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Leveraging Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate Environmental Impacts of Green Cleaning Products

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The green cleaning industry continues to pursue products that reduce or eliminate impacts on human health and the environment; however, these impacts over the life cycle are not well understood. This study assessed environmental impacts of four green cleaning products from Method Products, PBC (all-purpose cleaner, hand wash, dish soap) and Ecover (dish soap). A life cycle assessment from cradle-to-grave was performed using ReCiPe and IPCC GWP methodologies. Results correlated greatest impact contributors to ingredient composition and identified the need to improve data quality. Based on the findings, a prioritized list of actions for green cleaning companies was developed.
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Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
2212-8271 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the International Scientific Committee of the Conference “22nd CIRP conference on Life Cycle Engineering.
The 22nd CIRP conference on Life Cycle Engineering
Leveraging life cycle assessment to evaluate environmental impacts of
green cleaning products
Kathryn G. Van Lieshout a,*, Cindy Bayley a, Sarah O. Akinlabi b, Lisa von Rabenau c, David
Dornfeld a
aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94709, United States
b Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
c Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-303-917-2761. E-mail address: kvanlieshout@berkeley.edu
Abstract
The green cleaning industry continues to pursue products that reduce or eliminate impacts on human health and the environment; however,
these impacts over the life cycle are not well understood. This study assessed environmental impacts of four green cleaning products from
Method Products, PBC (all-purpose cleaner, hand wash, dish soap) and Ecover (dish soap). A life cycle assessment from cradle-to-grave was
performed and ReCiPe and IPCC GWP methodologies were applied. Results correlated greatest impact contributors to ingredient composition
and identified the need to improve data quality. Based on the findings, a prioritized list of actions for green cleaning was developed.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the International Scientific Committee of the Conference “22nd CIRP conference on Life Cycle
Engineering.
Keywords: life cycle assessment; cleaning products; ecological footprint; global warming potential; sustainability
1. Introduction
Among a complex and ever-changing chemical market, the
need to understand the impact cleaning products have on our
health and environment has become increasingly vital. Global
production of chemicals is expected to grow at a rate of 3%
each year, significantly faster than the population growth rate.
Meanwhile, production, price, and performance drive the U.S.
chemical market rather than human health and the
environment (1). To this end, green chemistry aims to
“design... chemical products and processes [that] reduce or
eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances” (2).
The green cleaning industry has grown through demand by
consumers for environmentally friendly products while
maintaining product effectiveness, as well as through pressure
by industry regulations. With over 85% of our lives being
spent indoors in the United States (3), it is important to
address the health hazards of cleaning products. Many
cleaning product companies have begun pursuing greener
chemicals as they foresee not only social and environmental
benefits but economic benefits as well. According to a 2011
report by Pike Research (4), transitioning from petroleum-
based chemicals to green chemicals has the potential to save
industry $65.5 billion by 2020. Additionally, new regulations
soon to be enforced by the European Union require that
cleaning products display their Product Environmental
Footprint (PEF) on packaging labels (5).
2. Background
Many attempts have been made to understand the health
and environmental hazards of green cleaning products, but
very few have examined products over their entire life cycle.
Current practices frequently focus on human toxicity impacts
from using the formulations. To accomplish this, chemicals
are often screened by third party companies such as
McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MDBC), Pharos,
or Green Screen. However these do not encompass the full
extent of impacts over products’ life cycles. Other evaluation
methods include Cradle to Cradle, a certificate program that
2 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000
rates products in terms of material, energy, water, and social
factors (6). On occasion, companies have developed their own
frameworks, such as Ecover’s “Diamond Model,” by which
they evaluate all of their products across the entire life cycle
(7). Furthermore, some companies have performed life cycle
assessments of their products for internal purposes, but these
assessments are not typically public. While all these methods
aim to quantify environmental impacts, they are limited by
having a narrow scope or by not being standardized.
Comprehensive life cycle assessments (LCA) of chemical
products have been sparse and inconsistent in their
methodologies, and few have focused on cleaning products.
When examining LCA trends in pharmaceutical and chemical
industries, Jiménez-González and Overcash (8) indicated that
inventory data is not available for most chemicals in life cycle
inventory (LCI) databases. Possibly as a result, many groups
have formulated their own methodologies for LCA of
chemical products. Jiménez-González et al. (9) summarized
primary green metrics in areas of resources, materials,
processing, cleaning, life cycle assessment, renewability, and
others. Yu et al. (10) developed an analytic hierarchy process
approach that resulted in a single score environmental metric,
while Saouter et al. (11) used risk quotients (a function of
consumption, removal, sewage flow, dilution).
There are a few existing studies that use LCA to evaluate
the environmental impacts of cleaning products. An existing
comparative LCA study by Kapur et al. (12) demonstrated that
general purpose cleaning products compliant to the Green Seal
Standard for Cleaning Products for Industrial and Institutional
Use, GS-37, had substantially lower environmental impacts
than conventional cleaning products in the market. Kuta et al.
(13) performed a life cycle inventory (LCI) of two hard
surface cleaning products from Procter & Gamble (P&G) in
order to “develop baseline information on the relative
contribution of various ingredients, processes, and consumer
use and disposal to total resource use and emissions.” The
authors of this paper argue that “the true value of LCI is the
realization that a change in one portion of a product’s life
cycle will have some effect (either positive or negative) in
other areas of the product’s life cycle. By applying this ‘life
cycle thinking’ to the product design process, true
improvement opportunities can be identified” (13). Saouter
and van Hoof (14) used SimaPro to construct a LCI database
for examining P&G laundry detergents. With this database
and CML92 methodology, they performed a life cycle impact
assessment (LCIA) from cradle-to-grave of a hypothetical
laundry detergent used in Belgium excluding transportation.
