基于生命周期方法的生活垃圾资源化利用系统生态效率分析

我国生活垃圾产量大但处理能力不足,产生多种环境危害,对其资源化利用能够缓解环境压力并回收资源。为探讨生活垃圾资源化利用策略,综合生命周期评价与生命周期成本分析方法,建立生态效率模型。以天津市为例,分析和比较焚烧发电、卫生填埋-填埋气发电、与堆肥+卫生填埋3种典型生活垃圾资源化利用情景的生态效率。结果表明,堆肥+卫生填埋情景具有潜在最优生态效率;全球变暖对总环境影响贡献最大,而投资成本对经济影响贡献最大。考虑天津市生活垃圾管理现状,建议鼓励发展生活垃圾干湿组分分离及厨余垃圾堆肥的资源化利用策略。     

Life-Cycle based methods for sustainable product development

Sustainability-a term originating from silviculture, which was adopted by UNEP as the main political goal for the future development of humankind-is also the ultimate aim of product development. It comprises three components: environment, economy and social aspects which have to be properly assessed and balanced if a new product is to be designed or an existing one is to be improved. The responsibility of the researchers involved in the assessment is to provide appropriate and reliable instruments. For the environmental part there is already an internationally standardized tool: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is the logical counterpart of LCA for the economic assessment. LCC surpasses the purely economic cost calculation by taking into account hidden costs and potentially external costs over the life cycle of the product. It is a very important point that different life-cycle based methods (including Social Life Cycle Assessment) for sustainablity assessment use the same system boundaries.     

Life cycle assessment framework in agriculture on the farm level

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method that can be used to assess the environmental impact of agriculture, but impact categories and the functional unit of classical LCA’s must be adapted to the specific agricultural production process. Serving as an example, the framework of a LCA of 18 grassland dairy farms covering three farming intensity levels and carried out in the Allgäu region in southern Germany is presented. By focussing on the chosen impact categories and the respective, suitable functional units, the specific needs and backgrounds of conducting an agricultural LCA are discussed in general.     

Life cycle considerations of the flue gas desulphurization system at a lignite-fired power plant in Thailand

Goal, Scope and Background  The Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) system has been installed at the biggest lignite-fired power generation plant in Thailand to reduce the large amount of SO₂ emission. In order to understand the costs and benefits, both in ecological and economic terms, the lignite-fired plant was studied both before and after the installation of the FGD system. The focus of this study is to consider not only the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) outcome but also the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) factors. The results can provide valuable information when selecting appropriate technologies to minimize the negative impact that lignite-fired power plants have on the environment. Methods  The Life Cycle Assessment - Numerical Eco-load Total Standardization (LCA-NETS) system was used to evaluate the impact on the environment of both the lignite-fired plant and the FGD system. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) was used to provide a comparison between alternative before and after installation of FGD. LCC, a powerful analytical tool, examines the total cost, in net present value terms, of a FGD system over its entire service lifetime. Results and Discussion  The results of the study are shown in the eco-load values over the entire life cycle of the lignite-fired plant. Comparative models of the power plant, before and after the installation of the FGD system, are evaluated using the LCA-NETS system. The results indicate that the installation of the FGD system can reduce the acidification problem associated with lignite-fired plants by approximately 97%. The LCC estimation shows the major costs of the FGD system: capital investment, operating and maintenance, and miscellaneous costs. The LCC provides the decision-making information when considering the cost of the FGD system in terms of protecting the environment. Conclusion and Outlook  LCA is an important decision-making tool for environmental policies, especially with regard to the selection of pollution control equipment for lignite-fired plants. Green coal technologies and strategies to reduce the negative impact on the environment are essential to produce more environmentally-friendly power plants with a sustainable future.     

