Magdalena Svanström

Chalmers University of Technology · Department of Technology Management and Economics

The importance of including fossil carbon in greenhouse gas emission assessments from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is highlighted in the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines revision and underpinned by an increasing number of experimental studies. The present study introduces a model-based approach to estimate fo...

In Europe, a decrease in the availability of phosphate rock resources has led to the development of emerging technologies for phosphorus recovery, with the purpose of generating products that can be used as fertilisers. An innovative conceptual system dedicated to the phosphorus recovery from dairy wastewater is considered in the paper. New technol...

Introduction Unplanned events such as accidents and more massive black-swan events are contingent to modern technology. However, varying approaches and inconsistent guidelines make the inclusion of unplanned events in life cycle assessment (LCA) uncommon and challenging. This paper discusses the relevance of considering unplanned events in LCA and...

The use of carbon fibre (CF)-based composites is of growing global importance due to their application in high-end sectors such as aerospace, automotive, construction, sports and leisure amongst others. However, their current high production cost, high carbon footprint and reduced production capability limit their use to high-performance and luxury...

Purpose Some future-oriented life cycle assessment (LCA) terms, particularly prospective and ex-ante, show notable increase in use in publications over the last decade. However, scholars have pointed out that it is currently unclear exactly what these terms mean and how they are related. This paper aims to explain defining differences between futur...

This paper describes what type of advice life cycle assessment can provide in different parts of a material development project. Based on experiences from a multi-year research project aiming to decrease the environmental impacts of carbon fibre composites, we aim to show and discuss what type of input we could provide the material developers at di...

Batteries are enablers for reducing fossil‐fuel dependency and climate‐change impacts. In this study, a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of large‐scale production of two different sodium‐ion battery (SIB) cells is performed with a cradle‐to‐gate system boundary. The SIB cells modeled have Prussian white cathodes and hard carbon anodes based...

Purpose Structural battery composites (SBCs) are multifunctional carbon fibre composites that can be used as structural elements in battery electric vehicles to store energy. By decreasing the weight of the vehicle, energy consumption in the use phase can be reduced, something that could be counteracted by the energy-intensive carbon fibre producti...

The use of carbon fibre (CF) based composites is of growing global importance due to their applications in high end sectors such aerospace, automotive, construction, sports and leisure amongst others. It is forecast that composites will reach a global market value of $131.6 bn by 2024. However, their current high production cost, high carbon footpr...

A significant increase in phosphorus-rich dairy wastewater coincides with a decrease in the availability of fossil phosphate rock resources in Europe. This confluence of events has led to the development of technologies for phosphorus recovery from dairy wastewater. This study aims to inform and guide such development with regard to life cycle envi...

Purpose Composites consist of at least two merged materials. Separation of these components for recycling is typically an energy-intensive process with potentially significant impacts on the components’ quality. The purpose of this article is to suggest how allocation for recycling of products manufactured from composites can be handled in life cyc...

Carbon fiber composites are increasingly used to decrease fuel consumption in the use phase of vehicles. However, due to the energy intensive production, the reduced fuel consumption may not lead to life cycle environmental savings as much as for other lightweighting materials, for example fiberglass. This study uses life cycle assessment methodolo...

Purpose Most approaches for energy use assessment in life cycle assessment do not consider the scarcity of energy resources. A few approaches consider the scarcity of fossil energy resources only. No approach considers the scarcity of both renewable and non-renewable energy resources. In this paper, considerations for including physical energy scar...

One of the factors that the successful development of a bio-based economy depends on, is the development of novel biorefinery process concepts and technologies for the production of chemicals and materials. Besides being economically profitable, these concepts and technologies should also be environmentally benign. However, they are oftentimes stil...

One way to reduce the environmental impact of an electric vehicle is to reduce the vehicle's mass. This can be done by substitution of conventional materials such as steel, aluminium, and plastics with carbon fibre composites, or possibly even with structural battery composite materials. In the latter case, another consequence is that the size of t...

More sustainable management of phosphorus requires comprehensive understanding of phosphorus stocks and flows. With the purpose of shedding light on the possibilities for an increased level of recirculation of phosphorus in Sweden, phosphorus flows entering and exiting biomass production sectors were quantified along with waste flows, that is, flow...

The original version of this article unfortunately contained an inaccuracy.

The Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchange on Sustainability Workshop (TARDIS) is a meeting on scientific topics related to sustainability. The 2019 workshop theme was "On the Role of Uncertainty in Managing the Earth for Global Sustainability." This paper presents the perspectives on this topic derived from talks and discussions at th...

PurposeLignin extraction in pulp mills and biorefineries are emerging technologies. Lignin is always the product of a multi-output process. Assessing such processes using life cycle assessment (LCA) requires the environmental impacts to be divided between the co-products of the system, referred to as allocation. This article explores different allo...

