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LCA and chemicals - pilot project
The pilot project described in the report has had the following aims:
- An assessment of which impact categories that are most important for chemicals in the
stages of production, use and disposal.
- An assessment of if and how the IUCLID-database can be utilised to extend and improve
the database and assessment methods in the EDIP LCV-tool.
- An analysis of the possibilities for using the EURAM ranking methodology to reduce the
uncertainty caused by an inadequate database in assessment of single substances.
- An analysis of which elements in the EURAM-ranking methodology, the USES-model and in
risk assessment that are most important in the decision-making process.
- An overview of other holistic tools (e.g. MFA, SFA, IOA, MIPS) with focus on
identification of single elements that can remedy lack of data in the EDIP assessment
methods.
- A description and assessment of tools for process optimisation, including demonstration
of one of the tools in a specific case.
It is initially concluded that the EDIP assessment methods for chemical impacts are in
accordance with good scientific practice regarding risk assessment and establishing of
(scientific) threshold limit values. It is not possible to point to single elements in the
method that can be replaced by other elements and thereby increase the precision in the
assessment and/or an easier procedure.
Simplified LCA’s of four chemicals with significantly different life cycles show
that there both in inventory and impact assessment are several potential sources of
uncertainties and that it is not possible to point to short-cuts or general rules of thumb
that can reduce this uncertainty. For chemicals that are handled in closed systems it can
however be assumed that the contributions to impacts on human health and the local
environment are modest compared to the contribution to other impact categories. Therefore,
uncertain effect factors and/or emission data often are often of minor importance in such
cases. Together, the four cases demonstrate that it is necessary with a thorough knowledge
of the elements and the database in the LCA methodology if consistent conclusions are to
be drawn from a LCA.
The IUCLID-database contains large amounts of information that are relevant in the
establishing of effect factors for chemical compounds in LCA. The information is however
difficult to use, primarily because it is not possible in the commercial version of the
database to create an overview of data regarding e.g. ecotoxicity and the quality of the
underlying study. The version used by governmental institutions allows for extraction of
specified data sets, and this possibility has been utilised in the EU risk ranking of High
Production Volume Chemicals (HPVC). A similar extraction of data can be used to increase
the amount of substances for which effect factors are available in the EDIP database, but
it is emphasised that the quality of such effect factors will be largely unknown.
The possibility of decreasing the lack of data in EDIP by using information from other
holistic tools is seen as very limited. Most tools use the same basic information sources
as LCA and there is thus always a possibility for direct exchange and use of selected
data. The amount of available data from other tools is however limited as the tools often
focus on single substances or materials that are being analysed in great detail. The
CHAINET concerted action programme which has been the main information source regarding
holistic tools thus also recommends that the different tools are used in a sequential or
parallel manner in order to obtain a broader assessment of a given problem area.
Tools for process optimisation can be used to produce information on resource and
energy consumption in production of chemical substances. An advantage of these tools is
that allocation in multi-output processes can be avoided, but it must also be recognised
that the use of the tools is rather resource demanding if the sole purpose is to produce
LCA-data. The motivation for industries to use process optimisation is primarily that the
economic benefits may be very large and environmental concerns only play a secondary role.
There are however also examples that a broad range on environmental parameters (as known
in LCA) are used directly in the optimisation. A basic requirement for this is that some
kind of weighting procedure is applied, but the exact conditions are not known at present.
In order to create an overview of current Danish and international initiatives in the
area of LCA and chemicals, the findings and conclusions from the pilot project were
presented at a workshop, together with presentations of initiatives of other research
groups.
Among the most interesting presentations was one regarding the use of the EU Technical
Guidance Document (TGD) to quantify process related emissions in the chemical industry.
TGD contain among other things a tool than cal be used to calculate upstream emissions,
based on knowledge about processes and physical-chemical properties of the chemicals used.
The tool is rather demanding in terms of time, but will be able to fill gaps in
inventories, e.g. regarding speciation of chemicals emitted. Together with a process
optimisation tools, focusing on energy consumption, it is thus possible to establish
relatively detailed inventories, based solely on the knowledge about process parameters
that can be found in the technical literature.