LCA for Site Remediation: A Literature Review

Remediation of contaminated sites provides a cleaner local environment, but may also have negative environmental impacts on the local, regional, and global scales. Methods based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are designed to take the negative effects into consideration when deciding how to treat a site, and to improve the environmental efficiency of remediation techniques. This paper reviews nine case studies that use LCA tools to evaluate alternative remediation techniques to summarize the findings of methodologies and results. The methodologies were found to differ in the limitation of the LCA for space, time and secondary processes. This strongly influenced the results. Bioremediation was the worst when the secondary process of producing electron acceptors was included; otherwise it was the best. The choice of impact categories heavily affected the results. Inclusion of land use was especially important in site remediation studies. In general, the negative impact of site remediation was due to energy consumption. For excavation combined with ex-situ treatment, the transport of contaminated soil to the treatment facility or landfill required the most energy. For in-situ treatment of soil and groundwater, pumping consumed the most energy. It is proposed that different methods be applied to the same site.     

Geographical and technological differences in Life Cycle Inventories shown by the use of process models for waste incinerators

Goal and Background  Geographical and technological differences in Life Cycle Inventory data are an important source for uncertainty in the result of Life Cycle Assessments. Knowledge on their impact on the result of an LCA is scarce, and also knowledge on how to manage them in an LCA case study. Objective  Goal of this paper is to explore these differences for municipal solid waste incinerator plants, and to develop recommendations for managing technological and geographical differences. Methodology  The paper provides a definition of technological and geographical differences, and analyses their possible impacts. In a case study, the differences are caused intentionally in ‘games’, by virtually transplanting incineration plants to a different location and by changing parameters such as the composition of the waste input incinerated. The games are performed by using a modular model for municipal solid waste incinerator plants. In each case, an LCA including an Impact Assessment is calculated to trace the impact of these changes, and the results are compared. Conclusions  The conclusions of the paper are two-fold: (1) reduce the differences in inventory data where their impact on the result is high; where it is possible reducing them to a great extent, and the effort for performing the change acceptable; in the case of incineration plants: Adapt the flue gas treatment, especially a possible DeNOx step, to the real conditions; (2) make use of modular process models that allow adapting plant parameters to better meet real conditions, but be aware of possible modelling errors. We invite the scientific community to validate the model used for a waste incinerator plant, and suggest putting up similar models for other processes, preferably those of similar relevance for Life Cycle Inventories.     

Methodology for developing gate-to-gate Life cycle inventory information

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology evaluates holistically the environmental consequences of a product system or activity, by quantifying the energy and materials used, the wastes released to the environment, and assessing the environmental impacts of those energy, materials and wastes. Despite the international focus on environmental impact and LCA, the quality of the underlying life cycle inventory data is at least as, if not more, important than the more qualitative LCA process. This work presents an option to generate gate-to-gate life cycle information of chemical substances, based on a transparent methodology of chemical engineering process design (an ab initio approach). In the broader concept of a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), the information of each gate-to-gate module can be linked accordingly in a production chain, including the extraction of raw materials, transportation, disposal, reuse, etc. to provide a full cradle to gate evaluation. The goal of this article is to explain the methodology rather than to provide a tutorial on the techniques used. This methodology aims to help the LCA practitioner to obtain a fair and transparent estimate of LCI data when the information is not readily available from industry or literature. Results of gate-to-gate life cycle information generated using the cited methodology are presented as a case study. It has been our experience that both LCI and LCA information provide valuable means of understanding the net environmental consequence of any technology. The LCI information from this methodology can be used more directly in exploring engineering and chemistry changes to improve manufacturing processes. The LCA information can be used to set broader policy and to look at more macro improvements for the environment.     

Streamlined LCA of soy-based ink printing

This study provides a benchmark of the life cycle environmental impact characteristics associated with a typical soybased ink used for sheetfed lithographic printing. The scope ineluded a streamlined Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and Impact Assessment (LCIA). Materials, processes, and life cycle stages that are the same between different printing inks, or were less than one percent by mass of the printing system input materials, were excluded. The LCIA included identification of specific processes in the life cycle of soy-based ink printing that make the greatest contribution to the overall environmental hazard potential in 13 impact categories for the baseline printing system selected. The LCIA approach included both regional scaling for areas that differ in sensitivity to certain impact indicators and normalization against a reference value. Reduction in the use of tall oil rosin and switching from conventional to low or no-till farming appear to be promising opportunities for reducing the environmental hazard potential.     

