Environmental assessment of the Peruvian industrial hake fishery with LCA

Purpose

The Peruvian hake (Merluccius gayi peruanus) stock has been in a delicate state in the last decades due to overexploitation combined with adverse climatic events. The stock is showing certain signs of recovery since 2012. This work analyses the environmental impacts of current fleet operations and its likely trend.

Methods

The fleet was divided into coherent segments, per holding capacity and engine power. The validity of both segmentations, as well as the presence of an effect of economies of scale driving fuel use intensity (FUI), was tested. Life cycle assessment was used to calculate environmental impacts, per individual sampled vessel and per segment, complemented with indicators of energy efficiency and biotic resource depletion.

Results and discussion

The fleet is highly fuel-efficient (120 kg fuel per tonne fish) when compared with other reported values, despite a large overcapacity that increases the impact of the construction and maintenance phases. Significant inter-annual FUI variations were observed (80.0 kg t^?1 in 2008 to 210.3 kg t^?1 in 2006), but no clear trend. Neither significant differences in FUI among fleet segments nor a clear effect of economies of scale were found (but FUI analysis was based on a small sample of 32 values for nine vessels, two of which had data for a single year). Only the largest vessels, featuring 242 m³ holding capacity and 850 hp engine power, were found to have lower FUI than any of the other vessels, but no statistical test could be applied to validate this difference. Differences in environmental impacts of individual vessels are mostly dominated by their relative FUI. Fuel use and, to a lower extent, maintenance are the main sources of environmental impacts. The most contributing impacts to ReCiPe single score are climate change, human toxicity and fossil depletion. The fishery’s impacts on the biotic natural resource were orders of magnitude higher than many other global hake stocks, due to overexploitation.

Conclusions

The environmental impacts of the national hake fleet are relatively low during the study period, despite an overcapacity of the fleet. With the perspective of expanding its operations and obtaining better yields on the eventuality that the stock fully recovers, these impacts should decrease. More research based on additional FUI data is necessary to effectively compare the performance of these vessels with larger ones (featuring >180 m³ and >500 hp, of which nine existed in 2016) before possibly recommending their preferential use.

     

Cup plant,an alternative to conventional silage from a LCA perspective

Purpose

The growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity in agroecosystems in increasing and ensuring the supply of biomass has led to heightened interest from governments and farmers in alternative crops. This article assesses one such alternative crop, cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.), in terms of the environmental aspects of cultivation for forage production. Many studies have previously focused on cup plant, but so far, this plant has not been assessed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method.

Materials and methods

This study compares the environmental load of cup plant with the most commonly grown silage crops in Central European conditions—maize—and with another common forage crop—lucerne using LCA. The system boundaries include all the processes from cradle to farm gate and both mass-based (1 ton of dry matter) and area-based (1 ha of monoculture) functional units were chosen for the purposes of this study. The results cover the impact categories related to the agricultural LCAs, and the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) characterization model was used for the data expression, by using SimaPro 9.0.0.40 software.

Results

This study compares the cultivation of cup plant with the most commonly grown silage crop in Central European conditions—maize—and with another common forage crop—lucerne. The paper shows the potential of cup plant to replace conventional silage (maize and lucerne silage mix) with certain environmental savings in selected impact categories, and importantly, while still maintaining the same performance levels in dairy farming as with conventional silage, as already reported in previous publications. For the Czech Republic alone, this would, in practice, mean replacing up to 50,000 ha of silage maize and reducing the environmental load by about tens of percent or more within the various impact categories and years of cultivation.

Conclusion

Cup plant can replace the yield and quality of silage maize, represents a lower environmental load per unit of production and unit of area and generally carries many other benefits. Thus, cup plant is a recommendable option for dairy farming. Given the recent experience and knowledge of the issue, the cup plant can be considered an effective alternative to conventional silage.

     

Environmental impacts of wooden,plastic, and wood-polymer composite pallet: a life cycle assessment approach

Purpose

Waste recycling is one of the essential tools for the European Union’s transition towards a circular economy. One of the possibilities for recycling wood and plastic waste is to utilise it to produce composite product. This study analyses the environmental impacts of producing composite pallets made of wood and plastic waste from construction and demolition activities in Finland. It also compares these impacts with conventional wooden and plastic pallets made of virgin materials.

