Stig Irving Olsen

Stig Irving Olsen
Technical University of Denmark | DTU · Department of Management Engineering

PhD

About

113
Publications
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Publications

Publications (113)
Article
Recently, environmental applications of copolymers such as CO2 capture and separation have become of significant interest. The development of copolymers with basic functional groups, such as amidoxime (AO) groups, represents a successful approach for enhancing absorption and separation of acidic molecules, such as CO2. In this research, acrylonitri...
Article
Full-text available
The industry sector has high carbon emissions with a large contribution stemming from metals manufacturing. There is an increasing interest in additive manufacturing (AM) as a manufacturing technique for lean manufacturing and circular economy (CE), but can it become environmentally sustainable?We propose a holistic framework to investigate future...
Chapter
Full-text available
Through additive manufacturing (AM), it is now possible to produce functionally gradient materials (FGM) by depositing different metal alloys at a specific location to locally improve mechanical properties and enhance product performance. Despite recent developments, however, there are still some important trade-offs to consider and inherent challe...
Article
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Seawater desalination is applied worldwide as a solution to water supply, especially for countries with limited water resources. The industry sector is the primary water user in varying qualities for different purposes. Desalination of seawater is increasingly implemented in the Persian Gulf region, but the environmental impacts have not been adequ...
Article
Full-text available
The interconnected nature of social, environmental, and economic sustainability aspects must be considered in decision-making to achieve strong sustainability. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has been developed to better include social sustainability aspects into life cycle thinking. However, many of the current S-LCA impact assessment approac...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Additive manufacturing was initially employed to create models and to prototype parts that engineers had envisioned in shorter times to provide enhanced product design flexibility. Currently, it is fully accessible to different industrial sectors. In particular, it has the potentials to be employed in the metal sector, which is a significant contri...
Article
Full-text available
The integration of circular economy-based life cycle management (LCM) into product design and optimisation is essential for the transformation towards a circular economy (CE). However, companies often lack the expertise to adapt life-cycle design (LCD) thinking in their business operations and are in need of respective capacity building. To close t...
Article
Although there is great opportunity, the bioeconomy is not a silver bullet in the quest to solve various environmental problems. This assessment tests the no agricultural waste concept, an agricultural system where all residues are utilized within a value chain, to elucidate whether the concept does indeed improve environmental performance across v...
Preprint
Full-text available
Main purposes and research question: Wheat is the second largest grain crop by tonnage in the world and the largest in Denmark. Given the observed, adverse impacts on wheat yields of climate change and the importance of wheat in the human diet, the purpose of this study was to use life cycle assessment to compare conventional wheat farming with ind...
Article
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Nutrient depletion in Tanzanian sisal production has led to yield decreases over time. We use nutrient mass balances embedded within a life cycle assessment to quantify the extent of nutrient depletion for different production systems, and then used circular economy principles to identify potential cosubstrates from within the Tanzanian economy to...
Preprint
Full-text available
Nutrient depletion in Tanzanian sisal production has led to yield decreases over time. We use nutrient mass balances embedded within a life cycle assessment to quantify the extent of nutrient depletion for different production systems, then used circular economy principles to identify potential cosubstrates from within the Tanzanian economy to anae...
Article
Full-text available
To determine the environmental and economic performance of emerging processes for the valorization of red wine pomace, a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are combined at an early design stage. A case study of two polyphenol extraction methods at laboratory scale, solvent extraction (SE) and pressurized liquid extra...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are standardized tools based on life cycle assessment (LCA) to communicate and compare environmental performance of products according to well-defined product category rules (PCRs). However, despite the comparability enabled by the PCRs, the use of this information for benchmarking is still challeng...
Article
Full-text available
To determine the environmental and economic performance of emerging processes for the valorization of red wine pomace, a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and a life cycle assessment (LCA) are combined at an early design stage. A case study of two polyphenol extraction methods at laboratory scale, solvent extraction (SE) and pressurized liquid extra...
Article
Full-text available
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) represent important sources of information in applications such as ecodesign and process optimization. However, their use in comparisons and communication is still limited. Therefore, this article aims to understand the use of LCA‐ and EPD‐information from the perspective of...
Article
Full-text available
An efficient use of biomass resources is a key element of the bioeconomy. Ideally, options leading to the highest environmental and economic gains can be singled out for any given region. In this study, to achieve this goal of singling out an ideal technology for a given region, biotechnologies are assessed by a combination of techno-economic asses...
Article
Full-text available
Despite advances in the data, models, and methods underpinning environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), it remains challenging for practitioners to effectively communicate and interpret results. These shortcomings can bias decisions and hinder public acceptance for planning supported by LCA. This paper introduces a method for interpreting LCA res...
Article
The purpose of this study was to assess: what are the circular economy opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the meat processing sector to reduce their environmental impacts, using Life cycle assessment (LCA) as the analytical method to prevent burden shifting; whether current life cycle inventories and LCA studies adequatel...
Article
Regenerative agriculture is being used by a small numbers of innovative farmers in Australia and elsewhere, and uses a range of holistic methods that works with the land and climate, such as short duration time controlled grazing with long rest periods for the paddock and higher proportions of above ground biomass, to improve soil health and farm p...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The implementation of midpoint, endpoint, and single score assessments to support decision-making remains a major challenge for developing a coherent social impact assessment methodology. The simple weighted sum approach and normalization technique for single score assessments have been problematic and the final results do not realistically...
Article
This study completed a cradle-to-retailer life cycle assessment of Danish export pork and provided a comparative assessment of six after cooling technologies for the supply of pork meat to three markets, Denmark, China and Australia. Nine different pork products delivered to retailers were assessed for fourteen midpoint impact categories. Given the...
Article
Full-text available
In order to compare the maximum potential environmental impact savings that may result from the implementation of innovative biorefinery alternatives at a regional scale, the Territorial Metabolism-Life Cycle Assessment (TM-LCA) framework is implemented. With the goal of examining environmental impacts arising from technology-to-region (territory)...
Article
Adsorbents used in adsorption processes play an important role in wastewater treatment technologies. It is therefore of interest how manufactured adsorbents can perform better or be more efficient. Is the adsorption capacity a sufficient indicator to select a good adsorbent? In this study, two nanoadsorbents of Hg(II) were successfully synthesized....
Article
Post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables during refrigerated storage, transportation and retail are an important contributor to total environmental impacts of food supply chains in Europe. Ultrasonic humidification can reduce these post-harvest losses, but it is currently unknown whether implementing the technology in practice improves the envi...
Chapter
The goal definitionis the first phase of an LCA and determines the purpose of a study in detail. This chapter teaches how to perform the six aspects of a goal definition: (1) Intended applications of the results, (2) Limitations due to methodological choices, (3) Decision context and reasons for carrying out the study, (4) Target audience, (5) Comp...
Chapter
The interpretation is the final phase of an LCA where the results of the other phases are considered together and analysed in the light of the uncertainties of the applied data and the assumptions that have been made and documented throughout the study. This chapter teaches how to perform an interpretation. The process of interpretation starts with...
Chapter
To reach the UN sustainable development goal, there is a need for comprehensive and robust tools to help decision-making identify the solutions that best support sustainable development. The decisions must have a system perspective, consider the life cycle, and all relevant impacts caused by the solution. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that...
Chapter
This report serves as an example report on how to perform an LCA according to the guidance given in Chap. 37 and how to structure the report according to the reporting template in Chap. 38. The goals of the LCA were (i) to perform a benchmarking of a prototype wood/composite (W/C) window made out of glass fibre against three alternative window type...
Chapter
Manipulation and mistakes in LCA studies are as old as the tool itself, and so is its critical review. Besides preventing misuse and unsupported claims, critical review may also help identifying mistakes and more justifiable assumptions as well as generally improve the quality of a study. It thus supports the robustness of an LCA and increases trus...
Chapter
LCA is often applied for decision-making that concerns actions reaching near or far into the future. However, traditional life cycle assessment methodology must be adjusted for the prospective and change-oriented purposes, but no standardised way of doing this has emerged yet. In this chapter some challenges are described and some learnings are der...
Chapter
Application of nanomaterials in products has led to an increase in number of nanoproducts introduced to the consumer market. However, along with new and improved products, there is a concern about the potential life cycle environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment is able to include a wide range of environmental impacts but, due to data limitatio...
Chapter
The scope definition is the second phase of an LCA. It determines what product systems are to be assessed and how this assessment should take place. This chapter teaches how to perform a scope definition. First, important terminology and key concepts of LCA are introduced. Then, the nine items making up a scope definition are elaborately explained:...
Article
Educating engineering students in sustainability is becoming increasingly important since engineering is expected to play a vital role in solving the sustainability challenges facing us. At the Technical University of Denmark this awareness is visible in the strategy where sustainability is expected to be an integrated part of all study programmes....
Article
Full-text available
The circular economy concept provides a key opportunity to address the challenge of resource scarcity for both policy makers and industries. Companies are urged to play their part and integrate circular economy in their business. However, little has been said about how implementation should occur and the consequences for the industry. This paper ex...
Article
Full-text available
Measuring the sustainability of goods and services in a systematic and objective manner has become an issue of paramount importance. Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is a holistic methodology whose aim is to integrate into a compatible format the analysis of the three pillars of sustainability, namely, economy, environment, and society....
Article
Increasing pressure to the environment due to human activities manifests the necessity of applying new approaches to determine the environmental impact of a new product before scale-up. Nanoadsorbents as an emerging product and a special application of nanomaterial play an important role in the control and removal of environmental pollutants. This...
Book
This book is a uniquely pedagogical while still comprehensive state-of-the-art description of LCA-methodology and its broad range of applications. The five parts of the book conveniently provide: I) the history and context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with its central role as quantitative and scientifically-based tool supporting society's transit...
Article
As part of the Cradle to Cradle® (C2C) certification program, the C2C certification criterion, Renewable Energy and Carbon Management (RE&CM), focuses on use of electricity from renewable energy (RE) and direct greenhouse gas offsets in the manufacturing stage and, to a limited extent, on the cradle to gate only at the highest level of certificatio...
Article
Eco-efficiency (i.e., increasing value while reducing resource use and pollution) can with advantage be combined with eco-effectiveness (i.e., maximizing the benefits to ecological and economical systems) to address the challenges posed by the circular economy in the design of circular industrial systems. We present a framework combining life cycle...
Book
While Part II of this book presents the theoretical foundation and methodology of LCA, Part III is dedicated to a comprehensive discussion of how this methodology has been adapted and applied in practice. The chapters of Part III provide an easily readable and accessible introduction to different fields of LCA application with their specific decisi...
Book
Manipulation and mistakes in LCA studies are as old as the tool itself, and so is its critical review. Besides preventing misuse and unsupported claims, critical review may also help identifying mistakes and more justifiable assumptions as well as generally improve the quality of a study. It thus supports the robustness of an LCA and increases trus...
Book
To reach the UN sustainable development goal, there is a need for comprehensive and robust tools to help decision-making identify the solutions that best support sustainable development. The decisions must have a system perspective, consider the life cycle, and all relevant impacts caused by the solution. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that...
Article
This study aims to assess the environmental impacts related to the provision of 1 kWh to the grid from wind power in Europe and to suggest how life cycle assessment can inform technology development and system planning. Four representative power plants onshore (with 2.3 and 3.2 MW turbines) and offshore (4.0 and 6.0 MW turbines) with 2015 state-of-...
Article
Engineered nanomaterials, where at least one dimension is within 1–100 nm, are produced and used in many consumer products, with the purpose of enhancing specific material properties (e.g., in plastic products). Conventionally, organic and inorganic non-engineered nanomaterial additives are also used to enhance material properties. The aim of this...
Article
Packaging, representing the second largest source of aluminium scrap at global level, deserves a key role in the transition towards the circular economy. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of aluminium products has been typically based on one life cycle considering pure aluminium flows and neglecting the presence of alloying elements and impurities. Howev...
Article
Despite their different scopes, both the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) CertifiedTM Product Standard can support companies in the implementation of circular economy strategies. Considering the case of aluminium cans, the objectives of this paper are twofold: (i) to compare the environmental impact associated...
Article
Despite a wind turbines perceived environmental benefits, there are still many improvements that can be made in the product development process to improve its environmental performance across life cycles. This is especially important as the wind power industry continues to grow, both in volume and size, in response to increasing global market deman...
Article
Full-text available
The current use of fossil fuels is problematic for both environmental and economic reasons and biofuels are regarded as a potential solution to current energy issues. This study analyzes the energy balances and greenhouse gas emissions of 24 different technology scenarios for the production of algal biodiesel from Nannochloropsis cultivated at indu...
Article
How can use of LCA improve the environmental sustainability of wind industry products? An analysis of a case study from Siemens Wind Power identifies the knowledge offered by LCA that is relevant to each step of the product development process (PDP). The study illustrates the difference that this knowledge can make to the decision making in the PDP...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) is an adaptive environmental management approach that integrates environmental, social, and economic aspects into a common framework. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) indicators aim at modelling the P-S-I components and provide background to understand D-R. The DPSIR approach was applied to t...
Article
Full-text available
The increasing societal and industrial emphasis on sustainability requests that the next generation engineers needs to be trained in the context of sustainability. One of the means to address students at DTU is the establishment of a course aimed at bachelor students from all of the university's study lines. The objectives of the course 'Sustainabi...
Article
The potential environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), and their engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), have, in recent years, been a cause of concern. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a highly qualified tool to assess products and systems and has an increasing extent been applied to ENMs. However, still only 29 case studies on LCA of ENMs...
Article
Purpose The area of oil palm plantations in Malaysia is expanding by approximately 0.14 million hectare per year, and with the increasing demand for palm oil worldwide, there is no sign of the expansions slowing down. This study aims to identify the greenhouse gas emissions associated with land conversion to oil palm, in a life cycle perspective....