LCA in Japan: policy and progress

A summary of the current Japanese activities related to Life Cycle Assessment are presented with a specific comparison of Life Cycle Impact Assessment in relation to European tendencies. Japanese organizations involved in LCA, recent legislation impacting LCA activities and LCA case studies are also tabulated. The LCA priorities of policy makers and industrialists are discussed in comparison and compared to those in the United States. Projects within the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan and the Man-Earth Project are highlighted including the construction of a public LCI data base and the prediction of 21st century environmental crises.     

Integration of life cycle assessment in the environmental information system

Background, aim, and scope  As the sustainability improvement becomes an essential business task of industry, a number of companies are adopting IT-based environmental information systems (EIS). Life cycle assessment (LCA), a tool to improve environmental friendliness of a product, can also be systemized as a part of the EIS. This paper presents a case of an environmental information system which is integrated with online LCA tool to produce sets of hybrid life cycle inventory and examine its usefulness in the field application of the environmental management. Main features  Samsung SDI Ltd., the producer of display panels, has launched an EIS called Sustainability Management Initiative System (SMIS). The system comprised modules of functions such as environmental management system (EMS), green procurement (GP), customer relation (e-VOC), eco-design, and LCA. The LCA module adopted the hybrid LCA methodology in the sense that it combines process LCA for the site processes and input–output (IO) LCA for upstream processes to produce cradle-to-gate LCA results. LCA results from the module are compared with results of other LCA studies made by the application of different methodologies. The advantages and application of the LCA system are also discussed in light of the electronics industry. Results and discussion  LCA can play a vital role in sustainability management by finding environmental burden of products in their life cycle. It is especially true in the case of the electronics industry, since the electronic products have some critical public concerns in the use and end-of-life phase. SMIS shows a method for hybrid LCA through online data communication with EMS and GP module. The integration of IT-based hybrid LCA in environmental information system was set to begin in January 2006. The advantage of the comparing and regular monitoring of the LCA value is that it improves the system completeness and increases the reliability of LCA. By comparing the hybrid LCA and process LCA in the cradle-to-gate stage, the gap between both methods of the 42-in. standard definition plasma display panel (PDP) ranges from 1% (acidification impact category) to −282% (abiotic resource depletion impact category), with an average gap of 68.63%. The gaps of the impact categories of acidification (AP), eutrophication (EP), and global warming (GWP) are relatively low (less than 10%). In the result of the comparative analysis, the strength of correlation of three impact categories (AP, EP, GWP) shows that it is reliable to use the hybrid LCA when assessing the environmental impacts of the PDP module. Hybrid LCA has its own risk on data accuracy. However, the risk is affordable when it comes to the comparative LCA among different models of similar product line of a company. In the results of 2 years of monitoring of 42-in. Standard definition PDP, the hybrid LCA score has been decreased by 30%. The system also efficiently shortens man-days for LCA study per product. This fact can facilitate the eco-design of the products and can give quick response to the customer's inquiry on the product's eco-profile. Even though there is the necessity for improvement of process data currently available, the hybrid LCA provides insight into the assessments of the eco-efficiency of the manufacturing process and the environmental impacts of a product. Conclusions and recommendations  As the environmental concerns of the industries increase, the need for environmental data management also increases. LCA shall be a core part of the environmental information system by which the environmental performances of products can be controlled. Hybrid type of LCA is effective in controlling the usual eco-profile of the products in a company. For an industry, in particular electronics, which imports a broad band of raw material and parts, hybrid LCA is more practicable than the classic LCA. Continuous efforts are needed to align input data and keep conformity, which reduces data uncertainty of the system.     

Irradiating the environment: Radiological impacts in life cycle assessment

One of the main shortcomings of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) when applied to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, is that there is currently no recognised procedure to deal with radionuclide emissions in the Impact Assessment stage. A framework which considers both human and environmental impacts is required and a methodology which is compatible with the other impact assessment approaches in LCA must be developed. It is important that the discussion is not only restricted to concepts, but that a working methodology is developed which can be readily applied by LCA practitioners. A provisional method is available for assessing radiological impacts on human health, but no consideration has been given to potential effects on the environment. A methodology is proposed in this paper which assesses irradiation of the environment using Environmental Increments (EI) as the quality standard. This approach is based on the same principles as for the Ecotoxicity classification group, and it represents a working methodology which can be continuously improved as knowledge in the area increases.     

