1.
Heimersson, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
Environmental performance of new wastewater and sludge treatment routes compared to conventional approaches
2012
Ingår i: The proceedings of The 6th European Waste Water Conference & Exhibition, 8-10 October 2013.
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The value of life cycle assessments depends on their completeness and on how well the assessment answers the question asked. In the EU project ROUTES several case studies have been performed in order to evaluate innovative wastewater and sludge treatment scenarios against baseline scenarios, in order to understand whether the new ones perform better or worse from an environmental systems perspective and identify the hot spots in the studied systems from where the main environmental pressure originates. The performed LCA study assesses five impact categories, Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, Ozone Depletion Potential and Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential. This article discusses the relevance of the obtained results and identifies further assessments needed in order to provide a solid result.The study shows that, at present, although a limited number of impact categories are assessed, the studied energy-demanding technologies, like sequential batch biofilm granular reactor and membrane reactor, have a worse overall environmental performance compared to baseline scenarios, and points out electrical efficiency as the main area to put focus on to decrease the overall environmental impact. It also shows that the technologies aimed at sludge quality improvement exhibit a promising environmental performance, but further assessment, including LCA method development, is needed as the studied impact categories do not model the studied system in a thorough way when it comes to comparing agricultural application of sludge and other disposal options.
2.
Heimersson, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
Methodological issues in LCA of wastewater treatment combined with PHA biopolymer production
2013
Ingår i: The proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management.
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by mixed microbial cultures utilising the organic content of wastewaters is one of the technologies studied in the EU project ROUTES. When comparing the life-cycle environmental impacts of simultaneous wastewater treatment and production of PHA-rich biomass to traditional wastewater and solids treatment, the handling of this multi-functionality is critical for the results. Only one LCA of such a system has been found in the literature. The current paper identifies substitution and allocation based on chemical oxygen demand removal as two possible options to account for the multi-functionality of the system. Examples based on literature data were used to show that for global warming potential, the choice of allocation method can substantially affect the results.
3.
Bjorn, A., et al.
(författare)
Review of life-cycle based methods for absolute environmental sustainability assessment and their applications
2020
Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing Ltd. - 1748-9326 .- 1748-9318. ; 15:8
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
In many regions and at the planetary scale, human pressures on the environment exceed levels that natural systems can sustain. These pressures are caused by networks of human activities, which often extend across countries and continents due to global trade. This has led to an increasing requirement for methods that enable absolute environmental sustainability assessment (AESA) of anthropogenic systems and which have a basis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Such methods enable the comparison of environmental impacts of products, companies, nations, etc, with an assigned share of environmental carrying capacity for various impact categories. This study is the first systematic review of LCA-based AESA methods and their applications. After developing a framework for LCA-based AESA methods, we identified 45 relevant studies through an initial survey, database searches and citation analysis. We characterized these studies according to their intended application, impact categories, basis of carrying capacity estimates, spatial differentiation of environmental model and principles for assigning carrying capacity. We then characterized all method applications and synthesized their results. Based on this assessment, we present recommendations to practitioners on the selection and use of existing LCA-based AESA methods, as well as ways to perform assessments and communicate results to decision-makers. Furthermore, we identify future research priorities intended to extend coverage of all components of the proposed method framework, improve modeling and increase the applicability of methods. © 2020 The Author(s).
4.
Heimersson, Sara, 1984, et al.
(författare)
How uncertainties are handled in LCA – focus on the wastewater and textile sectors
2019
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) relies on large data samples and includes numerous choices and assumptions. This study aimed at reviewing to what extent relevant uncertainties are communicated and considered when interpreting LCA results, looking at current practices in LCAs on wastewater and textile systems. Our review showed that uncertainties are seldom communicated or considered in relation to the conclusions of the study, despite the availability of methods for propagating uncertainties in LCAs. We discuss that uncertainties and variation should at least be qualitatively assessed, and ideally be propagated from the life cycle inventory through the impact assessment.
5.
Holmquist, Hanna, 1982, et al.