This study maintains that “LCIA is the appropriate tool to help
determine to what extent a particular product, process or
ingredient's emissions may be associated with a particular
impact category” (14).
Compared to conventional cleaning products, green
cleaning products already have reduced health and
environmental impacts, yet the impacts over the life cycle
remain to be understood. The purpose of this investigation is
to evaluate life cycle environmental impacts of several green
cleaning products in order to identify opportunities for
improvement within product formulations and across product
life cycles. This study demonstrates how through a
comprehensive analysis, a prioritized list of actions for green
cleaning companies can be developed in order to augment
their current methods of creating environmentally-friendly
products.
3. Methodology
Environmental impacts were determined by means of a life
cycle assessment (LCA), following ISO 14040 guidelines
through the process of: goal and scope definition, inventory
analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation (15). Products
were analyzed from cradle-to-grave, which is defined as
considering the impacts from raw material extraction through
production and use to disposal. Fig. 1 delineates the specific
phases of the life cycle that were included in this analysis.
System Boundary 1 considers the ingredients within each
product formulation and System Boundary 2 assesses impacts
based on life cycle stages (product formulation, use,
transportation, and end-of-life). It is important to note that
packaging was excluded from the analysis, as both companies
have already performed detailed LCAs on their packaging.
Fig. 1. Simplified system boundary diagram for evaluated products.
The analysis was conducted using LCA software SimaPro
8 (16) with the ecoinvent v3 database (17). Analysis
methodologies included IPCC GWP 100a (18) and ReCiPe
Endpoint H (19) to determine global warming potential
(GWP) and categorical environmental impacts, respectively.
The 18 impact categories included in ReCiPe are: climate
change, ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, freshwater
eutrophication, marine eutrophication, human toxicity,
photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter
formation, terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity,
marine ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, agricultural land
occupation, urban land occupation, natural land
transformation, water depletion, metal depletion, and fossil
depletion. European E/A normalization factors in ReCiPe
were applied to impact categories to achieve a single score
evaluation represented as ‘millipoints’.
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000 3
The selected methodologies provide comprehensive
representations of environmental impacts and communicable
results. The ReCiPe methodology provides a “harmonized” set
of modeling principles and the middle-ground, hierarchist (H)
perspective represents “the most common policy principles
with regards to time-frame and other issues” (20). Similarly,
global warming potential as determined by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) over a
100 year timeframe “the default for the Kyoto protocol and
for carbon footprint studies” (21) provides a metric that is
communicable and trusted among companies.
4. Case Study
Method Products, PBC, a U.S. based company founded in
2001, specializes in high quality and environmentally-friendly
cleaning products made from naturally derived surfactants and
ingredients. Method prides itself in utilizing recycled and, in
most cases, recyclable materials for its product packaging
(22). Ecover, a Belgium based company, also specializes in
green cleaning products and maintains that it uses
environmentally-friendly plant-based ingredients in its product
formulations (23). In September 2012, both companies
merged to form the world’s largest green cleaning product
company (24).
Four products from Method Products, PBC and Ecover
were evaluated in this study: Method all-purpose cleaner
(MAPC), Method dish soap (MDS), Method hand wash
(MHW), and Ecover dish soap (EDS). These products were
chosen as they are representative of the companies’ product
lines. Given the differing applications of the products being
considered, a functional unit of 1 kg of product” was
selected. Product formulation, use of products, and end-of-life
phases were included, as well as transportation in-between life
cycle phases.
4.1. Product Formulation
In performing this analysis, Method provided the quantities
and ingredients for the product formulations of the four
products evaluated. Dyes and fragrances (which make up less
than 0.01% of the products) were not included because their
formulations are considered proprietary information. All other
ingredients were included.
Of the 19 unique chemical ingredients present across all
four products, only six ingredients were directly present in the
SimaPro database. For those not directly available, proxy
chemicals were developed based on the chemical formulation,
molecular weights, and common manufacturing methods.
Sensitivity analyses were performed when multiple options
were possible. For example, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a
commonly used surfactant, was represented as 60% fatty
alcohol sulfate and 40% sodium carbonate. Eight proxies were
developed for SLS representing four different feedstock
varieties (coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and
petrochemical). If all proxy choices produced comparable
environmental impacts, an average case was selected, but if
impacts varied significantly, both the high and low case were
modeled. Similarly, cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) was
mapped to 73% esterquat from coconut and palm kernel oil
and 27% chloroacetic acid based on the chemical formulation
and molecular weights. To determine opportunities for
improvements within product formulas, several feedstock
options were evaluated; for example, fatty alcohol sulfate
from coconut, palm kernel, and palm fruit were compared.
4.2. Use
Water consumption during the use phase of dish soap and
hand wash were estimated based on average consumer data.
Approximate soap doses for washing hands and dishes were
measured based on the bottles controlled dispensing
mechanism. With water consumption averages for washing
hands and dishes from the US Geological Survey (USGS) (25)
and estimated dosage amounts, the total mass of water
consumed per kilogram of product was estimated as 1200 kg
and 5200 kg of water for hand wash and dish soap,
respectively. It was assumed that no water is consumed while
using Method’s all-purpose cleaner.
4.3. Transportation
Considering transportation, Method provided information
about its supply chain and the locations of main suppliers and
distributors. This analysis assumed transportation methods and
distances for an average case in Method’s and Ecover’s supply
chain, which included transport from suppliers to a bottling
factory, bottling factory to regional distributor, and regional
distributor to user (Table 1). Method uses a renewable
biodiesel fuel blend for approximately a third of its shipments
and estimates that these trucks produce 20% less carbon and
air pollutants than conventional trucks (26). Since biodiesel
transportation was not included in the database and literature
is sparse, sensitivity analyses were performed around this
transportation segment. Nanaki and Koroneos (27) found
biodiesel transportation to have 60% reduced environmental
impacts compared to diesel transportation in Greece, but this
was for cars, not trucks, and other studies have not verified
this claim. For a sensitivity analysis, we assumed impacts of
biodiesel trucking are equal to 60%, 30%, and 0% of the
impacts of diesel trucking.
Table 1. Summary of average transportation methods and distances.
Transportation Segment
Method
Distance (km)
Suppliers to factory
Diesel truck
1200
Factory to regional distributor
Freight train
3400
Regional distributor to user
Biodiesel truck
800
4.4. End-of-Life
When cleaning products have reached their end-of-life,
they can exit households through various streams, including
wastewater, municipal solid waste, and evaporation. Based on
the available end-of-life options in SimaPro, we assumed that
all products are disposed entirely as non-durable (soft) goods
in the United States. This non-durable waste scenario includes
products that are either used up entirely after a single use, such
as with cleaning products, or have a lifespan less than three
4 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000
years (16). It is important to note that the impacts from this
disposal scenario encompass the total municipal waste stream
in the United States, and therefore there is no differentiation
between green cleaning products and other non-durable goods,
such as cosmetics, conventional cleaning products, or
clothing. Packaging disposal was excluded from this analysis.
5. Results
Products were analyzed from cradle-to-gate (System
Boundary 1) and from cradle-to-grave (System Boundary 2).
System Boundary 1 analysis indicated sodium lauryl sulfate
(SLS) contributes most of the environmental impacts in the
hand wash and dish soaps, while lauryl glucoside and decyl
glucoside contribute 64% of the impacts in the all-purpose
cleaner (Fig. 2). These ingredients are also present in high
quantities in the formulation, which increases their likelihood
of dominating environmental impacts. Within SLS
formulation, the majority of the impacts are attributed to the
fatty alcohol sulfate feedstock. For SLS, fatty alcohol sulfate
from coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and petrochemical
sources were tested, and no significant impact reductions were
discovered across feedstock types.
Fig. 2. ReCiPe Endpoint H impacts by ingredient (System Boundary 1).
Other* includes ingredients that contribute less than 5% to product impacts.
MAPC = Method all-purpose cleaner, MHW = Method hand wash, MDS =
Method dish soap, EDS = Ecover dish soap, SLS = sodium lauryl sulfate,
CAPB = cocamidopropyl betaine, CAP-HS = cocamidopropyl
hydroxysultaine.
Environmental impacts with respect to life cycle stage were
quantified with ReCiPe Endpoint H (Fig. 3). For Method all-
purpose cleaner, 49% of the impacts come from disposal at
end-of-life. For Method hand wash, 46% and 28% of the
impacts come from the product formulation and water during
use, respectively. For Method dish soap and Ecover dish soap,
48% and 42% of the impacts come from water during use,
respectively.
Fig. 3. ReCiPe Endpoint H impacts by life cycle stage (System Boundary 2).
MAPC = Method all-purpose cleaner, MHW = Method hand wash, MDS =
Method dish soap, EDS = Ecover dish soap.
In addition to examining impacts across life cycle stages,
impacts were also broken down by impact category. After
applying European E/A weighting factors, the top five impact
categories were identified: climate change human health,
fossil depletion, climate change ecosystems, natural land
transformation, and human toxicity (Fig. 4). Global warming
potential as determined by IPCC 100-year methodology was
also evaluated for all products in System Boundary 2. This
assessment indicated that Method all-purpose cleaner, Method
hand wash, Method dish soap, and Ecover dish soap have a
GWP of 0.85, 1.9, 4.5, and 4.2 kg CO2-eq, respectively.
Fig. 4. ReCiPe Endpoint H impacts by impact category (System Boundary 2).
Other* includes impact categories that contribute less than 10% to overall
impacts. MAPC = Method all-purpose cleaner, MHW = Method hand wash,
MDS = Method dish soap, EDS = Ecover dish soap.
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000 5
6. Discussion
In this study, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of four
green cleaning products from Method Products, PBC and
Ecover was performed and found that both dish soaps have
higher impact potential per kilogram of product than the all-
purpose cleaner and hand wash. However, comparisons across
product types are limited because the intended functions vary
significantly. For these green cleaning products, the top three
dominant impact categories were identified as climate change
human health, fossil depletion, and climate change
ecosystems. Further investigation into product formulations
revealed that the fatty alcohol sulfate in sodium lauryl sulfate
contributes most significantly to environmental impacts,
indicating a need to focus on this ingredient.
Improvements can and should be made within product
formulas, but the greatest potential for reducing environmental
impact lies downstream from manufacturing. For all-purpose
cleaner, this analysis indicated that most impacts come from
disposal, and impacts from transportation are double the
impacts from the product itself. For hand wash, it is important
to focus on water consumption as well as the product
formulation. For dish soap, a 50% decrease in water consumed
during use could reduce overall impacts by approximately
20%. With these considerations, green cleaning product
companies and users can direct their efforts towards solutions
that are capable of producing the greatest improvements.
