LCA Software:
SimaPro
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A little discussion point to start with …
http://youtu.be/rfoxjNg-eg0
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SimaPro
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A definition of LCA
The product life cycle
Material extraction
Emissions
Component manufacture
Waste
Product manufacture
Energy
Product sale
Water
Product use
Product disposal
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Resource
use
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The functional unit
What is the functional unit and
why is it important?
“A measure of the function of the
products or services being studied”
Therefore the functional unit of a
construction I-beam might not be
“The production of one I-beam” as
this probably wouldn’t measure its
true function.
The functional unit might be
something like “the support of 5
tonnes of ceiling and floor spread
over a width of 6 metres for at least
30 years”.
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The functional unit
The same issue applies to composites
For example is 1kg of carbon fibre sheet functionally equivalent to 1kg
of glassfibre sheet or 1kg or kevlar sheet?
In some applications perhaps, but in most cases no. Perhaps the
carbon fibre is being used for its extra rigidity, the kevlar for its extra
shatter-resistance and the glassfibre for its affordability.
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The functional unit
The same issue applies to composites
So in LCA terms 1kg would often not be a fair comparison.
A fair functional unit might have to be more complicated, such as
“A sheet 1 metre square able to withstand a force of 1000 Newtons
without flexing more than 3cm”.
That might involve using 1kg of carbon fibre, 2kg of glassfibre and
3kg of kevlar.
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Building a life cycle Inventory
A life cycle inventory is composed of primary and secondary data.
Primary data – Data that is specific to the product or service studied.
Secondary data – Generic data that is representative of the product or
service studied.
Primary data is generally collected in the form of a questionnaire which
is sent to manufacturers and suppliers.
Secondary data in the form of environmental datasets are available in
software such as SimaPro.
Primary and secondary data can then be combined to create an
inventory.
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Data in SimaPro
SimaPro process for the production of 1 kilogram of dolomite:
Product produced
Dolomite
Amount
Inputs from the technosphere
Blasting
Electricity, medium voltage
Diesel, burned in building machine
Light fuel oil, burned in boiler 100kW
Heat, light fuel oil, at industrial furnace 1MW
Industrial machine, heavy, unspecified, at plant
Conveyor belt, at plant
Recultivation, limestone mine
Mine, limestone
Amount
7.73E-05
0.0325
0.018
0.00359
0.0898
0.000231
2.78E-08
6.52E-06
5.25E-11
Unit
kg
kWh
MJ
MJ
MJ
kg
m
m2
p
Resource use
Water, well, in ground
Occupation, mineral extraction site
Transformation, to mineral extraction site
Transformation, from forest
Dolomite, in ground
Amount
2.93E-05
8.48E-05
6.52E-06
6.52E-06
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Unit
m3
m2a
m2
m2
kg
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Unit
1 kg
Emissions to air
Heat, waste
Particulates, < 2.5 um
Particulates, > 10 um
Particulates, > 2.5 um, and < 10um
Amount
Emissions to soil
X
Amount
X
Unit
X
Emissions to water
X
Amount
X
Unit
X
0.117
0.00000887
0.000121
0.0000478
Unit
MJ
kg
kg
kg
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Inventory data libraries: Ecoinvent
Eco-invent 2.2 contains over 4000 industrial processes
• Production of materials and energy (kg, MJ)
• Transportation (tkm = weight in tonnes X distance in km)
• Specific production processes (kg of product)
• Waste disposal
Uncertainty within the data
Consistent system boundaries
Well documented and updated regularly
Includes unit and system processes
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Inventory data libraries: Ecoinvent 3
SimaPro 8 containing
Ecoinvent 3 is being
released next month.
This contains a huge
amount of new, up to date
data. The database has a
new, flexible structure.
This enables aspects such
as geographic variations
and recycling assumptions
to be modelled more easily
than ever before.
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Ecoinvent 3: Latest News
• SimaPro 8 incorporating Ecoinvent 3 is planned for release in November 2013
• SimaPro 8 will come with Ecoinvent 3 included in the price (SimaPro 7 users
with current service contracts can upgrade at no extra cost)
• Ongoing releases of SimaPro 8 (such as SimaPro 8.1, 8.2) will continue to add
more and more Ecoinvent 3 features
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•
•
•
Ecoinvent 3 contains 9070 processes (compared to about 4000 in Ecoinvent 2)
There will be new waste scenarios for EU countries
Method updates will be included such as CML, ReCiPe, BEES
Uncertainty (Monte Carlo) calculations will be three times faster
• Optimizations in the calculation engine will ensure good calculation performance
despite the increasing complexity of LCA models using Ecoinvent 3
• SimaPro 8 will require less RAM for running calculations than SimaPro 7 does
• Disk space needed for new installations will remain the same despite the greater
amount of data
• New support documents will be released (Introduction to LCA and SimaPro
Tutorial)
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Inventory data libraries: 3 others
ELCD – European Life Cycle Database
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•
•
•
System dataset from leading business associations
Dataset can be used free of charge
Currently only internally reviewed
Just over 300 processes
IDEMAT
• System processes developed at Delft University of Technology
• Focused on material processes
• Just over 400 processes
Industry Data 2.0
• System data collected from Industry associations such as Plastics Europe
• Over 60 processes, mostly plastics
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The Basics – opening SimaPro
The opening screen provides information
on the version use and service contract
expiry. Click on ‘OK’ to continue.
