Systematic review of scale-up methods for prospective life cycle assessment of emerging technologies

Erakca, Merve; Baumann, Manuel; Helbig, Christoph; Weil, Marcel

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142161

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 46 publications

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“…37 This comes, in particular, true for the targeted application in the packaging industry where high waste streams exist. In addition, our prototype is based on a laboratory scale requiring a theoretical upscaling, 38 of our processes, to assure comparability and robustness of potential environmental benefits, which is beyond the scope of this work. However, as the first step all relevant material and energy flows are provided in the Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designed-by-purpose power sources: a cardboard primary battery for smart packaging

Navarro-Segarra,

Ibrahim,

Martin-Fernandez

et al. 2024

Energy Environ. Sci.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designed-by-purpose power sources: a cardboard primary battery for smart packaging

Navarro-Segarra,

Ibrahim,

Martin-Fernandez

et al. 2024

Energy Environ. Sci.

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Social consequences of wood-based innovations: a generic analysis of sectoral differences in Austria

Mair-Bauernfeind,

Boiger,

Asada

et al. 2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose To model the overall social consequences of changing wood utilization, a system perspective is needed that encompasses the entire wood utilization system in a defined region. The aim of this study was to analyze the social performance of wood-based industries in Austria using sector-specific data and to use less disaggregated data to depict social risks in the resource extraction phase. Additionally, the social consequences of innovations in terms of the social performance of a sector and potential side effects on other wood-based industries were analyzed. Methods Differences in the sectoral social performance of forestry and wood-based industries in Austria were analyzed using sectoral data for 11 different social indicators (e.g., occupational injuries, woman in managerial positions) collected at official sites in Austria. To calculate the overall social performance of the sector, sectoral data from Austria need to be combined with data from other sources representing the value chain (e.g., from resource extracting countries). This enables the social consequences of a change to be analyzed by including the social indicators in the system dynamics model WOODSIM. The WOODSIM model depicts the Austrian wood utilization system, allowing the user to model direct and indirect effects of introducing an innovation in a particular industry on the social performance of industries in the wood utilization system. Results and discussion The results show that social risks can differ depending on the sectoral context even within the same country (e.g., occupational injuries in wood harvesting compared to textile production). The most dangerous sectors (in terms of injuries) are forestry and construction (34 and 3 times higher than Austrian average, respectively). Including the risks of resource extraction affects the social performance of the industries. Surprisingly, the median for Austria is 1434 accidents per 100,000 employees, whereas it is only 592 for all countries combined. Modeling the social consequences with system dynamics reveals that some innovations can result in bigger improvements in social performance than others, mostly due to the existence of more globalized value chains. Conclusions This work illustrates the importance of including sectoral information when performing generic social life cycle assessments and models the social consequences of an innovation for the first time using system dynamics modeling. To avoid overestimating positive effects when analyzing consequences, a systems perspective must be taken. Better and more disaggregated data are needed to depict the social performance of sectors more accurately.

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Environmental life cycle assessment of drink and yoghurt products using non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers in place of added sugar: the SWEET project

Suckling,

Morse,

Murphy

et al. 2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose There are increasing concerns regarding detrimental health effects of added sugar in food and drink products. Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) and sweetness enhancers (SE) are seen as viable alternatives. Much work has been done on health and safety of NNS&SE when consumed in place of sugar, but very little on their sustainability. This work aims to bridge that gap with an environmental study of replacing added sugar with NNS&SE in the context of drink and yoghurt. Methods A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to compare environmental impact of a drink and yoghurt, sweetened with sucrose, to those sweetened with NNSs or an SE: stevia rebaudioside A, sucralose, aspartame, neotame, and thaumatin. Primary ingredients data were taken from preparation of foodstuffs for clinical trials. Results are reported via the ReCiPe 2016 (H) method, with focus on land use, global warming potential (GWP), marine eutrophication, mineral resource scarcity, and water consumption. Impacts are reported in terms of 1 kg product. Scenarios explore sensitivity of the LCA results to change in background processes, functional unit, and sweetener type. This research was conducted as part of the EU Horizon 2020 project SWEET (sweeteners and sweetness enhancers: impact on health, obesity, safety, and sustainability). Results and discussion Replacing sugar with an NNS or part-replacing with an SE is shown to reduce environmental impact across most impact categories, for example, on a mass basis, GWP for a drink reduces from 0.61 to approx. 0.51 kgCO2-eq/kg and for a yoghurt from 4.15 to approx. 3.73 kgCO2-eq/kg. Variability in environmental impact is shown to be relatively small between the NNSs, indicating that choice of NNS is less important than the reformulation changes required to accommodate the loss of sugar. Reporting impact in terms of calorie density, instead of mass, shows greater reduction in environmental impact when using an NNS or SE and shows how important functional unit is when reporting impact of these products. Conclusion This study is the first to compare food or drink products sweetened with sugar, NNS, or SE. Results show that there is great potential to reduce environmental impact of sweetened drinks and yoghurts. Moreover, the choice of NNS does not greatly affect the environmental impact of either product. Therefore, this research shows that choices relating to replacing added sugar may be based more upon health or formulation needs and less on environmental concerns.

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Systematic review of scale-up methods for prospective life cycle assessment of emerging technologies

Cited by 8 publications

References 46 publications

Designed-by-purpose power sources: a cardboard primary battery for smart packaging

Designed-by-purpose power sources: a cardboard primary battery for smart packaging

Social consequences of wood-based innovations: a generic analysis of sectoral differences in Austria

Environmental life cycle assessment of drink and yoghurt products using non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers in place of added sugar: the SWEET project

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