scholarly journals Evaluation of the Environmental Benefits Associated with the Addition of Olive Pomace in the Manufacture of Lightweight Aggregates

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2351
Author(s):  
Manuel Uceda-Rodríguez ◽  
Ana B. López-García ◽  
José Manuel Moreno-Maroto ◽  
Carlos Javier Cobo-Ceacero ◽  
María Teresa Cotes-Palomino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Lightweight Aggregates ◽  
Technological Properties ◽  
Olive Pomace ◽  
Reduction Of Emissions

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using SimaPro software has been carried out concerning the manufacture of artificial lightweight aggregates (LWAs). The study aims to evaluate the changes in the environmental impact when an additive of residual origin, specifically olive pomace (OP), is added following the principles of the Circular Economy. This residue (commonly known as alperujo) was used as a substitute for clay in 1.25, 2.5 and 5 wt%. The environmental impact related to the use of olive pomace in the mixture was estimated using the CML 2000 methodology, yielding improvements of 3.8%, 7.7% and 15.3% for 1.25, 2.5 and 5 wt% OP added, respectively. Optimum addition results are in the range of 1.25 and 2.5 wt% OP. In this way, the reduction of emissions associated with LWA manufacture would be favored without negatively affecting the technological properties of the resulting material.

scholarly journals Methodology for the quantification of concrete sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 01006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Břetislav Teplý ◽  
Tomáš Vymazal ◽  
Pavla Rovnaníková
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Service Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Load Bearing Capacity ◽  
Sustainability Management

Efficient sustainability management requires the use of tools which allow material, technological and construction variants to be quantified, measured or compared. These tools can be used as a powerful marketing aid and as support for the transition to “circular economy”. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) procedures are also used, aside from other approaches. LCA is a method that evaluates the life cycle of a structure from the point of view of its impact on the environment. Consideration is given also to energy and raw material costs, as well as to environmental impact throughout the life cycle - e.g. due to emissions. The paper focuses on the quantification of sustainability connected with the use of various types of concrete with regard to their resistance to degradation. Sustainability coefficients are determined using information regarding service life and "eco-costs". The aim is to propose a suitable methodology which can simplify decision-making in the design and choice of concrete mixes from a wider perspective, i.e. not only with regard to load-bearing capacity or durability.

scholarly journals A Life Cycle Assessment of reprocessing face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart van Straten ◽  
Sharina Ligtelijn ◽  
Lieke Droog ◽  
Esther Putman ◽  
Jenny Dankelman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Monte Carlo Model ◽  
Rejection Rate ◽  
Medical Products ◽  
Circular Design

Abstract Introduction/background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to threatening shortages in the healthcare of medical products such as face masks. Due to this major impact on our healthcare society, an initiative was conducted between March and July 2020 for reprocessing face masks from 19 different hospitals. This exceptional opportunity was used to study the cost impact and the effects of the CO2 footprint of reprocessed face masks relative to new disposable face masks.Aim: The aim of this study is to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess and compare the environmental impact of disposed versus reprocessed face masks.Methods: In total, 18,166 high-quality medical FFP2 face masks were reprocessed through steam sterilization between March and July 2020. CO2 emissions equivalent (kg CO2 eq) and other impact categories, such as water consumption during production, transport, sterilisation and end-of-life processes, were assessed. A Monte Carlo model was used to predict the sensitivity of different factors in the whole process on the kg CO2 eq.Results: The average kg CO2 eq appears to be 42% lower for reprocessed face masks based on a rejection rate of 20% than new ones. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the loading capacity of the autoclave and rejection rate of face masks have a large influence on kg CO2 eq. The estimated cost price of a reprocessed mask was €1,40 against €1.55.Discussion: The life cycle assessment (LCA) demonstrates that reprocessed FFP2 face masks from a circular economy perspective have a lower environmental impact on kg CO2 eq and water usage than new face masks. For policymakers, it is important to realize that the CO2 footprint of medical products such as face masks may be reduced by means of circular economy strategies.Conclusion: This study demonstrated a lower environmental impact and financial burden for reprocessed medical face masks than for new face masks without compromising qualifications. Therefore, this study may serve as an inspiration for investigating the reprocessing of other medical products that may become scarce. Finally, this study advocates that circular design engineering principles should be taken into account when designing medical devices. This may lead to more sustainable products that require less CO2, have less water consumption and lower costs.

Energetic and Environmental Analysis of a New Cogenerative Configuration for the Waste to Energy Plant of Piacenza

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo De Servi ◽  
Lucia Rigamonti ◽  
Stefano Consonni
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Back Pressure ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Assessment Methodology ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Energy Plant

This study aims at estimating the energy and environmental performances of a new cogenerative configuration of the waste to energy (WTE) plant in Piacenza. At present, the plant is authorized to treat 120,000 t/y of waste, but this limit does not represent the full treatment capacity of the facility. To exploit the plant potential and, at the same time, to reduce total equivalent emissions of the WTE process, a cogenerative configuration has been proposed. In this new scenario a back pressure turbine would be installed in parallel to the existing one, in order to supply heat to the district heating network of Piacenza and the total amount of waste treated per year by the facility would be increased to 134,100 t. The increase of 14,100 t should be satisfied by industrial and commercial waste, which would otherwise go to landfill. To compare the cogenerative scenario with the current situation, the environmental impact for the two cases has been evaluated by means of a life cycle assessment methodology. The results of the analysis show that the new configuration can ensure significant energy and environmental benefits.