Despite the significant reduction of phosphorus (P) discharge in the Baltic Sea in the last decades, obtained through the implementation of some approaches within the Helsinki Convention, eutrophication is still considered the biggest problem for the Baltic Sea environment. Consequently, the reduction of P load is an urgent need to solve, but the c...

Purpose Toxicity impacts of chemicals have only been covered to a minor extent in LCA studies of textile products. The two main reasons for this exclusion are (1) the lack of life cycle inventory (LCI) data on use and emissions of textile-related chemicals, and (2) the lack of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) data for calculating impacts based o...

The article entitled ‘Review: the availability of life-cycle studies in Sweden’ by Croft and colleagues (January 2019, volume 24, issue 1, pages 6–11) has puzzled many researchers in Sweden. The stated purpose of the article is to review the availability of water and carbon footprinting studies and life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies in Sweden. Des...

This textbook presents key approaches to understanding issues of sustainability and environmental management, ranging from environmental science to law and ethics. It begins with the fundamentals of environmental modelling and toxicology, which are then used to discuss qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods, and environmental assessme...

Screening the life cycle assessment literature for information and recalculating extracted results was proven useful for identifying environmental challenges and opportunities in new, but related, contexts at early stages of technology development. The method was applied to carbon fiber reinforced polymers, a material of growing importance in indus...

Despite general agreement on the importance of adjusting each life cycle assessment (LCA) to its goal, the methodological choices in previously published LCAs on wastewater and sludge management systems are surprisingly similar, even when the information sought in the studies most likely differ. We argue that the potential of LCA may not currently...

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists - by Greg Peters March 2019

Purpose This article aims to explore how different assumptions about system boundaries and setting of baselines for forest growth affect the outcome of climate impact assessments of forest products using life cycle assessment (LCA), regarding the potential for climate impact mitigation from replacing non-forest benchmarks. This article attempts to...

In education for sustainable development (ESD), the inclusion and handling of a multitude of perspectives and the interconnectivity of different dimensions of the world are often targeted. Based on the assumption that concept maps can capture notions of this learning, concept maps generated by students were used to complement a large number of othe...

Free download until October 11 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Xbc13QCo9R41w Many outdoor garments are impregnated to make them water and, in some cases oil repellent, but the impregnation agents can be hazardous to human health and the environment. Some examples of such hazardous impregnation agents include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. To...

It is claimed that for behaviour to change, it is not enough for someone to realize what needs to change; the person also needs both motivation and support in changing habits. In the first year of a chemical engineering programme in Sweden, students have, since 2015, engaged in individual projects in which they make a sustainability motivated chang...

We present a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of a lithium/sulfur (Li/S) cell regarding its energy use (in electricity equivalents, kWhel) and climate change (in kg carbon dioxide equivalents, CO2 eq) with the aim of identifying improvement potentials. Possible improvements are illustrated by departing from a base case of Li/S battery design, elec...

Purpose A cradle-to-gate, input/output-based social life cycle assessment (SLCA) was conducted using the Swedish clothing consumption as a case study. The aim was to investigate the influence of the cut-off rule and the definition of “hotspots” in social hotspot assessment. A second aim was to identify social hotspots of Swedish clothing on a natio...

In recent years, there has been increasing interest within the engineering education research community to prepare engineering students to address wicked problems (WPs) such as climate change, resource scarcity and violent conflict. Previous research suggests that engineering students are able to address WPs if they are given adequate support, but...

Wicked sustainability problems (WSPs) are an important and particularly challenging type of problem. Science and engineering education can play an important role in preparing students to deal with such problems, but current educational practice may not adequately prepare students to do so. We address this gap by providing insights related to studen...

Nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter are valuable resources in sewage sludge. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be useful for comparing the potential environmental risks of sludge management strategies to their potential environmental benefits. With growing interest in resource recovery from sludge, there is an increasing need to properly account...

A holistic assessment procedure has been used in this study for comparing conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes for the treatment of municipal wastewater. Technical, social, administrative, economic and environmental impacts have been evaluated based on 1 year of operational data from three full-scale lines (on...

Previous research indicates that engineering education does not adequately prepare students to address complex, ill-structured, real-world problems, such as wicked problems (WPs), and that one reason for this may be a lack of robust assessment instruments. In recent years, assessment rubrics have been developed and evaluated for a variety of learni...

The transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy requires the development of novel technologies that enable the replacement of the current fossil-based energy carriers, chemicals and materials with their bio-based counterparts. These novel technologies need to be economically feasible and guarantee a low environmental impact due to the pro...