An extended life cycle analysis of packaging systems for fruit and vegetable transport in Europe

Purpose

The year-round supply of fresh fruit and vegetables in Europe requires a complex logistics system. In this study, the most common European fruit and vegetable transport packaging systems, namely single-use wooden and cardboard boxes and re-useable plastic crates, are analyzed and compared considering environmental, economic, and social impacts.

Methods

The environmental, economic, and social potentials of the three transport packaging systems are examined and compared from a life cycle perspective using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Working Environment (LCWE) methodologies. Relevant parameters influencing the results are analyzed in different scenarios, and their impacts are quantified. The underlying environmental analysis is an ISO 14040 and 14044 comparative Life Cycle Assessment that was critically reviewed by an independent expert panel.

Results and discussion

The results show that wooden boxes and plastic crates perform very similarly in the Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, and Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential categories; while plastic crates have a lower impact in the Eutrophication Potential and Abiotic Resource Depletion Potential categories. Cardboard boxes show the highest impacts in all assessed categories. The analysis of the life cycle costs show that the re-usable system is the most cost effective over its entire life cycle. For the production of a single crate, the plastic crates require the most human labor. The share of female employment for the cardboard boxes is the lowest. All three systems require a relatively large share of low-qualified employees. The plastic crate system shows a much lower lethal accident rate. The higher rate for the wooden and cardboard boxes arises mainly from wood logging. In addition, the sustainability consequences due to the influence of packaging in preventing food losses are discussed, and future research combining aspects both from food LCAs and transport packing/packaging LCAs is recommended.

Conclusions

For all three systems, optimization potentials regarding their environmental life cycle performance were identified. Wooden boxes (single use) and plastic crates (re-usable) show preferable environmental performance. The calibration of the system parameters, such as end-of-life treatment, showed environmental optimization potentials in all transport packaging systems. The assessment of the economic and the social dimensions in parallel is important in order to avoid trade-offs between the three sustainability dimensions. Merging economic and social aspects into a Life Cycle Assessment is becoming more and more important, and their integration into one model ensures a consistent modeling approach for a manageable effort.     

Using GaBi 3 to perform life cycle assessment and life cycle engineering

The growing availability of software tools has increased the speed of generating LCA studies. Databases and visual tools for constructing material balance modules greatly facilitate the process of analyzing the environmental aspects of product systems over their life cycle. A robust software tool, containing a large LCI dataset and functions for performing LCIA and sensitivity analysis will allow companies and LCA practitioners to conduct systems analyses efficiently and reliably. This paper discusses how the GaBi 3 software tool can be used to perform LCA and Life Cycle Engineering (LCE), a methodology that combines life cycle economic, environmental, and technology assessment. The paper highlights important attributes of LCA software tools, including high quality, well-documented data, transparency in modeling, and data analysis functionality. An example of a regional power grid mix model is used to illustrate the versatility of GaBi 3.     

Role of LCA in the design of research and development (R&D) of novel processes subject to IPPC and BAT

Establishing BAT (Best Available Techniques) for processes subject to IPPC is a new barrier and one that processes in the development stage need to be aware of. For multi-functional processes, the sectorial approach adopted under IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) increases the potential problems. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an established tool to assist establishing BAT but is difficult to apply in its full form at the Research and Development (R&D) stage. A review of LCA in the context of a case study, the Trefoil kiln process, concludes that it has the flexibility to cope with multi-functionality and that use of key environmental issues and key indicators could overcome the informational gaps. Environmental burdens can be presented appropriately provided the research identifies appropriate allocation methods. The use of LCA thinking provided useful insight on the content of the research programme.     