Methods

Two different life cycle assessment methods were used: attributional life cycle assessment and consequential life cycle assessment. In both of the life cycle assessment studies, 1000 trips were considered as the functional unit. Furthermore, end-of-life allocation formula such as 0:100 with a credit system had been used in this study. This study also used sensitivity analysis and normalisation calculation to determine the best performing pallet.

Result and discussion

In the attributional cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment, wood-polymer composite pallets had the lowest environmental impact in abiotic depletion potential (fossil), acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential (including biogenic carbon), global warming potential (including biogenic carbon) with indirect land-use change, and ozone depletion potential. In contrast, wooden pallets showed the lowest impact on global warming potential (excluding biogenic carbon). In the consequential life cycle assessment, wood-polymer composite pallets showed the best environmental impact in all impact categories. In both attributional and consequential life cycle assessments, plastic pallet had the maximum impact. The sensitivity analysis and normalisation calculation showed that wood-polymer composite pallets can be a better choice over plastic and wooden pallet.

Conclusions

The overall results of the pallets depends on the methodological approach of the LCA. However, it can be concluded that the wood-polymer composite pallet can be a better choice over the plastic pallet and, in most cases, over the wooden pallet. This study will be of use to the pallet industry and relevant stakeholders.

     

Regional LCA in a global perspective. A basis for spatially differentiated environmental life cycle assessment

Background, aim and scope  

In the context of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one of the central issues with respect to modelling and methodological data collection. The thesis described in this paper focusses on the assessment of toxicity-related impacts, and on the collection of normalisation data. A view on the complementary roles of LCA toxicity assessment on the one hand and human and environmental risk assessment (HERA) on the other is presented, and the global, spatially differentiated LCA toxicity assessment model GLOBOX for the assessment of organics and metals is described. Normalisation factors for the year 2000 are calculated on a global as well as on a European level.     

Environmental assessment of maize production alternatives: Traditional,intensive and GMO-based cropping patterns

The evolution of maize production patterns in Argentina is evaluated over the last 25 years to compare costs, benefits, environmental performance and sustainability as well as to identify the main driving sources and improvement potential. Results from Argentina cropping systems are compared to other systems worldwide in order to put the Argentina results in a broader context. The study focuses on three farming categories: (1) traditional, low-intensity systems, (2) conventional, high-intensity systems, and (3) GMO-based cropping systems. Low input intensity systems include traditional cropping patterns with seed selection by farmers and conventional hybrid seed coupled to plowing and crop-animal rotation techniques; high input intensity systems use conventional hybrid seeds and recommended chemicals, irrigation and machinery with important soil erosion consequences; and GMO-based cropping systems use herbicide resistant transgenic hybrids, pesticides, higher fertilizer rates, and no-till practices. In each of the three cases, input flows are compared to the achieved yield (in mass and income terms) to better understand relative efficiencies and options for improvement. The study of GMO systems required a preliminary investigation of GMO seed production by seed companies, where a large investment in terms of prior knowledge and high-tech laboratory research is required. The assessments used the Emergy Accounting (EMA) approach. EMA includes material, energy, labor, money, and knowledge flows into the assessment and expands its focus over larger time and spatial scales than conventional economic and cumulative energy demand methods. Emergy-based environmental indicators of grain production for high-intensity hybrid and GMO systems both show a lower performance than low-intensity, traditional patterns in terms of resource return, renewability and sustainability. The fraction of renewability in low-intensity systems is between 28% and 63%, while it is between 8% and 26% for high-intensity hybrid and GMO systems. Calculated indicators also show that GMO-based maize production patterns do not guarantee the expected improvement over conventional high-intensity cropping systems or low-intensity systems in terms of performance and sustainability. Strong reliance on nonrenewable resources and technology, as well as role of direct and indirect labor costs are important factors in determining long-term sustainability and environmental stability of maize production systems.     

Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for identification and assessment of environmental aspects in environmental management systems (EMS)

Purpose  

The paper presents a discussion on the possibilities of using LCA in identification and assessment of environmental aspects in environmental management systems based on the requirements of the international ISO14001 standard and the European Union EMAS regulation. Some modifications of LCA methodology are proposed in Part 1 while the results of a review of environmental aspects for 36 organisations with implemented EMS are presented in Part 2 of the article.     

Environmental assessment of digestibility improvement factors applied in animal production

Background, Aims and Scope  

Many feed ingredients are not fully digested by livestock. However, the addition of digestibility-improving enzymes to the feed can improve the absorption of e.g. energy and protein and thereby enhance the nutrient value of the feed. Feed production is a major source of environmental impacts in animal production, and it is obvious to assume that enzyme supplementation can help to reduce the environmental impact of animal production. The purpose of the study is, therefore, to assess and compare the environmental burdens of the supplements and compare them with the savings made when enzymes are used in animal production. The properties of enzymes vary considerably and the study takes as its starting point a particular enzyme product, Ronozyme WX CT. Ronozyme WX CT is a xylanase which depolymerises xylans (a group of dietary fibres found in cereal cell walls) into smaller units. The product is a widely accepted means of improving the energy value and the protein digestibility of pig and poultry feed. The study relates to Ronozyme WX CT used for fattening pigs produced in Denmark.     

Relevance and feasibility of social life cycle assessment from a company perspective

Background, aim, and scope

Methodology development should reflect demands from the intended users: what are the needs of the user group and what is feasible in terms of requirements involving data and work? Mapping these questions of relevance and feasibility is thus a way to facilitate a higher degree of relevance of the developed methodology. For the emerging area of social life cycle assessment (SLCA), several different potential user groups may be identified. This article addresses the issues of relevance and feasibility of SLCA from a company perspective through a series of interviews among potential company users.

Methods and materials

The empirical basis for the survey is a series of eight semi-structured interviews with larger Danish companies, all of which potentially have the capacity and will to use comprehensive social assessment methodologies. SLCA is not yet a well-defined methodology, but still it is possible to outline several potential applications of SLCA and the tasks a company must be able to perform in order to make use of these applications. The interviews focus on the companies’ interest in these potential applications and their ability and willingness to undertake the required work.

Results

Based on these interviews, three hypotheses are developed relating to these companies’ potential use of SLCA, viz.: (1) needs which may be supported by SLCA relate to three different applications, being comparative assertions, use stage assessments, and weighting of social impacts; (2) assessing the full life cycle of a product or service is rarely possible for the companies; and (3) companies see their social responsibility in the product chain as broader than dictated by the product perspective of SLCA. Trends for these three hypotheses developed on the basis of the opinions of the interviewees. Also, factors influencing the generalization of the results to cover other industries are analyzed.

Discussion

Full comparative assertions as known from environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) may be difficult in a company context due to several difficulties in assessing the full life cycle. Furthermore, the comparative assertion may potentially be hampered by differences in how companies typically allocate responsibility along the product chain and how it is done in SLCA, creating a boundary setting issue. These problems do, only in a limited degree, apply for both the use stage assessment and the tool for weighting social issues.

Conclusion

Despite these difficulties, it is concluded that all three applications of SLCA may be possible for the interviewed companies, but it seems the tendency is to demand assessment tools with very limited life cycle perspective, which to some extent deviate from the original thought behind the LCA tools as being holistic decision aid tools.

Perspectives

It is advocated that there is a need to focus more on questions regarding the relevance and feasibility of SLCA from several different perspectives to direct the future methodology development.     

Life cycle assessment of castor-based biorefinery: a well to wheel LCA

Purpose

Diminishing fossil resources and environmental concerns associated with their vast utilization have been in focus by energy policy makers and researchers. Among the different scenarios put forth to commercialize biofuels, various biorefinery concepts have aroused global interests because of their ability in converting biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and bioenergies. This study was aimed at developing different novel castor-based biorefinery scenarios for generating biodiesel and other co-products, i.e., ethanol and biogas. In these scenarios, glycerin, heat, and electricity were also considered as byproducts. Developed scenarios were also compared with a fossil reference system delivering the same amount of energy through the combustion of neat diesel.

