Lecture 17

A.A. 2023-2024
School of Engineering
Second cycle degree courses in
CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING
STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Life Cycle Assessment:

modelling with Simapro
Prof. Alessandro Manzardo
 LCA in a real case study

What are the main environmental hot-spot of reusable PE

plastic bags? What parameters shall we consider to classify
such impacts?
The functions and the functional unit
WHAT? Contain and transport a volume of solid goods
HOW MUCH? 1l
HOW WELL? To meet the resistance requirements according to the UNI
8055 standard "Polyethylene shoulder bags for the transport
of retail goods - Types, requirements and test methods"
(UNI, 2011), 95% printability and 100% recyclability.

FOR HOW …not determined cause there is no standard way to measure

LONG? it

The functional unit is determined as the volume contained and

measured in liters. The reference unit is 1l

The reference flow is defined as the quantity of product necessary to

perform the defined function and must be measured as the ratio between
the weight of the multipurpose PE bag and its effective capacity (g PE / l).
Example of System Boundaries diagram
Raw Materials

Ink

Transport

Printing Production

Extrusion Cuting and welding

Transport Die cutting

Distribution

Transport

End of life

End of life of plastic bags

End of life production waste

 From System Boundaries To Modelling

Process
Plastic Bottle

Material
Converting

PP Cap HDPE Billet PET billet

Injection
PP grains Injection HDPE Grains Injection modling PE Grains

Energy Energy/Water Energy

 Inventory Analysis: Raw Materials

PE PE PE
(Market (from LCA (Partial primary
average) Study) data)

Recycled PE
(Modelling
choices)
Inventory Analysis: Transportation

Truck Truck
(Market (Partially
average) Primary data)
 Inventory Analysis: Processes

Extrusion Extrusion
Extrusion
(Market (Partially
(Primary data)
Average) primary data)
 Impact Assessment

Impact Assessment Categories Unit Small Medium Big

Climate change kg CO2 eq 4,17E-03 2,87E-03 2,14E-03
Ozone depletion kg CFC11 eq 2,13E-10 1,46E-10 1,09E-10
Ionising radiation, HH kBq U-235 eq 1,96E-04 1,35E-04 1,01E-04
Photochemical ozone formation, HH kg NMVOC eq 1,29E-05 8,90E-06 6,65E-06
Particulate Matter disease inc. 1,57E-10 1,08E-10 8,07E-11
Non-cancer human health effects CTUh 1,93E-10 1,33E-10 9,92E-11
Cancer human health effects CTUh 3,48E-11 2,40E-11 1,79E-11
Acidification mol H+ eq 1,67E-05 1,15E-05 8,58E-06
Eutrophication freshwater kg P eq 4,58E-07 3,16E-07 2,36E-07
Eutrophication marine kg N eq 3,32E-06 2,29E-06 1,71E-06
Eutrophication terrestrial mol N eq 4,04E-05 2,78E-05 2,08E-05
Ecotoxicity freshwater CTUe 3,21E-03 2,21E-03 1,65E-03
Land use Pt 3,18E-02 2,19E-02 1,64E-02
Water scarcity m3 depriv. 1,13E-03 7,78E-04 5,81E-04
Resource use, fossils MJ 8,75E-02 6,02E-02 4,50E-02
Resource use, mineral and metals kg Sb eq 2,04E-09 1,41E-09 1,05E-09
Climate change - fossil kg CO2 eq 4,06E-03 2,80E-03 2,09E-03
Climate change - biogenic kg CO2 eq 9,19E-05 6,33E-05 4,72E-05
Climate change - land use and transform. kg CO2 eq 1,21E-05 8,32E-06 6,21E-06
 Prof. Alessandro Manzardo
alessandro.manzardo@unipd.it
Università degli Studi di Padova
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile
Edile ed Ambientale

Via Marzolo, 9 35131 Padova

E-mail: cesqa@unipd.it