| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle assessment of a two-seater all-electric aircraft
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 29:2, s. 240-254
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Aviation is an important contributor to climate change and other environmental problems. Electrification is one option for reducing the environmental impacts of aviation. The aim of this study is to provide the first life cycle assessment (LCA) results representing an existing commercial, two-seater, all-electric aircraft. Methods: An attributional cradle-to-grave LCA was conducted with a functional unit of 1 h flight time. Data and records from an aircraft manufacturer informed much of the study. Detailed modelling of important aircraft components is provided, including the battery, motor, inverter, instrument panel and seats. Impact results are compared to those from a similar but fossil fuel–based two-seater aircraft. A wide range of impact categories was considered, while the focus was on global warming, resource depletion, particulate matter, acidification and ozone formation. Results and discussion: The main contributors to almost all impact categories are the airframe, the lithium-ion battery and emissions (in the use phase). The airframe has a major impact as it contains energy-intensive, carbon fibre–reinforced composites, the impact of which can be reduced by recycling. The battery dominates mineral resource depletion categories and contributes notably to emission-based categories. Producing batteries using non-fossil energy or shifting to less resource-intensive, next-generation batteries would reduce their impact. Use-phase impacts can be reduced by sourcing non-fossil electricity. Despite the need for multiple battery pack replacements, the comparison with the fossil fuel option (based on equal lifetimes) still showed the electric aircraft contributing less to global warming, even in a high-carbon electricity scenario. By contrast, when it concerned mineral resources, the electric aircraft had greater impact than the fossil fuel based one. Conclusions: A sufficiently long lifetime is key to bringing the all-electric aircraft’s environmental impacts (such as global warming) below those of fossil fuel–based aircraft. The high burden of the airframe and batteries can then be outweighed by the benefit of more efficient and emission-free electric propulsion. However, this comes with a trade-off in terms of increased mineral resource use.
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| 2. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle assessment of Biodiesel - Hydrotreated oil from rape, oil palm or Jatropha
- 2008
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Ingår i: Annual Poster Exhibition at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Mars 6th, 2008, Göteborg, Sweden.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a need for fuels based on renewable resources that have acceptable emission profiles and that are functional for truck engines used in heavy vehicles. Volvo has participated in the CONCAWE/EUCAR/JRC WTW study, which analyzed a number of candidate fuels, several process routes to produce each fuel as well as different raw material choices. However, the CONCAWE study did not include any second generation hydrogenated vegetable oil type biodiesel. In the present study, Volvo and Chalmers investigate and benchmark hydrogenated vegetable oils. Different production routes from different proposed raw materials are investigated using life cycle assessment modeling. Raw materials considered are oil from rape seed (grown in Germany), palm oil (grown in Malaysia) and oil from the fruits of Jatropha curcas (grown in India). The raw material is converted into hydrogenated oil at a production site in northern Europe and used at the European market. Results regarding life cycle global warming potential and energy use are presented.
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| 3. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil from rape, oil palm and Jatropha
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 19:2-3, s. 128-137
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel was performed. The study wascommissioned by Volvo Technology Corporation and Volvo Penta Corporation as part of an effort to gaina better understanding of the environmental impact of potential future biobased liquid fuels for cars andtrucks. The life cycle includes production of vegetable oil from rape, oil palm or Jatropha, transport of theoil to the production site, production of the HVO from the oil, and combustion of the HVO. The functionalunit of the study is 1 kWh energy out from the engine of a heavy-duty truck and the environmentalimpact categories that are considered are global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP),eutrophication potential (EP) and embedded fossil production energy. System expansion was used totake into account byproducts from activities in the systems; this choice was made partly to make thisstudy comparable to results reported by other studies. The results show that HVO produced from palmoil combined with energy production from biogas produced from the palm oil mill effluent has thelowest environmental impact of the feedstocks investigated in this report. HVO has a significantly lowerlife cycle GWP than conventional diesel oil for all feedstocks investigated, and a GWP that is comparableto results for e.g. rape methyl ester reported in the literature. The results show that emissions from soilcaused by microbial activities and leakage are the largest contributors to most environmental impactcategories, which is supported also by other studies. Nitrous oxide emissions from soil account for morethan half of the GWP of HVO. Nitrogen oxides and ammonia emissions from soil cause almost all of thelife cycle EP of HVO and contribute significantly to the AP as well. The embedded fossil production energywas shown to be similar to results for e.g. rape methyl ester from other studies. A sensitivity analysisshows that variations in crop yield and in nitrous oxide emissions from microbial activities in soil cancause significant changes to the results.