Chapter
Full-text available
The increasing demand for sustainable renewable energy sources to reduce the pollution and dependency on conventional energy resources creates a path to assess the various energy sources for their sustainability. One renewable energy source might be very attractive for heat production and not so attractive for electricity and transport purposes. Th...
Chapter
The consideration of algal biomass in biodiesel production increased very rapidly in the last decade. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study is presented to compare six different biodiesel production pathways (three different harvesting techniques, i.e., aluminum as flocculent, lime flocculent, and centrifugation, and two different oil extraction meth...
Book
Full-text available
Governments are setting challenging targets to increase the production of energy and transport fuel from sustainable sources. The emphasis is increasingly on renewable sources including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass based biofuel, photovoltaics or energy recovery from waste. What are the environmental consequences of adopting these other sources...
Chapter
Full-text available
Engineers have the potential to significantly influence the sustainability of technological solutions. At DTU we aim to address sustainability to all engineering students at DTU. One of the means to address students throughout DTU is the establishment of a course aimed at bachelor students from all of the university G ÇÖs study lines. The objective...
Article
All nations have been confronted with the energy crisis due to depletion of finite fossil fuels reserves, which results an increasing global demand of biofuels for energy security, economic stability and reduction in climate change effects, and generate the opportunity to explore new biomass sources. The production of sustainable bioenergy is a cha...
Article
While it is generally agreed that successful strategies to address the health and environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (NM) should consider the well-established frameworks for conducting life-cycle assessment (LCA) and risk assessment (RA), scientific research, and specific guidance on how to practically apply these methods are still v...
Article
Micro manufacturing is an extremely demanding technological field where very special materials are used, extreme production condition like clean room, super high temperature, toxic chemicals, etc. are employed. Due to these facts, micro products can be environmentally damaging even after their smaller dimensional scale. So performing of LCA for mic...
Article
All nations have been confronted with the energy crisis due to depletion of finite fossil fuels reserves, which results an increasing global demand of biofuels for energy security, economic stability and reduction in climate change effects, and generate the opportunity to explore new biomass sources. The production of sustainable bioenergy is a cha...
Article
Greenhouse gas accountings, commonly referred to with the popular term carbon footprints (CFP), are a widely used metric of climate change impacts and the main focus of many sustainability policies among companies and authorities. However, environmental sustainability concerns not just climate change but also other environmental problems, like chem...
Article
Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are unique systems capable of converting the chemical energy of organic waste including low-strength wastewaters and lignocellulosic biomass into electricity or hydrogen/chemical products in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) or microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) respectively, or other products formed at the cathode by a...
Chapter
Full-text available
The production of sustainable bioenergy is a challenging task in the promotion of biofuels for replacing the fossil based fuels to get cleaner environment and also to reduce the dependency on other countries and uncertainty of fuel price. One biofuels might be very attractive for heat production and not so attractive for electricity and transport p...
Article
First generation biofuels are widely available because the production technologies are well developed. However, growth of the raw materials conflicts with food security, so that first- generation biofuels are not so promising. The second generation of biofuels will not compete directly with food but requires several energy intensive processes to pr...
Article
This study identifies the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, which can be achieved by optimizing the use of residues in the life cycle of palm oil derived biodiesel. This is done through compilation of data on existing and prospective treatment technologies as well as practical experiments on methane potentials from empty fruit bunches. Met...
Article
The increasing global demand of biofuels for energy security and reduction in climate change effects generate the opportunity to explore new biomass sources. Algae is a very promising source of biomass in this context as it sequester a significant quantity of carbon from atmosphere and industrial gases and is also very efficient in utilizing the nu...
Article
PurposeWhen performing a life cycle assessment (LCA), the LCA practitioner faces the need to express the characterized results in a form suitable for the final interpretation. This can be done using normalization against some common reference impact—the normalization references—which require regular updates. The study presents updated sets of norma...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose In life cycle impact assessment, normalization can be a very effective tool for the life cycle assessment practitioner to interpret results and put them into perspective. The paper presents normalization references for the recently developed USEtox™ model, which aims at calculating globally applicable characterization factors. Normalization...
Article
Full-text available
This paper describes the outline of the energy efficiency and environmental care policy and management at Siemens Industry Solutions Division. This environmental policy coherently embraces strategic planning, eco-design of energy-efficient industrial pro-cesses and solutions, design evaluation and finally communication of both environmental and eco...
Article
With the current focus on our climate change impacts, the embodied CO2 emission or “Carbon footprint” is often used as an environmental performance indicator for our products or production activities. The ability of carbon footprint to represent other types of impact like human toxicity, and hence the overall environmental impact is investigated ba...