Materials and methods

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental consequences of castor biodiesel production and consumption with a biorefinery approach. All the input and output flows from the cultivation stage to the combustion in diesel engines as well as changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) were taken into account. Impact 2002+ method was used to quantify the environmental consequences.

Results and discussion

The LCA results demonstrated that in comparison with the fossil reference system, only one scenario (i.e., Sc-3 with co-production of significant amounts of biodiesel and biomethane) had 16% lower GHG emissions without even considering the improving effect of SOC. Moreover, resource damage category of this scenario was 50% lower than that of neat diesel combustion. The results proved that from a life cycle perspective, energy should be given priority in biorefineries because it is essential for a biorefinery to have a positive energy balance in order to be considered as a sustainable source of energy. Despite a positive effect on energy and GHG balances, these biorefineries had negative environmental impacts on the other damage categories like Human Health and Ecosystem Quality.

Conclusions

Although biorefineries offer unique features as promising solutions for mitigating climate change and reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the selection of biomass processing options and management decisions can affect the final results in terms of environmental evaluations and energy balance. Moreover, if biorefineries are focused on transportation fuel production, a great deal of effort should still be made to have better environmental performance in Human Health and Ecosystem Quality damage categories. This study highly recommends that future studies focus towards biomass processing options and process optimization to guarantee the future of the most sustainable biofuels.

     

Life cycle assessment of alternatives for recycling abroad alkaline batteries from Portugal

Purpose

The European legislation establishes collection rates and states that all identifiable batteries must undergo treatment and recycling. Due to the inexistence in Portugal of recycling plants for alkaline batteries, those collected there have been sent to Austria and France, and currently, it is pondered to send them to Spain. This study aims to know the potential environmental impacts associated with the management of spent domestic alkaline batteries from collection in continental Portugal to recycling abroad.

Methods

Three alternative recycling processes are considered: in Austria (A), France (F) and Spain (S). The system in study, from battery collection in continental Portugal to recycling abroad, includes complementary processes necessary for this circuit such as the production of boxes for battery collection and/or transportation and, for easiness of analysis and interpretation, is divided into: (i) container manufacture; (ii) distribution of empty containers; (iii) battery collection and sorting; (iv) international transport for the recycling; and (v) battery recycling. Recovered materials were also quantified. The LCA methodology and the method of impact assessment Eco-indicator 99, Hierarchist version, with two options, with and without inclusion of long-term emissions, were used. This method considers three damage categories: human health, ecosystem quality and resources, which group 11 impact categories.

Results and discussion

For ecosystem quality, there is a preponderance of the impact of recycling processes F and S regarding all other processes and, in particular, regarding recycling process A. After these, the container production impact is the most significant followed by the transport to Austria. For human health, there is a preponderance of the impact of recycling process S followed by the impact of F, and then of the transport to Austria and, only after, the impact of recycling process A. For resources, process S impact is higher than the one of A and this is higher than system F. The transport shows an expectable impact (highest for Austria, lowest for Spain), but for Austria and for France, it is higher than the impact of the recycling process itself.

Conclusions

System F is the most negative in terms of ecosystem quality and S is the worst in terms of human health. In these two damage categories, system A is the best but the worst in the damage category of resources, where F is the best system. If the recovered materials are considered in this balance, the environmental advantage of system A is clear.     

Parameter sensitivity analysis and improvement of a two-layer arterial wall model

The nonlinear two-layer arterial wall model introduced by von Maltzahn, et al. [11] is subjected to a rigorous parameter sensitivity and range of validity analysis. The model is based on the assumption that in large muscular conduit arteries the two mechanically significant layers are media and adventitia. Using curve-fitting techniques, the media is determined to be isotropic and the adventitia to be anisotropic. As a result of the range of validity analysis, the polynomial relationship for the energy density function of the media is changed to an exponential relationship. This leads to new coefficients for the polynomial of the adventitia. All coefficients have specific mechanical meanings. The parameter sensitivity analysis demonstrates convincingly that all model parameters are significantly important.     

Environmental improvement of lead refining: a case study of water footprint assessment in Jiangxi Province,China

Purpose

China is currently facing water scarcity due to its large national population and rapid economic development. Lead is a typical non-ferrous metal. The lead industry is one of the top 10 water-consuming industries in China and suffers from the heavy burden of properly managing discharged wastewater containing heavy metals and organic pollutants. Accordingly, a water footprint analysis of lead refining was conducted in this study to enhance the water management in China’s lead industry. This study is part 2 of the environmental improvement for lead-refining series.

