues, to avoid problem

shifting.• Contribute to the understanding of the environmental consequences of human

activities.• Establish a picture of the interactions between a product or activity and the

environment as quickly as possible.• Provide support information so that decision-makers can identify opportunities

for environmental improvements.Particular:• Define the environmental performance of a product during its entire life-cycle.• Identify the most relevant steps in the manufacturing process related to a

given environmental impact.• Compare the environmental performance of a product with that of other

concurrent products or with others giving a similar service.

Benefits of the life cycle approach

All necessary inputs and emissions in many stages and operations of the life cycle are considered to be within the system boundaries. This includes not only inputs and emissions for production, distribution, use and disposal, but also indirect inputs and emissions - such as from the initial production of the energy used - regardless of when or where they occur.

Identifies key impacts and life-cycle stages of system If real environmental improvements are to be made by changes in the product

or service, it is important not to cause greater environmental deteriorations at another time or place in the Life Cycle.

LCA offers the prospect of mapping the energy and material flows as well as the resources, solid wastes, and emissions of the total system, i.e. it provides a "system map" that sets the stage for a holistic approach.

The power of LCA is that it expands the debate on environmental concerns beyond a single issue, and attempts to address a broad range of environmental issues, by using a quantitative methodology, thus providing an objective basis for decision making.

Better decision-making for product/production systems

Limitations of LCA Availability and quality of life-cycle inventory data Uncertainties in the inventory and impact assessment methodology Lack of agreement on some elements of Impact Assessment

methodology Differences in LCA problem formulation due to differences in values

LCA is not able to assess the actual environmental effects. As above mentioned, Life Cycle Impact Assessment, specially cautions that LCA does not predict actual impacts or assess safety, risks, or whether thresholds are exceeded.

The actual environmental effects of emissions will depend on when, where and how they are released into the environment, and other assessment tools must be utilized. For example, an aggregated emission released in one event from one source, will have a very different effect than releasing it continuously over years from many diffuse sources.

Clearly no single tool can do everything, so a combination of complementary tools is needed for overall environmental management.

• Life Cycle Assessment, one of the newest concepts, allows an integrated approach to minimizing environmental loads throughout the life-cycle of a product, system or service.

• A systems analysis, not isolated operations.• Considers upstream and downstream burdens, and

foreground and background system.• Multi-media and multi-pollutant.

Main components:Goals and ScopingInventory AnalysisImpact AssessmentInterpretation

Conclusions

MATUR SUKSMA TERIMA KASIH

THANK YOU