Life Cycle Analysis for Composites and its Impact on Sustainability

LCA for Composites and Its Impact on

Sustainability

Dhruv Raina

Senior Manager, Product & Supply Chain Sustainability

Owens Corning

Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas, USA

Agenda

• What is Sustainability?

• Life Cycle Analysis

• Global Macro Trends

• Opportunities for Composites– Why now?

• Sustainability at Owens Corning

• Sustainability Strategies– Greening Processes and Products

– Life Cycle Analysis

I

What is Sustainability?


Pallet

© freeimages.com (wood pallet), Courtesy of RM2 (composite), iStockphoto.com

(background)

?

Pallet

© freeimages.com (wood pallet), Courtesy of RM2 (composite), iStockphoto.com

(background), freeimages.com (waste), Oisin Conolly / unsplash.com (deforestation)

?

Complex Systems

People

Products

Planet

Our People & Products Make the World a Better Place

II

Life Cycle Analysis


What is LCA?

LCA is Life Cycle Assessment

What does an LCA do?

LCA determines the environmental

impacts of a product through its

lifecycle

A LCA for a car would follow the product

from its cradle to the grave…

From extraction of raw materials…

Through production of the product…

LCA follows the products use and its

disposal at its end of life

III

Global Macro Trends


LCA evaluates which materials in or

process in the production chain

contribute to…

Global Warming

© stockvault.com

Global Warming

© stockvault.com

Ozone Depletion

LCA can help reduce cost

© stockvault.net

LCA can help you market your

products!

Net Positive

Net Positive is a new way of doing

business that puts back more into society,

the environment and the global economy

than it takes out.

Wood vs. Composite Pallet

0

100

200

300

400

Milliers

Wood Pallet Composite Pallet

-21%

0

2 000

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

Milliers

Wood Pallet Composite Pallet

-50%

GWP (CO2 emissions, kg)Primary Energy Demand (MJ)

Comparative Life cycle assessment of Wood & Composite Pallets, RM2 & Pure Strategies (2015)

100k Pallet Trips; 899 composite pallets and 4,400 wood pallets

Building Facade

IV

Opportunities for Composites


Opportunities for Composites

© iStockphoto.com (urban infrastructure), splashbase.co (clean water), The Creative Advantage (clean energy)

URBAN INFRASTRUCTUREProvide housing & infrastructure to a growing population in developing and third world countries

CLEAN WATERProvide basic infrastructure to deliver clean water to 7+ billion people

CLEAN ENERGYProduce energy with no emissions of CO2 from wind, tidal, solar and geothermal and participate in Energy Storage Devices

INDUSTRIAL LIGHT WEIGHTINGReduce the mass of transportation devices to generate less thermal energy and emissions

Mining and Metals Outlook: 2050

• Volumes are unlikely to grow in line with GDP growth

• Cost-effectiveness with strategic sustainability

• Circularity

• Governments, circularity and life cycle assessments

Roland Haslehner and Benjamin Stelter, Mining and Metals in a Sustainable World 2050 (2015)

Aluminum Value Chain

2,380 kg of CO2

522 kg of CO215,400 kg of CO2

18,300 kg

of CO2/Ton

Reginald B.H. Tan, Hsien H. Khoo, An LCA study of a primary aluminum supply chain, Journal of Cleaner Production,

Volume 13, Issue 6, May 2005, Pages 607-618

Aluminum Innovation

• Molten Metal to Coil

– 20 minutes vs. 20 days

– ¼ size of conventional mill

• Flexible process

• 30% stronger

• 40% greater formability

ALCOA Press Release, September 14, 2015, Accessed on October 7, 2015 at;

http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/news/news_detail.asp?pageID=20150914000289en&newsYear=2015

V

Sustainability at Owens Corning


Recent Accomplishments

• National Safety Council’s Green

Cross for Safety (2014)

• Dow Jones Sustainability World

Index (6th year)

– Building Products Industry Leader in

2015 (3rd year)

• Best Places to Work for LGBT

Equality in Human Rights

Campaign 2015 survey

VI

Sustainability Business Strategy


Sustainability Business Strategy

• Operations Sustainability

• Product and Supply Chain Sustainability

• Innovation and collaboration

• Employee safety, health and engagement and

community vitality

Sustainability as Long Term Strategy?

Viewing Compliance

as Opportunity

Making Value

Chains Sustainable

Designing Sustainable

Products and

Services

Developing New

Business Models

Creating Next-

Practice Platforms

Nidumolu, R., Prahalad, C.K., Rangaswami, M.R., Why Sustainability is now the key driver of innovation, Harvard Business Review, 2009

Vehicle Light weighting: A Greener,

Composite Solution


Life Cycle Analysis

• Goal: Steel, Aluminum and Tough Class A

(TCA) Ultra Lite

• Functional Unit: Car Decklid Steel – 27 lbs TCA Ultra Lite – 15.86 lbs Aluminum – 13.88 lbs

Life Cycle Analysis

Raw Materials

Manufacturing Processing

DecklidManufacture

Vehicle UseRecycling/

Disposal

Energy Consumption

Global Warming Potential

Energy consumption(Megajoule)

Lighter weight of Al = Less

energy, use phase

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

Steel Aluminum TCA UltraLite

Production

Use

Global Warming Potential (CO2 emissions, kg)

0

100

200

300

400

Steel Aluminum TCA Ultra Lite

Production

Use

Recyclability

reduces Al

footprint

Example 1:

LCA of Australian automotive door skins

Energy Consumption (MJ) GWP (CO2 emissions, kg)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Steel Aluminum GFPP

Use Production

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Steel Aluminum GFPP

Use Production

Puri, Compston, Pantano (2009), Life cycle assessment of Australian automotive door skins, International Journal of Life Cycle Assess (2009)

14:420–428

Example 2: LCA-based selection for a sustainable

lightweight body-in-white design

Energy Consumption (MJ) GWP (CO2 emissions, kg)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Aluminum Composite

Use Production

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Aluminum Composite

Use Production

Mayyas et. al. (2012), Life cycle assessment-based selection for a sustainable lightweight body-in-white design, Energy 39 (2012) 412-425

Conclusions

• Energy consumption

Manufacturing phase < Use Phase

• Material weight matters

• End of life options

Summary

• Market forces lead us to Sustainability

• Composites is already a solution for world challenges

– Automotive - Fuel economy, Recyclability

– Construction - Green building, Energy Efficiency, Durability

– Infrastructure - Health/Safety, Access

• Recyclability is a driver in several markets

• Collaboration

Life Cycle Analysis for Composites and its Impact on Sustainability

Science

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