Purpose: Many municipalities are facing increasing pressure to adapt solid waste and wastewater management infrastructures in order to better close nutrient cycles. The focus of this study is on the estimation of the human toxicity potential associated with chemical contaminants released upon the application of sewage sludge to agricultural land. M...

To provide input to sewage sludge management strategies that address expected new regulations in terms of hygienisation and phosphorus recovery in Sweden, an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) was made. The LCA identified environmental hot spots for methods that may permit sludge or phosphorus from sludge to be applied on agricultural land....

This paper is aimed at evaluating, from a techno-economic and environmental point of view, the performance of an existing wastewater treatment plant in which the traditional biological section is upgraded with an innovative Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactor. Two scenarios were simulated in order to model and assess the performances of con...

The Mistra Future Fashion research programme (2011–2019) is a large Swedish investment aimed at reducing the environmental impact of clothing consumption. Midway into the programme, research results and insights were reviewed with the intent to see what picture appears from this interdisciplinary consortium, developed to address the multiple sustai...

Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are two distinct environmental management techniques that can provide complementary perspectives when assessing management options for urban water and sanitation infrastructure. While QMRA per definition concerns microbial risks, accounting for pathogens in LCA has receiv...

In this work we have performed a feasibility study of two upgrading alternatives for sewage sludge stabilization aimed to the reduction of the produced sludge and to the improvement of its qualitative characteristics with respect to its final destination: agricultural use or incineration. The first upgrading (1) proposes the separated thickening: p...

This chapter summarises future research needs related to improving the methods and practices of life cycle assessment (LCA) of forest products. Among others, the research needs concern scenario modelling, attributional and consequential modelling, end-of-life modelling, impact assessment (of climate change, biodiversity loss, and water cycle distur...

This chapter introduces life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology in terms of the four phases of an LCA: goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory analysis, life cycle impact assessment and interpretation. It also introduces the concepts of attributional and consequential LCA, which relate to many of the challenges described in Chap. 4. Finally...

This chapter provides an extensive walkthrough of the important challenges encountered when carrying out life cycle assessment (LCA) of forest products, and proposes some solutions to these challenges, with examples from the scientific literature and technical reports. The topics include: modelling future and/or uncertain product systems, handling...

This chapter introduces some of the strengths and weaknesses of forest products, for example relating to renewability, biodegradability, climate change, biodiversity loss and water cycle disturbances, indirect land use and land use change. It is explained how the complexities surrounding these topics are key reasons for why environmental assessment...

This brief contains information on the reduction of environmental impact and explains how it is a key driver for the R&D of new forest products. The authors, experts in the field, describe how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to assess the environmental impact of such products, e.g. in order to guide R&D or attract investments. The authors descr...

This chapter introduces important environmental and resource crises, describes how increased production and use of forest products are important means for tackling these crises, but stresses that forest products are not necessarily environmentally superior to non-forest products. Furthermore, the chapter underlines the need for carrying out life cy...

This chapter contains some concluding remarks related to the content of previous chapters, for example stressing the need for context-aligned methods and practices in life cycle assessment (LCA) of forest products.

Purpose Nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon originating from wastewater and sludge can, depending on their partitioning during wastewater treatment, either become available as potential resources or leave as emissions. Several reviews have highlighted the dependence of life cycle assessment (LCA) results on the inventory data. To provide a foundation f...

In this paper, the potential impacts in the techno-environmental performance of a municipal wastewater treatment plant with integrated mixed-microbial-culture polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production are presented for the first time. A life cycle assessment was conducted based on mass and energy balances. The techno-environmental performance was evalu...

The chemical engineering programme at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, has had compulsory courses on environmental science, environmental engineering and sustainable development (SD) at bachelor level for many years. This paper reports on curriculum development projects performed in 2013 and 2014 aimed at improving the quality...

Many of the most pressing sustainability issues are not purely technical problems. To work for sustainable development (SD) requires addressing wicked sustainability problems (WSPs), such as climate change, poverty, and resource scarcity. Previous research has shown that addressing WSPs is challenging for engineering students. In particular, studen...

The environmental challenges associated with consumption of textiles have generally been investigated on product level in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies. For social sustainability aspects, social hotspot analysis has instead been applied on the textile sector level. The aim with the industry sector approach developed by the authors was to enab...

Purpose Recent attempts to include adverse effects of pathogens on human health in life cycle assessment (LCA) have focused on integrating results obtained through quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) as an impact category in LCA. This study aimed to investigate whether the use of QMRA can be an adequate way of integrating pathogen impact...

Purpose The planetary boundaries (PBs) framework suggests global limits for environmental interventions which could be used to set global goals for reducing environmental impacts. This paper proposes a procedure for using such global goals for setting impact-reduction targets at the scale of products for use, for example, in life cycle assessment (...