Environmental Life Cycle Assessment PSE 476WPS 595 005

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment PSE 476/WPS 595 -005 Lecture 10 A: Allocation Fall 2014 Richard A. Venditti Forest Biomaterials North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695 -8005 Richard_Venditti@ncsu. edu Go. ncsu. edu/venditti 1

Allocation • Allocation: partitioning the input and output flows of a process or a product system between the product system under study and one or more of the other product systems (ISO 14044: 2006 E)

Allocation Procedures • Step 1: allocation should be avoided – Increasing the level of detail. By dividing the unit process into 2 or more sub-processes and tracking data for both separately – System Expansion. Expanding the system to include the additional functions of the related co-products Refs: Michael Hauschild, DTU

Allocation Procedures • Step 2: partition the inputs and outputs between products in a way that reflects underlying physical relationships – Number of parts – Mass – Volume • Step 3: partition the inputs and outputs between products in a way that reflects other relationships between them – economic value Refs: Michael Hauschild, DTU

Avoidance of Allocation: Divide the process • A factory makes television sets and also makes car radios. The factory utilizes 50, 000 k. Wh every month. The electrical power used during days in which tv manufacture occurs is twice the amount than when radios are being made. In an month 8000 tv’s and 2000 radios are produced on average. What is the amount of electricity that can be attributed to a tv and a radio? The factory is closed on weekends. 5

Avoidance of Allocation: Divide the process 6

Avoidance of Allocation: System Expansion • A landfill disposes of 50 tons of waste by burning and produces 550 k. Wh per ton. The process emits a total of 400 kg of CO 2 e per ton of waste burnt. Use system expansion to determine the emission per ton of waste processed for the following cases for the alternate source of electricity: – Anthracite coal – Natural Gas – Biodiesel 7

Avoidance of Allocation: System Expansion 8

Allocation Issues: Co-products: • Co-products Allocation: a single process produces multiple products, – Burdens can be partitioned by mass flows, volume flows, piece flows monetary values…. – Must use process/product knowledge to determine partioning method – Example for paper production: paper, Tall Oil, turpentine, electricity… Emissions Raw Matls Power System Product B Product A 9

Allocation Issues: Co-products: • A truck travels 800 km delivering 10, 000 kg of food. The truck has the following emission. 094 kg CO 2 e/tonne km. The following is transported: – 800 packages of spices, 0. 5 kg per bag, price: $800/kg – 8000 packages of flour, 1 kg per bag, price $30/kg – 400 packages of rice, 4 kg per bag, $1/kg • Use allocation procedures to allocate the emission. Determine the emission per kg of each food product also. – By bag – By mass – By value

Allocation Issues: Co-products: • Total emissions: • Total bags: • Total Mass: • Total Value:

Allocation Issues: Co-products: Item Allocation Factor Spice Flour Rice Allocated Flow, kg CO 2 e Emission kg CO 2 e /bag Emission kg CO 2 e /kg food

Allocation Issues: Co-products: Mass Allocation Factor Spice Flour Rice Allocated Flow, kg CO 2 e Economic Allocation Emission kg Allocation CO 2 e /kg Factor food Allocated Flow, kg CO 2 e Emission kg CO 2 e / kg food

Allocation Issues: Recycling • Recycling Allocation: a virgin product is recycled or re-used in a subsequent life (Hitchhikers guide to LCA, Baumann and Tillman, 2004) – There exists operations that are required by the virgin and the recycled products (shared operations) – Example shared operations: virgin raw material production, final disposal – Many ways to allocate the burdens of the common operations 14

Allocation Issues: Recycling: • Cut off method: loads directly caused by a product are assigned to that product (V 1 to L 1, R 1 to L 2, R 2 and W 3 to L 3) • Approximation with closed loop recycling. Equal burdens. All lives of a product share equal the shared operation loads. • Relative loss of quality: shared operation loads partitioned according to quality of products • Waste treatment is inevitable consequence of raw material extraction (V 1 and W 3 to L 1) • Man made products are valuable that must be replaced by virgin resources if lost as waste (V 1 and W 3 to L 3)

Allocation Issues: Recycling • Use cut off, approx. of closed loop, and quality methods to calculate emissions of each product • R 1=R 2= 3 units of emissions, • W 3=1 unit of emissions • Relative quality of products: Q 1=1, Q 2=0. 75, Q 3=0. 5 U 1=U 2=U 3=0 16

Allocation Issues: Recycling • Use cut off, approx. of closed loop, and quality methods to calculate emissions of each product 17

Summary • • Coproducts System expansion Divide the process Allocation – • • 18 Item, physical quantity, other quantity Allocation factor Allocated emissions Recycling Shared operations Cut off Loss of quality Equal burdens