Michael Dieterle

Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT | ICT · Department of Environmental Engineering

This paper aims to demonstrate the applicability and benefits of life cycle gap analyses for systematically integrating circular economy considerations into life cycle assessment. It presents life cycle gap analyses for three entirely different products (rechargeable batteries, T-shirts, plastic bottles), compares the applications and results, and...

This paper analyses and compares the LCA & LCC results of single-use PLA cups from a circular economy perspective using life cycle gap analysis and identifies potential optimizations to increase its eco-efficiency. Based on highlighted life cycle gaps of > 82 %, an advanced material recycling process chain for the recovery of secondary PLA is intro...

Life cycle gap analysis (LCGA) is a specific technique to interpret life cycle assessment (LCA) results from a circular economy (CE) perspective in order to identify potentials to further improve a product’s sustainability. This paper conceptualizes an extension of the methodology by integrating cost assessments. The visualization of the final resu...

Interview Themenbote (Beilage Handelsblatt - Donnerstag, 28. Januar 2021) zur Life Cycle Gap Analyse.

The interpretation of LCA results from a LCGA perspective allows to analyze the consequences of product innovations & new technologies with regard to both, the vision of circular economies and the actual consequences for current life cycle systems. In other words: the LCGA visualizes the distance between an ideal closed system and the status quo in...

Die Kernidee der Circular Economy Strategie ist die weitgehende Schließung von Materialkreisläufen. Für ökobilanzielle Analysen gewinnt damit die Frage an Bedeutung, wie sich die Vision geschlossener Kreisläufe sinnvoll in die konventionelle Methodik integrieren, modellieren und bewerten lässt. Der Konferenzbeitrag stellt hierfür das Konzept der Li...

Circular economies require the closing of material cycles, upcycling rather than downcycling, and increased responsibility of producers for the end of life of their products. This challenges not only the predominant linear business approach but also the way we conduct and interpret LCA studies. The conventional cradle-to-grave approach, even when i...

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the eco-efficiency of three different recycling technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) waste, and to identify the preferable and most efficient solution. Recycling via mechanical shredding, microwave pyrolysis and subcritical solvolysis is compared and comprehensive primary data on energy de...