Using anticipatory life cycle assessment to enable future sustainable construction

The built environment is the largest single emitter of CO₂ and an important consumer of energy. Much research has gone into the improved efficiency of building operation and construction products. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess existing buildings or building products. Classic LCA, however, is not suited for evaluating the environmental performance of developing technologies. A new approach, anticipatory LCA (a‐LCA), promises various advantages and can be used as a design constraint during the product development stage. It helps overcome four challenges: (i) data availability, (ii) stakeholder inclusion, (iii) risk assessment, and (iv) multi‐criteria problems. This article's contribution to the line of research is twofold: first, it adapts the a‐LCA approach for construction‐specific purposes in theoretical terms for the four challenges. Second, it applies the method to an innovative prefabricated modular envelope system, the CleanTechBlock (CTB), focusing on challenge (i). Thirty‐six CTB designs are tested and compared to conventional walls. Inclusion of technology foresight is achieved through structured scenario analysis. Moreover, challenge (iv) is tackled through the analysis of different environmental impact categories, transport‐related impacts, and thickness of the wall assemblies of the CTB. The case study results show that optimized material choice and product design is needed to reach the lowest environmental impact. Methodological findings highlight the importance of context‐specific solutions and the need for benchmarking new products.     

Evaluation of life cycle impacts: Identification of societal weights of environmental issues

A new method for identification of weights of environmental issues is suggested using the societal approach in the context of a weighting step in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The weights assigned by different economic groups to eleven environmental issues is obtained through analysis of linguistically stated relative rankings using a fuzzy partial ordering method. The system identification technique based on neural networks is used to identify logical connective in the stated relative rankings and this obviated the inconsistency problem normally encountered in the analysis of relative preference statements. The transitive property of a matrix of relative weights is used to minimise the number of responses to be elicited from a respondent.     

Environmental life cycle assessment with support of fuzzy-sets

The application of the methodology Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is time-consuming and expensive. A definite interpretation, furthermore, is not always derivable from the determined results. The reason for the leeway of interpretation is frequently due to the imprecision and uncertainty of the ingoing data. An improved clearance of interpretation is to be expected by an ecological evaluation of methodology with the support of fuzzy-sets. The influence of uncertainties of ingoing data on evaluation results becomes transparent through a representation as fuzzy-sets. Thus, the interpretation of an uncertainty of assessment results is reduced in comparison to usual procedures for environmental LCA thus far. Time and cost saving is to be expected from the fact that the extensive quantification of many energy and mass flows is replaced by a fuzzy-set supported iteration loop, with which only the exact quantification of a few important flows is necessary.     

Allocation in Life Cycle Inventory Analysis for Joint Production

Allocation in joint production is still one of the unresolved and often discussed methodological issues in Life Cycle Inventory Analysis. Using the many years of experience of man agement sciences, a new classification scheme is proposed. It is postulated that companies perform allocation in joint production in view of optimising the products’ performance (economic and/ or environmental), which helps them to maximise their profits. Therefrom it is derived that value judgements and negotiations are inevitable. The proposed classification scheme differentiates between the number of decision-makers involved, and the type of markets for joint products. Several decision-makers have to find fair allocation factors for their commonly operated joint production, whereas individual decision-makers may choose allocation factors considering the (economic and/ or environmental) competitiveness of their joint products. Applied on the case of a small-scale gas-fuelled combined heat and power plant, the methodology proposed shows a strong dependency on the disutility function, i.e., private costs, environmental damage costs or a combination of the two. Presentation and Introduction of this set of articles see Int. J. LCA 4 (3) 175–179 (1999)     

A technique for reporting Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) results

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) results are typically reported as individual scores, or as a breakdown of the most direct inputs; either as absolute values or relative scores. It is proposed to report not only the direct or primary LCIA scores, but also the impacts from secondary and tertiary processes. A graphical technique to report LCIA results is described where a combination of pie and donut charts, with the inner most layer representing direct impacts and subsequent outer layers representing preceding indirect impacts, is presented. An MS-EXCEL spread sheet is presented where the methods and outcomes are shown. This can then be used to display LCIA results. It is possible to present both primary and indirect impacts in a single figure. Significant indirect impacts contributing to the total score of an LCA are clearly visible.