Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

-Environmental Impact
Assessment

Sudipta Bhowmick, MEng (Candidate), MUN

 Outline
2

• Introduction to LCA
• LCA framework
• Goal, scopes and system boundary
• Pavement Life Cycle Inventory
• A complete case study in Athena Pavement
LCA tool
 What is LCA
3

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

-- methodology to measure and

understand the potential environmental
impacts associated with a product
 Life Cycle Thinking: A Glass Cup
4

4. Assembly and Packaging

The drinking glass is boxed.

3. Component 5. Distribution and Purchase

Manufacturing
The glass is distributed and
The material is formed into a bought.
drinking glass.

2. Materials 6. Installation
Processing and use
Raw materials are People drink from the
processed into glass glass.
powder.

7. Maintenance
1. Material Extraction
and upgrade
Sand and lime
It is washed and reused
are mined from the
many times.
End

Earth.
8. Disposal
Glass is recycled
Source: ENGI 9799 lecture, Dr. Kamal Hossain, 2019
 System Boundary
5

Asphalt binder Aggregate

Fuels
manufacture production

Transportation to Transportation to Transportation

plant plant to plant

Plant operations

Transportation to
Cradle to Gate site

Construction
 Pavement Life Cycle Inventory
6

Inputs – Materials, Energy,

Water

Production Construction Maintenance Use End of Life

• Aggregates • Transport • Regular • Pavement • Landfill

• Admixtures • Paving Maintenance Vehicle • Recycle
• Asphalt • Rehabilitation Interaction
Binder • Transport • Traffic
• Transpo load
rt • Storm water
Runoff
Outputs – Solid Wastes, Emissions to Air, Emissions to
Water
 LCA Tools
7
 Pavement LCA Case
8
Study
• At first it is necessary to log in Athena Pavement LCA
• A new project is created
• Project information is set up with general information
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
9

Project Roadways Information

• Add roadway is selected
• Pavement type, lane and shoulder information are required
• Cost information is ignored for LCA
• Pavement material information of different layers are also required in
this section
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
10
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
11

• Asphalt material is retrieved from pavement material design

• Width and thickness of each layer is retrieved from pavement structural
design
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
12

Site Preparation
• Excavation for new construction
• Thickness Infrastructure
Lack of
(depth) of excavation = Surface+ Base+ Subbase layer
aging
• Length and width maintenance
is derived from roadway cross section

• LOS deterioration through aging and • Routine maintenance

consumption
• Failure due to natural disaster
• Inadequate consideration of
environmental effects in design step
• Spoiled rusty iron of the Brooklyn
Bridge structure, the construction of
which finished in 1883
• Ad-hoc maintenance not
sustainable
• Changes in consumption
• Inability to performance
prediction
• Less attention on performance
prediction modelling
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
13

Scarcity of Inadequate
financial financial
resources reporting

• In 2018/19, the Parliamentary • Based on government

Budget Officer (PBO) projects
deficit of $22.1 billion—$4
billion more than $18.1 billion
deficit in Canada
• Cost effective solution and
better management needed
accepted financial reporting
framework
• Transparency of inventory
data
• Monitoring of continuous
expenditure
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
14

Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) Schedule

• One of the most important steps
• The time when each M&R is executed and their lifespan information
 Pavement LCA Case Study
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(Contd)
M&R #1
• Asphalt Partial Depth Reclamation
• Percentage of distressed area chosen
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
16

M&R #1(contd)
• In Athena tool, unticked activity are considered for LCA
• If any material is added/removed, it needs to be mentioned
• Material type, name and thickness/width are required
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
17

M&R #2
• Rout and seal
• Percentage of length of cracking chosen
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
18

M&R #3
• Asphalt milling
• Percentage of distressed area chosen
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
19

M&R #4
• Asphalt Paving
• Percentage of distressed area chosen
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
20

M&R #4 (contd)
• Asphalt Paving information

Maintains and
rehabilitates
regularly
 Pavement Vehicle Interaction (PVI)
21

Major
PVI
factors
Pavement Roughness
Interaction roughness
between
vehicle’s tires
and roadway
surface. Pavement
deflection
Deflection
Source: Akbarian, M., A. Louhghalam, and F. J. Ulm
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
22

Inventory data for PVI

• Vehicle speed IGNORED in this case
• Elastic Modulus study
• IRI
• Thickness and density of surface
layer
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
23

Inventory data for PVI (contd)

• AADT
• Traffic growth rate
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
24

Construction and M&R equipment Information

 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
25

Operating Energy Consumption

• If any extra energy is consumed and considered in LCA
• Example: Street Lighting
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
26

LCA report
• User can specify the emission result he requires
• Submit Report Request is clicked on
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
27

Summary of LCA results

• Different types of emission for different stages of pavement life cycle
• Results can be imported to excel for further analysis
 Pavement LCA Case Study (Contd)
28
 References
29

• User Manual and Transparency Document, Athena Pavement LCA

• Innovation A practical international guide – the California/USA Journey,
John Harvey, UC Berkeley
• Measuring Environmental Sustainability Heather Dylla, 2014 Cal APA
Spring Asphalt Pavement Conference & Equipment Expo.
• Akbarian, M. Thesis paper: Quantitative Sustainability Assessment of
Pavement-Vehicle Interaction: from Bench-Top Experiments to Integrated
Road Network Analysis, 2015
• Santero, N. J., Masanet, E., & Horvath, A. (2011). Life-cycle assessment of
pavements. Part I: Critical review. Resources, Conservation and Recycling,
55(9-10), 801-809.
• Harvey, J., Meijer, J., Ozer, H., Al-Qadi, I. L., Saboori, A., & Kendall, A.
(2016). Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Framework (No. FHWA-HIF-16-
014). United States. Federal Highway Administration.
 Thank you.
Questions,
Please!
Acknowledgment
Rakibul Alam, PhD (Candidate), FSU