Methods

In accordance with the ISO 14046 standard, life cycle assessment-based water footprint analysis was applied to a lead-refining enterprise in Jiangxi Province, China. Five midpoint (i.e., water scarcity, aquatic eutrophication, carcinogens, non-carcinogens, and freshwater ecotoxicity) and two endpoint (i.e., human health and ecosystem quality) indicators are utilized to assess the water footprint impact results.

Results and discussion

Direct pollutant emissions are a major contributor to ecosystem quality and freshwater ecotoxicity, whereas indirect processes (i.e., industrial hazardous waste landfill, transport, and chemicals) contribute considerably to human health, aquatic eutrophication, and carcinogen categories. Chromium, copper, arsenic, and zinc were the key substances in the lead production chain, and their emissions exerted a significant impact on human health and ecosystem quality.

Conclusions

Reducing direct copper emission was the most important key to minimizing ecosystem quality decline in China’s lead industry, and optimizing indirect processes was effective in mitigating the impact on human health. Enhancing wastewater treatment, increasing chemical consumption efficiency, optimizing transport and industrial hazardous waste disposal, improving supervision, issuing relevant governmental regulations, and adopting advanced wastewater treatment technologies are urgently needed to control the water footprint.

     

Environmental assessment of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) purse seine fishery in Portugal with LCA methodology including biological impact categories

Purpose

The purse seine fishery for sardine is the most important fishery in Portugal. The aim of the present study is to assess the environmental impacts of sardine fished by the Portuguese fleet and to analyse a number of variables such as vessel size and time scale. An additional goal was to incorporate fishery-specific impact categories in the case study.

Methods

Life Cycle Assessment methodology was applied, and data were collected from nine vessels, which represented around 10 % of the landings. Vessels were divided into two length categories, above and below 12 m, and data were obtained for the years 2005 to 2010. The study was limited to the fishing phase only. The standard impact categories included were energy use, global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential and ozone depletion potential. The fishery-specific impact categories were overfishing, overfishedness, lost potential yield, mean trophic level and the primary production required, and were quantified as much as possible.

Results and discussion

The landings from the data set were constituted mainly by sardine (91 %), and the remainders were other small pelagic species (e.g. horse mackerel). The most important input was the fuel, and both vessel categories had the same fuel consumption per catch 0.11 l/kg. Average greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint) were 0.36 kg CO₂ eq. per kilo sardine landed. The fuel use varied between years, and variability between months can be even higher. Fishing mortality has increased, and the spawning stock biomass has decreased resulting in consequential overfishing for 2010. A correlation between fuel use and stock biomass was not found, and the stock condition does not seem to directly influence the global warming potential in this fishery. Discards were primarily non-target small pelagic species, and there was also mortality of target species resulting from slipping. The seafloor impact was considered to be insignificant due to the fishing method.

Conclusions

The assessment of the Portuguese purse seine fishery resulted in no difference regarding fuel use between large and small vessels, but differences were found between years. The stock has declined, and it has produced below maximum sustainable yield. By-catch and discard data were missing but may be substantial. Even being difficult to quantify, fishery impact categories complement the environmental results with biological information and precaution is need in relation to the stock management. The sardine carbon footprint from Portuguese purse seine was lower than that of other commercial species reported in.     

Representing crop rotations in life cycle assessment: a review of legume LCA studies

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - There is an imperative to accurately assess the environmental sustainability of crop system interventions in the context of food security and...     