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| 4. |
- Fröling, Morgan, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Life Cycle Assessment of Second Generation Biodiesel: Biomass to Liquid
- 2008
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Ingår i: Designing Pathways for a Sustainable World: At Scale, in Time, and for All, AGS Annual Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, MA. USA, January 28-30 2008. ; , s. abstract in proceedings-
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 5. |
- Hagman, Johan, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Do biofuels require more water than do fossil fuels? Life cycle-based assessment of jatropha oil production in rural Mozambique
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526. ; 53, s. 176-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biofuels are advanced to replace fossil fuels in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts. Yet freshwater scarcity is another growing concern and increased production of biofuels may increase this problem. In order to assess whether biofuels truly have a higher water use than do fossil fuels, a life cycle assessment study of a low input jatropha plantation in northern Mozambique was conducted. In addition to different water use indicators, the fossil energy use and global warming potential were assessed for 1 MJ of jatropha oil. The analysis compares results for jatropha oil with fossil diesel, generally showing lower global warming potential and fossil energy use for jatropha oil. However, aspects related to land use may alter the global warming potential of jatropha oil. Regarding water use, the choice of the water use indicator strongly influences the results. Specifically the indication of (1) so-called green water flows, (2) formation of so-called blue water and (3) water scarcity show crucial influences on the comparison. Depending on these specific features, jatropha oil may have higher or lower water use than fossil diesel. A number of uncertainties, such as the jatropha oil yield, are also shown to have a considerable impact on the results.
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| 6. |
- Molander, Sverker, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Förnybara energikällors inverkan på de svenska miljömålen
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I denna rapport beskrivs olika förnybara energikällors negativa påverkan på desvenska miljömålen. Resultatet har presenterats i form av ett antal konceptuellabilder som länkar miljöpåverkan i energislagens livscykelsteg till specifika miljömål.De energislag som studerats är vattenkraft, vindkraft, tunnfilmssolceller, kiselbaseradesolceller, solfångare, värmepumpar samt odlade biobränslen (såsometanol och raps metylester), biobränslen från avfall (såsom biogas) och biobränslenfrån skogsråvara (såsom flis och pellets). Miljöpåverkan har inte kvantifierats idenna studie, och ingen jämförelse energislagen emellan har utförts. Vad som dockvisats är att de ovan listade energislagen påverkar många svenska miljömål, ochden påverkan kommer att växa om de aktuella svenska målen för förnybar energiförverkligas. Mer detaljerade studier kring de förnybara energislagens påverkan påmiljömålen krävs således för att undvika negativ miljöpåverkan från förnybar energii framtiden. Denna rapport har utifrån dagens vetenskapsläge kartlagt de viktigasteverkningarna på de svenska miljömålens uppfyllelse från förnyelsebar energiteknik,och utgör således en grund för ett sådant mer omfattande arbete. Avslutningsvisges ett antal rekommendationer inför fortsatta studier på området.