You can then browse and
select the database you
wish to open.
Finally you’ll be asked if you want to
open an existing project or create a
new project.
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The Basics – Structure
SimaPro is based on the use of windows.
You have a permanent menu bar along the top which allows you to print,
save, export and set preferences.
You then have a
base window
called the “LCA
Explorer”.
This contains all
of the menus
specific to the
project you have
opened and is
set out in the
following way.
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Data in SimaPro
Let’s explore some composites-related data in SimaPro …
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Impact categories
Eutrophication
Human Toxicity
Ozone Layer Depletion
Acidification
Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity
Abiotic Depletion
Global Warming Potential
Fresh Water Aquatic Ecotoxicity
Terrestrial Ecotoxicity
Renewable energy use
Non-renewable resource use
Photochemical Oxidation
Non-renewable energy use
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Results
1 kg of Nylon replaced with 1 kg of Polycarbonate.
Which is superior?
0120
0100
%
080
060
040
020
00
global warming (GWP100)
ozone layer depletion (ODP)
human toxicity
marine aquatic ecotoxicity
terrestrial ecotoxicity
Comparing 1 kg 'Nylon 6, at plant/RER S' with 1 kg 'Polycarbonate, at plant/RER S'; Method: CML 2 baseline 2000 V2.03 / World, 1995 /
characterization
Nylon 6, at plant/RER S
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Polycarbonate, at plant/RER S
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A single eco-score
To provide a single environmental score impacts are characterised into
damage levels rather than equivalents.
These are then combined into three different categories:
Human Health
Eco-systems
Resource use
These are then weighted into a single score which is measured in ecopoints
1 eco-point = 1/1000th of an average European’s yearly environmental
load
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A single eco-score
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Providing direction through LCA
This figure shows a network tree for
the production of 1kg of whitelined
chipboard.
Identifies large impacts that can be targeted for
improved measurement or reduction.
Where do the impacts come from?
Is this an important factor and should we spend
more time measuring it?
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Inventory analysis in SimaPro
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Example
Drink in glass bottles or bulk
plastic bottle:
• Glass bottle holds 700ml of
drink and weighs 427 grams
empty
• PET bottle holds 5 litres of
drink and weighs 97 grams
empty
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Example
Functional unit is one PET bottle
(5 litres of drink):
• 7.143 glass bottles are equal to
1 PET bottle
(because 700ml x 7.143 =
5000ml)
• 3050 grams of glass is equal to
97 grams of PET
(because 7.143 x 427 grams =
3050 grams)
So the comparison is 97 grams of
PET versus 3050 grams of glass
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Example
This could be modelled in
SimaPro in a simple way:
1. 97 grams of a PET production
process and 600km of
transport going into a PET
bottle assembly going into a
standard England waste
disposal scenario
2. 3050 grams of a glass
production process and 600km
of transport going into a glass
bottle assembly going into a
standard England waste
disposal scenario
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A more comprehensive model
5L bottle
with drink
Major credit
from avoided
product
Virgin
material
input
Carbon Trust:
ISBM
0.35kWh/kg vs
E.I. 1.7kWh/kg
Empty
bottles
Impact of
PET
reprocessing
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Impact assessment
The graphical form is very useful when using the compare function.
The results are
compared
separately for each
impact category.
The worst case is
placed at 100% and
all other cases are
then shown relative
to the worst case.
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Impact assessment
The graphical form is also useful when studying the normalised
results.
When the
Normalisation
button is depressed
this shows the
normalised results
in graphical form.
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Impact assessment
The ‘Tree’ and ‘Network’ tabs when using the analyse function can show the
flow of the impact through the life cycle.
Select which impact assessment
type and category should be
shown.
Display options:
Show cumulative impact.
Show percentage of impact.
Show Impact importance though
weight of arrow.
Cut off value.
Navigation options such as zoom
or pan
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Impact assessment
The ‘process contribution’ tab also allows for a detailed analysis of the
contribution of each process to each impact.
You can select
which indicator you
want to assess and
then which impact
category.
You can create a
cut off to reduce the
number of
processes shown
and show by
percentage.
Columns can be
sorted by clicking
on the title to show
the largest process
impact.
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Having a go with SimaPro
Download a free
SimaPro demo
version
and/or
Download training
slides here
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