USEtox fate and ecotoxicity factors for comparative assessment of toxic emissions in life cycle analysis: sensitivity to key chemical properties

Abstract

Purpose The USEtox model was developed in a scientific consensus process involving comparison of and harmonization between existing environmental multimedia fate models. USEtox quantitatively models the continuum from chemical emission to freshwater ecosystem toxicity via chemicalspecific characterization factors (CFs) for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). This work provides understanding of the key mechanisms and chemical parameters influencing fate in the environment and impact on aquatic ecosystems. Materials and method USEtox incorporates a matrix framework for multimedia modeling, allowing separation of fate, exposure, and ecotoxicity effects in the determination of an overall CF. Current best practices, such as incorporation of intermittent rain and effect factors (EF) based on substance toxicity across species, are implemented in the model. The USEtox database provides a dataset of over 3,000 organic chemicals, of which approximately 2,500 have freshwater EFs. Freshwater characterization factors for these substances, with a special focus on a subset of chemicals with characteristic properties, were analyzed to understand the contributions of fate, exposure, and effect on the overall CFs. The approach was based on theoretical interpretation of the multimedia model components as well as multidimensional graphical analysis.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Freshwater ecotoxicity characterisation factor for metal oxide nanoparticles: A case study on titanium dioxide nanoparticle

“…At least three EC50 values from three different phyla are required to reflect the variability of the physiology and to ensure a minimum diversity of biological responses (Henderson et al, 2011). USEtox TM suggests to calculate the HC50EC50 as the geometric mean of the available single species EC50for organisms representative of three trophic levels:…”

“…USEtox™ adopts the principles of the nested-multimedia mass balance modelling, simulationg the behaviour of chemicals released from the technosphere to the environment as the net result of mass flows between a suite of well-mixed and homogeneous compartments (Henderson et al, 2011). USEtox TM uses physicochemical properties of substances and of the environment as input parameters to model transport among different phases as well as loss rates.…”

Assessment of Metal Toxicity in Marine Ecosystems: Comparative Toxicity Potentials for Nine Cationic Metals in Coastal Seawater

“…The calculation of EF was based on the recommended principles for LCA 43,45,46 . For each metal at 224 each trophic level (i.e.…”

Spatial analysis of toxic emissions in LCA: A sub-continental nested USEtox model with freshwater archetypes

“…USEtox is a consensus model developed within the Life Cycle Initiative led by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP-SETAC) (Hauschild et al, 2008;Henderson et al, 2011;Rosenbaum et al, 2008Rosenbaum et al, , 2011. This parsimonious and transparent model can screen thousands of chemicals and is widely used, but only provides continent-generic characterisation factors and impact scores for a generic unknown continent.…”