A presentation of the EU-funded OMNIITOX-project indicated that significant changes in
the way chemicals are handled in LCA can be expected within two years. At best, the result
will be a common European methodology with a high level of detail in the assessments.
Alternatively, several methods may be available at the end of the project. These will have
a lower level of detail, but an assessment of potentially several thousands of chemicals
will have been performed. With this essential project – the budget is 3.3 million
EURO – is it difficult to point to short-term Danish initiatives regarding impact
assessment that will be worth the effort. The participants at the workshop however had a
great wish to be kept informed about the developments in the project, e.g. regarding data
format and requirements, so they could be prepared to use the method when it is finished.
The possibility of a Danish support project was also mentioned.
The EDIP database on effect factors can be improved significantly by a centrally
coordinated effort, e.g. in the form of a main project. It is recommended that such a
project aims at both increasing the number of substances for which effect factors are
available and at increasing the quality of the single factors.
The following elements are regarded as being of special interest in relation to
updating of the EDIP database:
- Development of a standard format for storing and reporting of effect data for chemical
substances. The format should allow all single information and their sources to be
retrieved, preferably with a possibility of commenting the choices that have been made,
e.g. with respect to data quality.
- Development of a PC-programme with the formulas used for calculations of effect factors
in EDIP. It is suggested that the standard format and the calculation formulas are made as
a component that can be integrated in the LCA-tools that includes EDIP as an assessment
method. It is remarked in this context that the tool should contain the necessary
facilities for im- and export of data, including protection against unintentional
overwriting of already existing data.
- Development of a procedure for extraction of data from IUCLID, e.g. in an analogous way
to the automated data extraction procedure used in the EURAM ranking procedure. This
option depends on the possibility of getting access to the version of IUCLID used by
governmental institutions, i.e. following approval by Joint Research Centre and ECB in
Ispra. Extraction of data from IUCLID could initially be tested in relation to specific
substances or groups of substances for which there are ongoing or planned future
activities in Denmark.
- Development of a procedure for quality control as an element in the assessment of
chemical substances. The procedure and extent depends of the suggested method for
extraction of data from IUCLID (automated or manual). As an element in the quality control
it is suggested that each re-assessment of a chemical substance is accompanied by a
comparison with the present values in the EDIP database. In this way, an indication of the
variation between different persons assessing the same substance can be achieved,
contributing to the knowledge about weak and strong sides of the methodology.
- Completion of quality control.
The result of the activities outlined above is a publicly available database with the
basic data for an effect assessment of a large number of chemicals, potentially up to
2500, a calculation programme for easy calculation of supplementary effect assessments and
a possibility for exchange and updating of the database in an operational way. It must
however be stressed that the quality of information extracted from IUCLID will be largely
unknown.
An alternative possibility is therefore to conduct a quality-controlled updating of the
effect factors in EDIP and optionally supply similar information for additional
substances. The basic elements are the same as when using an automated extraction
procedure, i.e. development of a standard format for storing and reporting of data, and
development of a calculation tool for pc’s. The order in which effect factors are to
be updated or developed can be based on the experiences of EDIP-users with respect to
their importance (e.g. chemicals that traditionally are of importance in assessment of
local health and environmental impacts, frequently used chemicals, etc.). It is also of
great importance to ensure that effect factors for chemical substances and groups of
substances that are important in EDIP-assessments are derived with the best possible
quality. This can be done by using an expert panel, possibly associated to a coming LCA
knowledge centre.
In the area of process optimisation it is suggested to further investigate the
possibilities for integrating environmental considerations, e.g. in the form of
EDIP-assessments, in tools for process optimisation and simulation. The use of this type
of tools is rather limited at present, but the future potential is increasing following
improvements in precision and usability. A special problem in such an integration is that
it will probably require another weighting procedure than in EDIP. The first step can
therefore be to investigate how the framework and demands for an integration of economy
and environment in process optimisation can be formulated.
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