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| 7. |
- Nordelöf, Anders, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Methodological Approaches to End-Of-Life Modelling in Life Cycle Assessments of Lithium-Ion Batteries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Batteries. - : MDPI AG. - 2313-0105. ; 5:51, s. 1-15
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study presents a review of how the end-of-life (EOL) stage is modelled in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Twenty-five peer-reviewed journal and conference papers that consider the whole LIB life cycle and describe their EOL modelling approach sufficiently were analyzed. The studies were categorized based on two archetypal EOL modelling approaches in LCA: The cutoff (no material recovery, possibly secondary material input) and EOL recycling (material recovery, only primary material input) approaches. It was found that 19 of the studies followed the EOL recycling approach and 6 the cutoff approach. In addition, almost a third of the studies deviated from the expected setup of the two methods by including both material recovery and secondary material input. Such hybrid approaches may lead to double counting of recycling benefits by both including secondary input (as in the cutoff approach) and substituting primary materials (as in the EOL recycling approach). If the archetypal EOL modelling approaches are not followed, it is imperative that the modelling choices are well-documented and motivated to avoid double counting that leads to over- or underestimations of the environmental impacts of LIBs. Also, 21 studies model hydrometallurgical treatment, and 17 completely omit waste collection.
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| 8. |
- Peters, Gregory, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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A Swedish comment on ‘review: the availability of life-cycle studies in Sweden’
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 24:10, s. 1758-1759
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The article entitled ‘Review: the availability of life-cycle studies in Sweden’ by Croft and colleagues (January 2019, volume 24, issue 1, pages 6–11) has puzzled many researchers in Sweden. The stated purpose of the article is to review the availability of water and carbon footprinting studies and life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies in Sweden. Despite its title and purpose suggesting otherwise, the article appears to be about the accessibility of life-cycle case studies from Sweden in South Africa. It is problematic that the article claims to be a review in the title and text, but is presented by the journal as a commentary. We believe that the article’s method is unclear and that its title and results are misleading. The authors of the article found only 12 academic papers, 10 academic theses, 8 company reports, and 1 presentation. This result significantly underestimates the actual production and availability of Swedish LCA case studies.
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| 9. |
- Srinivasa Raghavan, Seshadri, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Metal requirements for road-based electromobility transitions in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Resources, Conservation and Recycling. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-3449 .- 1879-0658. ; 190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This research investigated the metal requirements for electrifying Swedish cars and heavy-duty trucks and refueling infrastructure. We assessed vehicle and infrastructure metal use given four cornerstone scenarios: battery electric vehicles and chargers, conductive and inductive electric road systems, and fuel-cell vehicles, besides an internal combustion engine scenario. Twenty-seven metals were evaluated. To our knowledge, this study presents a first attempt to develop a detailed inventory of prevailing and prospective charging infrastructures. Our study estimated total metal requirement at 7400–9600 kt and infrastructure share at 6%–25% (200–2400 kt). Infrastructure requires about 15% of gold, 30%–40% of silver and copper, and 40%–60% of molybdenum. Results revealed that the following metal flows contribute the most to long-term resource scarcities: rhodium in fossil-fueled vehicles; gold in electric vehicles; palladium and gold in conductive and copper and palladium in inductive electric road systems; as well as platinum in fuel cells.
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| 10. |
- Wickerts, Sanna, 1992, et al.
(författare)
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Prospective Life-Cycle Modeling of Quantum Dot Nanoparticles for Use in Photon Upconversion Devices
- 2021
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Ingår i: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2168-0485. ; 9:14, s. 5187-5195
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantum dot nanoparticles (NPs) can be used in several applications, for example, photon upconversion devices that increase the electricity output of solar modules. In order to facilitate life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of such applications, this study provides ready-to-use LCA unit process data for four NPs suitable for photon upconversion applications: cadmium selenide, cadmium sulfide, lead selenide, and lead sulfide. The data is provided for two prospective scenarios: one optimistic and one pessimistic. An impact assessment is conducted in order to assess the NPs’ climate change performance, where solvent-related processes such as steam production for recycling and hazardous waste treatment are shown to be hotspots. To show the applicability of the data, a prospective assessment of a solar module with an upconversion layer is conducted to investigate whether it is preferable from a climate perspective to install more solar modules or equip existing ones with upconversion devices, leading to more electricity produced in both cases. The assessment shows that solar modules need to become 0.05–2 percentage points more efficient per gram of NPs applied, depending on the scenario, in order for the upconversion layer to be preferable.
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