(författare)
What difference can drop-in substitution actually make? : A life cycle assessment of alternative water repellent chemicals
2021
Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 329
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are used in durable water repellents (DWRs) on outdoor garments and manufacturers are currently phasing out hazardous PFASs. A critical question is: which alternatives should be chosen? The answer should depend on a holistic assessment, but the published inventory data and methodological guidance for assessing PFAS in products is slim and typically limited to hazard assessment. We aim to provide a holistic assessment of the potential environmental consequences of this phase out of DWRs, going beyond the more traditional hazard-focused substitution assessment to also include a broad life-cycle-based assessment of PFASs and their drop-in alternatives. In this study, potential environmental consequences of the phase out were evaluated by applying a life cycle assessment (LCA) to shell jackets with side-chain fluorinated polymer based (i.e., PFASs) or non-fluorinated alternative DWRs with the aim to support a substitution assessment. We demonstrated an innovative approach to impact assessment by inclusion of PFAS related fate and toxicity and invested effort towards contributing new primary inventory data by using a combination of industry dialogue and performance measurements from our larger project context. From a methodological point of view, this paper demonstrates the state-of-the-art in product LCA of persistent textile chemicals and identifies the current limits of this assessment approach. It also delivers new LCI data of use to other analysts. The LCA results in this paper suggest that jackets without PFASs are environmentally preferable. Potential problem shifting due to increased washing and reimpregnation of the jackets did not outweigh PFAS-related potential toxicity impacts as indicated by LCA results. Based on the results presented here, specific DWRs within the non-fluorinated DWR group could not be identified as preferable to others. This LCA does however provide a relevant starting point for more detailed studies on specific DWR systems and it supports moves to phase-out PFASs from non-essential DWR uses. © 2021 The Authors
6.
Kobayashi, Yumi, et al.
(författare)
Towards More Holistic Environmental Impact Assessment: Hybridisation of Life Cycle Assessment and Quantitative Risk Assessment
2015
Ingår i: Procedia CIRP. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-8271. ; 29, s. 378-383
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat) abstract
Global and local environmental impacts of products or services can sometimes be in conflict with one another. Therefore, the importance of considering both impacts in environmental management must be recognised. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is useful in evaluating global impacts while quantitative risk assessment (QRA) is effective in local impact assessments. The benefits of combining LCA and QRA in this regard have been recognised. Advantages and disadvantages of different hybridisation approaches were critically examined in this paper. There seems to be no single best approach and a method needs to be carefully selected depending on the type of application. (C) 2015 The Authors, Published by Elsevier B.V.
7.
Lenzen, M, et al.
(författare)
How city dwellers affect their resource hinterland – a spatial impact study of Australian households
2015
Ingår i: Low Carbon Cities: Transforming Urban Systems. - 9780415729826 ; , s. 131-148
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This article links databases on household consumption, industrial production, economic turnover, employment, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions into a spatially explicit model.The causal sequence starts with households demanding a certain consumer basket. This demand requires production ina complex supply-chain network of interdependent industrysectors. Even though the household may be confined to aparticular geographical location, say a dwelling in a city, the industries producing the indirect inputs for the commodities that the household demands will be dispersed all over Australia and probably beyond. Industrial production represents local points of economic activity, employment, water use, and emissions that have local economic, social, and environmental impacts. The consumer basket of a typical household is followed in Australia’s two largest cities—Sydney and Melbourne—along its upstream supply chains and to numerous production sites within Australia. The spatial spread is described by means of a detailed regional interindustry model.Through industry-specific emissions profiles, industrial production is then translated into local impacts. We show that annually a typical household is responsible for producing approximately 80 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, uses around 3 million liters of water, causes about A$140,000 to circulate in the wider economy, and provides labor worth just under three full-time employment-years. We also introduce maps that visually demonstrate how a very localized household affects the environment across an entire continent. Our model is unprecedented in its spatial and sectoral detail, at least for Australia.
8.
Sandin, Gustav A, 1983, et al.
(författare)
Environmental assessment of Swedish clothing consumption - six garments, sustainable futures
2019
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aim of this work was to map and understand the current environmental impact of Swedish clothing consumption. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate the environmental impact of six garments: a T-shirt, a pair of jeans, a dress, a jacket, a pair of socks, and a hospital uniform, using indicators of climate impact (also called “carbon footprint”), energy use, water scarcity, land use impact on soil quality, freshwater ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. The environmental impact of the six garments was then scaled up to represent Swedish national clothing consumption over one year.In addition to fulfilling this aim, the report is a unique and rich source of transparently documented inventory data on a large number of textile processes – hopefully this can be of use for other LCA practitioners. The report updates Roos et al. (2015), which was the first detailed LCA study of Swedish clothing consumption at the national level. Since the publication of the first edition, several LCA studies of textile production processes and global apparel consumption have been published, which have enabled us to refine the inventory model and benchmark the results.The work was done in Mistra Future Fashion, a cross-disciplinary research program in 2011-2019 which aimed to enable a systemic change in the Swedish fashion industry leading to sustainable development in industry and society.
