Use of Life Cycle Assessment to support
the Eco-Design of a glass-wool process
Saïcha Gerbinet (1), Roberto Renzoni (1), Vincent Briard (2) and Angélique Léonard (1)
Conclusions and perspectives
LCA : A powerful tool for eco-design
1. Better understanding of the environmental impact
2. Help to prevent impact transfers from an impact category to another or between life cycle steps.
3. Quantifies environmental performances which is useful for communication
Introduction
Building sector : Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Knauf Insulation (glass wool producer) : LCA EPD and eco-design
GaBi model [3]. Here: reducing climate change: How ? Influence on others impacts categories ?
LCA: environmental aspects/impacts for all the stages of a product's life. Energy and material fluxes for the entire life-cycle analysed. 4 interdependent steps (ISO 14040 and 14044 norms [1,2]),
The process
Transport (truck) Installation (Use (50 years)) End of Life (landfill)
Raw material exraction (wool) Raw material exraction (binder) Natural gas Oxygen Electricity Natural gas
2 factories located in Belgium and in France working on similar processes
1. Raw materials (recycled glass (cullet), sand, limestone and soda ash, as well as recycled off-cuts from the production process, borax and sodium carbonate) are weighed, mixed and sent to a furnace (1350°C - combination of two heating techniques: oxy-combustion and electricity).
2. Forming: the melted mass is fiberized and the binder is added. Special binder with ECOSE Technology (based on plant starch) is used. The wool mattress is then formed and for some products, a glass veil is added on one or both sides.
3. Curing oven: The mattress goes through a natural gas oven at 250°C in order to cure the binder. 4. The mattress is cut and packed.
Production
(1) Laboratory of Chemical Engineering – Sustainable processes and development - University of Liège, Building B6 – Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium. Saicha.Gerbinet@ulg.ac.be
(2) Knauf Insulation Sprl, Head of Sustainability, Products and Buildings, Axis Parc, Rue E. Francqui, 1435 Mont-St-Guibert, Belgium
LCA
Raw materials / energy Manufacturing Transportation Use Disposal Recycling Goal and Scope Definition Impact Assessment Inventory Analysis InterpretationResults
1. Climate change impact
Production step is the main contributor to climate change, as follows:
- Natural gas production and combustion (emissions resulting from its combustion are included in “Plant emissions”).
- Extraction and transport of raw materials for wool
2. ReCiPe methodology [4]
Takes into account 9 other impact categories.
Climate change: details on the production step (1m2 of
typical product)
ReCiPe: All life cycle (1m2 of typical product)
3. A comparison between two production plants underlines the importance of waste generation. Less waste in plant B: smaller environmental impact.
Eco-Design :
1. Less waste generated Amount of waste in plant A = Plant B. Impact on the whole life cycle for 1 m2 of typical product. - 3 %Climate Change ReCiPe: Higher reduction: categories where wool raw matter has a high impact
- 6 %
Eco-Design :
2. Energy mix for electricity production: French mix is totally replaced by photovoltaic (in the French plant) for 1 m2 of typical product.ReCiPe: Results dependent on the categories
Climate Change
Bibliographie: 1. ISO 14040 : Management environnemental - Analyse du cycle de vie - Principes et cadre, ISO, Editor 2006./ 2. ISO 14044 : Management environnemental - Analyse du cycle de vie - Exigences et lignes directrices, ISO, Editor 2006./ 3. LBP, University of Stuttgart, and PE INTERNATIONAL, GaBi 6, 2012. p. GaBi 6: Documentation of GaBi6-Datasets for life cycle engineering./4. Goedkoop, M., et al., ReCiPe 2008 : A life cycle impact assessment method which comprises harmonised category indicators at the midpoint and the endpoint level R.O.e.M. Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Editor 2009, Ruimte en Milei. p. 132.