Life Cycle Assessment of Circular Bio-Based Construction

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Cascione ◽  
Matt Roberts ◽  
Stephen Allen ◽  
Barrie Dams ◽  
Daniel Maskell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Service Life ◽  
Renewable Resources ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Natural Materials ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Sequestration Potential

The construction sector is a large consumer of non-renewable resources and it is responsible of 44% of global energy related CO2 emissions. Circular economy is an emerging strategy that has potential to make significant improvements in the construction industry, by taking efficient and sustainable actions against climate change. The principles of circular economy are to minimise the waste of resources, by maximizing materials' performances, whilst in use, and recycle and regenerate them at the end of their service life. Natural materials can potentially be suitable in this strategy, due to the use of renewable resources, carbon sequestration potential, and high suitability for reuse and recycling. The development of bio-based wall panel is a first step into the integration of a circular economy approach in the construction sector. In this study, vapour responsive bio-based panel prototypes with low thermal transmittance (U<0.20 W/m2K) are being designed, taking into consideration the burdens and benefits of natural materials over their entire life cycle. The challenge is to assess the environmental impact of the panels during their design and production, maximise performance and life span, when in use, and regenerate and recycle panel components at the end of the service life. In this paper, a life cycle assessment of a prototype bio-based panel designed with circular economy principles is investigated. The environmental impact of the panel is analysed to investigate limitation in assessing emissions and use of resources in a circular prospective. The objective of the research is to integrate environmental impact analysis during the early stage of panel design. This will put the basis for the development of a sustainable and circular building industry and for identifying area of improvements for the development of sustainable circular panels with expected hygrothermal benefits conferred using bio-based materials.

Application of Life Cycle Assessment in Agricultural Circular Economy

2012 ◽  
Vol 260-261 ◽  
pp. 1086-1091
Author(s):  
Xiao Xian Zhang ◽  
Fang Ma ◽  
Li Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Agriculture Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Agricultural Circular Economy ◽  
Technical Framework

Life cycle assessment is a technique to assess potential environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product, process or service. This paper introduces life cycle assessment into the full process of agricultural circular economy. There are increasing environmental risks associated with agricultural circular economy; however, no appropriate assessment and analysis techniques on environmental impact are available. Due to the lack of special life cycle assessment database and available methodology in agricultural circular economy, we proposed a life cycle assessment technical framework with emphasis on problems associated with traditional agricultural circular economy life cycle assessment. This paper is aimed to produce reliable information on the environmental impact assessment for agriculture policy-makers, producers and consumers to help them choose sustainable development agricultural products and processes.

scholarly journals 3D Concrete Printing Sustainability: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Four Construction Method Scenarios

Buildings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Malek Mohammad ◽  
Eyad Masad ◽  
Sami G. Al-Ghamdi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Concrete Construction ◽  
Conventional Concrete ◽  
Concrete Material ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Increase Productivity

Three-dimensional concrete printing (3DCP) has become recognized as a possible alternative to conventional concrete construction, mainly due to its potential to increase productivity and reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. Despite its up-and-coming popularity within the field, limited research has quantitively investigated the environmental benefits that 3DCP brings. This paper investigates the environmental tradeoff of utilizing 3DCP over conventional construction by conducting a detailed cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) study of four case-scenarios (conventional concrete construction, 3DCP with reinforcement elements, 3DCP without any reinforcement, and 3DCP without any reinforcement and utilizing a lightweight printable concrete material.) These case-scenarios were carefully selected to quantify the environmental impact of 3DCP while emphasizing the importance of the material composition. The LCA was conducted for a 1 m2 external load-bearing wall in all four scenarios. The LCA analysis showed that 3DCP significantly reduced environmental effects in terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), smog formation potential (SFP), and fossil fuel depletion (FFD), as compared to conventional construction methods. However, these environmental improvements diminished when 3DCP was coupled with the use of conventional reinforcement elements. Moreover, the use of an alternative concrete mixture in 3DCP showed a further decrease in the GWP, AP, EP, and FFD impact. Ultimately, the findings in this paper support the advantages of 3DCP technology and recommend the investigation of the development of (i) sustainable printable concrete materials and (ii) novel reinforcement techniques that are suitable for 3DCP rather than adopting conventional reinforcement techniques.

Life Cycle Assessment of Heavy-Duty Truck for Highway Transport in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Li ◽  
Su Ping Cui ◽  
Xian Zheng Gong ◽  
Xian Ce Meng ◽  
Bo Xue Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Good Choice ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Heavy Duty ◽  
Heavy Duty Truck ◽  
Photochemical Oxidant ◽  
Toxicity Potential

The detailed life cycle assessment of heavy-duty truck for highway transport in China is conducted by Centre of National Material Life Cycle Assessment (CNMLCA). The input of energy and output of pollutants emissions are documented as the life cycle inventory (LCI). The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results calculated with the CML method show that the hotspot of environmental impacts from transport in China. The environmental benefits from implementations of European emissions standards in China for transport are also analyzed. The analysis shows that the acidification potential (AP) makes the most huge contribution to total environmental impact, up to 33.7%. As the second hotsopt, global warming potential (GWP) takes up 26.83% of total environmental impact. Photochemical oxidant formation potential (POCP) takes up 23.42% of total environmental impact, which is more or less the same comparing with the result of GWP. Eutrophication potential (EP) takes up 15.05% of total environmental impact. The last but not the least environmental impact category - human toxicity potential (HTP), only takes up 0.95% of total environmental impact. If the heavy metal and dioxin emissions are also considered, maybe the results will be changed and the HTP will take more in the whole environmental impact. It can be concluded that if we pay more attention on SO2emissions especially NOx emissions reduction, the acidification and photochemical smog would be relieved a lot and the total environmental impact can be decreased a lot. More punishment on overload may be a good choice to reduce environmental load of heavy truck of highway transport in China.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Cement Production with Marble Waste Sludges

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10968
Author(s):  
Antonio Ruiz Sánchez ◽  
Ventura Castillo Ramos ◽  
Manuel Sánchez Polo ◽  
María Victoria López Ramón ◽  
José Rivera Utrilla
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Portland Cement ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Lca Methodology ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Cement Production ◽  
Waste Sludge ◽  
Marble Waste

The construction industry has a considerable environmental impact in societies, which must be controlled to achieve adequate sustainability levels. In particular, cement production contributes 5–8% of CO2 emissions worldwide, mainly from the utilization of clinker. This study applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to investigate the environmental impact of cement production and explore environmental improvements obtained by adding marble waste sludges in the manufacture of Portland cement. It was considered that 6–35% of the limestone required for its production could be supplied by marble waste sludge (mainly calcite), meeting the EN 197-1:2011 norm. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data were obtained from the Ecovent database using commercial LCA software. All life cycle impact assessment indicators were lower for the proposed “eco-cement” than for conventional cement, attributable to changes in the utilization of limestone and clinker. The most favorable results were achieved when marble waste sludge completely replaced limestone and was added to clinker at 35%. In comparison to conventional Portland cement production, this process reduced GHG emissions by 34%, the use of turbine waters by 60%, and the emission of particles into the atmosphere by 50%. Application of LCA methodology allowed evaluation of the environmental impact and improvements obtained with the production of a type of functional eco-cement. This approach is indispensable for evaluating the environmental benefits of using marble waste sludges in the production of cement.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Reprocessed Cross Laminated Timber in Latvia

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-70
Author(s):  
Ilze Vamza ◽  
Fabian Diaz ◽  
Peteris Resnais ◽  
Antra Radziņa ◽  
Dagnija Blumberga
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Cross Laminated Timber ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Specific Project ◽  
Global Population

Abstract It is expected that Cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other engineered wood products will experience rapid growth in the coming years. Global population growth is requiring more housing units, at the same time the negative impact of construction industry cannot stay in the same level as today. Alternatives for concrete and steel reinforced structures are being explored. CLT has proven to be an excellent substitution for concrete regarding construction of buildings up to eight storeys high. In addition to much lower environmental impact, construction process using CLT takes significantly less time due to pre-cut shapes required for specific project. Despite mentioned benefits, there are considerable amount of CLT cuttings generated in this process. Due to irregular shape and small dimensions of these cuttings they are useless for further use in construction. By applying re-processing technology described in this paper, around 70 % of generated cuttings can be re-processed into new CLT panels. In this paper we are evaluating the environmental benefits of re-processing these cuttings into new CLT panels versus business-as-usual scenario with waste disposal. Life cycle assessment results showed significant reduction of environmental impact for the scenario of CLT cutting re-processing.

scholarly journals The Improvement of Production Process Impact in Furniture Industry Toward Circular Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 07052
Author(s):  
Purnawan Adi Wicaksono ◽  
Choirunisa Ahmad Kadafi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Consumer Demand ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Furniture Industry ◽  
Water Based

Furniture industry is the industry that processes raw or semifinished material from wood, rattan, or other natural material, into products with higher value added and benefit. Because of a rise in consumer demand each year, the furniture industries should have much attention. High consumer demand may cause production process-related problems that damage the environment. Such environmental damage may be caused by waste, raw materials, or production process. High consumer demand in furniture industry brings negative impacts not only to the environment but also to the society. Social impact assessment is needed to evaluate how a product or a process influences workers, consumers, citizen, and value chain. This study uses life cycle assessment method with the help of SimaPro software to determine the environmental impact, and social-life cycle assessment to determine the social impact. The largest contributor to environmental impact is the use of acrylic varnish. Substitution acrylic varnish with woodstain-water based aims to lead to a circular economy by reducing adverse impacts on the environment. The replacement of acrylic varnish with woodstain water based reduces the environmental impact score by 24.8%. Social impacts score on the workers and local community stakeholder are categorized as poor.

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