greening the life cycle of polylactide
TRANSCRIPT
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Greening the Life Cycle of Polylactide:
Why we need transparency in LCA
Olivier Talon, Björn BergmannLille, 05/11/2014
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Polylactide (PLA)
Major producer
NatureWorks (US), Ingeo made from corn.
Biobased plastic
Made from corn starch, cane sugar, beet sugar… or anyfermentable sugar.
cornproduction
starchextraction
lactic acidfermentation /
purification
lactideoligomerization /
cyclization
PLARing Opening Polymerization
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
InnoREX in one picture« Continuous, highly precise production of PLA using alternative
energies and metal-free catalysts for reactive extrusion »
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
InnoREX consortium
For more information about InnoREX:www.innorex.eu
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
InnoREX project: From a Life Cycle point of view
crop(corn)
sugar
lactic acid
use
chemicalrecycling other EOL
PLA Life Cycle
InnoREX focus
lactide PLA synthesis
pelletization
shaping
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Expected environmental benefitsHighly targeted energy use
By-pass of pelletization step
Alternative catalysts
energy for synthesis diminution of energy-related impacts (climate change, …)
energy saving diminution of energy-related impacts (climate change, …)
toxicity diminution of toxicity-related impacts for production and use steps, possible
indirect impact on end-of-life
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
LCA, a tool for answering 2 questions
How much could we lower the impact?
How much do we lower the impact?
LCA should help us quantifying the contribution of the steps we work on to the overall impact of the Life Cycle of PLA
1st step: Focus on cradle-to-gate inventory for
PLA pellets
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
What we expect LCI data to be…
corn production wet
millinglacticacid
production
lactideproduction
PLAproduction
- Modular- Disaggregated
- Transparent
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
…so that we can:
corn production wet
millinglacticacid
production
lactideproduction
InnoREXPLA
production
- Identify hotspots and major contributors
- Replace process steps in new models
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
What LCI data are…NatureWorks eco-profile
1 kg PLAEcoinvent 3 dataset
1 kg PLA
- slightly less aggregated- 1,507 kg corn
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
It looks like data are not always as
modular, disaggregated and transparent as we
expect
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Transparency: the keyword of LCA?« Transparency is the quality of being done
in an open way without secrets »Cambridge online dictionary
« Transparency: open, comprehensive and understandable presentation of information »
ISO 14040 & 14044 standard
The word transparency appears 7/8 times in the text of the standards…
… but NOT in the « inventory » section
So… the way data are used has to be transparent…
… but opacity can be admitted for the way data are obtained???
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Who guarantees the reliability of the data we use?
Trust in my data…
Only trust does, because lack of transparency prevents
us from checking them
Feedback on databases for continuous improvement is encouraged (and mostlyefficient)… but opacity makes it uneasy and time-consuming for practitioners.
Third part review may confirm that data were generated following best practices, but are « best practices » enough strictly defined?
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Let’s say we trust.
How can we go on further with our
study?
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Home-made disaggregation based on published studies and
inventories?
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Almost impossible…(and highly time-consuming)
NatureWorks eco-profile1 kg PLA
EI3 dataset1 kg PLA
Different goals and scopes…
Different (and not really transparent) modelling hypotheses…
Different mass balances !!!
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Different mass balances???The strange case of Dr. Corn and Mr. PLA
How much corn is needed to produce 1 kg PLA?
1,5 kgecoinvent
1,7 kgNatureWorks LCA
2,95 kgNatureWorks other
2,2 kgNatureWorks
other
at lea
st 1,9
kgoth
er so
urce
most likely about
2,5 kgmy guess by
crossing sources
2,5
kg
2 kg
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
And yet, corn in itself is a major contributor to the
impact of the Life Cycle of PLA…
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
EI3 PLA impacts: corn contribution
calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
But how to correct this in EI3 dataset?
Change corn input?Modify all other inputs and
emissions accordingly?Results would obviously not be the
same…
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
PLA vs. modified PLAs
calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
The next PLA eco-profile: A new hope?
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
The case of PLA may not be representative of all data…
… but it is for sure not isolated.
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The strange case of Dr. Styrene and Mr. PS
Is polymerization the answer to global warming?
datasets from EI3, calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04
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Seems nonsensical…To say the least, these datasets are not
compatible…
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What could possibly go wrong with opacity,
anyway?
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Case study: substitution of PET by PLA for bottle application.
Evaluation with a LCA webtool.
data
results
interpretation
decision
model
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
But… what are these data?
Non transparent (and obviously not compatible) datasets used in the same database...
data
results
interpretation
decision
model
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
The quest for transparency: an ancient history…
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
What could be done?
1. Rethink the definition of transparency in the standards2. Put some of it in the « inventory » section of the standards3. Define more strictly the methodology for data generation…
4. …thus ensuring compatibility of datasets and interoperability of databases
LCA should become a science. Verifiability and refutability should be guaranteed by
enhanced transparency.
A compromise between transparency and confidentiality shallbe reached to preserve intellectual property.
But confidentiality cannot always win.
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Who could benefit from more transparency?
Industrialdata
provider
Database provider
User of LCA
results
LCApractitioner
- less risk of greenwashing accusation
- less risk of misuse of data by others
- more reliable input data from suppliers
- less time wasted- better models
- sounder interpretations
- better trust in the results- wiser decisions
- more reliable DB- better compatibility of
datasets- better modularity
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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].
Thanks for your attention
contact:
InnoREX coordinator: