Social life cycle assessment of a desalination and resource recovery plant on a remote island: Analysis of generic and site-specific perspectives

Tsalidis, Georgios Archimidis; Xevgenos, D.; Ktori, Rodoula; Krishnan, Adithya; Posada, John A.

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2023.03.017

Sustainable Production and Consumption

2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2023.03.017

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Social life cycle assessment of a desalination and resource recovery plant on a remote island: Analysis of generic and site-specific perspectives

Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis

D. Xevgenos

Rodoula Ktori

et al.

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Cited by 10 publications

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References 16 publications

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“…Finally, there are analyses that focus specifically on environmental [18], economic [19], and social [20] aspects. In this way, the literature highlights the relevance of a multi-level approach related to sustainability issues [21].…”

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confidence: 99%

Development Goals towards Sustainability

et al. 2023

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Implications of mineral price volatility on the outcome of social life cycle assessment interpretation—a battery material case study

Orola,

Uusitalo,

Levänen

2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose New research methods are needed to better understand the progress toward social sustainability goals. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is one way to measure this progress, but price volatility may cause challenges in using monetary value-based S-LCA modelling with typical S-LCA databases. To address these methodological concerns, the study focuses on assessing the impacts of price volatility on S-LCA results through a comparative case study on the social risks of battery materials. Methods The Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) was used to compare cathode active material (CAM) production in Finland and globally to see how price volatility of minerals impacts the results of comparative S-LCA. Also, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the prices of multiple minerals and energy types used in NMC 811 CAM production. Results and discussion This study shows that price volatility might have an unanticipated effect on the results of S-LCA, e.g., by increasing the social risks when the mineral price is decreased due to price volatility. This may cause challenges with interpretation of the results or when results of two different studies using price data from different years are compared with each other, e.g., the results of social product declarations (SPD). However, one of the main purposes of using the SHDB is to find the countries and sectors with the highest social risks in the supply chain, and these results were less sensitive to price volatility except for lithium which also had the highest price fluctuation. Conclusions Price volatility can have significant impacts on the results of the monetary value-based S-LCA. It is recommended that the mineral price volatility is considered if developing product category rules for battery-related sectors. The importance of sensitivity analyses should be emphasized, and physical unit-based reference flow should be preferred if site-specific data collection about worker hours is possible.

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Generic and site-specific social life cycle assessment of municipal wastewater treatment systems in Spain: challenges and limitations of the method when applied to resource recovery systems

Kokubo Roche,

Tsalidis,

Blanco

et al. 2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose This work aims to provide insights on the application of social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) in evaluating the social impacts associated with municipal wastewater treatment (WWT). The study assesses the social risks and social performance of two municipal WWT systems in Catalonia, Spain: a conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) (Reference System) and a novel system that recovers water and other valuable resources (Novel System). Methods S-LCA was conducted at Generic and Site-Specific levels using 1 m3 of wastewater treatment as the functional unit (FU). The Generic assessment was conducted via the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database, while the Site-Specific assessment employed the Subcategory Assessment Method (SAM) with four-level reference scales to assess the social performance of the WWTP operator and its first-tier suppliers. Furthermore, activity variables were calculated based on organizations’ shares in the total costs per FU, and the Novel System’s multifunctionality was solved through economic allocation. Results were aggregated by (i) assigning equal weights to organizations and (ii) factoring in organizations’ weights and the allocation factor, leading to results per FU. Results and discussion The Generic analysis results indicated that the Novel System entailed fewer social risks than the Reference System. Most social risks in both systems occurred in the subcategories “Access to material resources,” “Fair salary,” “Freedom of association and collective bargaining,” “Contribution to economic development,” and “Corruption.” In the Site-Specific assessment, the Novel System presented better social performance than the Reference System per 1 m3 of wastewater treatment. The latter’s performance per FU did not meet the basic requirement in four out of eleven subcategories, mainly due to the performance and weight of a chemical supplier. Allocation greatly benefitted the Novel System’s results per FU compared to the results obtained when equal weights were applied. Conclusions Activity variables were used to connect organizations’ conduct with particular WWT systems, and multifunctionality was solved. This approach allowed for obtaining results per FU at both assessment levels. However, social performance was also evaluated by calculating the average social performance of each system without considering activity variables and the FU, leading to different results. The social performance of the Novel System per FU was satisfactory across all subcategories but required improvement in four subcategories based on the average results. Given the limitations of using activity variables and allocation in S-LCA, further research is necessary to appropriately evaluate and compare the social effects of novel resource recovery systems.

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Social life cycle assessment of a desalination and resource recovery plant on a remote island: Analysis of generic and site-specific perspectives

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Development Goals towards Sustainability

Development Goals towards Sustainability

Implications of mineral price volatility on the outcome of social life cycle assessment interpretation—a battery material case study

Generic and site-specific social life cycle assessment of municipal wastewater treatment systems in Spain: challenges and limitations of the method when applied to resource recovery systems

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