ENGN0410: Materials Science

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ENGN0410 Materials Science

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Teaching Module
• LCA Fundamentals

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What is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)?

• Evaluation of all stages of a products life
• Provides information on materials and energy flow
  and the concomitant impacts (social, economic,
  environmental)
• Enables comprehensive assessment of each stages
  as well as a holistic improvement of the entire
  life cycle

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Product Life Cycle Stages
UNEP 2004
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Why use LCA?

• Identifies specific opportunities and risks of a
  product at each stages
• Helps to avoid problem shifting and promotes
  improving the entire system
• Enables the decision makers to implement informed
  selections for the longer term
• Increases awareness of the broader environmental
  impact

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LCA and Materials Science

• Material Selection
• Materials Science provides the essential tools
  for making informed decisions
• Innovation
• Recycling of Materials
• Analysis of the quality of recycled materials
• Ways to improve the recycling process thus
  promote sustainability

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Life Cycle Assessment Framework
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Goal Definition scoping

• Places bounds on and defines outcomes of the LCA
  study
• Prior to starting analysis, define
• Study goals
• Questions to be addressed
• Required specificity
• How to organize and display results
• Scope of study
• Ground rules for work

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Inventory Analysis and the product life cycle

• Describes inputs, outputs and activities from
  start to finish (in scope)
• May be divided into convenient process stages
• Requires definition of data quality goals and
  quality evaluative measures
• Catalogs quantitative outcomes of all process
  stages
• Product life cycle provides good starting point
• Analysis steps are not always identically detailed

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Product Life Cycle Aluminum CANS

• Illustrative example of aluminum use
• In each step, site-to-site transport assumed
• Fossil fuel byproducts are assumed if they are an
  input
• Noise pollution from manufacturing activity

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Raw Materials Acquisition

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Material capture equipment
• On-site transport

In
Bauxite
Transferred Product
Out

• Capture equipment byproducts
• Groundwater contamination
• Biotic matter/tone bauxite

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Processing

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Alloying metals Mg and Cu
• Anode material

• Pitch
• Petroleum cake (smelting)
• Caustic soda (refining)

Aluminum Billet
Bauxite

• Red mud (iron oxide, silica and alumina)
• Dross (80 metallic aluminum)
• Used chemicals

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Manufacturing

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Specialized machinery
• Process water

Aluminum Can
Aluminum Billet

• Scrap aluminum
• Gray water

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Packaging

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Packing materials
• Heavy metals

• Dyes, paints and adhesives
• Product

Pallets of Aluminum Cans
Aluminum Can

• Package trimmings
• Heavy metals

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Transport Use

• Fossil fuels
• Transport mode
• Transport packing material

Empty Aluminum Can
Pallets of Aluminum Cans

• Transport mode pollution
• Soil erosion and contamination
• Water pollution

• Infrastructure degradation
• Non-reusable packing material
• Thermal pollution

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Disposal

• Transport mode
• Crushing machinery
• Containment devices

Empty Aluminum Can

• Transport exhaust
• Gray water
• Non-recyclable containment methods

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Recycling

• Dross
• Salt flux

Empty Aluminum Can
Aluminum Billet

• Non-metallic products
• Black dross
• Salts

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Recap Terms to Know

• Problem Shifting
• Embodied Energy
• Open v. Closed Product Cycles
• Downcycling
• Upcycling
• Primary Raw Materials
• Secondary Raw Materials

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Next Segment

• Examining LCA with Further Examples Lab 2

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ENGN0410 Materials Science

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Teaching Module
• Materials Science in LCA

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LCA and Materials Science

• Material Selection
• Materials Science provides the essential tools
  for making informed decisions
• Innovation
• Recycling of Materials
• Analysis of the quality of recycled materials
• Ways to improve the recycling process thus
  promote sustainability

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PRODUCT LC Seat Ibiza Door TRIM

• More complex product example
• Includes multiple polymers in composite structure
• Follows similar, but not identical processes and
  steps

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Raw Materials Acquisition

• Energy
• Extraction process water

Extracted Materials

• Air emissions
• Water effluents
• Solid wastes

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Processing

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Specialized machinery
• Process water

• Treatment chemicals

Resins Aluminum Plasticizer Steel
Extracted Materials

• Water effluents
• Air emissions
• Exhausted chemicals

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Manufacturing

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Specialized machinery
• Performance chemicals

• Process water
• Dyes and paints

Resins Aluminum Plasticizer Steel
Top Roll Insert Speaker Grill

• Water effluents
• Air emissions
• Exhausted chemicals

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Assembly Transport

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Other vehicle components
• Transport mode

Top Roll Insert Speaker Grill
New Seat Ibiza

• Air and water emissions

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Use

• Product functionality inputs

Used or Damaged Seat Ibiza
New Seat Ibiza

• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Particulates
• Aerosolized chemicals

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Disposal

• Electricity and fossil fuels
• Processing machinery
• Energy to depollute and dismantle and shred
  vehicle

Used or Damaged Seat Ibiza
Metals Poly-olefins

• Transport exhaust
• Landfill waste
• Greenhouse gas emissions

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Impact Assessment Results Interpretation

• Provides determination of which measured impact
  is worse
• Examines ecological, human health and resource
  depletion effects
• Links product/process with environmental impact
• Considers completeness, sensitivity and
  consistency of assessment results

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Fin