Multi-Dimensional assessment of beach systems on the Catalan coast from a pragmatic and epistemological perspective

In recent decades, much of the progress observed in the study of beaches to aid policy has focused on producing sound substantive and/or contextual knowledge. However, attention has not usually been paid to the procedural manner in which it has been produced. Guided by an open learning process, this study aims to develop and present an expanded reviewed assessment of the Catalan coast operationalized by means of the Double-Looped Beach Quality Index (DL-BQI). Such openness helps us to understand which narratives of beach management in Catalonia are operating (and which are excluded), the extent to which they are unfolding, and the capacity of the DL-BQI to provide information for policymaking. Data collection enabled assessment of 96 representative beaches on the Catalan coast, that may find correspondence with other geographic locations. Both the instrument used for the assessment – the DL-BQI – and its results were co-evaluated at a multi-stakeholder meeting. In general, beaches have mainly been conditioned to supply elements for tourism and leisure. Different pressures have arisen from the orientation towards such activities, usually according to beach type, most of them negatively impacting the ecological assets and natural heritage of beaches. The economic growth narrative, albeit predominant, was shown to be deficient for tackling complex coastal problems, i.e. intensifying ecological deterioration. Alternatively, the study shows the importance for regional coastal policy of considering the value of beaches as natural systems, as advocated, to a greater or lesser extent, by the narratives of sustainability, environmental protection and integrated coastal zone management. This research innovates on considering substantive, contextual and procedural dimensions of knowledge quality for the governance of beach systems, by relating dimensions, narratives and outcomes.     

Climate impact assessment of willow energy from a landscape perspective: a Swedish case study

Locally produced bioenergy can decrease the dependency on imported fossil fuels in a region, while also being valuable for climate change mitigation. Short‐rotation coppice willow is a potentially high‐yielding energy crop that can be grown to supply a local energy facility. This study assessed the energy performance and climate impacts when establishing willow on current fallow land in a Swedish region with the purpose of supplying a bio‐based combined heat and power plant. Time‐dependent life cycle assessment (LCA) was combined with geographic information system (GIS) mapping to include spatial variation in terms of transport distance, initial soil organic carbon content, soil texture and yield. Two climate metrics were used [global warming potential (GWP) and absolute global temperature change potential (AGTP)], and the energy performance was determined by calculating the energy ratio (energy produced per unit of energy used). The results showed that when current fallow land in a Swedish region was used for willow energy, an average energy ratio of 30 MJ MJ^?1 (including heat, power and flue gas condensation) was obtained and on average 84.3 Mg carbon per ha was sequestered in the soil during a 100‐year time frame (compared with the reference land use). The processes contributing most to the energy use during one willow rotation were the production and application of fertilizers (~40%), followed by harvest (~35%) and transport (~20%). The temperature response after 100 years of willow cultivation was ?6·10^?16 K MJ^?1 heat, which is much lower compared with fossil coal and natural gas (70·10^?16 K MJ^?1 heat and 35·10^?16 K MJ^?1 heat, respectively). The combined GIS and time‐dependent LCA approach developed here can be a useful tool in systematic analysis of bioenergy production systems and related land use effects.     

Life cycle assessment comparison of wooden and plastic pallets in the grocery industry

Wooden and plastic pallets are used extensively in global trade to transport finished goods and products. This article compares the life cycle performance of treated wooden and plastic pallets through a detailed cradle‐to‐grave life cycle assessment (LCA), and conducts an analysis of the various phytosanitary treatments. The LCA investigates and evaluates the environmental impacts due to the resources consumed and emissions of the product throughout its life cycle. The environmental impacts of the pallets are compared on a one‐trip basis and a 100,000‐trips basis. Impact categories are chosen with respect to environmental concerns. The results show that on a one‐trip basis, wooden pallets with conventional and radio frequency (RF) heat treatment incur an overall carbon footprint of 71.8% and 80.3% lower, respectively, than plastic pallets during their life cycle; and in comparison with wooden pallets treated with methyl bromide fumigation, they incur 20% and 30% less overall carbon footprint. Theoretical calculations of the resource consumption and emissions of RF treatment of pallets suggest that dielectric technology may provide a lower‐carbon alternative to both current ISPM 15‐approved treatments and to plastic pallets. Methyl bromide fumigation (15.95 kg CO₂ equivalent [eq.]) has a larger carbon footprint than conventional heat treatment (12.69 kg CO₂ eq.) of pallets. For the 100,000‐trips basis, the differences are even more significant. The results recommend that wooden pallets are more environmentally friendly than plastic pallets, and conventional and RF heat treatment for wooden pallets is more sustainable than methyl bromide fumigation treatment.