A case of household water tanks, 1000 L capacity, made of RCC, LLDPE and mild steel (stainless steel) was evaluated for life cycle analysis. The scope of the research comprised of the raw materials, energy inputs and ...A case of household water tanks, 1000 L capacity, made of RCC, LLDPE and mild steel (stainless steel) was evaluated for life cycle analysis. The scope of the research comprised of the raw materials, energy inputs and corresponding emissions during all phases of product making such as extraction of raw material, it’s processing, followed by manufacturing and transport, as well as use and reuse of the product. Simapro 8 (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), a modelling software, from Dutch PRé Consultants was used to conduct the life cycle analysis. Simapro 8 enables systematic and transparent modelling and analysis of complex life cycles based on the recommendations of the ISO 14040 series of standards. In the present study the most common method which is acceptable worldwide “Recipe Endpoint method” (ReCiPe) was employed. ReCiPe computes the impact categories and classifies them into two classes based on relevant arrays of characterization factors. Simapro addresses impact categories viz. ozone depletion, human toxicity, ionizing radiation, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, climate change, terrestrial ecotoxicity, agricultural land occupation, urban land occupation, natural land transformation, marine ecotoxicity, marine eutrophication, fresh water eutrophication, fresh water ecotoxicity, fossil fuel depletion, minerals depletion, fresh water depletion at the midpoint level. While at the Endpoint level, the impact categories are multiplied by corresponding damage factors and integrated to be represented as three Endpoint level categories, viz. human health, ecosystems and resource depletion. The three endpoint categories are normalized, weighted, and aggregated into a single score. LCA studies indicate that household water tanks of LLDPE have least environmental implications considering impacts on human health, ecosystems and resource depletion as compared to its counterparts viz. Household water tanks made up of mild steel and RCC. The sequence of the material with decreasing impacts is concrete tanks > mild steel tank > LLDPE tanks. The overall assessment is centred on the elements such as material inputs, energy inputs and environmental emissions.展开更多
Solar drying systems are becoming a popular alternative to traditional energy-based drying systems for agricultural products due to their effectiveness and reduced fuel consumption.Although the efficiency of solar dry...Solar drying systems are becoming a popular alternative to traditional energy-based drying systems for agricultural products due to their effectiveness and reduced fuel consumption.Although the efficiency of solar drying systems has been thoroughly investigated,their sustainability has not been studied enough.This study aims to fill that gap by conducting a life-cycle assessment of two new solar drying systems built in Udaipur,Rajasthan,India.The environmental implications of an innovative cylindrical solar-assisted drying system and a phase-change material-based solar drying system were evaluated using cradle-to-gate life-cycle analysis.The study uses the ReCiPe 2016 endpoints(H)technique to calculate various aspects such as midpoint,endpoint,single score,normalization result,and network diagram for phase-change material-based solar drying and cylindrical solar-assisted drying.Results show that phase-change material-based solar drying has an average of 40%more impact on the environment than cylindrical solar-assisted drying,with a high impact found in human non-carcinogenic toxicity,mainly due to the production of phase-change materials.However,cylindrical solar-assisted drying system crossover phase-change material based solar drying in terms of its impact on human carcinogenic toxicity and fossil resource scarcity.The contribution to global warming of phase-change material-based solar drying is 13.7%more than that of cylindrical solar-assisted drying.The endpoint characterization indicates that phase-change material-based solar drying exceeds in terms of human health(40%)and ecosystem(37.04%),whereas cylindrical solar-assisted drying surpasses phase-change material-based solar drying in terms of impacts on resources,at 14%.The early drying in phase-change material-based solar drying makes up for its higher impact than that in cylindrical solar-assisted drying,which takes 3 hours longer to dry.This study offers guidance and methods for making the best choice of solar-powered dryers.展开更多
文摘A case of household water tanks, 1000 L capacity, made of RCC, LLDPE and mild steel (stainless steel) was evaluated for life cycle analysis. The scope of the research comprised of the raw materials, energy inputs and corresponding emissions during all phases of product making such as extraction of raw material, it’s processing, followed by manufacturing and transport, as well as use and reuse of the product. Simapro 8 (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), a modelling software, from Dutch PRé Consultants was used to conduct the life cycle analysis. Simapro 8 enables systematic and transparent modelling and analysis of complex life cycles based on the recommendations of the ISO 14040 series of standards. In the present study the most common method which is acceptable worldwide “Recipe Endpoint method” (ReCiPe) was employed. ReCiPe computes the impact categories and classifies them into two classes based on relevant arrays of characterization factors. Simapro addresses impact categories viz. ozone depletion, human toxicity, ionizing radiation, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, climate change, terrestrial ecotoxicity, agricultural land occupation, urban land occupation, natural land transformation, marine ecotoxicity, marine eutrophication, fresh water eutrophication, fresh water ecotoxicity, fossil fuel depletion, minerals depletion, fresh water depletion at the midpoint level. While at the Endpoint level, the impact categories are multiplied by corresponding damage factors and integrated to be represented as three Endpoint level categories, viz. human health, ecosystems and resource depletion. The three endpoint categories are normalized, weighted, and aggregated into a single score. LCA studies indicate that household water tanks of LLDPE have least environmental implications considering impacts on human health, ecosystems and resource depletion as compared to its counterparts viz. Household water tanks made up of mild steel and RCC. The sequence of the material with decreasing impacts is concrete tanks > mild steel tank > LLDPE tanks. The overall assessment is centred on the elements such as material inputs, energy inputs and environmental emissions.
文摘Solar drying systems are becoming a popular alternative to traditional energy-based drying systems for agricultural products due to their effectiveness and reduced fuel consumption.Although the efficiency of solar drying systems has been thoroughly investigated,their sustainability has not been studied enough.This study aims to fill that gap by conducting a life-cycle assessment of two new solar drying systems built in Udaipur,Rajasthan,India.The environmental implications of an innovative cylindrical solar-assisted drying system and a phase-change material-based solar drying system were evaluated using cradle-to-gate life-cycle analysis.The study uses the ReCiPe 2016 endpoints(H)technique to calculate various aspects such as midpoint,endpoint,single score,normalization result,and network diagram for phase-change material-based solar drying and cylindrical solar-assisted drying.Results show that phase-change material-based solar drying has an average of 40%more impact on the environment than cylindrical solar-assisted drying,with a high impact found in human non-carcinogenic toxicity,mainly due to the production of phase-change materials.However,cylindrical solar-assisted drying system crossover phase-change material based solar drying in terms of its impact on human carcinogenic toxicity and fossil resource scarcity.The contribution to global warming of phase-change material-based solar drying is 13.7%more than that of cylindrical solar-assisted drying.The endpoint characterization indicates that phase-change material-based solar drying exceeds in terms of human health(40%)and ecosystem(37.04%),whereas cylindrical solar-assisted drying surpasses phase-change material-based solar drying in terms of impacts on resources,at 14%.The early drying in phase-change material-based solar drying makes up for its higher impact than that in cylindrical solar-assisted drying,which takes 3 hours longer to dry.This study offers guidance and methods for making the best choice of solar-powered dryers.