Possible comparisons to literature are limited due to the
absence of published data, but this LCA study generally
reinforces other evaluations. Taking a surface level
perspective, results can be compared to certificate program
evaluations such as Cradle to Cradle, but this comparison is
limited due to the lesser scope and resolution of certificate
ratings. For example, Method all-purpose cleaner, Method
hand wash, and Method dish soap received Cradle to Cradle
ratings of Gold, Silver, and Silver, respectively (28), which
agree with trends found here. Van Hoof et al. (29) used
SimaPro 7.3.3 to conduct a cradle-to-grave LCA case study on
a hand dishwashing product developed by P&G, and they also
identified climate change and fossil depletion as the most
relevant indicators. Saouter and van Hoof (14) found that from
a life cycle perspective, the product use phase is significant for
environmental impacts of laundry detergents, and impacts are
also variable due to consumer habits. More specifically, the
energy used to heat the water led to most of the emissions
generated (14). Future work for this study could include
adjusting the system boundary to include the impacts from
energy consumed to heat water. Finally, Koehler and Wildbolz
(30) conducted LCAs of nine home-care and personal-hygiene
products and also confirm the influence of consumer behavior
on environmental performance yet a lack of public
information on consumer actual-use patterns. These studies
and the one presented in this paper demonstrate how LCA can
be used to rank life cycle phases according to their
contributions to certain emissions or impact categories.
Uncertainty for this analysis was assumed to be ±10% for
all total impact scores, as can be seen through the error bars in
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Data used in LCA can have uncertainty for
many reasons, including the acquisition method, independence
of data suppliers, representativeness, temporal correlation,
geographical correlation, and further technological correlation
(31). Uncertainty for this analysis resulted primarily due to
geographical correlation (global and national data was used)
and further technological correlation (data was from processes
and materials under study, but not from Method and Ecover
specifically). As a result, data quality for green cleaning
products in general was strong, but it was poor for evaluating
Method Products, PBC and Ecover specifically. In order to
effectively leverage LCA for evaluating cleaning products
from specific companies, great strides need to be made in
improving chemical inventory data.
Several limitations to this assessment should be considered.
First, proxy chemicals were developed for ingredients not
included in the database, which may cause impacts to be
falsely represented. While the ecoinvent v3 database largely
expanded its chemical inventory from its predecessor, the
present chemicals significantly underrepresent the complexity
and size of the chemical industry. Through sensitivity
analyses, it was determined that several proxy options did not
alter results significantly; however, inventory that better
encompasses the industry would improve the validity of
results and encourage further analyses. Second, the average
inventory present in the ecoinvent database do not well
represent companies’ specific supply chains, particularly when
it comes to green chemicals. Method Products, PBC aims to
source their ingredients from sustainably managed practices,
which presumably have reduced impact potential compared to
industry averages. Third, water consumption values are highly
dependent on user habits and faucet technology. Compared to
old faucets, newer faucets in the United States use
approximately 50-75% less water per minute (25). However,
how usage patterns change as a result of new faucet
technology is not well understood. Fourth, end-of-life was
determined to be a considerable part of the overall impact, yet
its representation as disposal of non-durable (soft) goods is
inexact. This general waste scenario does include cleaning
products in its description, but additional efforts should be
made towards improving waste/disposal inventory data in the
U.S. in order to better represent the variability in product
waste streams. Finally, only products from Method Products,
PBC and Ecover were studied, and results may not generalize
to other green cleaning products and companies due to
variations in product formulations and function.
These results can be used to focus attention when using or
designing green cleaning products. For consumers, how
products are used and how much water is consumed during
use play a significant role that should not be ignored. For
green cleaning companies, it is important to recognize impacts
after products leave their factory gate in addition to continue
improving their product formulations. From this analysis, a
prioritized list of actions for green cleaning companies to
reduce their environmental impacts was developed:
1. Focus on non-water ingredients present in high quantities
in the formulation, such as SLS
2. Encourage reduced water consumption during product use
3. Investigate feedstocks and suppliers with strong land-
management and environmental practices
6 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2015) 000000
7. Conclusion & Future Work
The results of this LCA contribute to an understanding of
the environmental impacts of green cleaning products. This
analysis quantified environmental impacts of average green
cleaning products, but an adequate assessment for company-
specific impacts was not possible due to limitations in data.
SLS was identified as an opportunity for reformulation in
hand wash and dish soap given its high percentage in the
formula and therefore significant contribution to the products’
environmental impacts. Taking a life cycle perspective of the
products, it was determined that the impacts due to water
consumption during the use phase and end-of-life contribute
significantly to the environmental impacts of dish soap and
all-purpose cleaner, respectively. For hand wash, the
environmental impacts from water consumption and product
formulation are comparable. The results of this work can be
used to identify opportunities for choosing alternatives in
product formulation that can reduce environmental impact.
Future work includes comparing these findings to traditional,
non-green cleaning products in order to better understand the
advantage that these green cleaning products present, as well
as assessing impacts specific to product supply chains to
account for market variations.
Acknowledgements
Saskia Van Gendt of Method Products, PBC served as an
advisor for this project. The authors thank her for her
guidance and collaboration. The authors would also like to
acknowledge Megan Schwarzman and Martin Mulvihill of the
Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry for their expertise in
green chemistry and assistance in identifying appropriate
proxies. Many thanks also to Jeremy Faludi for his advice
concerning life cycle assessment. The Laboratory for
Manufacturing and Sustainability (LMAS
lmas.berkeley.edu) also provided assistance with this project.
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(31) Junnila, S, Horvath, A. Life-Cycle Environmental Effects of an Office
Building. Journal of Infrastructure Systems ASCE. 2003; 9:157-166.
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... There was no primary data collection. 14 Kapur et al., 15 Golsteijn et al., 16 Akizu-Gardoki et al., 17 Saouter et al. 18 price of January 2022 (collected during company visits) and the initial and final months. ...
... 34 Additionally, the hierarchist perspective was chosen to value the present and the future equally. 34 Van Lieshout et al., 14 Kapur et al., 15 and Golsteijn et al. 16 employed the ReCiPe method to assess the environmental performance of cleaning products. The product system value assessment was conducted using a monetary method. ...
... This is further supported by the fact that the Brazilian electricity matrix is largely generated from renewable sources.The greatest potential for reducing environmental impacts on the selected categories lies in the proposed modifications to the inputs of the three assessed disinfectants. This aligns with the findings of Kapur et al.15 and Van Lieshout et al.,14 who identified product composition as the most impactful life cycle stage for cleaning products.Consequently, it is possible to assess whether changes in disinfectant composition can improve its Eco-efficiency profile by changing its environmental impact and/or product system value indicator.This study's limitations included the lack of access to primary data on the formation of the sales price and production costs. This limited the interpretation of results, as it was not possible to determine the contribution of each stage of the life cycle to the final selling price or the percentage of profitability within that value. ...
Article
Full-text available
Disinfectants are essential products for reducing health risks, but they also have significant environmental impacts. This study assessed the Eco‐efficiency of disinfectants based on the NBR ISO 14045:2014. Primary data were collected from Brazilian producers, while secondary data were obtained from patents and the Ecoinvent database. The system boundaries encompassed cradle‐to‐consumer use. The selling price was adopted as the product system value indicator (economic analysis). Raw materials production had the greatest impact on the environmental performance of disinfectants A (Antibacterial, surfactant and preservative) and C (Antibacterial, surfactant and opacifier). Disinfectant B, in addition to raw materials production (Antibacterial, opacifier and surfactant), also experienced significant impacts from consumer transport. These critical processes represent more than 60% of the overall impacts in both categories. The Eco‐efficiency matrix (profile) related environmental and economic indicators. All disinfectants occupied quadrants three or four, indicating high impact on the environmental categories. Disinfectant C had the highest Eco‐efficiency while disinfectant B had the lowest, mainly due to its product system value. Sensitivity analysis indicated environmentally viable changes in the products' composition, such as replacing the antibacterial, surfactant, preservative, and opacifier. Energy and water consumption did not significantly impact the assessed products.
... This urban region is around 262 km 2 in size and has a population of approximately 12 lakh people (Census of India, 2011) expected to reach 21.74 lakh by 2025. The city's and region's general climate is warm and humid, with wide temperature fluctuations throughout the year, with average temperatures exceeding 30°C in the summer and hovering around 10°C in the winter [16,17]. Statistics shows that in the last 40 years, the frequency of hot days and hot nights have increased while cold days and cold nights have decreased dramatically [10]. ...
... Moreover, in the literature, the midpoint characterization factor for climate change is reported to be frequently employed for calculating Global Warming Potential (GWP). Further, Hierarchist (H) perspective is selected for its ability to balance between the short-and long-term damaging effects [16]. Here it should be noted that this study limits its scope to the reduction in global warming potential obtained from the energy savings achieved in heating and cooling due to use of better insulating walling materials. ...
Chapter
The building construction sector is known around the world for its huge energy consumption with a significant proportion contributed by the building’s operations phase alone. This encourages us to investigate alternative building materials in order to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. Foam concrete (FC) is one such energy-saving material with special attributes such as low density (400–1850 kg/m3) and excellent insulating characteristics. The main facet of the present study includes investigations on operational energy cost of typical G + 1 bungalow located in the Guwahati city (in Northeastern region of India) for different scenarios of walling materials (FC, autoclaved aerated concrete block (AAC) and clay brick). Experimental outcomes indicated that thermal conductivity of AAC block and FC of density 1000 kg/m3 are found to be very much lower than that of conventional clay brick. Further results on energy simulation analysis showed that building with AAC block (density 660 kg/m3) and FC (density 1000 kg/m3) as walling material exhibited yearly energy consumption of 15,188.24 and 15,608.75 kWh, respectively, which is comparatively lower than that of clay bricks (16,187.13 kWh). Adding to above, use of better insulating walling material also results in reduction of CO2 emission by 53.99 and 31.26 tons for AAC block and FC (density 1000 kg/m3), respectively. The above results highlight that FC can serve as a better energy-efficient alternative to conventional walling material.
... The ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) choice took into consideration the availability of characterization factors for a global scale. This method is also common in Life Cycle Assessment studies of detergents (papers from Van Lieshout et al. (2015), Kapur et al. (2012) and Golsteijn et al. (2015)), as shown in Table 1. It has Midpoint and Endpoint perspectives, in which impacts can be seen connected to the causes or the consequences (Cavalett et al. 2013). ...
... The examples of the referred devices are the aerator, which can mix the air with water to reduce its flow and promote the sensation of greater water volume in the user, and the flow regulator, that prevents a greater flow of water than the pre-established one for the faucet. Van Lieshout et al. (2015) also stated that modern faucets, available in the American market, can generate 50-75% less water consumption than the older ones. ...
Article
Cleaning products changed the relation between humans and the environment. Its production and market demand are increasing annually in the world which increases these products’ assessment relevance. Its inappropriate use impacts, negatively, in the environment and human health problems. The Eco-efficiency assessment is a tool to identify the life cycle hotspots and to propose technically feasible improvements. This study was done based in the NBR ISO 14045:2014 for three detergents produced in Teresina-Piauí-Brazil, namely products A, B and C. Primary and secondary data regarding inputs, outputs and selling prices were collected from three different manufacturers, the Ecoinvent database and patents. The selling price was the product system value indicator. The results were related in an Eco-efficiency matrix. The assessed products had high environmental impacts in the categories of acidification, eutrophication, scarcity of fossil and mineral resources and water use. The use stage had the greatest impacts within the referred categories due to water consumption and wastewater treatment. For the product system value, detergents A and C had a lower selling prices than product B. All detergents had high environmental impacts, then the product system value was decisive for them to occupy the matrix quadrants' three or four. Detergent C was the best choice among the three products due to its lower environmental impacts in the selected categories and selling price. Through the sensitivity analysis, it was proposed environmentally viable changes in the product’s critical points, as changes in the product formula, for manufacturers, and water consumption reduction equipment, for users.
... L'Analisi del Ciclo di Vita (LCA) è un approccio metodologico utilizzato per valutare gli impatti ambientali di un prodotto, un servizio o un processo lungo l'intero ciclo di vita, dalla produzione al consumo e alla gestione dei rifiuti. Nella valutazione dell'impatto ambientale della sanificazione e pulizia delle superfici, l'LCA può fornire una visione completa degli effetti ambientali associati a diverse pratiche, consentendo di confrontare l'impatto di processi tradizionali con quelli a basso impatto ambientale (Van Lieshout et al., 2015). L'adozione dei CAM e l'utilizzo dell'LCA permettono di definire pratiche di pulizia e sanificazione a basso impatto ambientale finalizzate a ridurre l'uso di prodotti chimici nocivi, a limitare l'inquinamento dell'ambiente acquatico e terrestre, ad ottimizzare il consumo di acqua ed energia, contribuendo alla riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra e alla conservazione delle risorse idriche. ...
Article
Full-text available
Sommario Le superfici contaminate rappresentano una delle vie principali attraverso cui virus e batteri possono diffondersi. Un buon protocollo di pulizia e sanificazione è fondamentale al fine di preservare una superficie igienica e sanificata in spazi comuni così da limitare la trasmissione di agenti patogeni. Tuttavia, il processo di sanificazione e pulizia delle superfici può comportare degli impatti ambientali significativi. In Italia, i Criteri Ambientali Minimi (CAM) rappresentano un importante strumento normativo per promuovere la sostenibilità ambientale negli appalti pubblici e privati. Nel contesto della pulizia e della sanificazione delle superfici, i CAM possono guidare verso l'adozione di prodotti e metodi a basso impatto ambientale, promuovendo pratiche più sostenibili. In questo lavoro, un protocollo "GREEN", sviluppato secondo i CAM, è stato valutato, mediante la sua applicazione in un contesto di pulizia civile. La valutazione è stata effettuata sia dal punto di vista ambientale attraverso un'analisi di Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), che dal punto di vista igienico-microbiologico, quantificando i batteri eterotrofi totali a 22°C e a 37°C a seguito di un campionamento esteso a 12 superfici presso l'edificio BL27 del campus Bovisa La Masa del Politecnico di Milano. Lo studio è stato effettuato in modo comparativo rispetto ad un protocollo di pulizia più tradizionale e ha dimostrato l'efficacia del protocollo "GREEN", adeguata alla destinazione dell'uso dell'area considerata, nell'abbattimento e nel mantenimento delle cariche batteriche al di sotto del valore preso di riferimento in questo studio di 80 UFC cm-2 e tramite l'analisi LCA una significativa riduzione (29 g di CO 2 per metro quadro) dell'impronta di carbonio, che nello scenario di applicazione del protocollo all'intero cantiere pilota porterebbe all'abbattimento di 311 kg di CO 2 emessa.
... The power consumption was estimated to be an average of about 36 kWh (FFD, 2022). For one cycle washing unit if the onetime dishwasher capacity was 1420/h dishes, consuming 36 kWh of electricity, 480 L of water, and 0.096 kg of detergent per cycle (Van Lieshout et al., 2015). The details of the per container per use input in the dishwashing machine are given in Table 1. ...
... Ideal ventilation strategies could thus be elaborated by including occupant and activity related impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) to avoid the transfer of impacts. Environmental impacts of different cleaning products have been calculated using LCA, but no link was made with the exposure to VOCs released in the operation stage(Van Lieshout et al. 2015). Indoor air concentrations and emission rates of chemicals have been measured for breath and skin(Fenske and Paulson 1999;Sun, He, and Yang 2017;Kruza and Carslaw 2019b;Zou, He, and Yang 2020) and different activities (William W.Nazaroff and Weschler 2004;Singer et al. 2006; Y. Huang, Ho, Ho, Lee, Gao, et al. 2011), but their impacts on health have not been evaluated. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
The main objective of this thesis is to account for impacts of indoor air quality in life cycle assessment of buildings. Spending more than 85% of our time indoors, we are directly exposed to indoor air pollutants. The two categories treated in this study are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Exposure to these substances increase the risk of diseases, including cancer, developmental, reproductive or cardiopulmonary diseases. Recommended exposure concentration limits by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are often exceeded, especially in buildings where the air volume and renewal rates are relatively small. To link indoor air quality (IAQ) and life cycle assessment (LCA), a comprehensive framework is developed to calculate IAQ impacts, considering the full pollutant pathway: emissions by different sources, indoor air concentration, intake by humans and impacts. VOC emissions from materials are calculated using a mass-balance model. A method was developed to calibrate the emission model using measured data in order to fix uncertain parameters. Occupant and activity VOC and PM2.5 emissions are obtained from literature. The emission rates are integrated to the INCA-Indoor model which calculates the air concentrations of substances. According to the occupancy scenario (thus the presence of occupants in the rooms), intake by inhalation, ingestion, direct dermal contact and gaseous dermal uptake are calculated. Health impacts (in DALYs, Disability Adjusted Life Years) are evaluated using effect factors from USEtox for VOCs and the integrated exposure-response model (IER) of the Global Burden of Disease for PM2.5. IAQ impacts are added to LCA end-point impacts, calculated in the same unit. It is however possible to separate them in detailed results. The applicability of the suggested framework is demonstrated on case studies, where we note that PM2.5 (indoor and outdoor) are the main contributors to IAQ impacts (40 to 94% of total impacts). An increase in ventilation rates allows to evacuate pollutants, but induces a potential rise in heat consumption, whose impacts are considered in the model. Optimal ventilation rates leading to an overall decrease in impacts are thus identified. These are different according to the use of the rooms, and are higher for rooms with strong PM sources, such as the kitchen. In the performed case study, double-flow ventilation with heat exchanger and particle filters lead to an overall 56% decrease in impacts of the building. The integration of IAQ into buildings LCA allows, from the design phase of a construction project, to estimate impacts of IAQ. It helps in decision-making, namely for the choice of construction materials or surface finishes, to dimension adequate ventilation rates and openings and fix their orientations. It can also help to update regulations for public health, by fixing target ventilation rates in different sectors, avoiding the transfer of impacts to other stages of the life cycle.
... After eliminating the raw materials, a new LCI is obtained, representing only the grinding process on an industrial scale. The sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), used to produce micro-bubbles within the PCSGs matrix, can be modelled as a combination of 60% fatty alcohol sulphate and 40% sodium carbonate (Van Lieshout et al., 2015). On the other hand, the impacts associated with autoclaving, crushing and mixing were estimated by the partial assignment of similar processes available in Ecoinvent. ...
Article
The properties of foam concrete are greatly influenced by the quality of the foam used. The stability of the foam is a vital property that needs dire attention when selecting surfactant. This paper evaluates the role of Xanthan gum (XG) as an additive in the performance improvement of foam produced with two different surfactants, viz., Hingot (Natural surfactant) and Nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) (Synthetic surfactant). Different characteristics of foam and surfactant, such as initial foam density, foam drainage, foam bubble microstructure, surface tension, and viscosity of surfactants, are experimentally evaluated. Addition of XG results in a 10-fold increment in viscosity for both hingot and NPE surfactant solutions. The above enhancement in viscosity results in a substantial reduction in bubble size and an increment in lamella thickness. Further, the reduced surface tension of Hingot surfactant also contributes to a significant reduction in the rate of bubble coalescence. Having studied the surfactant and foam behaviour, the next phase comprises studies on the influence of XG on consistency, setting behaviour, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity of foam concrete with two different densities, viz., 1000 kg/m3 and 1500 kg/m3. Results show that the addition of XG results in a reduction in consistency and an increase in demoulding time of foam concrete. Besides improvement in foam performance, a substantial increase in compressive strength and reduction in thermal conductivity of FC is also observed due to XG addition, indicating that foam bubble microstructure has a significant impact. The last phase involves the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the FC produced with the aforementioned surfactants, which is the first of its kind study that considers the impact of surfactants across various environmental categories. Results of the LCA analysis show that the total cumulative energy demand of preparation of 1 kg of Hingot solution is less than that of 1 kg of NPE surfactant solution. The environmental hazard analysis also favours Hingot as a sustainable and economical alternative to NPE surfactant. Results of LCA analysis of FC indicate that foam concrete with 1000 kg/m3 performs better than AAC block and conventional clay brick. Furthermore, the studies highlighted that there is more scope for improving the performance of LCA of FC through using various mineral admixtures as replacement for cement.
Article
Full-text available
Purpose With an ever increasing list of indicators available, life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners face the challenge of effectively communicating results to decision makers. Simplification of LCA is often limited to an arbitrary selection of indicators, use of single scores by using weighted values or single attribute indicators. These solutions are less attractive to decision makers, since value judgments are introduced or multi-indicator information is lost. Normalization could be a means to narrow the list of indicators by ranking indicators vs. a reference system. This paper shows three different normalization approaches that produce very different ranking of indicators. It is explained how normalization helps maintain a multi-indicator approach while keeping the most relevant indicators, allowing effective decision making. Methods The approaches are illustrated on a hand dishwashing case study, using ReCiPe as the impact assessment method and taking the European population (year 2000) as the reference situation. Indicators are ranked using midpoint normalization factors, and compared to the ranking from endpoint normalization broken down by midpoint contribution. Results and discussion Endpoint normalization shows Resources as the most relevant area of protection for this case, closely followed by Human Health and Ecosystem. Broken down by their key driving midpoints, fossil depletion, climate change and, to a lesser extent, particulate matter formation and metal depletion, are most relevant. Midpoint normalization, however, indicates Freshwater Eutrophication, Natural Land Transformation and Toxicity indicators (marine and freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity) are most relevant. Conclusions A three-step approach based on endpoint normalization is recommended to present only the most relevant indicators, allowing more effective decision making instead of communicating all LCA indicators. The selection process breaks out the normalized endpoint results into the most contributing midpoints (relevant indicators) and reports results with midpoint level units. Bias due to lack of data completeness is less of an issue in the endpoint normalization process (compared to midpoint normalization), while midpoint results are less subject to uncertainty (compared to endpoint results). Focusing on the relevant indicators and key contributing unit processes has proven to be effective for non-LCA expert decision makers to understand, use, and communicate complex LCA results.
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: The goal of this study was to use life cycle assessment methodology to assess the environmental impacts of industrial and institutional cleaning products that are compliant with the Green Seal standard, GS-37, and conventional products (non-GS-37-compliant) products. Methods: The scope of the study was “cradle-to-grave,” to encompass the energy and material resources required for the production of raw material and packaging components to use and final disposal of the cleaning product. The generic functional unit for this study was annual cleaning of 100,000 sq ft of office space. The ReCiPe 2008 Midpoint (hierarchist perspective) impact assessment methodology was used including the following impact categories: climate change, ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, human toxicity, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity, agricultural land occupation, natural land transformation, water depletion, and fossil depletion. General-purpose, glass, and restroom cleaning products were included in the study. Model products of GS-37-compliant, conventional concentrate, and conventional ready-to-use versions of each cleaning product were evaluated in the study. Results and Discussion: The conventional ready-to-use industrial and institutional cleaning product had the highest environmental impact in all product types and most impact categories analyzed. The GS-37-compliant products were lower than the conventional products in most impact categories studied. Further, normalization of the results showed that the impact categories of marine ecotoxicity, human toxicity, and freshwater ecotoxicity were dominant with the conventional products leading these impact categories. The packaging and distribution stages were dominant for the conventional products, whereas the product formula (i.e., chemicals used in the product) contributed significantly to overall impacts for GS-37-compliant products. The GS-37 standard addresses packaging and distribution, but could potentially further address the formula issues. Conclusions: The comparative life cycle assessment performed in this study showed that the Green Seal Standard for Industrial and Institutional Cleaners, GS-37, identifies products with notably lower environmental impact compared to typical alternatives in the market. This reduced impact was a result of the requirements in the Green Seal standard that addressed the leading sources of the impacts (namely packaging, transportation) and are not included in any other standard or recognition program in North America
Article
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Regular (1988) and compact granular (1992, 1998) laundry detergents were compared on the basis of two distinct, complementary approaches: Environmental Risk Assessment and Life-Cycle Assessment. The results are presented in this paper and an accompanying paper in this volume (Part II: Life-Cycle Assessment). Exposure data from The Netherlands and Sweden were used for this retrospective analysis. The time period studied (1988–1998) spans many innovations in laundry detergents, one of which was the introduction of compact detergents. The aquatic risk assessment resulted in risk quotients below 1 for all detergent ingredients in both countries over the period studied. Furthermore, it showed that risk quotients decrease two to five-fold between 1988 and 1998 in each country due to the introduction of compact detergents. Slightly lower risk quotients were observed in Sweden, when compared to The Netherlands, attributable to the lower water hardness resulting in lower detergent usage per wash cycle in that country. If water hardnesses were equal, the outcome of the product risk assessments would also be the same in the two countries.
Article
This paper provides a broad strokes perspective on the evolution for the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. This focus is mainly on the challenges faced to produce the needed inventory data and using the resulting LCA output in decision making, which are the backbone of any LCA estimation and practical application in industry. It also provides some of the insights the authors have derived over the last two decades of work in this area, and proposes a series of development needs within life cycle assessment as it becomes more integrated into decision-making in industry.
Article
Green Chemistry is a relatively new emerging field that strives to work at the molecular level to achieve sustainability. The field has received widespread interest in the past decade due to its ability to harness chemical innovation to meet environmental and economic goals simultaneously. Green Chemistry has a framework of a cohesive set of Twelve Principles, which have been systematically surveyed in this critical review. This article covers the concepts of design and the scientific philosophy of Green Chemistry with a set of illustrative examples. Future trends in Green Chemistry are discussed with the challenge of using the Principles as a cohesive design system (93 references).
Article
This paper quantifies the significant environmental aspects of a new high-end office building over 50 years of service life. A comprehensive environmental life-cycle assessment-including data quality assessment-was conducted to provide detailed information for establishing the causal connection between the different life-cycle elements and potential environmental impacts. The results show that most of the impacts are associated with electricity use and building materials manufacturing-in particular, electricity used in lighting, HVAC systems, and outlets; heat conduction through the structures; manufacturing and maintenance of steel; manufacturing of concrete and paint; water use and wastewater generation; and office waste management. Construction and demolition were found to have relatively insignificant impacts. The identified most significant aspects are quite predominant; 7% of all counted aspects cover over 50% of the life-cycle impacts. Practical applications of the study's results could be in the environmentally conscious design and management of office buildings.
Article
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Article
The energy fuels used for in the Greek transport sector are made up of gasoline consumed by automobiles, diesel oil consumed by taxis, trucks, maritime transport and railroads, and jet fuel used in the aircrafts. All these fuels are hydrocarbons that emit great amounts of CO2 which has a major impact in the global warming phenomenon. The issues relating to climate change, the soaring energy prices, and the uncertainty of future oil supplies, have created a strong interest in alternative transportation fuels. During the past decade biofuels in the form of blended gasoline and biodiesel have begun to find place in energy economy. The Greek car market shows a remarkably low rate in the penetration of biodiesel compared to the average European Union market. This work compares the environmental impacts of the use of gasoline, diesel and biodiesel in Greece using as a tool for the comparison the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The environmental impacts taken into consideration include: organic respiratory effects, inorganic respiratory effects, fossil fuels, acidification – eutrophication, greenhouse effect, ecotoxicity and carginogenic effects. From the environmental point of view, biodiesel appears attractive since its use results in significant reductions of GHG emissions in comparison to gasoline and diesel. It also has lower well-to-wheel emissions of methane. However, the use of biodiesel as transportation fuel increases emissions of PM10, nitrous oxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx) as well as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous; the latter are the main agents for eutrophication. This study can be considered as an opportunity for further research and evaluate the available options for a sustainable transportation system planning in Greece.